This is an extremely controversial opinion, especially with so many players being “casuals.” I see neverending posts and comments about respec cost being prohibitive for casual players. Even if the cost is relatively low, many people are not happy with that and want completely free respecs. The argument of “But why should people who play 3 hours per week be prevented from waking up and saying ‘I want to play x build today’?”
There is a relatively simple but controversial reason why the game should NOT be made for those players. The diehard, hardcore, serious players are going to be the people who spend more time playing the game. All of these people who play 3-6 hours per week will not be the people spending the most time in the game.
We only get a Diablo game once every decade. Serious players want a game that will last and be fun and playable for a decade. Most casual players will probably play less than 8 hours per week–and realistically probably less than 5-6 hours per week on average if they also play other games in their limited free time. More than that, casual players probably will play the game for a few months and then never touch the game again. Serious players will play this game for years and years after its release. The game should be made for the players who will play the game the most.
If they sell 2M copies of the game, and 1.5M of those players are casual players who will likely play the game less than 500 hours per year and probably won’t play the game after a year anyways, the game should not be made for those people. I’m not saying the game has to be super hardcore and impossible to enjoy for casual players. I’m just saying that when it comes to certain design decisions, like having a respec cost, or aspects only having a chance to drop at the end of dungeons instead of guaranteed drops, the game developers should choose the option that will make the game more enjoyable for long-term players.
Again though, I’m not saying the game shouldn’t be enjoyable for casual players. It absolutely should. But when they have to make design decisions about respec cost, drop rates, etc., then it those decisions should lean towards the serious players’ interests.
From a casual perspective, if you only play a few hours per week and want to play every build on every class every season, then the only way to do that would be to have high drop rates for loot and free respec costs. The game would not be fun if you could completely gear out a character in a weekend for a specific build. That mindset killed D3. I reached GR 110 and completed the season 28 altar in the current D3 season in like 48 hours (not 48 hours of game play). That is not fun.
And we casuals? Are collectively going to spend two to ten times as much as you TryHards.
I still play Master of Orion II. It came out before many people on this forum were out of diapers, if they had been born at all. And I self-identify as a casual gamer.
Tell me you don’t know how to run a business, without saying “I eat crayons”.
If the sales numbers are exactly what you say? Then on Day One, Casuals have outspent TryHards by a factor of three.
Casuals are also more likely to pay for certain services moving forward - like accelerated Season Pass unlocks (they include some in the Ultimate edition, so don’t even try to suggest they won’t be selling them after Launch!).
It’s true. People that spend more time in a game spend more money. So casuals actually don’t end up supplying the game with extra revenue over time, beyond the initial sale.
Keeping hardcore players happy who will continue to buy battlepasses and spend money in the store will be much better for the continued development of D4.
Casuals will probably just play free battlepasses.
I feel like you’re missing one of the core parts of my argument. I talk about design decisions that would lean one way or the other. I’m not saying don’t make the game enjoyable for casual players. It should be enjoyable and playable for everyone. I’m just talking about certain decisions that will give the game more replayability.
For example I want to quote part of an article published on Wowhead in late 2022 based on an interview with the D4 design team about respeccing:
"Up to Level 40 or so, Blizzard wants respecs to be very, very affordable. On the way to Level 100, respeccing will get more expensive but you will absolutely be able to respec at any point in the game if you have enough gold for it. There is no “soft lock” in terms of respeccing.
The design approach behind this decision is dictated by character and build permanence. Players shouldn’t be able to completely change their whole build during end-game progression. Diablo IV is designed around approaching all end-game systems with the goal to improve your character and its build. As an example, having the freedom to play many different builds with one character would cause players to keep every single item, invalidating the awesome feeling of finding a great upgrade. Additionally, things like crafting and rerolling high-end items would become much less impactful." Source
As you can see, they talk about this issue. Being able to play every build for a class on a single character in a single day would hurt the feel of the game. Casual players would want high drop rates so they could play those builds as they’re meant to be played with the proper gear. They would want unlimited stash space to save every item. They would want guaranteed drops from certain content (I’m basing this on a comment I read on reddit where someone said that dungeons should 100% drop aspects instead of a “chance” to drop them, which was mentioned in the endgame video released today).
The game should be playable for everyone and enjoyable for everyone, but certain design decisions should be aimed toward people who will spend most of the time in the game. I’m not saying casual players should be disinsentivized from playing the game at all.
And to your point of " Tell me you don’t know how to run a business, without saying “I eat crayons”." Again, I’m not saying it shouldn’t be fun and playable for casuals. But even if the game sells to 3x as many casual players as it does hardcore players, that doesn’t mean the game will be a long-term success. Yes it might be a success in the first year. But you would assume you want people to continue playing the game for years, spending money on battle passes and cosmetics and who knows what other microtransactions they’ll introduce. Those purchases will come primarily from the hardcore players. It’s not all about making the biggest sale at launch. The game should have the ability to generate income over years.
That’s exactly what you are saying though? You can dress it up however you want but you want punishing respec prices and low drop rates so that the people who play 10 hours a day can feel like they are playing D2 again. It’s fine that you want that but don’t lie about it.
The problem arises when you realise that casuals significantly outnumber non-casuals.
If casuals spend 1/4 as much as tryhards, on a per-capita basis … but outnumber the tryhards 6 to 1 …? Then the casual money collectively is 50% greater than the tryhard money.
You’re treating it like its a black and white decision when in reality respec cost is a spectrum. They will decide on how expensive to make the respeccing. I never once said I wanted it to be punishing. But they want the game to feel like an ARPG with meaningful decisions and meaningful playing experience where you are supposed to grind to get gear to improve your character. ARPGs are games where you have to grind. You’re basically just saying that ARPGs should be a different genre of game to cater to people who want everything easily and quickly. That is not what grinding and the genre of game is about.
It’s not though. They have already said they want it to get to the point where it’s more efficient to level a new character than to respec. The only people who want respec costs are those who can’t exercise enough self control to just not do it. Heck I’m fine with a toggle that marks me as uber casual and unable to do pvp if I can respec at will on that character.
