The Future of Diablo?

[Aix.]

Didn't Diablo 3 suck? I quit playing that game after 2 weeks when it was released.

It was very very bad at release from the ultra-bland items to the content, story, and lore that basically felt like an insulting rush job after Act 1 (Act 4 was basically a series of white platforms suspended in air that they called Heaven). They eventually patched it up a few months later and it became passable - mainly because there were no other modern ARPGs yet - but it wasn't until the Reaper of Souls expansion that they gave it the true overhaul it needed. Unfortunately they have since gone overboard on some of the stuff and now the game is basically "play for a couple of hours, get handed a 6-piece set that does 1,000,000x damage...and that's your build."

The biggest crime is the sheer unrealized potential, honestly, but Blizz would rather do anything else than cultivate their coolest IP. There's plenty of game there for a newbie, but it's very stale for most others now. With Season 14 they're rolling out "themed seasons," and their big awesome idea? Double goblins. That's the amount of effort. Compare that with what GGG puts out for their ARPG every three months:

 

[tetris42]

It was very very bad at release from the ultra-bland items to the content, story, and lore that basically felt like an insulting rush job after Act 1 (Act 4 was basically a series of white platforms suspended in air that they called Heaven). They eventually patched it up a few months later and it became passable - mainly because there were no other modern ARPGs yet - but it wasn't until the Reaper of Souls expansion that they gave it the true overhaul it needed. Unfortunately they have since gone overboard on some of the stuff and now the game is basically "play for a couple of hours, get handed a 6-piece set that does 1,000,000x damage...and that's your build."

The biggest crime is the sheer unrealized potential, honestly, but Blizz would rather do anything else than cultivate their coolest IP. There's plenty of game there for a newbie, but it's very stale for most others now. With Season 14 they're rolling out "themed seasons," and their big awesome idea? Double goblins. That's the amount of effort. Compare that with what GGG puts out for their ARPG every three months:

I get the feeling they're almost embarrassed by the original Diablo with a dark gritty tone. It doesn't fit in well with their cartoon-ified Warcraft, Overwatch, etc. D3 felt like they were trying to have that again, but forgot how to make those kinds of games.

 

[tetris42]

I dunno, it seems like Diablo has just been going in circles. I just completed season 14, which was the first season I have ever played enough to complete and all I can do is stare at the char and say "ok, what now.."

I like that you can play diablo 3 for 20-30 minutes a day and make meaningful progress, but it doesn't take long until you are speed running gr70's. At which point all you end up doing is grinding up gems for augmentations and farming mats for crafting so you can cube gear 150 times to get a piece that is 1% better, then grind mats all over again.

After a certain point it just isn't meaningful anymore, and the community for the non seasonal is non-existent.

I guess you just have to be like this guy then:

https://www.pcgamer.com/diablo-3-player-reaches-paragon-level-1000-in-hardcore/

 

[Aix.]

I get the feeling they're almost embarrassed by the original Diablo with a dark gritty tone. It doesn't fit in well with their cartoon-ified Warcraft, Overwatch, etc. D3 felt like they were trying to have that again, but forgot how to make those kinds of games.

D3 should have been given to someone like Brother Laz once they realized it was a total flop design-wise. It wasn't, of course, and unfortunately that one decision to base all damage off your weapon hamstrung all future development as well.

DarkD3 really gave it some grit before it stopped working:

 

[Arcygenical]

I literally can't wait for the eventual diablo cardgame. Hearthsoulstone.

/s

 

[Mozgus]

I'm sorry, I'm unable to listen to anything she has to say, as your representative for this video is still is not black, or/and trans. Try harder Blizzard.

 

[A Little Teapot]

Who cares. Blizzard make some of the blandest, lowest common denominator crap available. There is ZERO chance that they'll come up with something worth playing.

 

[A Little Teapot]

It was very very bad at release from the ultra-bland items to the content, story, and lore that basically felt like an insulting rush job after Act 1 (Act 4 was basically a series of white platforms suspended in air that they called Heaven). They eventually patched it up a few months later and it became passable - mainly because there were no other modern ARPGs yet - but it wasn't until the Reaper of Souls expansion that they gave it the true overhaul it needed. Unfortunately they have since gone overboard on some of the stuff and now the game is basically "play for a couple of hours, get handed a 6-piece set that does 1,000,000x damage...and that's your build."

The biggest crime is the sheer unrealized potential, honestly, but Blizz would rather do anything else than cultivate their coolest IP. There's plenty of game there for a newbie, but it's very stale for most others now. With Season 14 they're rolling out "themed seasons," and their big awesome idea? Double goblins. That's the amount of effort. Compare that with what GGG puts out for their ARPG every three months:

This is what real passion looks like.

 

[Nebell]

I'm going to play the shit out of whatever Diablo they release.
I love that franchise.

 

[Archaea]

I lost interest in Diablo after I discovered Path of Exile, which is without a doubt the best action RPG ever made.

Bonus - continually updated and free to play.

 

[TheToE!]

It'll be f2p card game and a battle royal.

 

[tetris42]

It'll be f2p card game and a battle royal.

