If you think Diablo IV is a bad game, you haven't actually played a bad game

PC General Discussion
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Either that, or your expectations for Diablo IV are so astronomically high that there was nothing the game could have possibly down to convince you.

Listen, I get that Activision-Blizzard hasn’t done its games any justice in recent memory. Between the abhorrent P2W systems of Diablo Immortal to the many cancelled/removed features of Overwatch 2, Blizzard hasn’t done a pretty good job instilling any confidence in their ability to support Diablo IV as extensively and effectively as they should. I get that it’s popular to hate Blizzard, and there is most certainly a discussion to be had about Diablo IV’s future as a live-service experience. Skepticism is most certainly warranted.

More than that, I’m not here to tell you Diablo IV is a perfect game. Diablo IV is a good game, but it has its flaws, and there are several things about the game worth critiquing.

But if you think for one second the game is as bad as the hyperbolic language flung around on the forums, then you haven’t actually played a bad game, never mind a bad live service game.

Redfall is a bad game.

Marvel’s Avengers is a bad game.

Anthem was a bad game.

Fallout 76 is a bad game.

Diablo IV is a good game. It’s not a great game. It’s not a masterpiece. It’s just a good game, one that comes with an incredibly rock-solid foundation, which is more than most live-service games can even say at launch, let alone their entire life spans. Even removing live-service from the equation, it’s still just a good game. Few games in the next 1-2 years are going to offer you hundreds of hours of content at its initial launch in the way Diablo IV does. Even fewer are going to actually manage keeping you engaged.

If you don’t like Diablo IV: That’s chill. It sucks the game isn’t for you but I respect it anyways, but what I don’t respect are exaggerated takes of “This game is bad and Blizzard is in trouble” or “This game is going to be dead in a month.” Neither of those things are even remotely close to being the truth and yet every other post here is exactly that. Most players don’t care as deeply about the issues you people think are actually significant issues.

All this to say: Get some perspective on what is and isn’t a bad game.

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Its bad because of the immense expectations set and the mediocrity of it. Great cutscenes and world ambience unfortunately do not make up for gameplay that’s stale after a few hours.

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Look, I can only speak for myself but Diablo 4 has bored me pretty much since I started playing. It just hasn’t been a fun experience and while playing it I’m constantly wondering when the fun starts. I play Diablo 2, I have fun. I play Diablo 3, I have fun. I play POE, I have fun. I play any myriad of games, good games, bad games, whatever they may be, I often have fun.

But Diablo 4… Diablo 4 feels like trudging. You know, trudging? To trudge: the slow, weary, depressing yet determined walk of a man who has nothing left in life except the impulse to simply soldier on.

And I’m sick of trudging.

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There are a few things to really like about Diablo IV.

  • Fun, satisfying combat
  • world feel
  • great sandbox

That doesn’t change the fact that the essence of all Diablo games ultimately comes down to itemization, which in this game is a complete and utter disaster.

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They could definitely have launched with more items, but thats easily updated and is pretty minor while people are leveling.

Every ARPG is like this, maybe this isnt the genre for you.

Mediocrity? The game is gorgeous, story tapers off at the end but its a great game. Most of the people commenting arent even past lvl 60. Its fun, I can imagine getting burned out or monotonous 80+ but hopefully seasons alleviates that. Kinda hard to live up to expectations when most gamers have no idea what they are talking about.

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At least FO76 was fun to play for over 2 months, Diablo 4 is boring after 2 weeks. It was fun, but no longevity.

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to be honest, I don’t really care how bad this game is at this stage, I understand that it’s hard to release such a game right away in good condition.

However, I was very stressed by the huge amount of lies that were spread around this game. The game as it is now is a d3 clone in all core mechanics, this is clear to absolutely everyone who has played d3 and other ARPGs, but not a single person has said anything about it before release. In the same way, Blizzard themselves promised a lot of things and in the end did not fulfill a lot of them. Too many lies around this game.

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It’s a good game… it’s just not the level of excellence I had hoped for… it’s more on par with Diablo III and Overwatch than Diablo II or Warcraft III.

