I don’t know how many people still play D2r, but this is the best core game for me, the best combination of loot, grind, gambling and all. poe/poe2 tried to copy d2, let me say this way, I played those games, I already put poe2 hundred hours already even it just released for couple of weeks. It is just a cheap copy of d2, that is it, but even that, gain so many eyesights.
It is so simple for d2r to overrun poe/poe2, why blazzard just don’t do that, start with make items stashable, or just sell some stash pages like poe, make your in game mall cross function among d2, d3 and d4, so many ways to get players off those cheap copies and back to the real deal.
Why blazzard not do that?
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Because this game will never make much money for them? D4 will make much more money than POE2 could ever dream of, for blizzard’s shareholders this is the result they want. Gamers want all games to get same dedication and support as the most popular titles but in what industry does that ever happen? Cars, phones, pretty much whatever you name, old generations end and new generations come…
Comparing D2 to PoE or PoE2 is already a little delusional. D2 is extremely smaller than either game, but fits in its own niche. It’s not even odd to play the games simultaneously rather than sweating hard for a single title as they’re fundamentally different experiences.
Biggest Blizzard fail was not understanding Diablo 2 at all. Instead they felt need to “reinvent” hack n slash by making Diablo 3 more like World of Warcraft with more cartoony graphics and bad gameplay with 2 minute cooldowns and skill combos. Like literally closing D2 studio and putting few guys from WoW team to work on it. This still continues in Diablo 4 and Immortal.
Then came GGG, made a game inspired by D2 and surprise, took over hack n slash throne.
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The good ol complains of item hoarder again, heh…
Management is part of the game.
Even infinite stash would get people off “those cheap copies”.
Blizzard 2000 is no longer Blizzard 2024.
The makers of Diablo 2 wanted to make a good game, even for themselves, and they defined it themselves.
The makers of the subsequent parts may still want to do that, but they no longer determine it themselves. The makers of the games from Diablo 3 onwards want to make a lot of money and from that, even more money and from that, even more money and from that… The thing itself, i.e. the game, is just the means to an end, so it has a different basis than the game Diablo 1 or 2 back then.
Commercialization means the death of the cause and handing over the scepter to money. Generating profits is the downfall of games(of anything) in the case as a purpose to really give people what they want. They get what in the end, with the simplest means, brings in the most profit.
Inevitably, all other meaningful, good, exciting, interesting etc. things have to take a back seat. Things “unfortunately” have to take a back seat.
Everything is always seen from the perspective of money first.
So if Diablo 2 were highly lucrative today, from the point of view of easy money, then we would already have 5 new add-ons, with 10 new classes, new items, new new new new new… Anything you want, as long as the money is flowing.
Whether that would still have the old Diablo 2 feeling, or the one-way street again with some kind of cash cow in the game…
If we want things to be different, the rule of money has to stop and be in the interests of the people again.
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Bingo.
Blizzard first became a publicly traded company back in '98 when Vivendi Games bought them out. Then Vivendi merged with Activision in 2008 and they became Activison/Blizzard, and then Microsoft bought Activision/Blizzard in 2023. If the shareholders don’t make money, they’ll sell their Blizzard shares and buy shares of another publicly company that will make them money.
Meanwhile the greedy cockroach Bobby “Big Bucks” Kotick is living the life swimming in all of the money that he bled from the customers that supported the hollowed out soulless husk of a company that was Activision/Blizzard.
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Diablo 2’s skill system is outdated and frustrating, its other parts of the game that make it better, like overall atmosphere and story for example. Diablo 3 is like a nintendo Wii game.
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While I acknowledge success of PoE I’m not a fan of trend for its massive multiple screens skill trees and still prefer Diablo 2’s one. As for skill design well melee skills are lacking sure but in PoE they have so much aoe effect that it doesn’t feel like melee anymore and more like ranged.
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“PoE is a cheap knockoff of DII, so to improve DII copy PoE.”