I look forward to Diablo 4, but I'm afraid I won't enjoy it

[Strawberry]

So, Blizzard wants to go back to Diablo 2 roots.
Now, I enjoyed Diablo 3 a lot more than Diablo 2 even though Diablo 3 has glaring issues.
I do not look forward to not being able to reach max level unless I play for years. Or expensive respec costs. I want to be able to easily swap skills.
I really like the playstyle of Diablo 3 where you can get the max level in a couple of days and then just enjoy grinding end game and getting cool upgrades.
I'm not that kid anymore who played games for 18 hours and slept for 6. I realized this while playing Wolcen. I don't want to waste my time.

[Vyndion]

We just don't know right now what the end game systems will look like.

Neither does blizzard.

Too early to get worried about this. But, if there's any solace, just focus on enjoying the journey. It's okay if your end-game goals are different than someone else's.

[spalernTJ]

So, Blizzard wants to go back to Diablo 2 roots.
Now, I enjoyed Diablo 3 a lot more than Diablo 2 even though Diablo 3 has glaring issues.
I do not look forward to not being able to reach max level unless I play for years. Or expensive respec costs. I want to be able to easily swap skills.
I really like the playstyle of Diablo 3 where you can get the max level in a couple of days and then just enjoy grinding end game and getting cool upgrades.
I'm not that kid anymore who played games for 18 hours and slept for 6. I realized this while playing Wolcen. I don't want to waste my time.

First of all Time enjoyed is not time wasted, if you do not enjoy the leveling aspect of ARPGs at all, then maybe it's not your ideal genre? As far as I know, Diablo 3 Is the only big ARPG that easily level caps you? Not sure about Grim Dawn, didn't get to play it much. The journey in an ARPG is just as important as the end game is, it's the primary growth of your character where you learn all sorts of new spells and abilities.

I personally do not enjoy the easy level cap experience of diablo 3. Getting to max level in a few hours (Yes, it only takes hours in D3) just to grind the same rifts over and over isn't fun to me. That being said, I am sure Diablo 4 will have the same system, because it's Blizzard and it's easier to balance. And if not, you can still play Diablo 3 (Until they pull a WC3 Reforged on it or shut down the servers. )

[Littleraven]

I know it's not a great indicator because it was probably a pre alpha build. But what I played at Blizzcon felt much more like D3 than D2 as far as the actual gameplay. I also think it being "open world" this time around will keep the end game feeling like D3. That said as the person above said they probably dont even know what end game is going to look like as a whole. I expect them to take things from D2 AND D3 and make something new.

[Struggle]

By the time you were in the high 80's you were capable of farming endgame, and level 99 didn't even take a month of grinding. It also mattered very little. Not sure where you're getting years from.

Regarding the rest...ok?

[Beefhammer]

First of all Time enjoyed is not time wasted, if you do not enjoy the leveling aspect of ARPGs at all, then maybe it's not your ideal genre? As far as I know, Diablo 3 Is the only big ARPG that easily level caps you? Not sure about Grim Dawn, didn't get to play it much. The journey in an ARPG is just as important as the end game is, it's the primary growth of your character where you learn all sorts of new spells and abilities.

I personally do not enjoy the easy level cap experience of diablo 3. Getting to max level in a few hours (Yes, it only takes hours in D3) just to grind the same rifts over and over isn't fun to me. That being said, I am sure Diablo 4 will have the same system, because it's Blizzard and it's easier to balance. And if not, you can still play Diablo 3 (Until they pull a WC3 Reforged on it or shut down the servers. )

You need some perspective and additional information. Leveling to cap is easy in D3 now. It wasn't always that easy, Vanilla D3 it was common to ni be 60 after you beat Diablo on normal difficulty. Even in RoS it was common to beat Malthael before 70. Now with a gem of ease and adventure mode one can level to 70 in under an hour. Not to mention adventure mode provides so much more experience than the campaign.

So while it is easy now, that was not the case for the first few years. It was after RoS launched and development shifted from D3 to D4 that things became easy.

[Dracullus]

I know it's not a great indicator because it was probably a pre alpha build. But what I played at Blizzcon felt much more like D3 than D2 as far as the actual gameplay. I also think it being "open world" this time around will keep the end game feeling like D3. That said as the person above said they probably dont even know what end game is going to look like as a whole. I expect them to take things from D2 AND D3 and make something new.