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It’s not a bad game but it’s bad diablo. Diablo 2 is the BEST diablo, and developers are not taking anything of this game. While im playing d3-4 i have feeling to play chinese farming game. Items are shoulness. I remember when i got my first enigma, shaco, arach, torch, hoto… But i dont remember nothing about 3, just farming this boring rifts to get gear and do higer rifts.

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I have no idea what brought this topic up, but that’s because I have been spending every waking moment in diablo (As long as the servers have been up), with the exception of the downtimes it’s had. The queues are about the only time I have popped my head out of sanctuary, and then yeah there was a lot of bad talk of the game, due to all the trolls trollin.

But I do have to say, I agree with you. The game is good, it’s not GREAT, but it’s still damn good. Are there parts of it I don’t like, of course, are there parts of it I love, absolutely.

I can also say that I absolutely hate that they put a cash shop in, but as long as it’s for cosmetics, I can ignore it. However, the fact that they make you purchase a currency, to then be able to buy a cosmetic, instead of the item directly, so you always have a small balance there, is one of those terrible mobile games things, that trick people into spending more money in the cash shops, and that is a dirty evil road.

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have you ever heard command and conquer 4? >:) I know a lot of bad games, and the first 20-50 leveling experience (not counting 60 abysmal exp and 80+ scaling) destroys this game on adventure/venteran b/c of level scaling. It was frustratingly sht experience, i cam to have fun and enjoyment and i received none. D3 have better phasing, better story telling even if the entire game is sht but that’s ok b/c the selling point is not longevity b/c of that endgame’s replayability was dog sht while this game is beyond that, dried dog sh!t. They shouldn’t have added the adhd sidequest that makes u run all over the place away from the main path + the quest reward is totally unrewarding added to pain of fighting 5+ level mobs higher than your ilvl.

in wow it works b/c in wow u can craft gear and theres plenty of quest that gives u gear THAT actually ur class CAN EQUIP!

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I remember plenty of farming for D2 gear, but D3 gear, has some memories too. Like that first time I got a primal on my witch doctor, and it was a crusader shield. Or that one season, where my first primal of the season was a useless scoundrel token…

D4 is already making those memories, My buddy plays a rogue, I play a druid, My unique pants dropped for him, and his unique boots dropped for me, but since there is no trading allowed (Even when grouped together and leveling together, and gearing together) we each had to watch our unique destroyed, rather than being put to use. The tears were real.

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Except it’s not and that’s an excuse big publishers use so people like you will accept being sold a pile of garbage, with the promise it will be fixed. They’re 100% capable of having games in a proper state for launch. Dozens of indie and small dev studios do this all the time.

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It feels like trudging because there is no feeling of proper progression, in the older games you unlock acts as you progress and am introduced to new mobs/environment that scale as you progress through the story.

In D4 you have the entire map available to you from level 1 with multiple main questlines simultaneously, the mobs in all zones scale with your level so outside of gear progression there isnt much other progression.

If you are starved for loot for 5-10 levels it gets progressively harder and you get the feeling of trudging.

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Too reasonable and perceptive for the forums. This is where impatient people with no game development knowledge come to unload their emotional problems.

D4 is already a strong foundation for the years-long journey ahead. It will change and improve over time and people with foresight can be optimistic about the potential.

Right now though, the endgame does feel unrefined. I’ll try out all the classes for different playstyles, then come back for interesting seasonal updates. The story presentation was above and beyond the previous titles, especially the hell battle cinematic was a masterpiece. Actually visually stunning, very memorable.

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compared to Diablo 2 + lod its not the best game neither

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Where did I say Diablo IV was the best game?

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All this to say: Get some perspective on what is and isn’t a bad game

Ya ok champ. Just because its not the Depths of Depths bad, doesnt mean its a good game. There’s a whooooole lotta gray area between failures like Redfall and amazing games like Zelda BotW

Diablo 4 belongs below Diablo 3 on that scale imo and you cant tell me otherwise :smiley:

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Tell me you didn’t play D3 at launch without telling me you didn’t play D3 at launch.

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Diablo 4 is worse than its competitors thus it is a bad game.

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