D3 Q&A Impressions

[Coldkil]

Well, i don't expect anything from Blizzard and i agree we got our money worth from the game.

Still, i don't think it's good for the game to have everything focused on GRs and Sets. The Q&A session didn't answer to any question and didn't add anything we didn't know already - they basically stated the current state of the game and what they are going to release (which we already know).

D3 is not made to be like a oneshot console game you play and finish and put on the shelf; seasons are made for the exact purpose to keep the game fresh and new every new one starts (it's been said multiple times and even during this last Q&A session).

The problem lies on a system that has become stale and monotonous after 8 seasons with the last three being all the same and S9 looking again the same. There's nothing wrong imho in telling Blizzard what we players feel needs to be improved - and there's a lot to work on if they want.

With this i'm not saying Blizzard owes us anything. They can simply continue what they're doing and the game will still run and be playable. Anyway i simply think that if they really want the game to thrive on the long term, they need to take action on the game systems, as a class DLC every year is not what's needed to fix the game. or better, a new class doesn't serve much purpose, but the monetization of class DLCs may be the right way to keep D3 alive.

[Chemii]

While I will never agree with any trash talk video about a game like D3 because I agree with your point (we got our bang for our buck), I do think D3 can have a future if it is monetized with DLC but only if the basic problems many people have explained are solved. Offer a viable alternative to GRifts (TXIII is a good start imo, maybe offer new torment levels more often). Change the way builds function (imo remove LoN and make it a baseline passive then focus on legendaries boosting abilities that are not used by sets; switch around the slots some sets use or add more 7p sets so people can mix and match sets; considering letting us CRAFT the legendaries we have extracted). Change the way paragon functions (reconsider how many points can be invested in each stat and perhaps add more stats or move stats around).

However if the game cannot be monetized with DLC I honestly would suggest they just slowly drop all support. They do not owe the community anything tbh.

I don't want it to be confused. I realise there are huge issues with the game, I personally hate the lack of support with the meta not shifting much and most sets being redundant. but...

At the end of the day I was playing a game that I haven't spent a penny on for years, vanilla D3 I basically got for free through WoW (when it really was terrible and I still had over 200 hours each on 3 characters) and to expect Blizzard to have this full development team sat there churning out content after content update for free is just flat out dumb, let alone getting all ragey about it as if it's a disgusting moral issue.

I just don't get it, I understand the support, the passion for the series is admirable but come on, wake up - some games give us 40 hours of game-time and we say they are a masterpiece but D3 literally gives people thousands of hours of playtime and suddenly Blizzard are the biggest retards ever and D3 is terrible.

It's a joke.

[ophion1990]

Not being funny but some people need a reality check.

You paid how much for D3?

How many hours have you played?

End of fucking discussion. Blizzard don't owe you anything and like most people, you've definitely had your moneys worth.

I don't think a whole lot of people are gonna disagree that we've had our moneys worth. There is new content coming though, they just spend their resources on things that make people happy short term rather than the stuff the game needs in order to stay fresh for a longer time. I think we can keep the necro DLC in the middle right now, it won't fix any of the game's issues but it'll definitly be entertaining for a season or 2. The D1 "remake" or the new zones costs resources while adding little replayability though, and the zones probably won't even incentivize people to pick up the game again. We just expected a full blown expansion, we didn't get any announcement (again) so people are annoyed and a lot of people are looking out for new games/complaining.

Nothing to do with a reality check and it's definitly not up to you to decide what we can and can't discuss.

[Coldkil]

I just don't get it, I understand the support, the passion for the series is admirable but come on, wake up - some games give us 40 hours of game-time and we say they are a masterpiece but D3 literally gives people thousands of hours of playtime and suddenly Blizzard are the biggest retards ever and D3 is terrible.

It's a joke.

I'm going to take this personally - because i want to be sure i am not one of those persons. I know i may have crossed the line sometimes, but generally i think i'm able to structure well enough my criticism into clear points. I'm not taking it personal as in " i feel you're offending me".

I agree with your points. As i said D3 is a good game (not the best game but the hours played means something - the game keeps me entertained enough) and the money spent is well worth it (owner of both CEs).

