So having spent the weekend playing on my streamer account, and having discussed the matter with a few other streamers who were new to the game, as well as other friends who did not make it into the Alpha but used to play D2 with me when we were in high school, the unfortunate conclusion is that while D2R is certainly a Re of the original game, it currently and most certainly lacks the Master part, at least at the moment.
Though an initial glance at the graphics engine would praise its fidelity and enhancements to the original, once you’re past the “oooh, shiny!” phase, it doesn’t do much. Most spell effects look underwhelming - in some cases, outright worse than the original. Many skills look less powerful/nasty than their original counterpart, chief among them Blizzard but it’s hardly the only one, and we have yet to see what they did to the other 4 classes.
The UI is merely “alright”, with plenty of places where it is actually unintuitively placed. Would you like to know how many skill points and stat points you have left? Too bad, because neither do the Devs, apparently, who have made those numbers not only blend in to the UI but also made their locations not stand out anymore. The font is too clean, and nowhere is it more obvious than when items are on the ground. What happened to the nice, bold font of the original?
Gameplay is painfully affected by your screen resolution, granting major advantages to people playing on wider screens. This has been covered in-depth already so I’ll skip on that element.
Bugs plague the game as well, but those too have plenty of threads of their own, so let’s pass over all that.
In most ways, this plays exactly like D2 did, and that’s both a good and a bad thing. While I found myself reliving my nostalgia for a few hours, once that wore off I began feeling like the game was clunkier than the original. Animations don’t cancel out smoothly and in places look forced, something about movement seems off but I struggle to find the right words to describe it.
Again, it was great for the first few hours. It recaptured that feeling of playing D2 for the first time, wandering around Act I and exploring every little nook and cranny looking for extra monsters to kill and looking forward to my next skill point so I could see something new or grow in power. That much? Pretty good.
And then came the bad parts. The opinion from new players and streamers is… not favorable, and I completely see why. Once my own nostalgia wore off, I left myself wondering “could I really play this for the next year or two?” and the answer was an unfortunate and clear “no, not as it is right now”.
The strategy of trying to appeal to purists isn’t going to work for new players, or even players who originally left D2. What we’ve seen on these forums, over the last few days, from the purists, is outrage, entitlement, demanding invites over “new” players, claiming it’s unfair to market this game to anyone but them, and general hate threads directed at the Devs and at streamers who were not experts on the game.
The loyalty of a purist is extremely easily lost. Lightning looks off? Refund. Changed the character models or clothing? Refund. Auto-gold? Refund. Other prospective changes in the wings? REFUND! Gems look bad? Gloves look weird? These aren’t my spell effects? Refund, refund, refund. The smallest changes and flaws are causing a barrage of threads, refund threats and general outrage from this so-called “die hard fan” demographic. If you were to change the game any further, it would get worse.
Meanwhile, new players and new streamers are failing to get into the game. Outdated mechanics and controls for the sake of fidelity, lack of a very very basic tutorial for players new to the genre, unintuitive features like how skill points work, and how if you are interested in endgame AT ALL you really need to look up a guide for your class, you can’t just “figure it out”. Oh, and of course, who could fail to mention the DISDAIN for these new players?
On these forums, and in their streams alike, these new players are being criticized for trying to get into a game that “isn’t theirs”, that they “didn’t support” for the last twenty years and so are not allowed to defile with their grubby, casual new player hands. That this behavior is being allowed by Blizzard in the first place is, without question, disgusting.
That these threats and harassment are coming from the same people who threaten refunds over the smallest of changes makes it even worse.
This all begs the question: who is this alleged remaster for?
The die hard “fans” who are threatening to leave in droves over the smallest changes and/or prospective changes, and who dedicate their every waking minute on these forums to drive off people who suggest the game could be changed for the better? Or that the game could do better to lure in new players?
The brand new players who have never played D2 before and might want to discover it? Or who feel that it could be a gem if its outdated mechanics were patched?
The people who liked D2 but not enough to keep playing it, but might play an improved version, or a version with certain changes?
Until that question is answered, I can’t see where this is headed. What’s clear however is that a major attitude adjustment is required from people here on these forums. We’re all supposed to be here for our shared love of D2, but instead these forums have become a haven for the poisonous, the toxic and the entitled, driving away new players, streamers who aren’t hardcore into the game, and prospective returning players.
