Why Blizz has given up on D3, and why they shouldn't

General Discussion
1

An open letter to Walter Kong, Head of Live Games and Mobile Development,

I have no interest in playing Diablo 4. Based on what I’ve seen, heard, and read I simply think Diablo 3 is a better game. Take that with a grain of salt given I haven’t actually played it, but many feel the same. The numbers reflect this. There were 7-8 million active (more or less) D3 players before D4 launched. Now they’re split roughly down the middle, less some.

Does Blizzard feel that they are undermining Diablo 4 if they continue to support Diablo 3 as it deserves?

You still have a very loyal player base. But you are doing them a disservice by neglecting D3. Is it about money?

Why not add more cosmetics, stash tabs and other benign things to increase your bottom line, thereby justifying continued development to your executives and shareholders? What about a very low monthly subscription, as with WoW? I’d happily play $5-10/month to continue playing D3, if it means development continues.

I even put my money where my mouth is and bought everything I could in the store, even though I have no interest in playing Necromancer, and I don’t care for the pets or Tmogs. I know it’s not much, but I’ve come to really like this game after returning from a 10 year hiatus.

I am not going to pretend I know anything about game development, but some glaring issues that I see as a player are including, but not limited to;

  1. Complete lack of new content. Not asking for new expansions, but that’d be cool. Maybe just the occasional new season theme.

  2. Classes and set items need to be more balanced, so people can enjoy playing the game how they want, rather than what’s good, in order to really have fun, or be competitive. Witch Doctor is particularly bad. This is reflected in GR150 completion numbers early in the season.

  3. Fixing bugs. For instance, yesterday I killed some elites that didn’t disappear on death, so they still kept attacking me, but I couldn’t even target it. This happened multiple times.

  4. Making Normal more playable. Hardly anyone plays it because Seasonal play is so much stronger. At least make Altar and Visions permanent, as they are in Seasonal, perhaps?

I digress,

Blizzard’s reputation in the gaming community is already in shambles. Things like taking care of your game and by extension your players is a way to buy back some of the reputation that has been lost over the years.

Diablo 3 is a very accessible game. You can play it solo, and be able to pause it. You cannot play D4 solo, or pause it. For many adults, especially those with young children, this is a huge plus.

It has low system requirements, so people who can’t afford a newer gaming PC can afford to play it. In fact, the first friend I made when I came is a guy from Costa Rica.

It’s very casual friendly. You can pick it up and play it, be fully geared for your desired build in a couple hours if you have a little help, which many in the community are happy to do. It’s also rewarding to more serious players because it’s hard to achieve very fast GR150 clears. This is very difficult to achieve in a game, but Blizzard has done it. D3 is part of Blizzard’s legacy. It’s sad to see an installment in such an epic franchise be cast aside in favor of it’s successor.

In closing,

I hope this letter is brought to your attention, and you took the time to read it.

Sincerely,

Thaladread
A long time Blizzard game player

P.S. I’ve played most other Blizzard games as well, played WoW for like 9 or 10 years, from BC-WoD. Tried TWW before starting D3 again, but WoW just isn’t for me anymore.

That’s actually your brand. The guarantee that you can stop playing a game, and come back in literally a decade and pick right back up where you were. Few other companies or games have that kind of longevity. Do it justice.

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2

Why should Blizz continue to support D3? There is no income from it other than original purchase and expansions fees. There is no ongoing income.

D3 remains my favorite RPG. I do not find what I have seen of D4 appealing.

My suggestion to Blizzard is to start doing real Seasonal updates with a new theme for each Season. Blizz could charge a $5 fee for each new season. If there are still 2-3 million players playing D3, a seasonal fee could produce enough income to make a few updates.

3

Who are you… really?

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4

So, when you say stuff like this:

It makes it really hard for blizz to take you seriously when you then attempt statements like:

The reason being, you didn’t even care enough to play it when it was free. Now you expect them to believe you’ll pay for it? Monthly, even? Into perpetuity?

I’m betting the thought crossed their mind more than once. You gotta figure it’s a catch-22 situation, though; if they DON’T, “boo hiss, blizz is letting the game die” but if they DO, “boo hiss, blizz is paywalling what used to be free.”

