So I got beta invite, downloaded game installed it.
Took about a hour to beat the beta game. Uninstalled it and made mental note not to buy it.
It was BAD. Mind numbing bad. 2012 and its the exact same as every other game like it. Each dungeon repeats itself..i mean literally place for place each room is a copy or one before it.
Graphics not very good to me, seems everything is darkened so much everything blends it. Even spells effects are not very bright.
Just seems like a huge let down.
For the record, and for what it's worth: I totally agree with you. I had an identical reaction. I'm not even sure what I'm supposed to 'test.' The difficulty is so low I'm pretty sure I could tape the left mouse button down and win the beta.
Titan Quest was essentially Diablo II ++. It was graphically much slicker and had a broader array of classes. Torchlight was Titan Quest ++. It streamlined gameplay, reemphasized loot and (technically at least) had better graphics yet again. Diablo II came out
12 years ago. If Diablo III ends up being Torchlight ++, that would be a massive let down. Remember that RPGs like Morrowind (and Oblivion and Skyrim), The Witcher, Demon's and Dark Souls, etc didn't even exist when Diablo II came out. You cannot pretend that the bar for RPG depth, graphics and immersion hasn't been raised in the past 12 years.
From what I saw in the beta, this is a bit like Modern Warfare III vs Modern Warfare II, if we had to wait over a decade for MW3 instead of a year.