Good news for me. I loved D3 gameplay, but hated overall tone and atmosphere. It felt like we fight Burning Legion ("we'll get you this time puny mortal"), not unholy and sinister evil from D2.

[Tojara]

Most builds in D2 functioned in the mid 70s or early 80s at the very most, which was a fraction of the time it took to get to 99.

PoE is the same thing, with most builds functioning (or just pick a build that doesn't need a shit load of points) in the mid 80s.

[Kokolums]

I don't see any value add in Diablo 4. If I ask "Why should I drop all other games and pick up Diablo 4?" there needs to be a concrete answer. Otherwise, there's no vision and the game will have problems. So far, there's no reason to think D4 will do well. The Game Director needs to have a response to that question or you fire him and get someone else.

[kail]

I know it's not a great indicator because it was probably a pre alpha build. But what I played at Blizzcon felt much more like D3 than D2 as far as the actual gameplay. I also think it being "open world" this time around will keep the end game feeling like D3. That said as the person above said they probably dont even know what end game is going to look like as a whole. I expect them to take things from D2 AND D3 and make something new.

D3 gameplay is amazing, the ARPG mechanics are what is lacking and hopefully Blizz understands that issue and why they are losing to GGG.

[Stormspark]

Looking forward to any product from a shovelware company like Blizzard is setting yourself up for disappointment.

[Aeluron Lightsong]

I wouldn't worry about D4 until we get more extensive information about it. I doubt it will bomb either despite what some people seem to cynically expect.

[Khaza-R]

So, Blizzard wants to go back to Diablo 2 roots.
Now, I enjoyed Diablo 3 a lot more than Diablo 2 even though Diablo 3 has glaring issues.
I do not look forward to not being able to reach max level unless I play for years. Or expensive respec costs. I want to be able to easily swap skills.
I really like the playstyle of Diablo 3 where you can get the max level in a couple of days and then just enjoy grinding end game and getting cool upgrades.
I'm not that kid anymore who played games for 18 hours and slept for 6. I realized this while playing Wolcen. I don't want to waste my time.

To each their own. I played D2 when I was just a teenager and had nothing to do in the summer. I played D3 as an adult with a full-time job and other RL obligations.

Personally I found D3 to be an unrewarding experience for the exact reason you mention. Leveling feels pointless. Progression is shallow. The entire D3 experience feels like it was designed for someone with severe ADHD. Hopefully its all tossed out the window in D4.

[Berndorf]

I don't see any value add in Diablo 4. If I ask "Why should I drop all other games and pick up Diablo 4?" there needs to be a concrete answer. Otherwise, there's no vision and the game will have problems. So far, there's no reason to think D4 will do well. The Game Director needs to have a response to that question or you fire him and get someone else.

While I sort of agree with the gist of what you're saying I think that Bliz with Diablo has enough of a built in fanbase and D3 has more than enough glaring issues to warrant making a D4 under the guise of 'we'll do better this time'. Will they? idk but I give it about a 50/50 chance that I'll play it for more than about a month or two. I haven't played D3 in about two years I'd guess.

[jstnw89]

So, Blizzard wants to go back to Diablo 2 roots.
Now, I enjoyed Diablo 3 a lot more than Diablo 2 even though Diablo 3 has glaring issues.
I do not look forward to not being able to reach max level unless I play for years. Or expensive respec costs. I want to be able to easily swap skills.
I really like the playstyle of Diablo 3 where you can get the max level in a couple of days and then just enjoy grinding end game and getting cool upgrades.
I'm not that kid anymore who played games for 18 hours and slept for 6. I realized this while playing Wolcen. I don't want to waste my time.

So since you've gotten older you want to deprive the kids of today from having a hobby they can spend a lot of their excessive free time in?

Diablo 3 is as shallow as a puddle. You can get all the shit you want and for all intents and purposes feel done in like 3 days. D3 has shit retention because of this but hopefully they cater to you /s

D3 plays amazing. Everything else is fucking shite

[Kyphael]

So since you've gotten older you want to deprive the kids of today from having a hobby they can spend a lot of their excessive free time in?

