I'm an "actual D2 player" - played D1 and D2 for many since their releases, and am in my 30s...
...and I think that D3 is technologically a step up from both games. But gameplay, no. It might beat D1 but doesn't come close to D2, in my opinion. D2 wasn't boring to me either, even before LoD.
And the story of D3 is just total shit. I could have written a better story putting a marker in-between my toes and spinning around on a large roll of wax paper completely drunk off my ass... and that's if you read it with the vomit still on the pages. The story is absolute trash.
And Diablo's voiceover is just completely terrible. People may say, "Oh, it' just a voiceover," but when you spent over a decade opening the seals of Chaos Sanctuary to hear the chilling, "Not even death can save you from me," the Diablo voiceover from D3 just doesn't cut it.
Let me not fail to at least mention the disaster that is itemization in D3.
I agree with your story assessment, but in terms of mechanics let's wait 3 years and see how well Diablo 3 evolves and then measure it against what the developers managed to do with Diablo 2 and its expansion. One reason for that: what most of us remember is _after_ all the glorious changes to Diablo 2 and we've mostly played the almost finished game for many, many years.
So, you really think in 2012, with all these other games out there nailing it the 1st time.....with less development time......and a Company as experienced in RPGs and ARPGs and Diablo......it should take 3 years to get it right??
It should have been a much more polished and complete experience already. Blizzard already learned their lessons from D2, they shouldnt be making the same mistakes. And if they do, it shouldnt take 3 years to fix them.
I don't think Blizzard is the same as they used to be, they don't feel like they are putting in the same time and effort as they used to. They are judging their success based on subscription fees and the RMAH, and as long as they continue to be a billion dollar company, they are not going to implement a lot of the changes the game needs immediately, because to them the game is a huge success.
It's about quantity here, not quality. Which is not what I expect from Blizzard.
Why don't you guys realize that they are not THAT incompetent.. they just made a great business model, which, IMO, is working quite nicely.
Blizzard is not what it used to be, the important decisions are made by business men with a big $ in their eyes, and that's not gonna change anytime soon.
All of this: "oh, it's not perfect yet blablabla" are pure lies.
They are the one and only mistake Blizzard ever made - listening to QQQQqqqQQQqqqQQqqqQQQ. Back in the day Blizzard never did bother with as much 'community management' or even really reading forums. They just released content and it was a simple decision - play it if you like, if you don't - there are many other games to choose from.
Today, because of all these QQs Blizzard actually made a step forward towards community and started working with the community (unlike any other game developer out there), and the only result of them trying to 'satisfy' the 'instant gratification generation' is the incessantly increasing amount of QQ. Because now...the QQers feel empowered! Blizzard did react to them a few times and that was their biggest mistake.
...I am still confused on how posters such as the above operate in logic.
For what other reason do you think made blizzard retune inferno's difficulty, address legendaries, or add paragon levels?
If Diablo 3 was left as is then you would have a much more shallow game to be content with.
It is completely normal for a game company to casualize their game in order to bring in better profits. In fact, right now, mostly the casuals are keeping this game alive and going, while the "hardcore old school players" go around forums complaining it didn't live up to expectations after spending 500+ hours on it.
It is because of that casualization that I've lost interest in this game a few weeks after release.
One of the major reasons was due to a lack of character customization and that used to be a focus during initial development:
Jay Wilson: We wanted more customization, and we wanted customization that really spoke to the idea that, ‘I’m going to roleplay my character and focus in one area.’ Skills are really awesome, but when players think of who they are as a character, they don’t tend to think of, “I like to Whirlwind.’ They’ll use Whirlwind with their Barbarian, but it’s not how they define themselves. They think, ‘I’m a Barbarian who’s exceptionally strong or exceptionally tough!’ And that’s what traits are. The affect the core attributes of your character to let you customize and expand them.
Later on they felt that would be too complicated for players:
One of the pieces of feedback we got during the internal alpha was that skill points as an element of our skill system didn't really suit the game," he told us. "It created a lot of conflict in terms of what the players would choose to do. So what we had is this system that has these six – it used to be seven, now six – slots, that implies that you should have six skills, but a system with skill points? Well, you really want to dump every single point into one skill.
The alternative, as he sees it, is more likely to only offer an illusion of choice. "What you probably did," he says, "was go up on a website and find out what the optimal build was, because there's just too much math involved for you to really get involved in it. A small number of players will go in and do the math… but the majority of players will go 'I don't know, I guess I'll just put it in whatever I already have'."
Back then, I agreed with that sentiment since I wanted to remain optimistic about the announced changes.
After actually playing the game at release however, that decision took out the depth I was hoping to experience and there was nothing to customize except skill selection.
Automatic stat allocation was just another reminder on what could have been.
I understand itemization is an issue for a lot of people but I suspect Blizzard is aware of this because of the, oh, just a few million topics posted about it every week. But do you expect such a major change to be fixed in a few months WHILE developing all the other features? How many people do you think work on this game? Because in my opinion it's no more than 20-25. And would've you been happier to see no major additions to the game while the devs toil away at fixing the itemization for a few months, knowing now that the player base is not happy with them?
