You must not have played d2 in a while There are quite a few aura of effect moves in the game.

area**

yeah, yeah, there’s area effect, but that’s not what we’re talking about. i know there are traps and fire spells and bone walls and the like. in the d3 video, however, it showed the fluidity of basic attacks dealing what was essentially splash damage to enemies that the attack animation came into contact with. basically, it takes more from the visual side of things and implements it into the results of combat actions.