Like kids today have the attention span to spend a lot of their excessive time committed to one game. They're into mobile games because you can blow through them in short bursts of time before moving on to the next thing, otherwise, MMO's wouldn't be in decline in popularity and ActiBlizzard wouldn't be shifting priorities to development of mobile games like Immortal.

[Nurvus]

So, Blizzard wants to go back to Diablo 2 roots.
Now, I enjoyed Diablo 3 a lot more than Diablo 2 even though Diablo 3 has glaring issues.
I do not look forward to not being able to reach max level unless I play for years. Or expensive respec costs. I want to be able to easily swap skills.
I really like the playstyle of Diablo 3 where you can get the max level in a couple of days and then just enjoy grinding end game and getting cool upgrades.
I'm not that kid anymore who played games for 18 hours and slept for 6. I realized this while playing Wolcen. I don't want to waste my time.

I think you are jamming too much stuff into the same bag, and the fact you pointed out being able to swap Skills on the fly as an important aspect of your enjoyment of D3 just shows you are missing the point.

Being able to swap Skills on the fly is a solution to a problem that should not exist.
D3 is (un)balanced towards lopsided builds - a build for Greater Rift pushing, another for speed farming - there really isn't a choice when the content chooses your build for you.

Now whether taking away Skill swapping on the fly is good or bad will all depend on how well designed the alternative is, both in itself and as part of the game as a whole.

For me, D3 and D2 were both enjoyable in different ways.
In general, I consider D3 graphics, combat and endgame (post Kanai's Cube) better, but D2 wins in everything else - ambient, music, storytelling, freedom of exploration, and even how you commit to a build with the intent of being successful with it throughout the entire game beats D3 anyday.
Lord of Destruction - although it brought plenty of cool stuff - ruined that last bit because it added a lot of min-maxing and immunities to most monsters, making 99% of the builds require a party or at least a Mercenary that can solo enemies immune to you.

I was not fond of how much D2 required you to plan in advance, a problem shared with Path of Exile - excessive burden of knowledge for new players - but even though I enjoyed the skill customization and freedom offered by D3 while leveling, I ultimately resent how meaningless it was, because most Skills were designed only with the endgame in mind and felt useless before you get specific gear.
As such, for someone like me who likes to enjoy the whole journey, D3 only feels fun once you begin the endgame while D2 felt meaningful from the start.

Lastly, there's too much talking in D3, specially when coming from powerful villains - D2 didn't need villains threatening you with bullshit.

[Aeluron Lightsong]

Like kids today have the attention span to spend a lot of their excessive time committed to one game. They're into mobile games because you can blow through them in short bursts of time before moving on to the next thing, otherwise, MMO's wouldn't be in decline in popularity and ActiBlizzard wouldn't be shifting priorities to development of mobile games like Immortal.

Yeah you cracked the case all right >.>

[Queen of Hamsters]

Well you should be able to tell whether you'll enjoy the gameplay from when more and more content is shown of it, so... No need to fret I'd say, at least not at this point.

Like kids today have the attention span to spend a lot of their excessive time committed to one game. They're into mobile games because you can blow through them in short bursts of time before moving on to the next thing, otherwise, MMO's wouldn't be in decline in popularity and ActiBlizzard wouldn't be shifting priorities to development of mobile games like Immortal.

That sounds like generalization. Does that mean my niece is correct in saying that "all old people are boring and don't understand tech"...? No, it doesn't.

I'd be very VERY surprised if the majority of mobile gamers, weren't adults. Same as it always was in WoW, for example. Now Fortnite, on the other hand...

[jstnw89]

Like kids today have the attention span to spend a lot of their excessive time committed to one game. They're into mobile games because you can blow through them in short bursts of time before moving on to the next thing, otherwise, MMO's wouldn't be in decline in popularity and ActiBlizzard wouldn't be shifting priorities to development of mobile games like Immortal.

There are most certainly kids that don't have the attention span of a squirrel. I have multiple nieces and nephews that spend a shit ton of time playing WoW, strategy games, etc currently. Never said every kid, nor was I implying D4 was going to grab the youth market.. So your response was kind of pointless (since it's obvious I'm referencing robbing any kid of the CHANCE at having the same experiences as OP did growing up which is selfish as fuck).

D3 already plays like a shallow mobile game for people with short attention spans when you get inundated with all the shit you want quickly so OP can remain playing D3.. or as you put it.. He can try Diablo: Immortal