I know that the itemization fix will not be an easy one but it should have taken a much higher priority.
The longer it takes for it to be addressed means a more drastic impact for the item economy.
While you suggest this for players - to be a positive position in their struggles with this game - I think this was the design philosphy from Blizzard all along. That's not an angry statement; afterall, they are a corporation.
I just watched the Blizzcon videos that another poster put in on this page - the videos highlighted the Traits system and of course Deathmatch. Traits, Charms, Enchanter - all scrapped because "they don't live up to the design standards for our game." I think that excuse has happened enough to sort of pull the curtain back on the real reason: We want these for an expansion.
Its not enough to just add an act or two, a new character class or two - they need new mechanics. They designed a good game. Its going to take two expansions to finally see it.
Remember these posts today. Three years from now when we look back on the entirety of this game, with all its features - we'll see the game they promised and made us wait for. Or rather made us buy.
You can trust me when I say that I was progressively more and more sad with each and every cancelled feature. That was before the game released I mean, because when it did I just started playing and it was fun for me. It still is, even when someone here called me a "strange person" to still have fun in this game. But I do. I would absolutely love to have more features implemented. Would someone actually not be happy about that? But the features you mentioned are not here. Instead of thinking about what could've been I'm more focused on what is. I guess I'm one of the few people that think that way seeing as the majority of people feel like they've been lied to.
Blizzard has given reasons for canceling all of the feature that you mentioned. Instead of pointing out how they were cut do every developer and gamer a favor and build constructive posts about reimplementing them with fresh ideas that could completely revive them and fix the original issues that Blizz had with them. That's what I do and it's what a few people on these and on the official forums do and I believe they're the ones that at the end will make the difference. The huge majority of vocal people on the forums that only complain bring absolutely nothing to the table and are just that - spam. An obstacle in the way of mutual progress.
Oh and as far as "scraping mechanics for an expansion", I don't believe that one bit because they could've easily just let them in while leaving currently implemented features as Ubers, Paragon and MP levels for the expansion. Why would they keep features for that long, but at the same time invent new ones that are new design ideas while already having "ready to ship" stuff. It makes absolutely no sense in my mind.. At the end of the day though Blizzard will indeed add some of these features in an expansion when they've finally found a great design for them in the game but in the hater's eyes this will just be something that was "intentionally left out of the game to milk money for it in an expansion". It's so easy to imagine just that happening. The community is super predictable. And I'm truly sad about it.
So, you really think in 2012, with all these other games out there nailing it the 1st time.....with less development time......and a Company as experienced in RPGs and ARPGs and Diablo......it should take 3 years to get it right??
It should have been a much more polished and complete experience already. Blizzard already learned their lessons from D2, they shouldnt be making the same mistakes. And if they do, it shouldnt take 3 years to fix them.
I don't think Blizzard is the same as they used to be, they don't feel like they are putting in the same time and effort as they used to. They are judging their success based on subscription fees and the RMAH, and as long as they continue to be a billion dollar company, they are not going to implement a lot of the changes the game needs immediately, because to them the game is a huge success.
It's about quantity here, not quality. Which is not what I expect from Blizzard.
Which other games nailed it the first time? I haven't really played that much games recently, mainly because I've been a bit busy but... Mass Effect 3 had one of the worst endings in video game history. Such a huge disappointed. And I'm a major, major fan of the franchise.
SW:ToR failed immensely at launch. Now the game has gone free to play to bring in more players.
Guild Wars 2 had such bad time post-launch with all the exploits and banned players. Lots of people also complaining of no end game and feeling like they could never ever do the same grind to max level on an alt. I've not played the game though so this is just things I've read. Could be wrong on all accounts.
I could probably only say positive things about Rift since all I hear are good things about it. Kudos to the devs.
Where Blizzard has had some faults is that they wanted to make things different. Copy pasting Diablo 2 with an improved engine would've had a much bigger backlash from the community than trying out new things and trying to leave Diablo 2's recipe alone (as it's working and the game is still great today).
They tried new things with trading, introducing the AH and RMAH where otherwise people would've gone to chats and forums to trade or buy illegally. They tried a new skill system that is not as harsh as Diablo 2's. They tried introducing a difficulty that is flat during the entire experience so that people can chose where to grind... All of these things are new and that means that they cannot be guaranteed to work when released upon 10 million players. And you can't put out the whole game as a Beta and prolong it to 2 years to that all is well and done when the game finally releases in 2014.
Also RMAH pays for both the developers' salaries and the server costs for handling 10 million players' accounts. Can you do the math on how much profit Blizzard is making? I'm not great with math so if anyone wants please do, as I believe Diablo 3 is currently very far from a cash cow.
No need to be the fan boy rubbin' salt in their wounds.
People can absolutely vent. But not go on and on and on and on and on and just at the end of the day make a huge wall of complains that bring absolutely nothing to the table. Many people complain and _give suggestions_. How good or bad they are does not matter because when arguments are brought from both sides discussions start. At that's how things are resolved. Not with just whining and venting.
