…but with logic. Back in the days of Diablo II, streaming wasn’t a thing. Most, if not all of the loyal and knowledgeable fanbase is from that era. Sure, streamers can get the word out about the game, but they can only say so much without it backfiring on them… so they are somewhat biased and limited with their opinions. If I told someone to explore the world, but you couldn’t leave the yard, you’d be limited on what you can do. The yard is Twitch and that “someone” is the streamers. We, the loyal fanbase, know the in’s and out’s of this game from having runewords memorized to telling you everything about every mechanic and how things “should” run. If you let a majority of the new generation test the game and provide feedback, you could end up changing something that will break the authenticity of the game. I know this is just my opinion, but if you prioritize your Alpha test distributions to streamers, which care more about the viewers/subs than actual feedback (let’s be honest here), you’re going to get feedback comparing this game to games nowadays and not how the game was back then. QoL is good. Authenticity is better.
There is also a level of knowledge about the game that will effect the feedback Blizz gets. I just watched a streamer write up a bug report that shiver armor was bugged because he couldn’t add points to it. No pts had been put into ice bolt/ice blast. As well intentioned as he was, he didn’t know about pre-reqs…
I’ll say it again, by releasing it to the streamers they made this into a PR/Marketing stunt rather than a test. I hope that means they are ready to push to phase 2 in about two weeks.
Exactly! This is what I’m talking about. If a company is gonna remaster a classic while keeping its authenticity, they should grant those whom have played it and know the way it was and how things worked back then…Especially if Diablo II is the “default” layer… and the remaster is basically over top of it.
They should give any kind of testing to all people who pre purchased the game. That way more input for bug reports, first thoughts, etc. The more eyes that can actually play the game the better the feedback overall.
It would be naive to think they didn’t have plenty of hard-core, extremely knowledgeable people playing already and finding bugs. There are probably 100 bugs they already knew about before releasing. There are also private channels for them to recieve bug reports from people who will be able to better explain the issues and verify legitimacy.
There is another alpha coming up. This one was very small and just scratched the surface, presumably it was mainly used to get experience in launching it and to gather data about how it runs on various hardware.
They got most of the data they needed this round, and we’ll see some optimizations and fixes before the next, when an even larger number of people and hardware configurations have access.
Let me also remind you that you can’t see the 100,000 people testing the game who are not streamers. Or the 20,000 Koreans who got keys, that may not participate in English-speaking channels.
People keep acting like streamers are the only ones who got in, or they were prioritized. Streamers are the tip of the iceberg. You only see them, and not the other 90% under water.
You may have added a few zeroes on that 1000. At least it feels like way under 1000 people actually tested the alpha in the western world.
It’s wonderful that they gave out keys like candy in Korea and probably a lot more of the Asian market.
THANK YOU, Crazyloon. Streamers are the most visible, but you can feasibly count how many streamers got into the Alpha by just going into the D2R category on Twitch. There’s a myriad of other players that also got in that don’t stream. Just because you only see streamers doesn’t mean they’re the only ones who got in.
Besides, we have streamers that know the ins and outs of the game too, like Llama or Rhykker (or even Zizaran).
This was also a very, VERY small Technical Alpha to sort out glaring bugs. Multiplayer Alpha is coming and that one will presumably see way more players (assuming they want to test server loads).
Just be patient and trust VV on this one. They don’t have a reputation of making great remakes for nothing.
Yea you really can’t call this an alpha ‘test’ and that is a shame. If pretty much streamers only got access to the ‘alpha’ then we should be ready for release in a month or so right blizzard?
yep. This felt more like an extended Demo but there still were a few gamebreaking bugs in here that probably would not have been found before release otherwise.
Theres so much entitlement here… its already been explained that streamers got access for both marketing and bug finding (mrllama was constantly finding them) on top of those that DON’T stream aren’t seen by the public. I personally know 1 person in the alpha who does not stream. I see lots of people on discord that don’t stream, they are playing and reporting.
