Why Diablo 3 is a Horribly Wrong Direction for Games

[Callace]

I've been onboard with Blizzard for decades. Hell, I even enjoyed Cataclysm and thought SC2 was awesomesauce. But Blizzard is progressively taking steps towards becoming The Man with Diablo 3.

The recent developments with D3 are prime steak examples. Gold drops have been nerfed heavily. Bosses have been buffed. All drop rates have been nerfed except for ilevels in later difficulties. Worst of all, repairing real equipment costs thousands upon thousands more. What does this all mean? Slower kills, slower upgrades, more money sinks. THEY WANT THE GAME TO LAST LONGER.

It gets worse.

I am not against the concept of the RMAH. But the way Blizzard is using it is a horror. The concept of introducing a free market place to a game is simply wonderful. It gives players more options and more fun. But that is not what Blizzard is doing. The game was tailored around the RMAH as a means to force players to make microtransactions to complete the hardest difficulties. That the RMAH is a great asset in the abstract and that Blizzard is using it to make D3 PAY TO WIN are completely exclusive ideas. Sure, we got an innovative new feature, but the hidden costs outweigh the entire game. Currently, the average/good player that farms Inferno for items will still have to spend more than the cost of the game on items that will give him or her the edge to beat the game. I think we can all agree that cost would be $60 at the very least...

Other games are opening their doors for their respective communities, with advanced world editors, and mod packages that ship with their games. What Blizzard is doing with Diablo 3 is the exact opposite. They are tightening the noose. Narrowing the content. And forcing their customers to pay more and more for less and less. And don't get me wrong, Blizzard has every right to maximize their profits. But with D3, they have finally jumped the shark by giving us less than what we are paying for. Diablo 3 is a fun game to play through a couple times, but it is short, and its design motivation is based more on greed than fun. I am calling bullshit.

Blizzard's model with D3 has effectively transformed from
Make Game That is Fun Enough to Attract Maximum Customers = Profit
to Profit from Current Customers = Make Sure Game is Just Fun Enough to Retain Them

This is a horrible direction for games, and personally, with the less than stellar reviews that are surfacing, I sincerely hope that they lose customers and are forced to change their priorities.

[Korgoth]

But Blizzard is progressively taking steps towards becoming The Man with Diablo 3.

Not the Man! Lolling so hard at that.

--REMOVED--

[Caiada]

Less-than-stellar reviews. Lol.

Also, no evidence behind your frankly absurd claims; a gross misrepresentation of today's changes; extreme opinions again without any backing evidence; ignoring the fact that this situation is very specific to Blizzard and Diablo, not a 'direction for gaming' because anyone who emulates this plan without having the same sort of economy the Diablo series has had is a moron and deserves their inevitable failure; dramatic oversimplifications; etc. etc. etc.

There are lots of problems with D3's item game. Corporate evil isn't one of them.

[Ghul]

i think they just want to make good games? if many people play it, then that means its a good game. so your logic is kinda strange to me in that context

your post is mainly a "mimimi i've been nerfed"-rant tbh. the attackspeed nerf was really needed imo, because there was actually no stat that could rival its power. even lowlvl 30-40 items were much better than some lvl60 items, just because they had attackspeed on them ~~

now theres actually room for decisionmaking, wich is good. "hmm do i take the 5%ias or should i get that other item with 90 vitality instead?" <- something like that i guess, even tho it might be a bad example :P


stop getting personally offended over such changes, they make them for a reason man.. and that reason certainly doesnt have anything to do with screwing you over personally.

[Callace]

Not the Man! Lolling so hard at that.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ng9LM...mbedded#t=123s

Congratulations on making it to the second sentence.

---------- Post added 2012-06-19 at 08:22 PM ----------

Less-than-stellar reviews. Lol.

Lol. Press average is 8.8. That is indeed lower than Blizzard's other titles. I'm sure there is no reason for that. Nothing happens for a reason, right?

---------- Post added 2012-06-19 at 08:25 PM ----------

i think they just want to make good games? if many people play it, then that means its a good game.

No. It doesn't. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argumentum_ad_populum

[Ghul]

Congratulations on making it to the second sentence.

---------- Post added 2012-06-19 at 08:22 PM ----------


Lol. Press average is 8.8. That is indeed lower than Blizzard's other titles. I'm sure there is no reason for that. Nothing happens for a reason, right?

the press is communitydriven anyways...

[Callace]

i think they just want to make good games? if many people play it, then that means its a good game. so your logic is kinda strange to me in that context

your post is mainly a "mimimi i've been nerfed"-rant tbh. the attackspeed nerf was really needed imo, because there was actually no stat that could rival its power. even lowlvl 30-40 items were much better than some lvl60 items, just because they had attackspeed on them ~~

now theres actually room for decisionmaking, wich is good. "hmm do i take the 5%ias or should i get that other item with 90 vitality instead?" <- something like that i guess, even tho it might be a bad example :P


stop getting personally offended over such changes, they make them for a reason man.. and that reason certainly doesnt have anything to do with screwing you over personally.

