Even as a player I am no longer convinced that players know how to ask for what they want and am also extremely convinced that players are too diverse to really enjoy a single game together. I’ve come to this conclusion because the requests that players made were actually listened to but there’s a constant hum of, “but they didn’t listen to me!” This begets a problem in my opinion where there isn’t a sweet spot at all and I think people just have to admit that some games just aren’t for them.
People complained about 1-shotting bosses but now you can’t. Not only can you not do that but you can’t regardless of your build; you can’t take a T4 to a T1 and just cheese the universe anymore. On top of this the actual challenging of bosses is up to you even though the horde is locked by behind items. I don’t like the horde changes but I do like the fact that I don’t need to get items to play the game and fight the bosses which allows me to play in my own time while also not being hard locked out of content I can just come back to. I want the Grim Favors and none of the loot? I can do that now without worrying about the rest of it.
People said the game was too fast. It’s still too fast in my opinion. I was playing LE the other day and getting to level 30 took much longer than in D4 with a fresh character. It was a sorcerer too so nothing OP or wild, no BIS or anything like that, and the game’s pacing is slower because I’ve seen it faster but it isn’t slow in any sense of the word. This relative speed change is a good one in my opinion because now it takes a few hours to go to 60, and combined with the change where I don’t have to do the class quest when I play and it’s just a continuous unlock, that’s really nice.
People said the game had too many legendary drops. I disagreed. I still do. However the consensus was to slow it down; yes, I am still looking for my aspects that I really want (because I don’t trade etc.) but overall I’m not miserable or anything. People were saying the loot was junk and now due to the slower pacing it’s not, you do need to swap sets at least thrice in a series from a fresh character to complete the journey to paragon without assistance.
But the killer for me is that the playerbase asked for all of this. There were no self-initiated actions in those above examples. Playerbase said it was too fast? It’s slower. Now they’re mad it’s slower. Playerbase said bosses were too easy? Now it’s harder, no one-shots, and the whole OP = Win and I can just stand in the middle of the screen and get hit by everything and not move method is gone, and the players are upset. Playerbase says, “loot is pointless” and now progression is really tied to your loot as you level to 60, players hate on it.
At some point I have to just say that it’s a pinata. You want to be upset? Pick anything. Be upset. I know that’s what the internet is for but still is this even constructive for you? I mean this goes back to previous posts I made where people weren’t able to speak actionably.
Example: “I want harder bosses!”
Dev: “Harder how? More health? More impact? Less one-shotting? More phases?”
Players: “You know! The way I want it!”
I don’t feel bad as a creator of products for how this turned out. Is this my favorite season? No. I am not a fan of this one myself, but I admit they tried, and I won’t pretend that they didn’t listen. They did. That whole “you’re ignoring me” narrative can just kick rocks. The idea that not doing what you wanted equates not doing anything at all is just goofy.