Blizzard and gaming companies in general need to start playtesting these games with people who are not hardcore no-life gamers. I know this might be controversial, but giving full-time video game streamers with monster rigs and a Ph.D. in gaming all of the early access might not be the best way to test your game for a wide audience. Yes, you can put a professional racecar driver in a horse-drawn wagon and they can manage fine, but put an average person there instead and they will experience a slow and bumpy ride.
A lot of the writing problems have gotten much worse since the original release of Diablo 4. Half the dialogue is incomprehensible “mumbo jumbo” with no translation or paraphrasing and incomplete sentences that don’t make any sense out of context. Characters will just start talking about some random subject when you interact with them as if they are mid conversation with someone else. This same problem exists in WoW, where even hardcore players who have played since vanilla have no idea what is going on in the story. It’s like watching a Christopher Nolan movie without subtitles on. I have no idea what they are going on about, I just click “Agree” and hope for the best. Pronouns are way overused. If you are talking about 3 different people and say “he”, specify which “he” you are talking about. Practice using the “Subject-Verb-Object” sentence structure, instead of just giving half of a sentence.
This also goes for the gameplay as well. Are the systems easily understandable to the average player? Or do I have to go through 6 different systems involving 3 different NPCs in 6 different tabs and roll some obscure stat modifier in order to make a basic build? How easy is it to level and get basic gear? Would an average person new to the game and not reading a highly technical online guide about builds be able to play the game effectively? How readable is the screen during combat? Is it clear where you are and where the enemy is and what is happening? Or is it a mess of effects and monsters popping out of nowhere and filling the entire screen with hidden mechanics? How about itemization and stats? Is it clear when an item is an upgrade, or do I need an Excel spreadsheet to understand it? Same for skill trees and points. Is there room for flexibility and experimentation or do you have to stick to a predefined build? When I open up the skill tree, how many different descriptions do I need to read before making a choice? How many different currencies are there and is it clear where to get them?
Don’t get me wrong, some of these systems have improved in the expansion (like not having to track a stat for distant vulnerable enemies who are crowd controlled while it is raining on a Tuesday). But I still feel like one of the biggest weaknesses of Diablo 4 is too much complexity. I go back to Diablo 3 and everything is simple and easy to understand. The campaign and dialogue is easy to follow along and understand. The items and stats are easy to understand. There aren’t a huge number of skills, passives, temper rolls, masterworking, aspects, enchant slots, sockets, gems, glyphs, rune word combinations, consumables, keys, paragon nodes, paragon glyphs, paragon boards, hell tides, world bosses, world events, legion events, Battle Passes, Season Journeys, Season Blessings, Renown, etc. to constantly keep track of. You just follow the story, kill the monsters, pick up the items. Blizzard never seems to learn the lesson of sometimes “less is more”.