Unpopular Opinion: D4 is a good game - One dude's S6 VoH Review

PC General Discussion
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First, I’m just some random guy so feel free to ignore my opinion, but given the constant doom and gloom on this forum, I figured I’d share my thoughts as someone who has “finished” Season 6 and is now waiting for Season 7 to roll a new class.

For some context, my experience playing Diablo 4 has been exclusively as a solo self found player. I am also using an Xbox controller on my PC to play. I started in S0 as a Necro. I made it to mid 80s I believe just making my own builds (96h played on that character). In S1, I did a rogue and again went with my own builds, making it higher than my necro but ending before I hit level 90 (79h played on that character). I didn’t play season 2, 3, 4, and 5.

For Season 6, I came back to try out VoH. I made a sorcerer (103h played on that character) and made it to paragon 232. In general, I had a really good time. I played through the base campaign again just to get my bearings after taking an extended break and I was reminded of how cool some of the base campaign was (especially in terms of cut scenes). I went through the entire VoH campaign and while it wasn’t as good as the base campaign, I thought it was fine. I explored the entirety of the new map and thought for the most part things were really well done there. Since I skipped many seasons, infernal hordes, the NMD changes, helltide changes, the pit, boss farming, etc were all new to me. I thought these were really well done and enjoyable to play for a quite a bit. I started the season out as a lucky hit incinerate build and made it all the way to T3 before I hit a wall. I then tried out a blizzard build (didn’t like that one tbh - it was quite weak) as well as a lightning spear build (I know this one is super OP if done right, but I wasn’t following a build guide so I capped out again at T3). I had wanted to stick with fire given my original build theme, so I decided to give fireball a shot after getting a few important uniques and that build absolutely slaps. I was able to get up to t4 and clear all the way up to pit 78 without having to spend too much time optimizing my build.

At this point, I figure I can either keep pushing my fireball sorc (which I probably will every so often until the end of the season) but I’m likely going to spend my time over the next month or so playing something else so I can come back for S7 with a fresh new character going into next release.

Things D4 does exceptionally well that I personally like:

  • Controller support is phenomenal. There are a few janky abilities that are more difficult than others (blizzard build was a bit funky on controller as are movement skills like Rogue’s Dash and Sorc’s teleport), but honestly it just works really well 98% of the time.
  • Building out my character wasn’t insanely complicated. I figured out how to get the uniques I cared about on my own, figured out what stats I needed on my own, and figured out my paragon board all on my own. It all felt intuitive to me while still giving a really diverse playing experience. My rogue, necro, and sorc all play differently and even the builds within those classes are all very different. There is good variety here in my opinion.
  • Exploring the world is enjoyable. I know this isn’t one for every ARPG player, but I do come from an MMO background (easily over 10k hours in Dark Age of Camelot when I was younger) as well as a dedicated Guild Wars 2 player (probably 1k hours there). I like having the map be something I can just explore, clearing dungeons, doing quests, etc. It feels like an RPG at times and some ARPGs really struggle to have any immersion at all. D4 does this well in my opinion.
  • End game starting at T1 while allowing progression to T4 felt really nice to me. After I completed the campaign, I felt like I had access to essentially all content. Some nights I grinded infernal hordes, other days I did NMDs for obducite, some times I challenged myself in the pit, I ran the undercity quite a bit, and then general open world content like helltides, world bosses, realm walker, etc. I felt like I had lots of options available to me and I could choose what I wanted to do based on my own build/my own goals the entire time, all while continuing to get stronger and stronger. The paragon leveling feels really smooth and after 100h, I feel like I didn’t really hit a wall. Even today I could keep progressing, but diminishing returns are kicking in at this point and I feel like I’ve personally done everything I wanted to do (specifically I wanted to get to T4 on my own build and then push the pit just a bit past that). I realize many people hate these systems, but I truly do believe this gives each player a great selection of options to choose from. End game becomes a choice rather than an endless grind so I don’t personally feel anything negative whatsoever about stopping at the point I am at today. I don’t feel the urge to hit paragon 300 at all.