To top it off the idea that every person here NOT in the alpha is the o ly one who can find a bug is laughable. There is a large number of testers in this phase, and there is a large number of testers at Blizz…and those ones have debug tools so they can pinpoint the issue rather than just say an issue exists.
I think you have confused passion and endearment for entitlement. The streamers got access for marketing plain and simple. That one guy you watched found bugs? That is wonderful, yet the 20 or so i watched had a really hard time even understanding the fundamentals of the game. How are they supposed to understand something that is broken when they don’t even know how it should function in the first place? Visual bugs…sure that’s easy.
And what about the testers at blizzard? No kidding we understand they exist but that isn’t the point is it. I think you don’t really understand what alpha testing normally is. This sort of thing for a beta test could be one thing but ‘alpha’ is a little bit different.
“Alpha” tests are internal builds ensuring the basic mechanics and proof of build works. Its not for outside people to play the game.
The entitlement is “i should be in because I’ve played for X years and that streamer only plays because they got a key”. Nobody here is entitled to ANYTHING. Blizz doesn’t even need to run public “alphas” or “betas” but they do anyways, you know why? Marketing.
Passion is being excited, entitlement is saying you should have something over another because of an arbitrary cutoff that you meet and they don’t. I say arbitrary because it is not your game or your company, but people on this forum seem to get that confused and complain because they feel entitled to special treatment
A hah! Exactly! Alpha tests are normally internal and not public. If people are invited there is usually a nda. They did this for marketing again… but please by all means keep nailing it on the head and still be confused. They released a so called alpha for marketing purposes only which is frustrating to real fans…and blah blah I hope you get it but alas… People feel like they’ve been kicked to the curb yet again so turds with a camera in their face can be wined and dined and show off a supposed alpha.
My thoughts exactly. Die hard D2 fans see streamers playing the alpha and leap to the conclusion that because they did not get a copy and the streamers did, that the streamers are the only types of players providing feedback. That’s a big generalization to make.
I agree one million percent. I played DI and DII when it was released. I have always played single player so you would think I would be a great option to test it. Sadly, we won’t win. Streamers with huge fan bases have the potential to sell more product. I saw a now ‘well known’ streamer playing D3 state he had to kill that big ‘Skeleton’ looking thing. He had no idea.Now they have monsters named after him.
I still play D2 and have even messed with Project DII. IMO, D2 revamped is just something to keep everyone from droning on about D4.
Hello,
I have been a long time player of the diablo series starting back with diablo 1. I have applied for every alpha and beta for all the diablo series and never been invited.
I am a bit sad that blizzard feels the best way to showcase the game to a wider audience is to use twitch and youtube which support ads and make the streamers rich.
I did not watch any gameplay footage this time because I am tired of all the games trying to use these methods to boost sales. The reality is you get games like Wildstar and Bless.
They may make money up front but they lose the player base once everyone realizes the streamers and devs are in bed together so they push for the game being awesome and what not when in reality they are not very good.
If you want to keep players like me in your pockets I suggest you start looking at ways to showcase the game without making me watch ads all day and night.
I have a good suspicion that many people are getting tired of all the ads and the selection of streamers for every alpha/beta to make and shape the games we play.
I hope if you read this and agree with it that you toss me a like and respond to it.
I look forward to seeing some footage that is not a cutscene and does not play ads.
Thanks for reading.
I agree one hundred percent mate. I do have to admit, some of the streamers are actually good at the game and have good info, but they are few and far between. Most streamers nowadays weren’t even thought about when D2 was released.
And that is their fault how exactly?
Sure they will not have experienced the olden days without respecs, without the items going back to town after death if you leave the game the days of the OP Fire Wall. But these days will never come back in the Remaster.
Except rykker made mistakes on his recent stream about playing amazon as well,For instance he didn’t understand that fighting not throwing javlins would decrease the amount because of wear and tear on the javlins he had equipped, He also didn’t understand that his mercs resurrection costs would increase as she gained levels. I could go on with more however that will be enuff