Even the devs knew this game was in a bad state (WP article)

PC General Discussion
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It is quite fun actually because Diablo Immortal has a battle royal PVP mode and the winner takes the loot chest with legendary gears.

It feels like a short burst MOBA solo/team clash and there are so many contestant fighting over the chest.

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Damn. So they knew it was not ready for release, released it anyway because “stock price”, and charged us all $70-100 for the privilege of playing a game they knew wasn’t a finished product.

Anatomy of a scam. This actually moves me from being disappointed to really pissed off.

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Reads more like a bunch of snowflakes needing a safespace.

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I mean, this game is absolute trash, but its biggest competitor in the bad ARPG space is Lost Ark, which is owned in the US by the same guy who owns the Washington Post.

So, take it with a grain of salt.

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100%. After the D4 experience, I’ve resigned myself to not purchase Starfield at release and will instead wait to see player reactions are like over the first month. It’s just too common a thing now for studios to release a game they know is broken, treat its customers as beta testers, and then try to “fix” everything with patches after the fact. This philosophy needs to be strangled in the crib.

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This defense also makes no sense. D4 uses the D3 engine with very few modifications - wardrobes and loadouts were already in the code. The simpler and thus more likely explanation is that they planned to sell these back to us on a cash shop but had to pivot after diablo immortal was dead on arrival.

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but its biggest competitor in the bad ARPG space is Lost Ark, which is owned in the US by the same guy who owns the Washington Post.

Being published in the west by Amazon doesn’t mean Amazon “owns” the game.

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The only part of this I’m glad about is the lack of a battle royale system. I hate video PvP in every form. I don’t think such a system fits Diablo well anyway.

The rest of it is just sad, but typical of corporations in general today. Money first, quality a distant second.

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They receive the lion’s share of purchases and residual income, which goes straight into the Luthorcorp coffers.

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Fair point. I don’t think PVP is for everyone’s taste and it really is difficult to balance with PVE.

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Money first is the way because corporations are run by the people who have loud speakerphone conversations in public.

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Great article shared @jinyonglee, thank you.

Would have been awesome to have battle royale.

The context totally makes sense for the games struggles with loss of institutional knowledge. And the anecdotal feedback on the executive also makes total sense after seeing his communication style in the campfires.

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Story is not irrelevant at all in a action rpg, many people enjoy the story elements and that is one of the biggest complains about Diablo 3 (besides set armor) is how bad the story was.

And to say just cosmetics shows you are out of touch. Cosmetics matter in video games just as much as power. They bring enjoyment to players.

The point is. Diablo 4 is a failure because of BG3 success. They set the bar so high that Blizzard could never reach it.

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That bit actually made me laugh. Wow, just wow.

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Even like the arcade game Hades which is purely repetiting the same game is retained by the very story behind his mother and the never-ending small talks from his siblings. The story makes the game more immersive and wanting to dive more.

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Glad the truth made you laugh.

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Easy way to balance is adjust ‘mob density’, ie how many players the stronger class has to take down during battle royale. Like Sorc could be kill 1 Rogue, and Druid would be kill 20 sorcs. :rofl:

Back on the main point…
The business journalism part would be that a key break point of long term vs short term decision making occurs when a sale the business is on the table. The infinite ‘end game’ loop comes to an end, and ‘end game’ because maximizing the single objective of cash out price if you will. So…article feels right. Everything decided (push for release, cut corners, option bonuses, etc, etc) to play this final game.

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i am sorry but just no.

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Can a blizzard moderator pin this thread please? It’s the most informative one we’ve had on the state of the game, thank you.

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My conjecture of the battle royal mode would be that all gear stats would be stripped except for the aspects and paragon points. So, it’s all about the player’s skill, skill mechanics and efficient paragon board.

I think this game won’t turn the tides until the next expansion. I don’t think the seasonal patches will do any justice. I just hope the community now understands that the upper management was the culprit and give more time for the devs. Then reevaluate the whole situation.

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