Feedback: Seasons have killed my interest in Diablo 4

PC General Discussion
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In the event a developer is seeking feedback, this post is simply meant to provide some honest opinions.

I had serious doubts about the strong focus on seasonal content for Diablo 4, but I made my best effort to try seasons out. For clarification, I only have a few hours a day to game, but I have made an effort to put most of that time into D4.

On the eternal realms my sole character (i.e. my “main”) is only around level 60, but I haven’t had the spare time to play him since Season 1 began. That is the character I prefer to be playing, but I’m instead spending all of my available time trying to get a less interesting “alt” through the reward track on the battle pass. This has now reached the point where it feels like more of a job and less like a game which should be providing me with fun.

Despite playing a few hours each day and nearly every day, I’ve only completed roughly 25% of the reward track on the battle pass. My seasonal character is level 50 and I completed the seasonal questline several levels ago. I’ve done the math, and at my current rate of progress the likelihood of completing all 90 levels on the reward track before the season ends seems unlikely. It will also require me to reach a level of progress on my seasonal character that, honestly, I have almost zero interest in obtaining. As I get closer to passing my eternal realm character’s level, I find that I’m increasingly frustrated about not investing all of this time and effort into my main character instead - the one I have a genuine interest in playing.

I’ll state what I dislike as simply as possible:

  1. If “seasonal” content is going to continue, I want to be able to fully participate in it with my main character. This game only (disappointingly) offers five classes, and most of them I have no interest in playing. I’m also not interested in leveling characters of the same class that use different builds… because if I find a particular build to be the most entertaining to me, then obviously my interest will be in using that build with that class. I am not interested in forcing myself to play a build I find less entertaining simply because it is something different.

In Season 1, every time the NPC Cormond references my character’s past, it is clear he is referring to my eternal realms character and not the new one I was forced to make on the seasonal server to engage with this story. If you can’t create a plot that can make sense of me engaging the story with a new character, then how do you expect me to accept the logic of being expected to abandon my main every season?

  1. Progress on the battlepass reward track is far, far too slow. Playing the game normally, I should be completing the reward track around the same time I complete the seasonal questline. You have clearly designed the pace through the reward track around the expectation of reaching level 100 with a character, but that is 1) not realistic for someone with my schedule and 2) undesirable when you’re forcing me to do it with a character other than my “main”.

I am beyond tired of games that expect me to play them constantly. It used to be that I gave you money, you gave me a game, and I hopefully enjoyed what you designed enough to come back and try your next game. But the monetization models used these days have you designing everything around FOMO and getting players to interact with your game and its shop constantly. Diablo 4 is in direct competition for my gaming time with every other game that insists on going this route lately, and (to be perfectly blunt) it has failed to be entertaining enough to win that competition.

I’m interested in playing a variety of games, and if they all insist on being “seasonal” then a player like me will not have time for most of them. I do not want to be in a position where I have to play D4 exclusively to avoid “missing out” on time-sensitive content, I simply want to play this game when I’m in the mood to do so and play something else when I’m not. If you require all of my gaming time to progress through the entirety of your reward tracks, then I will lose interest in playing D4 altogether, because that is not an experience I am interested in pursuing, at which point the idea of playing Diablo at all will just seem pointless.

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This dissonance is definitely odd. No way around it.

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In Season 1, every time the NPC Cormond references my character’s past, it is clear he is referring to my eternal realms character and not the new one I was forced to make on the seasonal server to engage with this story. If you can’t create a plot that can make sense of me engaging the story with a new character, then how do you expect me to accept the logic of being expected to abandon my main every season?

I agree with this, this I thought was a little disconnecting to me. I knew that this fresh new seasonal character has never truly been through the adventures my eternal realm main had been through and so the feeling of connection was not there for me. The dialogue felt out of place.

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I don’t look at it as Cormond referencing your past as in your eternal character, its referencing you playing through the campaign. We are just able to skip the campaign out of convenience.

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Thanks for sharing.

I don’t want this to come across as rude, but this seems like a you problem and not a game problem. Some games just fit into our lives better than others. For example, a doctor working full time and doing residency would never be able to play WoW and stay relevant however they might be able to chill on off days and play Skyrim a bit.

You see, If your life doesn’t allow you the time to complete the seasonal battlepass that’s just an issue that you have. It’s not so much the fault of the game or the devs. There are lots of other games you can play that fit your schedule

People talk like they HAVE to complete these things. It’s a game at the end of the day. It’s a game.

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You are not wrong, but in my opinion you’re failing to give the issue enough weight.

It’s a “you problem” (that is, a me-problem) in the sense that it means this game will not be designed in a way that I find enjoyable, and as a fan of the Diablo series the reality that it failed to meet my expectations is understandably disappointing.