Though money/playtime ratio is not the only way to measure a game quality imho. There's a lot more. And in the end, what really frustrates me is basically the way Blizzard is dealing with D3 - it feels a lot like they're just keeping it alive enough for the core playerbase but not warranting any real future support.

The whole point is that many of these issues (paragon in need of rework, sets being too crucial, GRs being the only relevant content) were noted and reported to devs in multiple ways and lots of occasions. If you read the official Q&A thread where they asked players to write down questions, things like the Paragon rework were present in nearly all posts. Yet we got a (forgive me) half-assed answer about them being an "alternate progression" which frankly doesn't make much sense.

I think most D3 players, both casuals and long term ones, are just really confused about the future of this game. Should we expect anything in the future or not? Obviously Blizzard cannot say us "no, we're not doing anything new" but giving us the "stay vague" treatment makes only people angry.

Hope i got my point straight. Again, i don't want to be one of those ranting people D3 isn't terrible by any means. I would say it's repetitive but a) D2 wasn't different and b) i played more than 1k hours so i'm not exactly a good source for this.

EDIT: Blizzard actually did a similar thing for Seasons - they asked players what they wanted. Nearly everyone said cosmetic rewards, objectives, season-exclusive loot and the merging of progress to non season when season ended. And it's exactly what we got (progressively). That was honestly one of the best moments i had in D3 - Blizzard and players talking and confronting and making the game better. Seasons are awesome. They just need meaningful content other than GRs to progress through.

[Deleted]

Not being funny but some people need a reality check.

You paid how much for D3?

How many hours have you played?

End of fucking discussion. Blizzard don't owe you anything and like most people, you've definitely had your moneys worth.

Different genres, different requirements. You can't compare across genres and say "you played more than X hours, you should be satisfied"
It's not really THAT hard to realize that you are wrong.

It's also completely irrelevant to the discussion. If Blizzard wanted to monetize on diablo by offering more content, I don't think any would disagree.

Most complains after RoS focus around the undeniable fact: there is only a small team dedicated to d3, which is unable to deal with the game's issues and/or longevity.
D3 with Reaper is a great game, it's a shame that it isn't getting the attention it deserves.

[Thimagryn]

While I will never agree with any trash talk video about a game like D3 because I agree with your point (we got our bang for our buck), I do think D3 can have a future if it is monetized with DLC but only if the basic problems many people have explained are solved. Offer a viable alternative to GRifts (TXIII is a good start imo, maybe offer new torment levels more often). Change the way builds function (imo remove LoN and make it a baseline passive then focus on legendaries boosting abilities that are not used by sets; switch around the slots some sets use or add more 7p sets so people can mix and match sets; considering letting us CRAFT the legendaries we have extracted). Change the way paragon functions (reconsider how many points can be invested in each stat and perhaps add more stats or move stats around).

However if the game cannot be monetized with DLC I honestly would suggest they just slowly drop all support. They do not owe the community anything tbh.

This is something I can completely agree with.

I think the power creep is way too high and needs to be made more gradual so that more time can be spent in a long-haul to progress in power rather than the current system of being lucky with 6pc drops or lucky with the ancient weapon drop with ideal stats that can boost you 10+ Grift levels immediately. I'm looking forward to the Necro DLC, but I'm heavily concerned that I'd spend minimal time with it considering I was able to level up and completely gear out a fresh character in less than a week. The rest is all paragon/legendary stats grind to hit higher Granks. The game has all the elements for progression, their priorities are just scattered and need reorganizing.

[Chemii]

I'm going to take this personally - because i want to be sure i am not one of those persons. I know i may have crossed the line sometimes, but generally i think i'm able to structure well enough my criticism into clear points. I'm not taking it personal as in " i feel you're offending me".

I agree with your points. As i said D3 is a good game (not the best game but the hours played means something - the game keeps me entertained enough) and the money spent is well worth it (owner of both CEs).

Though money/playtime ratio is not the only way to measure a game quality imho. There's a lot more. And in the end, what really frustrates me is basically the way Blizzard is dealing with D3 - it feels a lot like they're just keeping it alive enough for the core playerbase but not warranting any real future support.

The whole point is that many of these issues (paragon in need of rework, sets being too crucial, GRs being the only relevant content) were noted and reported to devs in multiple ways and lots of occasions. If you read the official Q&A thread where they asked players to write down questions, things like the Paragon rework were present in nearly all posts. Yet we got a (forgive me) half-assed answer about them being an "alternate progression" which frankly doesn't make much sense.