Why don't you guys realize that they are not THAT incompetent.. they just made a great business model, which, IMO, is working quite nicely.
Blizzard is not what it used to be, the important decisions are made by business men with a big $ in their eyes, and that's not gonna change anytime soon.
All of this: "oh, it's not perfect yet blablabla" are pure lies.
Can you elaborate a bit more on the business model thing? Also the last part with "pure lies" is just bad. Like really. Was that all you could come up with?
People are quick to defend Blizzard without taking the time to thing about what Blizzard has given them. Yes we have D3 ( short but fun..with no PVP). They gave us Starcraft 2 after many years we get a better looking Starcraft that they make in 3 different games and charge us full price for each???? Don't forget that SC2 is just a normal run of the mill RTS. D3 is just a better looking D2 with a few new things. Blizzard's bread and butter is WoW . I personally thing they are a half-ass game company that got lucky and are now milking it for everthing they can get. When Titan finally shows up ( in about 10 years) I maybe proven wrong. But until then...have fun grind for the same ole tired gear.
People are quick to defend Blizzard without taking the time to thing about what Blizzard has given them. Yes we have D3 ( short but fun..with no PVP). They gave us Starcraft 2 after many years we get a better looking Starcraft that they make in 3 different games and charge us full price for each???? Don't forget that SC2 is just a normal run of the mill RTS. D3 is just a better looking D2 with a few new things. Blizzard's bread and butter is WoW . I personally thing they are a half-ass game company that got lucky and are now milking it for everthing they can get. When Titan finally shows up ( in about 10 years) I maybe proven wrong. But until then...have fun grind for the same ole tired gear.
You can thank ActiBlizzard for hiring Bobby Kotick, the antichrist of the gaming industry for lowering the quality of Blizzard's games. He is the evil bastard that enables the release of a new Call of Duty game every damn year and told Jay Wilson to scrap over half the content for D3 into an expansion. Not to mention he simplified WoW and refused to release Diablo 3 without making it pay-to-win. Don't get your hopes up with Titan either, the little details Blizz has given on it makes it sound like a shitty Planetside rip-off with a RMAH added. When dealing with Blizzard now, always remember "Winter is coming".
While you suggest this for players - to be a positive position in their struggles with this game - I think this was the design philosphy from Blizzard all along. That's not an angry statement; afterall, they are a corporation.
I just watched the Blizzcon videos that another poster put in on this page - the videos highlighted the Traits system and of course Deathmatch. Traits, Charms, Enchanter - all scrapped because "they don't live up to the design standards for our game." I think that excuse has happened enough to sort of pull the curtain back on the real reason: We want these for an expansion.
Its not enough to just add an act or two, a new character class or two - they need new mechanics. They designed a good game. Its going to take two expansions to finally see it.
Remember these posts today. Three years from now when we look back on the entirety of this game, with all its features - we'll see the game they promised and made us wait for. Or rather made us buy.
You can trust me when I say that I was progressively more and more sad with each and every cancelled feature. That was before the game released I mean, because when it did I just started playing and it was fun for me. It still is, even when someone here called me a "strange person" to still have fun in this game. But I do. I would absolutely love to have more features implemented. Would someone actually not be happy about that? But the features you mentioned are not here. Instead of thinking about what could've been I'm more focused on what is. I guess I'm one of the few people that think that way seeing as the majority of people feel like they've been lied to.
Blizzard has given reasons for canceling all of the feature that you mentioned. Instead of pointing out how they were cut do every developer and gamer a favor and build constructive posts about reimplementing them with fresh ideas that could completely revive them and fix the original issues that Blizz had with them. That's what I do and it's what a few people on these and on the official forums do and I believe they're the ones that at the end will make the difference. The huge majority of vocal people on the forums that only complain bring absolutely nothing to the table and are just that - spam. An obstacle in the way of mutual progress.
Oh and as far as "scraping mechanics for an expansion", I don't believe that one bit because they could've easily just let them in while leaving currently implemented features as Ubers, Paragon and MP levels for the expansion. Why would they keep features for that long, but at the same time invent new ones that are new design ideas while already having "ready to ship" stuff. It makes absolutely no sense in my mind.. At the end of the day though Blizzard will indeed add some of these features in an expansion when they've finally found a great design for them in the game but in the hater's eyes this will just be something that was "intentionally left out of the game to milk money for it in an expansion". It's so easy to imagine just that happening. The community is super predictable. And I'm truly sad about it.
So, you really think in 2012, with all these other games out there nailing it the 1st time.....with less development time......and a Company as experienced in RPGs and ARPGs and Diablo......it should take 3 years to get it right??
It should have been a much more polished and complete experience already. Blizzard already learned their lessons from D2, they shouldnt be making the same mistakes. And if they do, it shouldnt take 3 years to fix them.
I don't think Blizzard is the same as they used to be, they don't feel like they are putting in the same time and effort as they used to. They are judging their success based on subscription fees and the RMAH, and as long as they continue to be a billion dollar company, they are not going to implement a lot of the changes the game needs immediately, because to them the game is a huge success.
