Even without DIII's always-on DRM it was always going to have a bumpy launch. People's expectations were just insane by the time the game actually hit and they were bound to be left disappointed no matter what. The always-on DRM and downtime just added insult to injury.
I think in retrospect, instead of going the refund route, Blizzard could have listened to people and then set out a plan for the game in the first few months (i.e. how they'll address a lot of the issues).
But frankly if they were going to do that they would have done so during the extended "beta" where most of the same issue were brought up.
Multi still isn't better than D2, one year later. I don't think expectations were that high. I think they actually sold less than planned and went into low-activity maintenance mode after a few month. Not buying again from them. Game may sucks or not, but empty promises, I can't give money for that.
D2's multiplayer sucked. It wasn't until LOD (a year to the day later) plus patches that the mutliplayer was decent. And I think you're misinformed, I know plenty of people (myself included) that still play D3 and enjoy it.
I think in retrospect, instead of going the refund route, Blizzard could have listened to people and then set out a plan for the game in the first few months (i.e. how they'll address a lot of the issues).
But frankly if they were going to do that they would have done so during the extended "beta" where most of the same issue were brought up.