The OW2 and Diablo 4 Connection

PC General Discussion
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We’re all aware of the recent OW2 controversy, right?

To summarize, OW dev team promised PvE content has been dropped like a ton of bricks in order for them to concentrate on a Battle Pass system where the BP is the content. Their intention is to add more robust seasonal content with some story pve moments mixed in.

Does this new focus for OW2 resembles the same focus Diablo 4’s dev team has on their Battle Pass system, where the BP is the content?

It feels that way to me.

The seasonal BP content with minor new pve moments is a lot like the D4 BP with minor new quest lines each season. Each season will feature new cosmetics, new balance tweaks, new playable characters, etc…

It also feels like a corporate directive. I doubt Blizzard would have chosen a BP for D4 if there was no Activision attached to them.

In my opinion, D4 could easily make a billion in revenue just by being a single player game with quality content. I say this because Hogwarts Legacy just released that they hit a billion $$ in sales, with over 20 million units sold - no battle pass in sight.

Don’t you think Diablo 4 could pull similar numbers to Hogwarts? Maybe more if they released quality expansions all without any BP mechanics. I think they would but that is not enough for Activision.

I certainly would enjoy the D4 more if there was no BP in it, I think. Imagine if ALL the cosmetic content was just already in the game and could be found by EVERYONE. Overall that would be more satisfying. Alas, it will never be.

D4 will still be fun, especially for the first play through of the story and some grinding out at the end game. For that they’ve earned my pre-order just like Hogwarts did. But I doubt I’ll be very invested in this BP system and the seasons, as I’d rather just pay for expansions. The content they produce will have to be spectacular to keep me invested in playing and I doubt I’ll pay for any cosmetics.

Anyway, those are my thoughts on the OW2 announcements. Feel free add your own thoughts!!

TLDR; OW2 and D4 have rather similar BP systems now and I don’t really like it.

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I mean… the paid is all cosmetic. If you dont like it, dont pay for it?

Caring about a free battlepass giving everyone small freebies seems a little odd, so you arent referring to that, are you?

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Yeah!! That’s the plan.

Naw, I don’t really care about that. The boost makes sense to give to everyone. Who wants to re-level up at a slow speed every time? The BP existing at all is the overall issue, but it is what it is,.

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So… youre mad theres paid cosmetics… that are entirely optional… and impact gameplay in ABSOLUTELY no way.

Let me ask you a question.

When you see a little girl playing with a barbie, do you give her the stink eye because she has a doll and dresses she (or her parents) paid for, and if you wanted those dresses youd have to pay too? Do you get mad that Mattel sells them? Kiiiinda the same thing.

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So yeah… I’m not mad. I just don’t like the BP and think it doesn’t fit the Diablo 4 world at all… nor the ARPG genre. Kinda fits a free to play match based fps game though. Don’t you think?

I like paying for a game and having all the content already in it and being really satisfied with my purchases, rather than feeling milked to have some fun…

Is that crazy? Is that a crazy thought now? Then label me insane. But not mad. There is no anger. Do I get angry at cilantro because it tastes soapy? No, I just don’t eat it. Do I rage at people who wear clashing colours? No, I just look away.

So, let me ask you a question. When you read a forum post, do you just always impose your own internal anger on everything you read?

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Im just trying to figure out logically what the issue is and the reasoning you even care… if the examples used in my questions hit a little too close to home, or make a little too much sense, Im really not sorry, but… theres really no reason to care.

If you want the pretty dresses and skirts, cool! Good for you. Pay for them.

If you dont, who cares? I dont want any of it. I think its dumb, but Im not out here creating threads about how I dislike it… because it doesnt matter.

Buy it and care, or dont, and I guess be totally content but still feel the need to open forum threads about it, telling us you dont like it, because its not free and you cant find those things without paying, but… it doesnt bother you? (I think thats how its working??)

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You are however, responding to them…

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Im drawn to respond to stupid posts, what can I say. This place is a goldmine.

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Stupid is rather off when you’re the one having trouble figuring out obvious things, like the purpose of the post. I’ll help you.

The purpose is to point out a similarity I saw between OW2 and D4 and discuss a few points related to the matter. I think the BP is unnecessary if you provide a fully featured game, using Hogwarts Legacy as an example of a game making a lot of money doing just that.

That is all. Pretty simple. Hope that helped you.

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Ahhhh I missed this.

Yeah, how dare they throw in some little extra content that most games have now, that the overwhelming majority enjoy, especially the free paths. Damn them for making a cosmetic only useless gameplay wise path a paid OPTION.

We should strike, and request less content, even something as small as that, those little incentives, they shouldnt be a thing

I get it now, it all makes perfect sense. /s

Lol.

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if I am paying for a full $80 dollar game in my region, then I would prefer it to be feature complete with no battlepass.

Pretty simple concept. I don’t think its crazy to feel that way either. And there has been a recent game to prove the concept is viable.

What’s wrong with having a preference exactly??

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Corpius2?
Did your main account get suspension or ban?

On the topic though.
First, its this like 371st OW2 thread.

OW2 is not making money. Its that easy.
Blizz screwed hard, because they didn’t support OW1 for 4 years, claiming how they are making a sequel which will have PVE in it.
4 years of no support and then OW2 came out, which was technically only butchered OW1 with removed features and changed shop to BP.
They had 35M active accounts, but now I’d say they have like 1-2M max.
So they arent making any money, thus someone up with excel sheet decided that they wont invest millions into a game that its barely sustaining itself.

Ad for the D4 BP, I think it is a necessary evil if people want the game to further have patches, updates, etc.
One good thing is that there are only cosmetics inside.

I do agree however I can imagine the game without things like BP and cosmetics.

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It is a feature complete game. BP is what they use to help fund future development content additions. You don’t even have to buy it to still get the content editions.

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Never said it wasnt viable.

Its not the route they went, and I can promise its not going to change. Again, it doesnt impact you at all unless you want to play barbie dressup diablo adventure.

Thats the only thing you arent getting free with your purchase. The rest of the game and the things that matter other than those cosmetics are complete, and guess what? They will be supported and updated, and the money from what you dont care about, but are here whining about will help fund it. You really do come across salty about the dresses and skirts not being free.

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Yeah, I was hoping to talk a bit adjacently to the whole OW2 controversy directly as this issue is only connected in this one way, through the Battle Pass, but connected none the less.

I don’t mean to put the dev team mismanagement of OW onto the dev team of D4. Time will prove themselves soon enough!!

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Dont care the slightest about OW2, just grasping at straws.

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I was hoping someone would make this point.

Does that mean you are saying that if D4 made 1 billion dollars off of 20 million unit sales they would be unable to fund more content and expansions? (those numbers are from hogwarts legacy’s recent earnings)

Because I think they very much would be able to. They would be able to do whatever they heck they wanted to with that kind of money.

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I’d say 200-300M could be the development costs over the years.
Plus servers, marketing, etc.

And thats not the cost of running the game further

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Or they could profit from it like every other corporation on the planet. This is a live service game and if you want updates to it, they come at a cost just like every other live service game out there. You don’t even have to pay for it. You are literally getting updates for free and you are complaining because others are buying a battle pass and funding that content for you.

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Less complaining and more pointing out my preference and using examples to show that it is totally viable. But you describe it how you like.

I guess my question is… do you all PREFER battle passes in your full priced games?? Let me know if you do.