Things D4 doesn’t do as well as its competitors:

  • Stash space can be restrictive if you are going to run multiple characters. I didn’t personally face this problem as I did 1 character per season, but my stash is basically full for my sorcerer alone. If I was playing multiple classes, I’d need to make some difficult choices there.
  • Classes are not remotely balanced. Going into T4 and watching spiritborns 1 shot everything didn’t bother me too much, but it was obvious, even as a solo player, how much stronger some builds are than others. With open world content, this needs to be normalized more or everything in the open world is absolutely trivial.

What do I want to see for Diablo 4’s future?

  • I’d keep doing the same formula they are already using. There is no need to make a game where people need to spend hundreds of hours each season to complete. The people asking for this are a very small minority of the player base (apologies but this is true). There are other games in this genre that cater to those players. Let them imo.
  • Focus on a new expansion per year. Each expansion needs to introduce a new class as well as extending the open world map with an extended campaign. Ideally it also comes with new end game content (like the undercity / dark citadel although I never did the citadel myself). This would give me a good reason to keep coming back each year and I personally don’t find the price tag all that problematic. I got 300 hours of entertainment for $110. That is a good deal in my opinion and it will only grow over time as I intend to play each and every class for at least a season at some point in the future.

Again, I’m just 1 guy so feel free to disagree with me, but this game is great in my opinion. Not perfect, but really good for the types of things I am looking for. I feel like my time is respected, that I get to choose what content I focus on, and that there are actual RPG elements to the game too (some ARPGs trend too closely to a dopamine dispenser for me - I want to enjoy actually playing the game, not just fish for loot). I have no interest in making a video game my life anymore (not a criticism of anyone, do with your time what you like), so this is an ARPG that works for me. I will happily keep supporting D4 in the future if this is the type of content they keep putting out. Thanks for reading this far! Feel free to tell me everything you disagree with.

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Great post. Always a nice thing to see when people with a positive opinion take the time to share it. It seems human nature leads us to speak out more when we are unhappy than when we are happy :wink:

PS DAoC greatest game of all time - Alb Lancelot 4 Life!!!

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Its funny you say that, but you said nothing about the actual season lol

Everyone seems to look at seasons in D4 differently than other games. Seasons in d3, leagues in PoE, etc. Those games actually add mechanics, new options, bonuses, etc. S6 of D4 was… well it was pretty pointless tbh. The fact that you didnt talk about it at all is kinda proving that point. Everyone thinks D4’s “season” is just creating a new character and getting to end-game, which is exactly what you can to in Eternal literally any time you want.

D4 is missing the very core of seasons right now, and has been since like… s3?. At least s7 adds something.

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Wow! I played Hib Lancelot so now we are mortal enemies once again :wink: Glad to see other former Daoc players out there enjoying themselves! Have fun!

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All you Relics are belong to us!

Hib lance home of legends. Endless hours of fun with relic raids against Mistwraith and her crew!

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Wish granted. Can we also interest you in a season with borrowed powers and a reputation board? And, because you’re a special player, we’ll even buff the powers we nerfed two seasons ago.

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While I don’t agree with everything you’ve said, I can appreciate the constructive criticism regardless. Sounds like the game is a good fit for you, and honestly that’s all that really matters, regardless of what anyone else says. I can already see people coming in here and trying to make you see ‘the truth’. Speak of the devil.

I think some people would do well to heed this advice if they don’t want to add to the conversation, by which I mean not blatantly attacking you or insulting you for liking a game they obviously don’t. Not that I don’t comment on stuff I could just easily ignore myself, so I’m guilty as charged. We’re all just some random guy behind the screen anyway. The only way the game is going to improve is through constructive criticism from us random guys.

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Do you have a link to your numbers? You state its true, where did you get this stat from? Define small minority?
As far as staying on this path, thats just shooting themselves in the foot, but to each his own

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I don’t think factual numbers are really needed here. it is a generally accepted idea that casuals and semi-casuals will greatly outnumber hardcore gamers in pretty much any game that makes itself accessible to them.

