Get used to changes

General Discussion
1

You can log on today and see how many people are playing Diablo 2. Blizzard has a responsibility to share holders to maximize profits, which means they want to sell as many copies as they can.

As a software engineer myself, I’m constantly helping my employer look at customer feedback and metrics. We look at what they do, and try to innovate on systems to get customer engagement. Those of you who firmly believe, want, and staunchly defend no changes are deluding yourself. You’re setting yourselves up for massive disappointment. Just because there are no changes on the books right now, matters little in the long run. By saying all the right lines in the interview, that the game is like a classic car, they said exactly what you wanted to hear. They want you to pre-order to even post here.

Changes come post launch, and because this game is monetized at the front, they already have your money. If 50,000 (generous number) users right now want no changes, and would quit the game if changes are made, but 100,000 players would purchase/join in because of those changes, then Blizzard’s best move would be to implement the change. They will, stockholder pressure will compel them to.

See the other thread about the reddit survey on some sample change ideas. This is eye opening. Changes will come, accept it. You can only control yourselves, not the company. Blizzard, I am sure, keeps track of several metrics to influence design ideas.

2

Changes are fine. Major changes that change the game we are paying for… Not fine.

3

Changes are fine as long as the vast majority of the player base are in favor of them. Just don’t turn hell difficulty into mush because casuals think it’s ‘too hard’.

4

I think Hell is too easy, perhaps we need to advocate for some QOL changes to make the game harder.

5

Hey, I’m game for more difficulty… The return of ‘Inferno’? :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

6

Blizzard is not going to make nearly as much money with D2R as with any other recent game. It is not E-Sports viable, it has no MTX, possibly no expansion it costs only 40$.

Blizzard has gotten some seriously bad feedback for their latest products. The WC3 “remake” has the worst user score on metacritic. It is listed as one of the worst games out there, when it comes to the players’ ratings. That’s a shame for a company, which really only has a huge (but surely becoming more skeptic) fan base and the quality of their games. If the latter keeps decreasing, Blizzard might not stay as successful as they still are.

What some random D2, D3, PoE players want and especially, what the survey of a guy, who actively promotes changes on reddit, says, does not have an influence as big as you might imagine.

D2R should strategically be a safe thing for Blizzard. They don’t have any advantage from changing the game a lot. People, who are interested in the game will buy it anyway. Changes or no changes are not going to change a lot about that, since people can’t play the game before buying it anyway. And Blizzard does not care, if you play D2R for 2 weeks or 20 years.

7

While I do agree on the “changes are coming” I think you’ll see them be relatively conservative overall. D2R and D3 are essentially being used as vehicles to sell D4. As such they’ll nudge D2R some on the changes but I don’t think you’ll see a dramatic upheaval of the core game.

8

Nothing would make me less interested in Diablo 4 then them screwing D2:R up

9

Diablo II desperately needs updated graphics and bot control for many people to come back to it or even try it.

There is such a wisdom as “long-term health” over pure short-term profit, especially for a company as huge as Blizz. I think itd be wiser for them and ultimately pay off more to win back respect from the old fans - because I think work that accomplishes that would end up captivating new fans more deeply. There is more that animates a great company than the next quarter’s sales.

Maybe, after the bloat of WoW, Blizzard has lost contact with the sparks of independent genius which inspired their earlier masterful work. It is very strange to not honor the games which made them, like they did with W3R, and hopefully will not do with D2R. It’s like not valuing the intelligence of our forebears whose actions made our lives possible.

10

Its a much more delicate balance than you make it seem. Blizzard fans are braced for a failure and ready with their refund requests. IMO this is more prevalent now than any time in history and true for Bliz more than any other company. I agree with the general sentiment about the market in general, but things are greatly exacerbated for Bliz right now. You can tell they are really trying to come back from their recent failures (as evident by hiring an outside company to work on D2R).

They made very clear statements in their reveal; the game is based on the original, its designed for nostalgia, they have a 70/30 design philosophy. They were very clear about what exact changes they have planned from the original. Also they stated a 2021 release, which limits them from making significant changes which will take a lot of time to develop, especially with their “turn it off” philosophy where you can turn the changes off, even the graphics.

Note that in WoW Classic they changed almost nothing and has been a huge success. Bringing back an old game from early 2020, giving it some graphics updates and leaving all the mechanics (including the bad ones) alone = success.

If they release D2R with anything less than what they have promised, it will be a fiasco for them. After refunds and embarrassment, they will lose more money then they gain, especially since fans will lose all faith in them and stop preordering their games.