I was going to guess a Diablo themed event in Heroes of the Storm, but that's a pretty good guess too.

 

[Kaos_Drem]

Just to touch on Hellgate London....... That game SHOULD HAVE been amazing. What held it back was a mountain of bugs and poor net code.

If someone could redo that game with proper programming it would be a blockbuster in my opinion.

It basically already kind of exists with Warframe.

 

[Dekoth-E-]

Unfortunately they have since gone overboard on some of the stuff and now the game is basically "play for a couple of hours, get handed a 6-piece set that does 1,000,000x damage...and that's your build."

I gotta call this out as a gross oversimplification of how Season works. It takes more than a mere couple of hours unless you are getting power leveled and even still it takes easily at least 2 hours to complete all the chapter objectives to complete your first 6 set. Furthermore that first set is almost never your "end game" set and is generally only good for about Torment 6-7 until you get some major weapon upgrades or do A LOT of rerolling. On most classes that first set will with some decent lucky drops and careful restatting of gear get you to about Torment 10. That is usually about it though. If you want to progress to Torment 13 and beyond you are going to have to customize your gear drastically and likely use a completely different set. I took a break from Season 8 until season 14 which I'm currently playing. Lots of things have changed and much is the same. There still exist plenty of flaws with D3, but overall it is a fun game. I'm just pointing out that the game is significantly deeper than that statement. Is it POE? Oh no not even close. POE in many many ways is a far deeper and richer game. POE has its share of problems as well though as sometimes that complexity works against it.

 

[bastage]

I gotta call this out as a gross oversimplification of how Season works. It takes more than a mere couple of hours unless you are getting power leveled and even still it takes easily at least 2 hours to complete all the chapter objectives to complete your first 6 set. Furthermore that first set is almost never your "end game" set and is generally only good for about Torment 6-7 until you get some major weapon upgrades or do A LOT of rerolling. On most classes that first set will with some decent lucky drops and careful restatting of gear get you to about Torment 10. That is usually about it though. If you want to progress to Torment 13 and beyond you are going to have to customize your gear drastically and likely use a completely different set. I took a break from Season 8 until season 14 which I'm currently playing. Lots of things have changed and much is the same. There still exist plenty of flaws with D3, but overall it is a fun game. I'm just pointing out that the game is significantly deeper than that statement. Is it POE? Oh no not even close. POE in many many ways is a far deeper and richer game. POE has its share of problems as well though as sometimes that complexity works against it.

I'm a huge fan of D3, but no that's not an over simplification.. this season it took me less then 6 hours of playtime total solo before I could walk through a t13.. Once you know the builds which haven't really changed in several seasons getting the builds are easy. You learn what to drop and what to keep. Plus icy veins has all the most common good builds broken down for easy reference.

 

[hesho]

i LOVED diablo 2... hell, i got lvl 99 in d2c (no expansion)... and was really hyped for d3 but i will never forget how i first saw the game.

Went to friend's house, his brother was playing a game. They both played WoW a lot, and i seriously thought he was playing WoW... but it was D3........ was totally turned off after that..

i do think a bigger problem with any blizzard game lately.. their story telling is awful now

 

[Aix.]

I gotta call this out as a gross oversimplification of how Season works. It takes more than a mere couple of hours unless you are getting power leveled and even still it takes easily at least 2 hours to complete all the chapter objectives to complete your first 6 set. Furthermore that first set is almost never your "end game" set and is generally only good for about Torment 6-7 until you get some major weapon upgrades or do A LOT of rerolling. On most classes that first set will with some decent lucky drops and careful restatting of gear get you to about Torment 10. That is usually about it though. If you want to progress to Torment 13 and beyond you are going to have to customize your gear drastically and likely use a completely different set. I took a break from Season 8 until season 14 which I'm currently playing. Lots of things have changed and much is the same. There still exist plenty of flaws with D3, but overall it is a fun game. I'm just pointing out that the game is significantly deeper than that statement. Is it POE? Oh no not even close. POE in many many ways is a far deeper and richer game. POE has its share of problems as well though as sometimes that complexity works against it.

The point I was trying to make was that their decision to give sets astronomical damage values has totally undermined the character building and progression in the game. Even their own solution - Legacy of Nightmares - has been left in the dust because it's limited to 1300% damage while they've given other sets stats like 5400% damage or 50,000% damage to a skill, etc...and LoN is waaay harder to gear for!

But yeah, I was being a tad facetious with the couple of hours remark...but honestly it's not that many more hours until you've got a set, and then you're basically back into the same GR grind for the entire rest of the season, battling the meanest of all foes: HP bloat.

 

[daglesj]

Always loved D2. I finally got round to D3 and while I enjoyed the first play through I was disappointed to find the maps don't change. IIRC the map in D2 would change so the layout was different. Plus even on a hard setting I didn't die once on the whole play through.

I can remember several points in D2 it took me quite a while and many deaths to defeat the odd location or end boss. Just felt way too easy. Plus I don't get all the season/league stuff whatever stuff in D3. I have no desire to play online with dickheads.

I actually preferred Torchlight 1 and 2 to D3.