I’ve been tussling with this question a bit and finally decided to make it public. A lot of people say that they are unhappy with their D4 purchase with many feeling that they were tricked, misled, or otherwise deceived. I can live with not liking a game, it happens, I’ve spent a small fortune on things I’ll never touch again but that was back in the day before streaming, before YouTube was a major thing, and before MetaCritic was a go-to with a global community.
But now we’re after that point in time; there is not a game that comes out of a decently known studio that will not be streamed day 1, a week will go by and you will most certainly have your reviews that you needed to make an informed decision, and there will be gameplay videos all over YouTube from both large and small content creators. Regarding D4 how could you possibly come to the conclusion that it isn’t what you thought it was and given the trailers which showed verbatim what was in the game, etc.?
I’m asking because I’m trying to really reconcile with people who are upset with the game. You bought it. How did you not know what it was when you did?
Again, you can not like the game. Totally with you on that if that’s how you feel and you’ve my support, but when you state that you were “deceived”. How? I don’t get that one.
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My issue with this dev team is they’ve made pretty specific promises in their live stream/campfire chats. Only to end up doing the exact opposite. I think when as a company/team, you go live to the public and promise something you should be required to deliver on whatever you promised.
Don’t say “we care a lot about balance and we are going to balance” then make excuses to leave your new class universes above the rest.
Don’t say “we’re gonna tone down the amount of RNG systems” then not only introduce new ones, but add more and more and more layers of RNG to existing ones.
Don’t say “we’re listening” and when the entire community tells you drop rates for Ancestrals, Aspect Upgrades, and Citadel Cosmetics are insanely too low, respond with “we’re monitoring things and might make changes next season”. Act now, if you’re really listening. As these are ridiculously easy adjustments.
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To be fair, it’s easy to get sucked in by marketing and we know Blizzard does a good job of selling the vibe while hiding the poop.
If someone gets sucked in by a good ad, I don’t think it’s unreasonable that they didn’t scour the internet for confirmation first. It IS on them to understand the consequences of a purchase though, ie refund/return policies.
After D3 launch, I didn’t trust Blizzard enough to pre-order D4 and had no plans to do so. Then my buddy did… and i like playing games with him. We visited him for a beta weekend and did some PS5 couch coop… it seemed fun enough… so we pre-ordered. Then it launched and I found out why they limited beta to level 25… because that’s not enough to find out what the game is lacking. I made my choice. I’ve had occasion to say what I have to say about it. Most of all, I’ve been very vigilant about when I’m having fun in D4 and not wasting my time when it stops being fun.
If I could go back in time, I’d tell me and my buddy not to pre-order… maybe not to buy it at all. Maybe my girl and I would have waited for a sale, as we have squeezed our fun out of the seasons.
People do need to own their choices. It’s not their fault that companies are dishonest though. Marketing spends a LOT of resources trying to trick people into spending their money. Not everyone is savvy or it wouldn’t work and marketing wouldn’t be a huge industry.
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Yep, like I said, a lot of people just can’t think. Its really quite amazing.
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Critical thinking apparently lacking in some people
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I see it as a 50/50. Even though we as consumers hold more power than the studios do by a large margin. They bank on the uninformed and those who don’t do their research. All companies do though, not just video game companies.
The worst part is, it’s far easier to get information about any product these days, and in mere seconds mind you. People are just lazy and impatient. In a world where everything is literally at your fingertips and we have instant gratification, we equally have companies who will exploit that as well.
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D3 promised Arena PvP. It never materialized.
Honestly, the devs should just stay quiet, release what they are going to release - and let the “community” fester. This entire concept of devs must engage has failed.
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Pretty much. Especially regarding easily found facts. 3 seconds to Google? Nah! I’d rather spend 30 minutes doubling down and responding to meaningless internet folks trying to prove I’m correct!
There’s even a term for it: Belief perseverance
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Welcome to the age of outrage, perpetual offense, and permanent victimhood. Social media, twitch, the evening news, talking heads all telling us why we should be outraged all the time.
Nothing can “be” now, it has to turn into some huge show on social media or Twitch or Youtube.
As someone who grew up before the internet, while it has done some great things no doubt. It has destroyed more than younger people will ever know.
I know this will get dismissed as “old man yells at cloud”, but it was a simpler and better time. Not perfect by any means, but better.
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I heard that whole post in Seth Meyers’ “Back in my day” voice.
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See below. Answers it pretty well.
Yep.
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You can not gamplay the end game ny watching videos generally speaking.
Most people who played the game in the beginning of d4s release were happy…until they finished the campaign.
Lol.
So yes, modern defense for most players is actual ignorance due to misled reviews gameplay and fluff pieces by media and streamers.
“Im level x, now what?”
Then we come to seasonal releases and quality or lack thereof.
Then redesigning core systems regularly basically making the game incompatible with prior large groups of gear repeatedly.
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I can’t speak for most; just myself.
I’ve been generally happy with D4. The game works, and did what it set out to do. My biggest gripe has always been the spaghetti code that Blizzard uses. It seems like every class (or even individual ability) gets silod in it’s own vacuum without testing as a whole. I suspect they hire one team of contractors to work one facet (repeat for each facet) rather than retain a staff of in-house programmers dedicated to the whole.
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You shouldn’t look up reviews of the campaign. You have to go into it blind and enjoy the journey. When that journey turns out to be disappointing, then you feel disappointed.
I mean, there were crap tons of paid reviews, but nobody told me they were going to reuse monster skins and assets throughout the entire world over and over again and that they would be wildlife. They also didn’t tell me that once I got to the last act, I would encounter no new monster families and that I would just see the same crap I saw all in Act 1.
There is lots to be disappointed about.
Engage actually means listening to the community and acting on it, not just mouthing words. Maybe actually having a back and forth with the community instead of talking at them, and expecting them to be happy.
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Not needed. If that’s what it takes to make you happy - you never will be.
I’d suggest designing your own game. Then you can have a back and forth dialog with as many developers as you hire!
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I wasn’t influenced by social media or marketing to buy d4. I believed the devs when before the game launched that combat was going to be slower and more deliberate.
I had enough hrs in other Diablo games to qualify for closed beta. I played closed beta and then open beta. I bought D4 because of my experience in both betas lining up with the devs earlier statements. I had believed them.
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Well good customer service finishes with feedback loop closure.
But forums for all major games seems the same?
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I’m not unhappy with my purchase. I’m unhappy with the flip flop direction of the game since it launched. Their only vision is “how do we get the most people looking at the store each month.”
I still enjoy the game in short bursts. I got more than my moneys worth. It could be so much better though.
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