Yup. This has been my issue since Beta. The variety in content just is not there, and the gameplay experience you get in the game at the start is the same as the experience you get at the end. Thus the repetition sets in very quickly, and with it, the boredom.
I didnt hit 100 until today, probably putting in, since Tuesday, 15-20 hrs?
I dont think “time until hitting max level” as a KPI or benchmark between games is a good comparison. Heres my reason: Endgame in POE starts around 57-58 ish… when you complete campaign, beat Kitava and hit maps. Thats the start of endgame. You grind through maps and can be in red maps by 85-90. Most people at this point are starting or have beaten the pinnacle bosses they wanted take out. By 90-92 most people are done and re-roll. MOST people do not go for level 100 characters. Theres no real reason to. No functional reason. A seasoned POE vet can blow through campaign in 4-5 hours, be in red maps 5-10 hours after that and re-rolling in a matter of days. Mathil re-rolls after like…5 or 6 days?
In D4, Endgame starts at WT4 (whenever you decide to get there) with the most difficult/pinnacle content being tucked behind level 100 walls. I think some streamers/d4 vets were hitting WT4 after about 4-5 hours, similar to a poe campaign. Another 5-10 hours to 90-100, and so on. I think the pacing is on point.
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D2 was a 1 hit wonder for the blizz north team. Everything theyve worked on since has been meh.
The addiction in D2 classic was the online social environment, ie, the chat forums. Before they got taken over by scammers and offline marketplace bots. I never hit 99 in D2 Classic either, even after a year of playing very competitively on a ladder team because at a year they released LoD which took the game to over a million sold, but was the beginning of catering to the casual players. D2 was HARD. We liked it that way. A lot of us at the time grew up in arcade culture where reflexes and skill meant something, so we liked that you actually had to be good to play a game rather than just play it. I get that this formula wont sell 50 million copies now, but the real gamer likes a game, not just Netflix with button mashing. Seriously games were hard back then. Even WoW was a freaking joke compared to serious Everquest players that were around since before the Luclin expansion.
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I think this is great, it really opens up the concept of many new builds while being able to plan and extend the idea of more challenges.
also barbs got nerfed, very happy about that too
Nah man, this season is great. It’s chill, it’s fast, I can buy the season pass and go about my life and have had a good time. You know what’s better than that? All the changes! They can tweak the difficulty later, this season is all about testing the changed and I think the changes are damn good.
It’s the first time I’ve played this game where I have 0 major complaints. The itemization now feels a tad too simple but it’s leagues better than the previous system full of obtuse meaningless sidegrades and straight up downgrades as you level. Helltides are finally fun. I enjoy them now. They feel like they should have on launch. I love the new codex system. I don’t have to run X useless dungeon for X aspect for the 5th season in a row and it opens up being able to enjoy the game all that much more.
This season is indeed easy and I do hope they up the difficulty for the next seasons but it’s so nice not feeling like I’m smashing my teeth against a brick wall that hates me and my free time unless I play an absolute meta build just to progress, for once. I really hope they don’t nerf the current leveling pacing.
How far did you get before LoD released? I remember nr1 Eu was like ~93, was it higher in US?
I also think D2 Classic was the most balanced and skillful. 1.08/1.09 pvp was good too but there is a reason LLD is probably the biggest PvP in d2 now (its close to classic D2 
)
I mostly agree. I’ll add though that you can get gibbed in helltides if youre not paying attention because so many mobs spawn in and the summon boss can insta-gib you too.
Also, everyone is complaining about pit bosses being over tuned. I don’t think they are, they usually die in 5-20 seconds. Is that too long? lol… Additionally, I dont think anyone has hit pit 200? Or if so, its a very small amount of people? I think as of a few days ago, Rob & Wudijo havent hit pit 200? I could be wrong.
Uber Lillith is still a challenge. Much more approachable than previously due to the lack of one shot nerfs but aside from the massive HP buff, I feel like they threw in a few more mechancs or combined a few at certain points. Its a tough as hell fight still and people are saying it is harder than before (I guess because they cant phase her through mechs).
Point being… Theres a fair bit of challenge in the game. But I do want more.
Everything is feeling really good right now.
No, I also find it to be especially disappointing right now. I don’t feel like “building” a character to level 100. The item progression so unsatisfying now. You reach WT3 and after 3 minutes you’re practically invincible. Then you reach WT4 and after a few minutes you’ll get showered with ancestral legendaries and you’re practically invincible again, at Level 59 in my case.
At this point it feels like Blizzard wants to eliminate a smooth progression and levelling entirely unneccessary. Instead you’ll get two big instant gratification moments and then a boring void of nothingness.
Calling the game easier is cope.
They’re people that still haven’t killed uber lilith, tormented Duriel/Andariel, the pit past level 100 or a decent clear speed in the gauntlet.
Yep it is to ez now. I am able to go afk in HT at WT4 around 55 lvl (yeah with ancerstral to be honest)…
also HC
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A lot of the content for the xpac to me screams of wanting to bring in casuals, multiplayer-minded WoW players, dumbed down game play (like the examples you stated), etc. The fact that coming back after season 1 and seeing many broken things not addressed like global chat and LFG options tells me I’m not on the same page as them for future endeavors.
it’s quite simple - they just don’t know how to make not D3/WoW games anymore.
Old Blizzard are long go. They tried, but failed hard. And decided to keep at least D3 crowd. I think this is the most loyal part of the players, because they have no experience of other ARPGs.
I wanted it, for those players that like the grind, i grind a little so i dont care.
Problem is the game i cared about got destroyed in the process so um is it coming back soon? ever?
Or is this it, that is the better question.
Who wanted this?
This only stirs arguments. of course some d3ers wanted a grind like rifts, sure they dont care for the other content as much so forcing them to run it was a mistake, but in a game dubbed play it your way, it needs to find a way to make that true. Bring life back to the rest of the game, maybe once minmaxer grinders are happy we will get some Qol. But at least throw us a few bones, something that says we haven’t given away on the game.
Otherwise all i see is a map that could have just been all endgame and you level like gauntlet and saved all the money and time and have one hub, one rift portal and go, oh and make it known that is what it is. They already have immortal and D3 more than what D2 Players have. Pretty unfair.
What they’ll do is buff a build so it’s 10 times stronger(or more) than other builds and they’ll rotate power like that because there is no other balance. Diablo 2 is far superior in its balance and it’s not constantly balanced because good balance doesn’t need constant balancing…
For Neo Blizzard balance is content.
Can you imagine their thinking? Minon necro is terrible for a long time, then they need to bring players back so they buff minion necro for that exact purpose, to sell something.
Always about selling something, that’s why the product is so tainted.
If their intention was to create a well balanced game with longevity they would not keep rotating balance the coming 20 seasons… You’ll see.
Unfortunately, Blizzard pretends not to see the player’s suggestions and will not make any changes or respond.
I may be in the minority here and I do see the points made by others, but the experience in game is radically different for the classes in this game. Example, trying to level a druid vs a necro or anything else really send bad juju and frustrations to the players. As far as the easiness of the game, there are very likely many casual players who think the level of difficulty is just fine and they do make up the greater majority of players.
Format your wall of text.
No one wanted that either.
Nothing in the game is hard until you get to pits.