To say I am disappointed would be an understatement. It’s an absolute shame what Blizzard has continued to do to the franchise. I’m not even mad about it at this point, it’s just sad to see. D3 was a major misstep but at least it was still an, albeit very shallow, ARPG. This is just some pseudo-mmo garbage that’s solely to sell cosmetics for their “live service”.
The skill trees are completely bland. It’s basically the same as D3 with a more complicated looking UI to give a larger sense of scope. Datamined paragon boards show very basic stat increases, with a few minor ability altering nodes sprinkled sparsely throughout.
Open world would be completely fine if it was actually interesting. However, right now it’s just boring. There’s not a whole lot going on, there’s massive amounts of empty space with nothing to fight, it’s basically a walking simulator. A fairly good looking walking sim, but a walking sim nonetheless.
World quest and world bosses are ripped straight from retail wow/numerous other mmos. Complete faceroll garbage that IS mandatory if you have any interest in maximizing your characters potential. There are certain mats you can only get from wq/wb, and without trading you’re forced into doing them.
The end game “dungeons” are the same as the dungeons we’re currently experiencing in the beta. Same copy paste repetitive layouts in every single one, with the only difference being the interchanging lever, item, mini boss hallways in each one. The big “nightmare dungeon” mechanic that is supposed to be the pinnacle endgame content is the exact same as mythic+ dungeons from retail wow. Same boring dungeons, with an added modifier or 2 to make you even more miserable. The only thing we’re missing is the raids. I’m sure they’ll figure out a way to fit them in soon.
This game will make a ton of money based off of the Diablo name alone. By the time player numbers crater after a month or 2, the damage will have already been done. Blizzard will be saying that the game was a huge success, and it’s a shame.
The “Diablo” market they are aiming at is a new crowd of players that don’t understand/can’t relate to Diablo or Diablo II.
The D2 remake is their market, most of the new playerbase wasn’t born when D1 came out.
Diablo died decades ago, and this new ‘demon’ is NOT the same…
IMHO
This is my main problem with Blizzard overall, they’re the McDonalds of gaming, aiming to mass produce a “cheap” product for the market to quickly gobble up so they can make another “cheap” product to sell. It’s all for the money and the profits, meaning the passion and dedication is out the window. It’s a bland, tasteless burger that doesn’t seek to experiment or push boundaries, it’s just to earn money.
I’ve lost all hope in Blizzard as a game developer, and I’m not certain that Diablo 4 would be worth the full retail price on launch. Maybe I’ll just wait until they put it on sales before I purchase it.
Oh how the mighty have fallen? “When it’s done.” ™
On a side-rant on WoW, very few probably recall the old WoW site, they posted on every class page something like “The best way to play this class is up to your playstyle”, which later evolved into literally ‘Best in Slot’ and achievement griefing in the current game.
The mighty have fallen indeed. A skinchanger crawled in and killed the old Blizzard from the inside, then took their skin to leech of their name.
I do remember WoW under the old Blizzard. I still remember the crossroad chats with some of the developers who were actually present in the game from time to time. Blizzard was build on the “nerd” foundation, love for game development and love for games, which shoved in their end product. Not perfect, but overall hecking good quality.
I completely understand companies change over time. Obviously Activision buying them had a massive negative effect. With that being said, people always say how Blizzard is filled with extremely talented individuals that are some of the best at what they do.
What I don’t understand how they can’t come up with anything more original than just copy pasting mechanics/systems from an mmo into an arpg. At this point I just assume that there’s one or two people at the top that are mandating all of these things be put into the game because studies show its the best way to maximize profits.
I genuinely feel bad for some of the people working there. They were probably fans just like you or I thinking they were getting their dream job, only to find out that the Blizzard of old is gone.
I didn’t like it either. Feels like generic F2P ARPG with stunning graphics.
Visually its fantastic. 0 complaints about that. Audio is great too. Music is fine, definitely missing the guitar though. The game is all looks and no substance.