I think most D3 players, both casuals and long term ones, are just really confused about the future of this game. Should we expect anything in the future or not? Obviously Blizzard cannot say us "no, we're not doing anything new" but giving us the "stay vague" treatment makes only people angry.

Hope i got my point straight. Again, i don't want to be one of those ranting people D3 isn't terrible by any means. I would say it's repetitive but a) D2 wasn't different and b) i played more than 1k hours so i'm not exactly a good source for this.

EDIT: Blizzard actually did a similar thing for Seasons - they asked players what they wanted. Nearly everyone said cosmetic rewards, objectives, season-exclusive loot and the merging of progress to non season when season ended. And it's exactly what we got (progressively). That was honestly one of the best moments i had in D3 - Blizzard and players talking and confronting and making the game better. Seasons are awesome. They just need meaningful content other than GRs to progress through.

I honestly agree with everything you've said Cold, I guess I just find it annoying to read other peoples frustrations being turned into gibberish rage without actually looking at the big picture and then even worse, going on some D1 & D2 rant, possibly suggesting there was any sort of end game there. There's a lot of entitlement within this generation of gamers, in online spaces and it bothers me - sometimes it comes out in a "shut the fuck up" tone.

I can't lie and say I haven't posted any negative feedback or that I'm satisfied with how Diablo is currently but it's essentially a free to play game at this point, with no DLC content to support development costs. People should at least 'try' to bare that in mind when looking into the lack of support and keep some perspective about their viewpoint on the game as a whole. RoS is coming up to being three years old and I'm sure they are aware that since season 5-6 the number of returning players have dropped substantially but I mean you can hardly even say RoS launch and now are even the same game, which says a lot. Maybe they just saw a drop in new sales of RoS and diluted the team, who knows.

The minor tweaks are what they can do and the money they were given recently they spunked on that terrible anniversary event, though I reckon that was probably part of the Blizzcon budget anyway, just to fill the timetable.

Fingers crossed the DLC brings other changes too.

[Coldkil]

Fingers crossed the DLC brings other changes too.

Basically this. Also the price of the DLc needs to be spot-on; something around the 10-15$ mark would be fine, more than that is just pretentious. Yes the class may be awesome and all, but you're not selling deep game changes with it - just another toon to do the same stuff over and over plus a bunch of cosmetics.

Another thing: it's been datamined that players will be able to exchange WoW token into BNet balance - this may have a huge backfire as getting tokens now is pretty easy and being able to buy the Necro through that won't bring any money to Blizzard (until there's a wave of new Tokens flooding the market, and it doesn't look like that at all currently with prices continuosly raising).

- - - Updated - - -

If D2 had "infinite" scaling runs, would people have been focusing a lot more on the optimal stuff? You betcha.

Sure, GRs system has a lot to do with this for sure. That's why D3 needs other content - and one of the cores need to be the possibility to upgrade legendary gems through this content.

PoE has maps - which are dropped around the world and are static levels with specific modifiers. They're basically a fixed rift. Anyway being fixed you can add lots of mechanics and take out the timer; maybe add some simple objectives (not like sets dungeons lol). Clearing the stuff will reward you in the same way GRs do.

They're doing something on the line with Challenge Rifts. But again there's freakin ladders and it doesn't involve using your character which honestly i find pretty dumb. I want to play my char and increase its power, not playing someone else's.

[Gadzooks]

I suppose the only real hope is to have the Necro DLC to be successful enough to make Blizzard willing again to input resources into D3. It's pretty clear that without a steady revenue any effort is seen as a loss especially sicne playerbase is currently really small.

I'm basically done with D3 until the Necro comes out. I have zero interest in Seasons, I just can't do it. There's no point, really. I saw the D1 homage on the test realm, so I have no more interest in it.

Kind of sad, but I've moved on to other games. I'm deep into Civ 6 now, but I know I don't last long with Civ games, I play them off and on over time.

I guess I could give Skyrim another shot. I keep starting it, and losing interest. I just don't care for the combat system at all. And yes, I tried POE. I logged in, and saw the same toxic players talking about Hitler in the chat. Not interested in that kind of community, it's why I left WoW.