It's about quantity here, not quality. Which is not what I expect from Blizzard.
Which other games nailed it the first time? I haven't really played that much games recently, mainly because I've been a bit busy but... Mass Effect 3 had one of the worst endings in video game history. Such a huge disappointed. And I'm a major, major fan of the franchise.
SW:ToR failed immensely at launch. Now the game has gone free to play to bring in more players.
Guild Wars 2 had such bad time post-launch with all the exploits and banned players. Lots of people also complaining of no end game and feeling like they could never ever do the same grind to max level on an alt. I've not played the game though so this is just things I've read. Could be wrong on all accounts.
I could probably only say positive things about Rift since all I hear are good things about it. Kudos to the devs.
Where Blizzard has had some faults is that they wanted to make things different. Copy pasting Diablo 2 with an improved engine would've had a much bigger backlash from the community than trying out new things and trying to leave Diablo 2's recipe alone (as it's working and the game is still great today).
They tried new things with trading, introducing the AH and RMAH where otherwise people would've gone to chats and forums to trade or buy illegally. They tried a new skill system that is not as harsh as Diablo 2's. They tried introducing a difficulty that is flat during the entire experience so that people can chose where to grind... All of these things are new and that means that they cannot be guaranteed to work when released upon 10 million players. And you can't put out the whole game as a Beta and prolong it to 2 years to that all is well and done when the game finally releases in 2014.
Also RMAH pays for both the developers' salaries and the server costs for handling 10 million players' accounts. Can you do the math on how much profit Blizzard is making? I'm not great with math so if anyone wants please do, as I believe Diablo 3 is currently very far from a cash cow.
No need to be the fan boy rubbin' salt in their wounds.
People can absolutely vent. But not go on and on and on and on and on and just at the end of the day make a huge wall of complains that bring absolutely nothing to the table. Many people complain and _give suggestions_. How good or bad they are does not matter because when arguments are brought from both sides discussions start. At that's how things are resolved. Not with just whining and venting.
Why don't you guys realize that they are not THAT incompetent.. they just made a great business model, which, IMO, is working quite nicely.
Blizzard is not what it used to be, the important decisions are made by business men with a big $ in their eyes, and that's not gonna change anytime soon.
All of this: "oh, it's not perfect yet blablabla" are pure lies.
Can you elaborate a bit more on the business model thing? Also the last part with "pure lies" is just bad. Like really. Was that all you could come up with?
Any kind of customization that could improve the depth of the game is completely against the RMAH -> money > a rich game experience.
I could enter in detail but, those are things we all know. The game is not broken, is intended to be just like it is.
I agree with your story assessment, but in terms of mechanics let's wait 3 years and see how well Diablo 3 evolves and then measure it against what the developers managed to do with Diablo 2 and its expansion. One reason for that: what most of us remember is _after_ all the glorious changes to Diablo 2 and we've mostly played the almost finished game for many, many years.
Great! Can i have my money back then? I'll pay them back in 3 years, you can even freeze or delete my characters
It's Blizzards fault for trying to develop a new bicicle and its really not my issue if they keep stumbling on same rocks all over again. All i wanted was Diablo 3, not an Auction House simulator with RPG elements.
In general, everything in D3 is built around monetizing. Even DRM is there to FORCE you to interact with Auction House. Each action, like nerfing and buffing, forces you to interact with AH. If you're interacting with AH, chances are, you will eventually join RMAH ranks.
I dont know why ppl are all acting as if spending some extra money on a game beyond buying it is the deadliest sin known to man with how many other games are doing it. Personally I have both made money of the RMAH and spent money on it and the way the game is now there is no way you would need to pay to play in any sense of the word.
Before farming pre paragon and nerfs was frustrating as fuck as the items dident quiet exsist back then for the average player now you just get 5 - 10mil and you can get a pretty decent toon that can at least do MP 1-2 and actually kill stuff without getting butt raped a´la corpse run to kill.
If ppl are honest with themselfs atm the only reason someone uses the RMAH now is to buy that one imba item that just make their farming easier or just to make dat deeeeeeeeeeeeeeps on their character sheet look "better" not because they cant farm A3 without investing in the RMAH like it was before because you were sick of diying, yes farming can be extremly frustrating never getting a item for yourself I know as well as anyone else here having personally sunk about 800 hours across my characters.
I personally LOVE the AH a place where you cant get scammed ? thank you! You do not need to be on the AH to trade just join your local trade chat and trade there instead, just be prepared to get ppl who either want to try to scam you or try to rip you off aka trying to buy cheap so they can sell for more. And for ppl who think AH is crap and that if you get scammed when not on AH that it´s your own fault I say why should I have to even think when trading with someone weather or not that persons intentions are good or not I don´t want to have to think about such things I simply just wish to have a good time when I game that is all. There is no way I would ever want it like it was in D2 where getting scammed was something you had to think about when trading with someone.