So there are two scenarios:
A. They release the game with sweeping gameplay changes going against everything they have said. There will be another outcry of Bliz saying one thing and doing another just to make a quick buck. There will be such a massive refund push that it will make headlines. At this point a huge percentage of the population will refund on principle alone. It will be a complete fiasco that further damages their reputation, overshadowing any money this project makes.

B. They release the game exactly as it has been presented, old amazon and all. Most people will stay because D2 has always had solid gameplay and the new graphics are overall mostly cool even if you don’t agree with some of their choices. Sure it will carry forward some 20+ year old blemishes, but its a remaster so there is reason for them to be there. Of course there will be some refunds and complaints that they didn’t listen to the fans, but fans of the original will push back against them without Bliz having to even get involved. The argument people will have is “the game is exactly they way said it would be … but that’s not the game I wanted!”. Well we all want things we can’t have, the problem is about saying you’ll do something and then not doing it.

As for releasing the game with little changes then coming out of nowhere and changing core game play mechanics, well that depends on the market. If releasing the game with little changes blows up in their face, they are sure to try and stem the bleeding by making sweeping changes to fix it. But if the people love the game the way they released it, there are no problems and they are unlikely to change anything.

11

What Blizzard promised was to provide an authentic D2 experience in D2R. If they do that and make a more modern variant, then they kept their promise and there is no false advertising.

Since you are not obliged to play the modern variant and can play the old school D2in D2R, then it would not be a fiasco.

Except, Blizzard already stated that they are open to even more changes based on player feedback. Blizzard also promised optional changes for a more modern experience (auto-loot gold as a selectable option).

12

Outside of countries like Australia, most don’t have a flat return/refund policy. If they release the game, and it isn’t buggy, then release change patches over time - be it days, weeks, months or years later… you won’t get refunds.

Most of product development is about looking at how your users are using your product, and trying to innovate off of that. Otherwise, there is no need for developers after a product launch. Bug fixing is not enough to justify payroll. Blizzard will make changes. Some big, some small. Some will be welcome, some won’t. The best advice I can give to anyone is… accept it, or don’t buy the game.

13

No, they will not make changes. They will sell the game as a remaster and focus all their innovative resources on D3, D Immortal and D4.

14

To be honest, I don’t think we know what they’ll do. I wouldn’t be all that surprised, given the acquisition of VV by Blizzard, and the lack of games to remaster, they hand the reigns over to start working on a new patch, considering VV’s close knowledge of D2R going forward.

Why wouldn’t they, especially given the console support. I would probably be even more surprised if they add zero content moving forward.

15

That´s it. We really don´t know it yet.

There are reasons for not doing it (costs, focusing on other games) and reason to do so (people demanding it, keeping the game fresh).

16

They already have made changes (some obligatory and some optional). Do you mean that they will not make more changes?

This is strange to me too.

I wonder if some of the changes have already been done. In that case, one could argue that these should be released or it is a waste of money.

If you were Blizzard, would you send at a survey that asks do you want X at launch and either not have done already, made progress on it, or think that it could be done by that time?

17

Too easy? Ofc just kill ALL fun builds because hammerdin and java are OP instead if tweaking those.

18

There is obv going to be changes, they already showed them off.

They said a lot more than that. They said they want to build on the nostalgia and have it feel like the original D2 experience, which is why they are taking a 70/30 design approach. They also said you can turn all of it off, even the graphics and return to classic D2.

It depends on the changes they make and how the changes they make are perceived by the community. People seem to be getting behind QoL changes like Accessibility, tooltips, Stackable items, even minor balance changes to make unpopular aspects more relevant.

But if they make a change that fundamentally changes the feel and gameplay of the original (and which cannot be turned off) it will be a fiasco for them because this goes against what they have said.

This is not true because D2 hasn’t been supported since 2016. If they announced new support and ladders for the original then this would be true but basically what they said in the reveal is that you can turn off everything and play D2R as D2, but now supported once again. If this is not the case then simply going back to the old D2 does nothing for anybody and the community is going to be pissed that they lied.

There is no basis for this. If there is a public outcry for refunds they will expand the policy and allow for easy refunds just as they did with W3 reforged.

19

To my knowledge, most wanting personal loot want it as an optional selection and not a replacement for FFA. If Blizzard did this, all the promises made to D2 purists are intact.

20

A pure remaster won’t make Blizzard a lot of money. Once the nostalgia passes, the game will fade away.

D2 is masterpiece for its time, not for 2021. I support change based on community feedback to make it a masterpiece for 2021.