Did Blizzard Drop the Ball with the s23 Updates?

Console Discussion
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I hadn’t played the game in maybe 2 years, until season 22. The shadow clones were fun, but the 4th cube slot was really the one that changed things and renewed my interest in playing the game again, and i did.

I"m not a hardcore player putting in hours and hours every day, I am more a casual player with maybe 2 or 3 hours at best in a day. I have my routines each time i play, and i found myself having fun again, thanks to the combinations and variety of the 4th cube slot.

Then i read about the follower changes for s23, and got very excited on the emanate changes. I had been under the impression (for some stupid reason) that the 4th cube slot would be permanent, and that with the changes to Followers, the game would be on the right path to be fun to play again.

and then the patch came in, and i read the patch notes… and what a total letdown…

Bad enough that Blizzard did not keep the 4th cube slot as a permanent feature, but the emanate list is so pathetically small, and the lack of weapon emanates… even class-specific emanates… just killed the enthusiasm i had for the game again.

After playing the game for 2 days with the patch, and with a few minor issues, not to mention that the powers for the Sorceress just totally suck now compared to the other 2 followers, i find myself trying to decide whether i should skip season 23 completely and see what s24 has to offer when the time comes, or just find another game to play.

The sad thing is, I am sure i am not the only one in this boat as well. and from reading the general discussion posts, i know i am in the majority who thinks Blizzard dropped the ball in Season 23.

And with the fact that Blizzard alienates console players by not letting them post in the General discussion thread at all and only in the Console section which is dead compared to the other sections, kind of feel like there is no point to this game now.

Curious if anyone else feels this way or not.

1 Like
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The Followers are not likely to change again unless more emanations are added. They are permanent.

I disagree with you on the Enchantress - almost all my characters have a use for her. The hard choice is whether to use the elemental damage or cooldown skill. The others (Templar and Scoundrel) I use, but only because I’m seeing what they can do.

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i use to use her often as well. but now she’s relegated to a support roles mostly, compared to the other 2 followers who have more offensive powers now compared to her.

4

Ah, I see. In my experience the followers do not do enough damage after Torment 6 or so to really care about that. As long as they stay alive (easy to do with the right token) they are best served as utility machines. But, that’s my experience. Clearly you have a different one. Just means the game plays a bit askew betwixt.

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I’m not sure if it will make a huge overall difference to the nature of the game for me. I see some things to try out with it, so in that respect its something fresh. I’ll give it a go and see.

Besides Nems and FoT, the other emanate pieces arent going to make much difference or any to GRs. They are good for some builds that weren’t fitting them in though.

Perhaps speeding up t16 (and other torment levels) though is possible by opening up slots with gear that can be moved to the follower. In a roundabout way perhaps this could partly address some concerns people have had about solo bounty farming. Gold also became more relevant than it was with the paragon radius change.

The fourth cube slot was clearly a popular theme. It seemed to push capability beyond GR150 which goes against design principles they’ve blogged about: [D3] Developer Insights: Balancing & Class Set Design - Diablo III

There’s clear areas for improvement with the follower system… presumably they can keep adding to it if the interest is there.

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It kinda cemented the idea that I’m done with this game for a bit, that with the lazy nerf to the GoD DH. I’ve been learning the ins and outs of D2 getting ready for the remaster.