Why are some ARPG players so against change?

One thing I have noticed over the past year is that the hardcore ARPG purists seem to be against any suggestion that would change the status quo and make this genre more appealing. They were against WASD even though the majority of PC games use WASD. They are against allowing players to experience seasonal themes without the reset. They are are against further character customization options.

When I check out the forums of POE or LE its the same thing. Any suggestion of ending gender lock is immediately rebuked. They hate that WASD is coming to POE2 along with console, cross play and couch co-op because it will “dumb down” the game. An elitist statement if I ever saw one.

Do these players not understand that a live service game needs players in order to continue functioning? This is the video game business and most players are on console.No halfway decent company wants to remain indie so they are opening their game to entire new audience which is a good thing. Or are these hardcore purists satisfied with playing an outdated pc only game that few people want to touch?

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They just want you to get off their lawn! Is that too much to ask? :clown_face:

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PoE is already on console, so if they feel that way; I have bad news for them.

Yeah, They can complain all they want. After all a lot of them live in the past. you can spot them right away when they make reference to D2. But D3 and D4 are not D2 they are how shall i say loosely based off D2.

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Looking at it another way, they are in fact the minority. Now PoE itself is quite different as it’s very niche even amongst the genre. It’s definitely not catered toward casual players what so ever. Also why the player base is much smaller.

Have you ever heard of metathesiophobia? It’s the fear of change. I would imagine to some degree the people in question suffer from this. They may believe their games to be essentially ‘finished’ and shouldn’t be touched or altered in anyway less it lose its’ integrity.

They may also feel with every update to the game to make it more accessible to a wider audience it diminishes the experiences they’ve had over the many years. Which couldn’t be farther from the truth.

Now newer players won’t experience the game the same way, obviously, but it shouldn’t take away a persons enjoyment who has been here since the beginning. If anything it’s a good thing if more people join, as it means more revenue to keep the game going with future updates.

I don’t mind change in video games, if it makes sense to me, and is enjoyable, as I’m sure is the case for most gamers. I’ll always advocate for more options even if I don’t intend to use them. We’ll just have to see what D4 changes in the future, regardless it’s impossible to please everyone.

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Curmudgeons are everywhere man…video games are no exception

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WASD movement as in DOOM?

no problem at all, as in the '90s already has this sort of RPG game. yup, “RPG” only because the computing power back then not so powerful to cater fancy real-time actions.

i think my muscle memory is still there, haha.

WASD is more like retrospective to me.

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Some of the changes people are asking for are like showing up to a cookout and complaining things need changed because you’re a vegan.

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People like you are why ARPG’s have sucked since after Diablo 2.

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Maybe because of Diablo 3 lol.

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People like you are why the genre has been stagnant since D2 :person_shrugging:

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Well you can keep enjoying your mass appeal slop that the ARPG genre has become. I will stick to playing the classics.

To be honest wasd is an awful way to control this type of game and it took development time away from other features that needed attention

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To each his own. I think point n click is an incredibly outdated system. WASD is so much more efficient for dealing with mobs of enemies along with all the things you have to avoid. For me its implementation was the best thing about S3.

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In D4 WASD movement is an accessibility feature. Being able to simulate mouse movement with WASD doesn’t change anything because you are not able to strafe. Not sure how I feel about the WASD in poe2, at least its going to take some time to get used to it.

Fair enough. Enjoy your dusty old niche games. Ill be enjoying games that are new and different and not stuck in a year 2000 mindset.

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Why do some people purchase a game with the intent to change everything about it?

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Because live service games arent meant to be static. If you disagree with that then show me one that is exactly the same two years after launch.

Next.

I am not referring to live service that may add new features. I am thinking of people who purchased a game that has seasons who jump on the forum crying about seasons.

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Because the eternal battle is between fixed mindset and growth mindset.
And you go through both in life.