It is a “game problem” (that is, a Blizzard problem) in the sense that if the designers can’t find a way to keep the game appealing to enough people, then ongoing development will be scaled back and/or eventually abandoned, and/or the monetization model will dramatically change in a way that is less appealing to players, causing more players to abandon the game, which in turn causes further negative changes to occur.

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Typical idiotic take from this game’s playerbase. They play a few hours a day, that’s plenty of time to complete the seasonal “content”. The issue is that it’s not fun and feels like a job - a sentiment felt by many. That indicates a problem of the game. Blizzard doesn’t care. They’ll always have mindless zombies like you to play and have fun with zero content.

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Yes you’re right i agree with you on that

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Can you please please please learn to reply to people without name calling and using vulgar language?

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This one made me laugh hahahahhaa. Are you for real? Have you actually played any arpg before? Games are a time sink, thats what they are designed for. If you don’t have time then find something suitable for you. Like mobile games or fighting games or sports games… Rpgs are meant to take time, to waste your time. In the other hand, all your points are bland and invalid, and by that a toddler would have a stronger argumentation, on the basis that an everlasting character only belings to mmos wheres there is a major purpose as large scale pvp, huge item collection and yet WAY more time spent. Gosh, this is you, you cant play the game…

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It appears as if ARPG’s are not for you, might I suggest a game more akin to your wishes in another title made by the very same company that makes D4. It is a different genre called an MMORPG, is more adept at catering to a “main” character over a long time span.

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Perhaps I needed to explain it more thoroughly as you’re misrepresenting my opinion, but I will attempt to clarify.

I am fine with an RPG taking time… I enjoy RPGs, they are one of the main gaming genres I grew up with.

I am not fine with a game that requires all of my gaming time lest I miss out on content that is only available for an arbitrary amount of time. I am, of course, talking about games that intentionally prey on FOMO, which is what Diablo 4 is doing.

I want to be clear that I don’t mind occasionally giving money to a game with a live service, whether it’s a subscription or regular battle passes. I am not oblivious to the fact that it requires continued funding to provide ongoing content updates.

What I do not like is the idea of paying a developer for the privilege of having the conditional chance of obtaining something… essentially gambling my money against my time. In D4s case, I can purchase the battlepass, but I can only receive all the rewards tied to it if I also sink enough of my time into completing the reward track before it’s yanked away. The idea that I can potentially lose out on rewards I paid to have access to simply because I’m unable to provide enough of my free time within an arbitrary window doesn’t sit well with me.

I will note that I didn’t suggest battlepasses be removed. I simply pointed out that if they are not scaled in a way that is more appealing/reasonable to a casual player, then that player will probably lose interest in participating in seasons (which essentially means losing interest in the game, since seasons are the game’s primary form of ongoing content).

I am curious what you have against quicker progress through the reward track, particularly since it only offers cosmetics. Why does the idea that another player could obtain an emote or cosmetic boots more quickly bother you? Is it really worth losing their ongoing support and future funding over, particularly if it removes a large enough audience that the future of the game is negatively impacted?

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BEEN TRYING TO SAY THIS FOR A YEAR!!!

FLASH FORWARD.

WELCOME TO DUMB GAME DESIGN.

PEOPLE WILL JUST SAY “NOONE IS FORCING SEASONS ON YOU”
PEOPLE WILL JUST SAY “DIABLO” HAS ALWAYS DONE THIS.

well, let me just say those poeple are wrong. The game is dying and its so sad because ultimately it failed due to itemization being boring and broken.

good job artists. good job … but gameplay, loot and seasons ruined this game.

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I’m already enjoying an MMO, thank you though. I also have enjoyed many ARPGs (including each Diablo game) throughout my gaming history, so it would be flawed to deduce that they’re not for me.

The concept of wanting to invest effort and time into a particular character has little to do with an MMO, however. Typically, in many games (particularly live service games), players generally advance a specific character through whatever content the game offers.

Theoretically, when D4s first expansion eventually releases I would be engaging it with my “main” character.

I’m aware that some (not all, just some) ARPGs have seasonal content that require starting a new character. I am simply providing my opinion that I dislike this design. If someone wants to start a new character, more power to them… I am all for options. But as I’m not interested in participating in a race or ladder, I do not feel it would be strange if my eternal realms character was able to make progress through the battle pass reward track. At least I wouldn’t feel like I was sinking my limited gaming time into a character I plan to largely abandon by season’s end.

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I can see the issues that might be had, but I thought much the same as you. Skipping the campaign only meant that I didn’t have to run through it again as a player, but that the Season character did run through it.