When I consider the various communities that have emerged over blizzards IP I struggle to think of any as problematic, any more toxic, than the D2 community.
For seven years this small community has loudly held held this IP hostage to their nostalgia-- for a game that the blizzard today could not and would not ever produce. Blizzard should have redirected this budget to new game development, because D2R will have an even smaller active and concurrent player base, and even worse longevity, than D3.
Just a FYI D2R is for all intents and purposes D2 :LOD which is still going after 25+ years. It is just overlay engine with a few tweakās to the original game. I honestly think D3ās longevity is coming to an end with D4 in the works . Ya, They will keep the servers up but the player base which has dwindled over the years with loss of players to other games IE: PoE soon to be PoE 2 . I would be shocked to to see 1/1000th of the current D3 player base still playing it in another 8-10 years. Which would still not put it at D2ās longevity range in the least .
Sounds to me like you have a totally biased opinion with nothing factual to back it up.
It is fine if you donāt like Diablo 2. It is fine if you donāt understand the love people have for Diablo 1 and 2. The people who āheld this IP hostageā are the people who grew up playing D1, D2, and were so excited when Diablo 3 was announced, only to be let down by numerous aspects that continued to become more and more streamlined and silly (story/presentation) as development went on. You cannot blame a passionate community for wanting the series to return to itās roots. I find that the community is not toxic, they are very sad to see their favorite game/series turn into what Diablo 3 was, and hope Diablo 4 turns it around (in their eyes). Not everyone will get this or feel the same way. That is fine.
Blizzard is the greatest title holder of āmissed opportunities ā. D2 only has a single 1 act expansion for the greatest and most famous of all ARPGs. Now that D2R is coming after decades, it appears to be another massively missed opportunity for them to really improve the game (especially qolās) and to make D2 a modern masterpiece. Iām sure itāll be good no doubt after all itās the original game with an visual overlay, but Blizzard fails to give their long and loyal Diablo fanbase something truly special with this franchise. More accurately, Blizzard is a failure to understand.
I see three potential camps of D2R players: those from the core D2 community in the past, those who play D3, and those who play for D2/D2LOD nostalgia. And of course players who span all of those categories to some degree.
The nostalgia will wear off rather quickly, which will be the first exodus of players. Those who play D3 because itās the latest Diablo game right now will be playing D2R, then drop off when D4 hits. And the core players will be left, which may never leave or drop off for a while, then come back again later. Regardless of what happens, I foresee D2R as being like any other new game with an big influx of players, then a sharp decline of the active player base after some time. The only difference is that the core D2 player base is and will continue to be in slow decline over time, as with any older game.
I sort of span all three of those categories, but I know my own interest in D2R is more nostalgia than anything else. If Blizzard balances the gameplay over time and even adds new story-line content or game modes, then I might be interested in playing D2R for quite a while. But I doubt that will happen. D2R will most likely be nothing more than a skin, and a new class or two, and some quality of life changes. Still, Iād love for Blizzard to prove me wrong.
I would figure D2R will have quite a longevity unless VV botches it big (and Iām not talking about personal loot or some QoL implementation here). Or, if D2 community is fickle. New flashy graphics might lose interest as time goes by, and they might prefer the old, low pixel one. Also, less than expected mod support/not enough QoL change might turn them down.
D2R is basically D2 so, toggle-able graphic or QoL stuff and all.
The biggest hurdle for the D2 core community is going to be the requirement of always being online to play. D2LOD was the last in the line of Diablo titles where you could play offline, mod it, and even play over your own servers. Thatās going to be a big hit for a good chunk of the community. I have no idea how many core D2 players will not play D2R because of this, but I do know that this change will strike at the very heart of many in the D2 community.
I do agree with this whole heartily. D2 players constantly come to this forum and rave how much better D2 is compared to D3. I wish they would stay in their own forum.
There is no real need for D2R to do a whole lot beyond updating the graphics for people who still play the game and being a nostalgia trip for others. Theyāve already got Diablo 4 under development to try to move the franchise forward.
Diablo 2 already has longevity. People still play it, even the base unmodded game.
Itās confirmed that D2R will be playable offline.
I wouldnāt be too sure about that one, because you might be wrong.
Obviously it means something to Blizz otherwise D2R either wouldnāt exist at all or be a remake that would be so far away from D2. That D2R might be closer to D3 than D2.
That all depends on what is done to D3. You never know what the future holds for a game like D3.
It wasnāt that expensive to make D2R. More than that, it is a nice marketing move: decrease d2fans toxicity (and maybe even make many of them buy D4 - but in this case D2R must remain unchanged forever), draw huge attention to the franchise again.
I like all versions of Diablo in its own way. I grew up with the entire series anyway, and itās the first PC game Iāve ever played that didnāt required me to boot up from DOS.
As a kid, I loved the limited isometric gothic horror style that Diablo I that not only made me feared for my life on what lurks beyond my light radius, but enjoyed the overly powered mage character where I need not worry about āclass balanceā because Blizzard North understands that if you want to feel powerful, you should be. And if you wanted challenge, play as a Rogue or Warrior right up to Hell.
As for Diablo II, I love the fact that the game has expanded on the isometric gothic horror into a slightly more action-based gameplay, and even more classes to choose from without making it feel like there is a need for competition (aside from playing on ladders and/or online with other players), as well as opening up even more room to improve or breathe new life to the game in the form of mods. But most of all, I enjoyed the game in its entirety from the comforts of a single player game.
Diablo III was a tough cookie. Throughout my entire experience with this game, it has been a love-hate relationship. Not the best in the franchise but I donāt hate it as much as, say FF7Remake (I know, different genre, but really hate the mess SE has destroyed both gameplay and storyline of this game).
As for what the future holds in D4, it looks similar to Diablo III. Until I get to experience it firsthand, I would still say Iām a fan of the game (all of it) even if the game is not a fan of me.
Itās not 100% offline. You still have to authenticate first. Therefore youāre still subject to 3rd party software detection, etc. And that means you canāt run private servers either. So no, the āoffline modeā isnāt really offline all the time, itās only that you donāt need an Internet connection during gameplay, but still need a connection to authenticate and possibly consent to other Blizzard telemetry and exe integrity detection.
How come we have to see these toxic post every single day and they are not removed for the trolling crap that they are? Doesnāt anyone moderate these forums anymore?
