Did this game actually die?

General Discussion
21

I’ve looked around too

Have you seen all those posts discussing “One for All” in ARAM?

:clown_face:

Well you know

It’s not really surprising considering that even Hogger himself is like two years old now

People aren’t exactly going to be making new discoveries rapidly like they used to

But all the talk about “One for All” in ARAM technically counts as a game talk

I agree with you there

OP: Asks us if HOTS is dead

The replies: Yeah, we’re mostly dead over here and we speak to you from beyond the grave

I rest my case

:moyai:
:running_man:
:headstone:

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22

Yes, talking about a recent change…versus actually talking about the game, characters, strats, etc. And prior to the recent ARAM stuff, what was being discussed around here? Exactly. This forum has long dried up on actual game talk.

I only ever come here now when i’m bored. To see what dust is being kicked up.

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23

I’m pretty sure I’ve recently had a talk with Karabars about Arthas and he replied that Arthas was the reason why he got interested in HOTS

As for strategies; people tend to keep that stuff to themselves since they don’t want people getting wind of their techniques like the washing machine being used to get easy wins

I won’t deny the fact that these forums are far less active than they used to be but we are still far from dead

And the game still has people playing regularly

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24

Citing some Off-topic talk that has nothing to do with actual gameplay, strategy, talent builds, stages, etc. That’s not exactly a glowing endorsement for the ‘active discussion’ around here. I rest my case.

But hey, it’s whatever. Not going to argue.

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25

On the EU server SL and ARAM are playable without much waiting time. When it comes to balanced matches, SL is the best option once you got used to the game again. QM is meh and unranked is dead.

26

These forums have always been “dead” compared to the Hots Reddit sub, but yes, they suffered a fast decline after the announcement of maintenance mode. The Reddit sub is still very active, with lots of people making content, guides, memes and wot not.

Hots seems to have a very loyal core fan base, I expected by this point I wouldn’t be able to find matches in QM on the NA server. As of writing this, I can still get ARAM games at anytime of the day almost instantly, same thing goes for VS AI Co-op, and only slightly longer queues (up to 3 minutes) for QM games.

Only ranked takes longer, and very long queue times are really only a problem for those in ranks Diamond and higher.

I’m not suggesting Hots is alive and well, but it’s doing fine for a game that’s been in maintenance mode for over a year.

There is a small group of posters who, for some reason or another, spend a great deal of their time on what they call “dead forums” for a “dead game”, demanding everyone should quit Hots because it’s “dead.”

I’m not sure if it’s just trolling on their part, or a lack of self awareness, but these folk also proclaim that they “don’t care about Hots”, yet ironically, they seem to care very much that others might still enjoy playing Hots.

The same people also do some very weird gatekeeping, judging “true fans” of Hots by post count and other irrelevant metrics. I haven’t been involved in “fandoms”, but from what I’ve heard, I guess this sadly isn’t unusual behaviour. The mentality seems to boil down to “I don’t like the game, so nobody else should and/or nobody liked it as much as I did.”

It’s an odd possessive attitude, akin to someone who was on the receiving end of a bad breakup. Diablo was my most beloved franchise, yet I don’t lurk or post on the Diablo 3 forums, Diablo Immortal, or D4 for that matter. I don’t like what they did with DI, for example, but why would I waste my time telling others to quit it?

If people enjoy something, and it’s not hurting anyone, leave it be.

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27

this is me & my spouse’s unwind game. even at 10am on a tuesday in not-NA we get a game in seconds. its fine

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28

My second game, started it at 5yo.
The latter games didn’t got me as well, but I like the lore.

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29

You mentioned characters being discussed in an earlier post so I mentioned talk about a character in the actual game

These forums have seen better days and these talents builds and strategies are available elsewhere so why would people come here for that?

I believe that Original Garden of Terror and Haunted Mines were talked about quite recently as well

These forums aren’t what they used to be but they are still alive and doing well

Also the very fact that you debate about “active discussion” while contributing to active discussion is a bit of an irony here

Ranked actually took very short times for me to find in comparison to Quick Match back in the Bronze League(part of why I loved being in it)

I think it’s because our heroes aren’t already picked while we queue for them

30

D1 was my first real game too, but in that above paragraph I meant Diablo Immortal.

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31

Maybe Kara is a time traveler and one of his first games really was Diablo “do you guys not have phones?” Immortal

:thinking:

Medivh do have portals after all

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32

I half agree here. While live and let live is a great way to look at things, I still feel customers should be smarter with what they consume and how they spend their money. Buying and spending money on trash like DI, sends the wrong message. It tells companies that what they are doing is ok and they should keep doing it. This idea spreads to other companies. Before long, we will be spending $70 on a store front where the “game” becomes a low effort side feature to have players grind a plethora of currencies to spend on the store.

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33

Ah, I thought you meant “I dislike what they did with hte Diablo franchise after Diablo I” :'D

Makes sense. Diablo Immortal is a game I didn’t try yet, but heard how p2w it is…

There are places where I am, but :shushing_face:

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34

Well the game isn’t really trash

Sure it may have predatory microtransactions but it’s free-to-play and they were nice enough to give us an actual working PC Port too instead of simply leaving it as Diablo “do you guys not have phones?” Immortal

I actually wish they had monetized HOTS like this so that our game would get more attention too

Because everyone knows that money gets things done

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35

I disagree. If DI was JUST a mobile game with an at most $20 price tag. I wouldn’t be here making a big deal of it. But it’s not. The reality is DI is a watered down version of D3 with a Store front as the main feature.

Free to play games are typically saddled with predatory microtransactions and systems to make up profits from a free to play game model. There are games that have people pay full price AND include predatory microtransactions and systems.

They were not nice enough to port a watered-down Diablo 3 game. They had no choice but to port it because of the loud fanatics demanding MORE diablo. “Hey, they want it for PC? Then give it to them! That way we can get even more money from the fools.”
I for one didn’t care for the “game” in mobile or PC forms. Why the heck would anyone want a port of DI to PC when they already have a much better game in D3? It’s insane this is even a thing.

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36

Oops! I didn’t mean anyone should accept Diablo Immortal, I was directly referring to Hots (D2, D3) when I said “If people enjoy something, and it’s not hurting anyone, leave it be.”

Diablo Immortal is a completely different beast, the level of microtransactions and confusing currencies and P2W aspects are, frankly, disgusting. As you noted, the game design is also lazy and almost seems to be an afterthought, with the storefront being the real purpose of the game.

Also, we both have spoken in the past how we don’t like the subscription model (with most things), where you basically lease your video games, rather than own them. I dislike that model as much as pernicious microtransactions in my media. Sadly, I think we’ve reached the point where subscriptions and heavy-handed microtransactions have been accepted by the majority as a norm.

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37

Just curious, but was my reading comprehension poor? You are very articulate and easy to understand, but when there is a mistake, I want to know if it was on my end so I can improve.

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38

You’re fine, it was honestly my fault, which is why I said oops!

I kinda tangled up my thoughts about Hots and Diablo Immortal and my thoughts about certain doom and gloom posters. Those kinds of gloom posters who say they have quit Hots, but spend a great deal of time here telling everyone else they must quit Hots too.

They aren’t telling people to quit because Hots is full of predatory microtransactions or some other moral quandary. The best I can figure is they want people to quit because “I don’t like Hots anymore, and I quit. My love for Hots was the purest, so everyone else should quit too.”

So you’re fine, I just had a senior moment when writing that post. :white_flower:

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39

Game is not dead. Devs are.

40

The Devs are alive and well, there just aren’t any Dev’s remaining who work exclusively on Hots.

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