AS for the itemization I do agree having played Torchlight 2 that D3 still a lot to improve and change before it becomes any good, I still feel as well as there is still no incentive to play with anyone and that most of the time ppl are more likely to drag you down or be of no use when you play with them unless you are going to do hig MP lvl ubers.
The problem is not to use the RMAH or not, is the effect on the gameplay.
See, if Blizzard ever implements a well thought blacksmith, that would reduce the necessity of using the AH (RM or not), then it's just not possible, because, the rule number 1 is: maximize profit.
I just gave you one example, but there are tons. Why do you think that the only aspect customizable of your character are the items?, coincidence?, no, profit. Blizzard cant allow to have any other kind of customization (let say, skills) because that would reduce the need of using the AH -> lower revenue -> no-no.
See how the "you don't need to use the AH" is not really about the AH?.
I agree with your story assessment, but in terms of mechanics let's wait 3 years and see how well Diablo 3 evolves and then measure it against what the developers managed to do with Diablo 2 and its expansion. One reason for that: what most of us remember is _after_ all the glorious changes to Diablo 2 and we've mostly played the almost finished game for many, many years.
Great! Can i have my money back then? I'll pay them back in 3 years, you can even freeze or delete my characters
It's Blizzards fault for trying to develop a new bicicle and its really not my issue if they keep stumbling on same rocks all over again. All i wanted was Diablo 3, not an Auction House simulator with RPG elements.
In general, everything in D3 is built around monetizing. Even DRM is there to FORCE you to interact with Auction House. Each action, like nerfing and buffing, forces you to interact with AH. If you're interacting with AH, chances are, you will eventually join RMAH ranks.
I dont know why ppl are all acting as if spending some extra money on a game beyond buying it is the deadliest sin known to man with how many other games are doing it. Personally I have both made money of the RMAH and spent money on it and the way the game is now there is no way you would need to pay to play in any sense of the word.
Before farming pre paragon and nerfs was frustrating as fuck as the items dident quiet exsist back then for the average player now you just get 5 - 10mil and you can get a pretty decent toon that can at least do MP 1-2 and actually kill stuff without getting butt raped a´la corpse run to kill.
If ppl are honest with themselfs atm the only reason someone uses the RMAH now is to buy that one imba item that just make their farming easier or just to make dat deeeeeeeeeeeeeeps on their character sheet look "better" not because they cant farm A3 without investing in the RMAH like it was before because you were sick of diying, yes farming can be extremly frustrating never getting a item for yourself I know as well as anyone else here having personally sunk about 800 hours across my characters.
I personally LOVE the AH a place where you cant get scammed ? thank you! You do not need to be on the AH to trade just join your local trade chat and trade there instead, just be prepared to get ppl who either want to try to scam you or try to rip you off aka trying to buy cheap so they can sell for more. And for ppl who think AH is crap and that if you get scammed when not on AH that it´s your own fault I say why should I have to even think when trading with someone weather or not that persons intentions are good or not I don´t want to have to think about such things I simply just wish to have a good time when I game that is all. There is no way I would ever want it like it was in D2 where getting scammed was something you had to think about when trading with someone.
AS for the itemization I do agree having played Torchlight 2 that D3 still a lot to improve and change before it becomes any good, I still feel as well as there is still no incentive to play with anyone and that most of the time ppl are more likely to drag you down or be of no use when you play with them unless you are going to do hig MP lvl ubers.
The problem is not to use the RMAH or not, is the effect on the gameplay.
See, if Blizzard ever implements a well thought blacksmith, that would reduce the necessity of using the AH (RM or not), then it's just not possible, because, the rule number 1 is: maximize profit.
I just gave you one example, but there are tons. Why do you think that the only aspect customizable of your character are the items?, coincidence?, no, profit. Blizzard cant allow to have any other kind of customization (let say, skills) because that would reduce the need of using the AH -> lower revenue -> no-no.
See how the "you don't need to use the AH" is not really about the AH?.
I don't know how true this is, but it feels like it. It's easy for people to say "just don't use the AH! It's fun!", but to me thats just playing a fake game mode to try and make the game fun, like the guy who went and counted all the corpses in every area.....I bet that was fun for him, but not sure would work for everyone.....
If I said....."dude stop complaining, the games great, go count corpses!! it's fun!!!" I'm pretty sure thats not the same as saying the game design is great. I don't even think the time invested to get a decent item is that bad, it's all the garbage items you get along the way. I just want 1/10th the items, but 10 times the quality of drops. They could easily do this by removing some garbage stats (individual resits, HP globes etc.) and not letting more then 1 primary roll. About 1 in 10 instead of 1 in 100......but get 10 items in the time it took to get 100 before. Same number of decent items, less time unIDing trash.
I completely agree, reducing the amount of rares that drop but increasing their quality, would be a really nice improve in the quality of life of this game.
I completely agree, reducing the amount of rares that drop but increasing their quality, would be a really nice improve in the quality of life of this game.
I think they should also do that for legendaries. I mean, what the hell, i had like a thousand Frostburn gloves drop and 100% crap xD
Just squeezing in to say I agree with both above statements. Bigger rarity is almost always a welcome change in an oversatiated environment. At least for balance.