Really bummed out at the stagnation with D3. Oh well.

- - - Updated - - -

I honestly agree with everything you've said Cold, I guess I just find it annoying to read other peoples frustrations being turned into gibberish rage without actually looking at the big picture and then even worse, going on some D1 & D2 rant, possibly suggesting there was any sort of end game there. There's a lot of entitlement within this generation of gamers, in online spaces and it bothers me - sometimes it comes out in a "shut the fuck up" tone.

I can't lie and say I haven't posted any negative feedback or that I'm satisfied with how Diablo is currently but it's essentially a free to play game at this point, with no DLC content to support development costs. People should at least 'try' to bare that in mind when looking into the lack of support and keep some perspective about their viewpoint on the game as a whole. RoS is coming up to being three years old and I'm sure they are aware that since season 5-6 the number of returning players have dropped substantially but I mean you can hardly even say RoS launch and now are even the same game, which says a lot. Maybe they just saw a drop in new sales of RoS and diluted the team, who knows.

The minor tweaks are what they can do and the money they were given recently they spunked on that terrible anniversary event, though I reckon that was probably part of the Blizzcon budget anyway, just to fill the timetable.

Fingers crossed the DLC brings other changes too.

It's hard for me to agree. D3 is one of the most successful games of all time. It's sales are record breaking, both the base and the expansion. I have no doubt a second expansion would be just as successful, and fund itself.

I just don't know what to think. They're not abandoning the game, but it's stagnating. The things announced for 2017 feel like placeholders to me, to keep the fans coming in, while they figure things out. I suspect the issue is the game is lacking any leadership, they either havent replaced the game director, or the new one is still learning the ropes, and they haven't decided a future yet. The game right now has no focus or vision for the future other than "more of the same", according to that Q&A. There's a reason Pearce talked about it at Blizzcon - I thought it was because he was returning to the D3 team, but I think now it's more they had nobody at the right rank on the team to speak for it.

I hope, anyway, because that leaves the door open for them getting the team back in shape, and moving forward. Right now, they're in a holding pattern.

This is more specious, but it could be that Metzen left without giving them more story to work with. It sounds like he was overwhelmed with Legion and the movie, and once he was done with them, he was DONE. I know they formed/are forming a new story group in Blizzard called The Anvil, it could be they're waiting for that group to give them a story to work with. If they don't have a story, it's kind of hard to do more than they are.

[Coldkil]

-snip-

I have actually found new love and passion for D3 - got my hands back on seasonal DH and since i have nearly everything for and UE MS build, i'm going for that (mastered natalya set dungeon this morning since it's so easy solo).

I'm 250 para. Playing completely solo i expect to be done with everything around para 500 (will do Curses! and Boss Mode conquests) so i should be able to do Guardian before the 30th.

As for the story point: while D3 narration isn't exactly top quality, i simply don't think there needs to be more until they plan to release other story acts and maybe increase the level cap before Paragon. Anyway there needs to be some different content to do which isn't GRs and has specific rewards; otherwise Paragon reworked as a more meaningful progression path to give players a reason to actually stay in game after doing the fast stuff.

[Gadzooks]

Not being funny but some people need a reality check.

You paid how much for D3?

How many hours have you played?

End of fucking discussion. Blizzard don't owe you anything and like most people, you've definitely had your moneys worth.

Who said I wasn't willing to pay for more content? I'd really like a new expansion, to finish or continue the story, and unlock new regions - and pay for it. I'm not expecting anything for free, so you can take your sanctimonious finger waving and take it back to the WoW general forum.

[SirBeef]

We're the people that grew up on Diablo 1 and 2 and desperately cling to hope that Blizzard will fix D3 and not leave one of their biggest franchises in the garbage...Apparently, they care more about the money coming from WoW, Hearthstone, and Overwatch now.

Didn't exactly grow up on D1 & 2, was already an adult, but I enjoy D3 more than the the first two. I loved D1 and D2, and I love D3. There is nothing wrong with liking D3 in it's current state. I tried to play D1 recently, and it's pretty bad. D2 holds up a bit better, but it feels bad. There is something about D3 that just feels good. I know there is no character building like the other two and it's more about the gear and sets, or the build your own legendary set, but it's just fun, more-so than the first two IMO.