Jesus christ, was that the only sentence you read? Other people were effected by it. It didn't make the game harder, it made it more tedious. Read the rest of the post before you start lambasting it.

[Caiada]

Congratulations on making it to the second sentence.

---------- Post added 2012-06-19 at 08:22 PM ----------


Lol. Press average is 8.8. That is indeed lower than Blizzard's other titles. I'm sure there is no reason for that. Nothing happens for a reason, right?

---------- Post added 2012-06-19 at 08:25 PM ----------


No. It doesn't. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argumentum_ad_populum

Probably all the server issues and being online-only?

[Auguine]

Doom! Dooooooooooom! DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

Diablo 3 is fine, and I have a ton of fun farming in it. Sorry that the attack speed nerf effected you so much, I sold all my awesome IaS gear before the patch for around 10 million gold, and went crit and crit damage, changed my spirit builder to fists of thunder for faster hits, and my LoH is still just as effective essentially! Yaaay thinking ahead!

[Callace]

the press is communitydriven anyways...

What's your point? Most of my points have nothing to do with the audience except that they bought the game despite of problems.

[Lodreh]

Then don't play... problem is self solving... if you deny profits by not using said service then company is forced to look in a different direction to increase revenue.

However, it has been my understanding that this model is sound because... as bad as "pay to win" sounds to most gamers... a good portion of gamers will jump on the option to do just that. You and I may not agree with it... and you have every right to feel betrayed as a loyal customer... but it is sound business practice and will continue until enough people decide not to use the service... and that, my friend, is going to be an uphill battle. I know several people that are planning on farming enough in D3 to pay for their WoW account... and if they are successful then these players will feel like the RMAH is a good thing for all games.

Just my random thoughts,
Kalium

[Callace]

Deleted attack speed anecdote so that people wouldn't get distracted by it.

---------- Post added 2012-06-19 at 08:32 PM ----------

Then don't play... problem is self solving... if you deny profits by not using said service then company is forced to look in a different direction to increase revenue.

However, it has been my understanding that this model is sound because... as bad as "pay to win" sounds to most gamers... a good portion of gamers will jump on the option to do just that. You and I may not agree with it... and you have every right to feel betrayed as a loyal customer... but it is sound business practice and will continue until enough people decide not to use the service... and that, my friend, is going to be an uphill battle. I know several people that are planning on farming enough in D3 to pay for their WoW account... and if they are successful then these players will feel like the RMAH is a good thing for all games.

Just my random thoughts,
Kalium

Blizzard's exploitation of RMAH and making the gameplay deliberately slower and longer is good business just as much as my authoring this thread is good consumer awareness.

[Byniri]

You are not FORCED to use the RMAH, just don't use it.

[Caiada]

I think the best part of this was you suggesting that using the RMAH was necessary.

[Callace]

No one is bothered that Blizzard is essentially making fun in their games a literal fiat currency?

[Caiada]

No one is bothered that Blizzard is essentially making fun in their games a literal fiat currency?

That isn't how fun works for most people. You can suggest all day long that they're just manipulating people into using the RMAH for as long as possible and to make as much money as possible, but people are obviously still having fun separate from poor item drops, the qualms with the AH system or how much money they have. As long as they're having fun, the argument looks really, really weak.

[Callace]

I think the best part of this was you suggesting that using the RMAH was necessary.

The Devs said the game was designed with the intent of players having to use it to beat it. I'm not sure how you can imply otherwise...

[Grraarrgghh]

Deleted attack speed anecdote so that people wouldn't get distracted by it.

---------- Post added 2012-06-19 at 08:32 PM ----------


Blizzard's exploitation of RMAH and making the gameplay deliberately slower and longer is good business just as much as my authoring this thread is good consumer awareness.

You and the 15 gajillion other threads that express this and similar sentiments.

Frankly, it was a dead horse 2 weeks ago. Now, it's a mushy pile of flogged intestines and horsemeat.

[Callace]

You are not FORCED to use the RMAH, just don't use it.

No more than I am forced to play the game, of course not. But Blizzard stated explicitly that the game was designed for the player to use the RMAH in order to win.

---------- Post added 2012-06-19 at 08:36 PM ----------

That isn't how fun works for most people.

Care to elaborate?

[Holy]

lol. Anytime someone says that the game 'revolves around the RMAH' and you 'have to use it to progress' I laugh to myself and am hit by a great wave of gratitude that I am not stupid enough to beleive this. Diablo is a farming game, you play it to FARM. It may take a long time, but you can get the gear through FARMING. In fact, anyone who buys too much gear is really just limiting their own enjoyment of the game.