This would be great, except that Diablo I or II didn't ship with such fundamental itemization flaws and a resulting lack of gameplay depth. D3 is over-simplified to the extreme. Waiting three years for PvP is fine, but waiting for changes that make a game about item farming about item farming and not farming for gold is too long.
I'm glad to see them step back from PvP in the hopes that they start working on the underlying issues that are currently plaguing the game.
It is completely normal for a game company to casualize their game in order to bring in better profits. In fact, right now, mostly the casuals are keeping this game alive and going, while the "hardcore old school players" go around forums complaining it didn't live up to expectations after spending 500+ hours on it. It if wasn't for the huge sales that even Blizzard couldn't predict themselves the dev team would likely be even smaller with people being assigned to other projects leaving the future of Diablo to a handful of devs. Yes, RMAH brings profits but I suspect they're about as much as keeping the servers up. Yes, the servers that are running for free without needing subscriptions to play the game while keeping the "paying" RMAH usage completely optional for the players.
And Diablo 2 didn't have problems? The first several patches were only bugfixes and they were going out for months. Huge exploits and game breakers and the like. I understand you don't remember those. It's been 11 years. In fact here it is: all patches up to patch 1.07 were in their majority bug fixes, equally split between minor and major bugs. 1.07 was the first proper balance patch. And yes, that was the version that the expansion came with. Which means there wasn't a single worth mentioning balance patch up until the expansion. And don't tell me that it was because "balance was simply fine" at the start. We both know that's bullshit. Not to mention how far less theorycrafting there was in gaming in general 11 years ago.
Only 1.04 brought some quality of life things but they can't even start to compare to super major features that we've seen for D3 so far, like Monster Power (which isn't a simple /player X command), Uber bosses, Paragon leveling, huge overhaul of legendary items and so on. So far all patch notes apart from 1.0.6 have been enormous.
I understand itemization is an issue for a lot of people but I suspect Blizzard is aware of this because of the, oh, just a few million topics posted about it every week. But do you expect such a major change to be fixed in a few months WHILE developing all the other features? How many people do you think work on this game? Because in my opinion it's no more than 20-25. And would've you been happier to see no major additions to the game while the devs toil away at fixing the itemization for a few months, knowing now that the player base is not happy with them?
Sure, people now will jump up and say "well this shit could've just been released this way instead of having to fix it post-launch". Of course they have, but they didn't. They've admitted the launch could've been handled better and we'll see if they've learned their lesson with the expansion release, but now no one has connection issues apart from their own ISPs' fault. They've admitted legendary items sucked majorly at launch and they fixed those. There were exploits and dupes and they've been working hard on them if you follow the news. Botters are being banned in major waves where the entire forums of said bot communities right now are saying they've been banned and complaining that they were "guaranteed" to never be by the bot creator. The end game was not enough at start and now we have a good amount of things to do end game with MP, ubers and paragon. Can there be more? Absolutely definitely. But these were additions that could be developed in a short amount of time and they were. Larger scale things require more development and I'm sure we'll see plenty of those in the coming months.
Now. If you want to complain that D2 was better in my eyes your arguments are beyond false. If you _truly_ believe that then I suggest you go play D2 because Diablo 3 will _never_ be its predecessor and you will _never_ be happy with it. That's how video games work. If you want to complain that Torchlight 2 and/or Path of Exile are better games then what the hell are you doing here? Why cause he commotion? Why be unhappy? Go play those games, no one is stopping you. Go be happy somewhere else if you're not over here. For the money people have invested in this game they've gotten hundreds of hours of gameplay, when the average for video games nowadays is 40, sometimes down to 20, for the same price. If the journey so far has really been that poor for you then do yourself a favor and just go be happy somewhere else.
p.s. the majority of this wasn't targeted at you Nymrael. Mainly just things plaguing me for a while. I suspect I'll have to make a few more of these posts in the near future of course but this seems like a good start.
I love how some people are idiots but try to sound smart...........The Diablo games are a series. Diablo 3 follows up on Diablo 2. Blizzard had YEARS to develop Diablo 3. How the hell is it possible Diablo 2 is still a better game? Yes Diablo 2 took years of patching to improve......but Blizzard has had years before releasing D3. Diablo 3 is a huge slap to the Diablo series face!
It's not a question about what aspects of the game I do and do not like.......Diablo 3 has no end-game content. Diablo 3 is ridiculously easy. Diablo 3 falsly advertisded about PvP.
Sure it's a game so lets move on.....just a shame Blizzard gave up. The only proof that this game is dying will be on expansion release. We will be able to compare with sales.....my guess is they will sell a fraction of what Diablo 3 has sold. GG
Diablo 3 has huge potential, imo, I can see it and feel it and play some if it as I play (or as I played, I don't anymore, because I think it's kinda bad). But its potential is not realized. It's a rock on top of a hill.
I'm shocked some of you think that the game is "okay" its not and is no where near it. Apart from the awful chat channels, the zero clan support, the lack of community purely just off how they have joining games set up with monster power etc etc etc.