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Just a guy who enjoyed your games as a teenager, but tended to gravitate to PvP. Now I’m not interested in that, because it’s all so tiresome. Had a nostalgia moment a few months ago, which brought me around to trying WoW again but it just didn’t hit like it used to.

So I tried D3 and like it a lot better. Killing hordes of mindless NPCs, to get loot, to kill increasingly stronger mindless hordes of NPCs, is much more peaceful.

6

You can still play it to your heart’s content. There is a lot to experience if you haven’t played in years.

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Seeing many threads like this in the past from other game forums, I have an idea what that is about but it’d be rude to make assumptions. This thread can be fun to stick around if people are not trolling as it can sparkle a few good ideas. Other than that, it’s just senseless drivel that goes nowhere and perhaps a lick of sarcasm thrown in there.
Since last few Seasons, D3 is on repeat and development stopped because it’s on slow descend. Although it can manage itself, company always chase the sustainable profit; not maintenance that would decline in a few years.

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Diablo IV was the opportunity to fix what went wrong with Diablo III. Adding content and bug fixing won’t help Diablo III because the core game mechanics have been completely corrupted by years of misguided development. It’s become a seasonal race to nowhere with a lot of shortcut diversions that narrow down to a single focus to Grift grinding. If you like anything about the way Diablo 3 is you should play the hell out of it because there will never be another like it. Diablo IV is just running with the other pseudo mmorpg lemmings. I’ve never played Diablo IV and never will.

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Aside from who you are, I was more interested in the apparent contradictions in your post (hence the quotes).

A quick clarification: I’m not Bliz.

What’s interesting about that is early on, it was fairly different. It’s initial development was largely based on the negative feedback of D3 and what it became.

However, in D4’s first year or so, there was a huge pushback about not liking the gameplay. And whether the players were aware of it or not at they time, they were asking for more D3-like play. So little by little, the devs relented and made the changes the players wanted.

I don’t remember what article it was, but a while back I read a line that made me chuckle. It was along the lines of, ‘The players told us [Bliz] not to make another D3, so we didnt. But then they weren’t satisfied with it, which fine because development is always ongoing. But, when we asked what they wanted instead, the answer was essentially more like D3’.

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Of all the things that are never going to happen this will not happen the most.

Funny how after 2 YEARS of not being developed we see these nonsense posts. It reads like ChatGPT without the !!! and ----.

Say things like this you lose the intended audience.

Literally tell us you have no credibility.

Aaaand now we find what the post is really about.

Obviously you don’t know how things work with modern multi-billion dollar mega corps.

I can’t say this enough. Enjoy what we have while we have it.

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A big no for me, “We” play with what we don’t have.
Pay more for a game that’s under maintenance?
Ha ha

p.s. : the “we” being for players who play regularly, casual or not, not for a player who comes back after several years.

p.s.s. :

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Yes. Why would they push people from a game with active income to a game with no active income?

Yes. They are a business. For any business, it is always about the money.

Hell no. Make high quality content and sell it to us. Don’t charge us with a monthly fee with the promise of making high quality content.

If you want to throw money at them fine. Start mailing them checks with “For D3 development” in the memo line.

I know some people will :poop: a brick about a cosmetics cash shop, but I am fine with that. One thing I would like to see is for them to still be earnable in the game, just a purchase option for those who do not want/can’t grind them in the game.

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I’ll have to take your word for it. It makes sense because most of the bad ideas in D3 came from the player base. A clear case of be careful what you wish for.

So basic, simple, and true. Often they do the exact opposite of what would produce massive long term profits instead.

The two things that made farming trivial so that even the most casual players can go straight to grift grinding fully geared in three days. Just a bit more and the game would be Progress Quest.

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Definitely. I have worked for a couple of companies that would step over dollars to get to pennies. They all chase the almighty dollar, but a lot do it in a dumb, counter-intuative way.

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15

Why Blizz has given up on D3

Because it is nearly 15 years old.
They literally cannot touch it without upsetting people.

Remasters were an option but with D3

  • there is little need graphically and
  • neither mechanical choice will please everyone, the game has changed too much.

Hardly anyone plays D3 enough to justify a monthly fee.
If anything, high prices are a deterrent. With a 1:3 income parity ratio within EU already, discounts and old-product pricing makes it viable for poorer countries to enjoy games with some delay at affordable prices.

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