Ya you’re right, nothing needs to change… games great and the player numbers compared to launch have done nothing but go up due to the games popularity and great content structure
Lol, I almost didn’t make it past level 25 for the exact same reason this season. The early game is so boring from the low difficulty and low build depth that it’s criminal.
We want content to do that doesn’t feel both extremely repetitive and ultimately pointless. Somehow other ARPGs figured this out. This is compounded with extremely boring itemization which, again, other ARPGs have got sorted out.
The problem with D4 is at level 50 your build is basically done, maybe you’ll do some tweaks to push NM dungeons - but that’s it. Paragon basically offers statistical improvements to abilities but no mechanical changes for almost all of the trees.
Also finding all the uber uniques is a statistical impossibility. You could play 100,000 hours and your chance of finding one is negligible. We’ll see where they come with the target farming in S2.
D4 is a good game to play for 50 hours but a terrible one to try to play for 500 hours. As such it’s really no surprise the majority of players are just trailing off.
That’s is exactly how D2 is. D2 doesn’t really have an end game and you just do whatever farm route you want over and over again and everything is insanely easy to faceroll. Even Baal kills take maybe 5 mins which most of the time consuming part for that is the mini guantlet of mobs that spawn from the portal before entering it to kill Baal.
D3 is no different as people steamroll GRs and that is all there was to do.
But, just from hearing from people in general on ARPGs they want to be powerful and be able to faceroll everything. In the end it is about getting as BiS as you can get. But like you said, there are people who just blow through the content asap and those types of players will always hit walls like this where there is nothing left to do. They spend a lot of hours playing. That is why I am glad I play other games too so the game stays fun for me.
Welcome to The Diablo Franchise. Hamster Wheel Hell.
Always has been, always will be. I don’t think we’re here for “depth of content”…
Anyway, outside of those listed challenges which are 2nd to the reason I play.
1st and foremost: I’m a loot chaser. I’ll never push the upper threshold like other people. Never be a pack leader or ground breaker.
I couldn’t theorycraft my way out of a wet paper bag - but I like making my own builds and experimenting.
For me: Loot farming & perfecting(or near enough) my my gear, trying different builds for my Main Class and making alt Characters is pretty much what it’s all about.
That being said…
I have not once, ever, followed a “guide” or “build” (though I’m sure I would be able to do that “pushing” if i did) - regardless of whether or not I have/have not: The game is very VERY Player Unfriendly when it comes to Build Swapping, Alt Characters etc.
Our stash is tiny, Aspects take up about 50-60% of it and all my “Play my way” and mess around with different things that keep me interested are arrested and inhibited by their “Player Progression ABC 123 by-the-numbers” design and this horrendous “Tangible” Aspect system(why don’t we have 3x rows of 11 for Aspects?..).
Just like my opinion man.
As for “those items”.
The whole idea of “Uber” Uniques - is offensive to me and I take it as an insult personally. Salty? Yes! Over 10k hours in D2 and I still go back for more of that over-tuned drop% system that’s frankly sadistic haha.( 1/2 serious 1/2 /s…overstating on purpose)
Seriously though - they didn’t just double D2 drop%'s on the rarest items - they Nth’d it.
They’ll normalize some day as power creep is inevitable.
Moral of the story - I’m here for the long haul. I’ll see it through. If I quit I’m done with games for good.(amen). This is probably my last rodeo so I’m hoping they make it a fun ride - it’s sure been a wild one so far.
I can only speak to two of them: D2(R):
You have an extremely “long-tail” carrot for itemization through the runeword system and this helps the end-game grind by having a tangible thing to chase. One of the primary issues in D4 right now, imo obviously, is on the itemization front. You can have a GG item in your 60s that you’ll likely never upgrade and then you have the uber uniques that have no real chance of dropping so it is hard to grind towards.
D2 provides both some targeted farming potential, which does sound like it is coming ot D4, and a natural progression from mid-tier GG items to end-game GG items that provide a smooth item curve to always be pushing towards.
Grim Dawn:
This game provides a worse item power curve but replaces it with many difficult end-game bosses to work towards. You do have items to chase but I wouldn’t call that curve nearly as smooth as D2’s, it is still good but not as good. The bosses though do provide a decent long-tail goal where you’ll likely tweak itemization to better combat each boss
In terms of stuff to do you are right, D2 doesn’t provide a ton of options and Terror Zones only added so much in D2R. The itemization though provides a decent end-game loop because it feels obtainable unlike Uber Uniques.
Itemization is medicore at best. It works. What I hate is the fact that I got Tempest Roar at level 60 and never gotten another one until level 95. Loot RNG is stupid. “Smart loot” makes everything worse. I never found a piece of gear with four desiable affixes. Alway have to reroll the affix. Blizzard design gacha loot.
number of reported drops compared to the number of players and hours playing make those items completely irrelevant from the gameplay perspective, and completely pointless as a goal for yourself
I would start with basics, what makes an ARPG good ARPG.
Good itemization
Good trading and wealth hoarding options
Good goal to work for
Good skill tree, not one spell of each for each spell bracket
Good servers // Offline mode
Barely. It’s like the front half of the ship crashing into the runway in Star Wars Episode 3 - technically we survived the landing but it was a mess.
It’s confusing because it wouldn’t take much to make it better. A bit more player agency and item power scaling based on the content completed would go a long way.
The bones of the system are there and solid but the muscles are a stitched together abomination.