APART from everything that should of been added and that is in pretty much ANY other game big or small ( even Blizzards games PAST and present games )
apart from all that I thought, yknow what... If they aren't adding simplistic things that should of came with the game at least they are working on PVP / a Blog... but nope the blog was a slap in the face, and that PVP will still take awhile.
Not to sound elitist either, but give me a break guys, Im sure some of you are content with still farming / having a good time looking for gear but a lot of us are at points with our characters where we want to be able to PvP. Im assuming the majority of people saying don't whine, D3 is about PvE farming/grinding it's how it's always been. YES I realize that, it's called having 3 characters iv farmed on that would blow your mind. Now im done with PvE grinding for very very very very small upgrades id like CLANS/CHAT/PVP/. Thank you it's been close to half a year or more now.
I think it's time to let go. I don't mean that sarcastically. They had their time, clearly they are not on par with what they used to be. We should stop expecting them to.
This exactly. They were an amazing company for a long time, but nothing last forever. Such a shame...
@Voix
I'm putting down the pitchfork as soon as people stop taking their trash in the Diablo 3 bucket. I know the game has big problems. You are not helping it (the hater ones). So move along and we're both happy.
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Ha. Bagstone.
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Why don't you guys realize that they are not THAT incompetent.. they just made a great business model, which, IMO, is working quite nicely.
Blizzard is not what it used to be, the important decisions are made by business men with a big $ in their eyes, and that's not gonna change anytime soon.
All of this: "oh, it's not perfect yet blablabla" are pure lies.
So its a great business model to lie, bait and switch and disapoint their loyal customers?
Good to know. Can't wait for all the game devs to start doing this so i can be disapointed on a constant basis.
Breaking news... they already did.
...I am still confused on how posters such as the above operate in logic.
For what other reason do you think made blizzard retune inferno's difficulty, address legendaries, or add paragon levels?
If Diablo 3 was left as is then you would have a much more shallow game to be content with.
It is because of that casualization that I've lost interest in this game a few weeks after release.
One of the major reasons was due to a lack of character customization and that used to be a focus during initial development:
Later on they felt that would be too complicated for players:
Back then, I agreed with that sentiment since I wanted to remain optimistic about the announced changes.
After actually playing the game at release however, that decision took out the depth I was hoping to experience and there was nothing to customize except skill selection.
Automatic stat allocation was just another reminder on what could have been.
I know that the itemization fix will not be an easy one but it should have taken a much higher priority.
The longer it takes for it to be addressed means a more drastic impact for the item economy.
You can trust me when I say that I was progressively more and more sad with each and every cancelled feature. That was before the game released I mean, because when it did I just started playing and it was fun for me. It still is, even when someone here called me a "strange person" to still have fun in this game. But I do. I would absolutely love to have more features implemented. Would someone actually not be happy about that? But the features you mentioned are not here. Instead of thinking about what could've been I'm more focused on what is. I guess I'm one of the few people that think that way seeing as the majority of people feel like they've been lied to.
Blizzard has given reasons for canceling all of the feature that you mentioned. Instead of pointing out how they were cut do every developer and gamer a favor and build constructive posts about reimplementing them with fresh ideas that could completely revive them and fix the original issues that Blizz had with them. That's what I do and it's what a few people on these and on the official forums do and I believe they're the ones that at the end will make the difference. The huge majority of vocal people on the forums that only complain bring absolutely nothing to the table and are just that - spam. An obstacle in the way of mutual progress.
Oh and as far as "scraping mechanics for an expansion", I don't believe that one bit because they could've easily just let them in while leaving currently implemented features as Ubers, Paragon and MP levels for the expansion. Why would they keep features for that long, but at the same time invent new ones that are new design ideas while already having "ready to ship" stuff. It makes absolutely no sense in my mind.. At the end of the day though Blizzard will indeed add some of these features in an expansion when they've finally found a great design for them in the game but in the hater's eyes this will just be something that was "intentionally left out of the game to milk money for it in an expansion". It's so easy to imagine just that happening. The community is super predictable. And I'm truly sad about it.
Which other games nailed it the first time? I haven't really played that much games recently, mainly because I've been a bit busy but... Mass Effect 3 had one of the worst endings in video game history. Such a huge disappointed. And I'm a major, major fan of the franchise.
SW:ToR failed immensely at launch. Now the game has gone free to play to bring in more players.
Guild Wars 2 had such bad time post-launch with all the exploits and banned players. Lots of people also complaining of no end game and feeling like they could never ever do the same grind to max level on an alt. I've not played the game though so this is just things I've read. Could be wrong on all accounts.
I could probably only say positive things about Rift since all I hear are good things about it. Kudos to the devs.
Where Blizzard has had some faults is that they wanted to make things different. Copy pasting Diablo 2 with an improved engine would've had a much bigger backlash from the community than trying out new things and trying to leave Diablo 2's recipe alone (as it's working and the game is still great today).