Now, on the forum the opposite is true as few casual players even know it exists never mind come here to deal with being berated by trolls every time they post something :wink:

Despite my many frustrations with the game, when I step back and look at it objectively, the vast majority of the issues have the most significant impact on very high-level play (pit pushing)

Right now, the leveling experience and variety of end game content is really good especially for anyone who hasn’t played every season for hundreds of hours.

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Fair point to be honest. I don’t have any concrete numbers, but here is my reasoning for why I believe that is true. Blizzard has shared that over 12 million copies of D4 were sold. What percentage of that 12million want to play a game like a full time job? From my perspective, it is a vanishingly small percentage. These forums do not represent the average D4 player. The most popular posts get a few thousand views with most content on this forum being generated by an even smaller subset of users. I don’t think most D4 players share the opinions of those dedicated enough to have hundreds or thousands of forum posts.

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So this tool can just spout nonsense and say its true? Got it

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Once again, where are you getting this from? More made up stuff to fit your narrative. Im not self absorbed enough to claim I know what everyone else wants, just what I want

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Buddy, I don’t care enough about this enough to have a “narrative”. I’m just some random dude sharing his opinion. I get you disagree. No problem at all. Have fun!

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But you are making up your own facts, and picking your crap apart is fun.

Sounds like more than an opinion to me, so where did you get this from, or are you just making it up?

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Hmm interesting approach you got there.

Yes, rational and objective people can understand that common sense is a perfectly good substitute for hard facts in some cases, this being one.

If I said there will be a hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico next fall, most people would accept that as true (and maybe call me captain obvious) because it is well known, and only a person looking for a confrontation would demand proof. :wink:

People who are looking for a reason to be negative and annoying can usually find one even if it means quoting without full context and ignoring things that are obviously true.

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What variety?

Green vs red Helltides.
Pits / NMD / Undercity are the exact same activity with different rewards.
Infernal Hordes is so interesting that people complain if they have to move more than 3 feet.
I’m sure someone likes the Dark Citadel. Maybe they’re just shy.

People are getting bored not because they haven’t seen daylight in 3 months, but because this “diverse content” Rod speaks of is a myth.

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Predicting a future storm vs stating without any evidence what you think people want are 2 different things. Chances of a hurricane in the gulf next summer is probably close to 100%. Not sure what it has to do with some tool making up fake numbers on a gaming forum

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Important that you noted this. Diablo 4 's experience when first firing it up - IS enjoyable. The combat, the graphics , etc. Its only when you invest some time into it do you realize its about as deep as plastic kiddy pool. Diablo 4 is a good game for YOU, because it fits what you need - a very casual, on rails experience that you can pick up and put down. Again, this is fine, but you can definitely make the case that ARPGs especially are meant to have more depth and long term replayability ( at least the ones that last). This game works for some people, thats cool, but lets just admit it’s because they aren’t looking for a super deep, fleshed out game : and I think people are feeling burnt because thats what they thought they paid for.

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In the same exact post you are quoting, the very first thing I wrote was “First, I’m just some random guy so feel free to ignore my opinion”. The entire post was about my perspective on things and what I perceive to be true. Hopefully that clears it up but I don’t have any insider info here. I felt like that was obvious.

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While I agree to an extent with what you’re saying, and to better prove a point we could use numbers, it is a known fact that the those who engage with the Forums for any given video game is typically much smaller than the actual player base.

Even if we take the player numbers from Steam for D4, we can see a big discrepancy between that and the amount of people who post on these forums. Don’t even have to use these forums as an example, you can go to reddit, steam forums, twitter, etc. The numbers never add up.

That being said, I can’t say what the majority of the player base are feeling based off my own personal opinion. I don’t have this data, I dare say even Blizzard doesn’t have this data, as they don’t send out surveys to everyone playing (they should, although that can only be so accurate). I can guess the majority of the player base are in fact casual players, as most Blizzard games cater to these type of gamers, however I do not personally have concrete evidence other than anecdotal evidence.

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