They tried new things with trading, introducing the AH and RMAH where otherwise people would've gone to chats and forums to trade or buy illegally. They tried a new skill system that is not as harsh as Diablo 2's. They tried introducing a difficulty that is flat during the entire experience so that people can chose where to grind... All of these things are new and that means that they cannot be guaranteed to work when released upon 10 million players. And you can't put out the whole game as a Beta and prolong it to 2 years to that all is well and done when the game finally releases in 2014.
Also RMAH pays for both the developers' salaries and the server costs for handling 10 million players' accounts. Can you do the math on how much profit Blizzard is making? I'm not great with math so if anyone wants please do, as I believe Diablo 3 is currently very far from a cash cow.
People can absolutely vent. But not go on and on and on and on and on and just at the end of the day make a huge wall of complains that bring absolutely nothing to the table. Many people complain and _give suggestions_. How good or bad they are does not matter because when arguments are brought from both sides discussions start. At that's how things are resolved. Not with just whining and venting.
Can you elaborate a bit more on the business model thing? Also the last part with "pure lies" is just bad. Like really. Was that all you could come up with?
Ha. Bagstone.
You can thank ActiBlizzard for hiring Bobby Kotick, the antichrist of the gaming industry for lowering the quality of Blizzard's games. He is the evil bastard that enables the release of a new Call of Duty game every damn year and told Jay Wilson to scrap over half the content for D3 into an expansion. Not to mention he simplified WoW and refused to release Diablo 3 without making it pay-to-win. Don't get your hopes up with Titan either, the little details Blizz has given on it makes it sound like a shitty Planetside rip-off with a RMAH added. When dealing with Blizzard now, always remember "Winter is coming".
Any kind of customization that could improve the depth of the game is completely against the RMAH -> money > a rich game experience.
I could enter in detail but, those are things we all know. The game is not broken, is intended to be just like it is.
The problem is not to use the RMAH or not, is the effect on the gameplay.
See, if Blizzard ever implements a well thought blacksmith, that would reduce the necessity of using the AH (RM or not), then it's just not possible, because, the rule number 1 is: maximize profit.
I just gave you one example, but there are tons. Why do you think that the only aspect customizable of your character are the items?, coincidence?, no, profit. Blizzard cant allow to have any other kind of customization (let say, skills) because that would reduce the need of using the AH -> lower revenue -> no-no.
See how the "you don't need to use the AH" is not really about the AH?.
I don't know how true this is, but it feels like it. It's easy for people to say "just don't use the AH! It's fun!", but to me thats just playing a fake game mode to try and make the game fun, like the guy who went and counted all the corpses in every area.....I bet that was fun for him, but not sure would work for everyone.....
If I said....."dude stop complaining, the games great, go count corpses!! it's fun!!!" I'm pretty sure thats not the same as saying the game design is great. I don't even think the time invested to get a decent item is that bad, it's all the garbage items you get along the way. I just want 1/10th the items, but 10 times the quality of drops. They could easily do this by removing some garbage stats (individual resits, HP globes etc.) and not letting more then 1 primary roll. About 1 in 10 instead of 1 in 100......but get 10 items in the time it took to get 100 before. Same number of decent items, less time unIDing trash.
I think they should also do that for legendaries. I mean, what the hell, i had like a thousand Frostburn gloves drop and 100% crap xD
Ha. Bagstone.
But no... sigh.
I love how some people are idiots but try to sound smart...........The Diablo games are a series. Diablo 3 follows up on Diablo 2. Blizzard had YEARS to develop Diablo 3. How the hell is it possible Diablo 2 is still a better game? Yes Diablo 2 took years of patching to improve......but Blizzard has had years before releasing D3. Diablo 3 is a huge slap to the Diablo series face!
It's not a question about what aspects of the game I do and do not like.......Diablo 3 has no end-game content. Diablo 3 is ridiculously easy. Diablo 3 falsly advertisded about PvP.
Sure it's a game so lets move on.....just a shame Blizzard gave up. The only proof that this game is dying will be on expansion release. We will be able to compare with sales.....my guess is they will sell a fraction of what Diablo 3 has sold. GG
Lots of potential. Needs more (1/2)mv^2
APART from everything that should of been added and that is in pretty much ANY other game big or small ( even Blizzards games PAST and present games )
apart from all that I thought, yknow what... If they aren't adding simplistic things that should of came with the game at least they are working on PVP / a Blog... but nope the blog was a slap in the face, and that PVP will still take awhile.
Not to sound elitist either, but give me a break guys, Im sure some of you are content with still farming / having a good time looking for gear but a lot of us are at points with our characters where we want to be able to PvP. Im assuming the majority of people saying don't whine, D3 is about PvE farming/grinding it's how it's always been. YES I realize that, it's called having 3 characters iv farmed on that would blow your mind. Now im done with PvE grinding for very very very very small upgrades id like CLANS/CHAT/PVP/. Thank you it's been close to half a year or more now.
This exactly. They were an amazing company for a long time, but nothing last forever. Such a shame...
I'm putting down the pitchfork as soon as people stop taking their trash in the Diablo 3 bucket. I know the game has big problems. You are not helping it (the hater ones). So move along and we're both happy.
Ha. Bagstone.