I only really know an answer to your last question and that is no, you don't have to fight till you win or die. You can run and abandon the game entirely
Well I'm unable to play at all. My game always disconnects after about 5 minutes forcing me to Alt+F4 since I get stuck in a network black hole where the game still runs, but nothing responds. Yay for no offline mode which I've wanted since the announcement that there wasn't going to be one... Not only can I not enjoy Hardcore, but now I can't even enjoy the game at all. Pretty funny design decision there.
I actually think it's fine if this is not "the best" for everything. Greater rifts give insane amounts of XP (probably more than stupid Malthael runs), unique loot with the gems, and e-peen with leaderboards. For gold you want to find Greed's Realm - which can't spawn in Greater Rifts, so there's a reason to do traditional rifts or farming keys or bounties. For max legendaries T6 runs might still be best. It would be awesome if T6 would give us different things to do: do I want to upgrade my amulet? Let me do keys/ubers. Do I want to farm blood shards, general items, and materials? Let me do T6 rifts. Do I want to get XP or a better legendary gem? Let me do Greater Rifts.
I hope they don't make Greater Rifts "the place to go". It's okay if there's a different spot for different goals.
I'd have to solidly second this statement. Greater and meaningful variety.
However I've taken into consideration the poor choice in naming this mode. "greater" would technically imply it's better, but it's not. It's different. Challenge Rift or what have you may be somewhat more appropriate and cause less misunderstanding.
Why do you care, I think Blizzard is fine with RiF..You still need rift fragments and you have to farm them by killing monsters so there..problem solved.
But you have to ask yourself, do you think it's responsible to balance and set up a Ladder system that depends on RIF to be successful? Currently it's not an issue, that I can agree on and in fact, in Softcore, it should never BE an issue or care for anyone. Hardcore has always been broken, so honestly that doesn't even matter until they decide they actually care enough to build a game around Hardcore too. So we have what's coming next, Ladder/Seasons. Personally I do think it needs to be "nerfed" for Ladders. It shouldn't be possible, but as a result with Lazy Design, they'll probably just lay out the flat changes across the board (if they decide to remove the ability to RIF). So, knowing what to expect from Blizzard we should expect one of two things in the next patch:
1. Diablo Ladder system is dictated by things like RIF (among other persistent things like Clans having obvious advantages, people working together to glorify a single person) and everyone continues to enjoy standard Softcore (if people even still end up doing it as much)
2. No more RIF. Ladder is now strictly dictated by people excelling through concerted efforts (another perceivable problem) and everyone else in Softcore goes back to playing the game the longer/drawn out way and the developers (or people making decisions) will adjust 'gear acquire times' and difficulty based on the wealth of complaining in the forums, and their own personal preferences.
We can argue what we prefer. We can... attempt to argue what's "proper" (Hint: No 100% Good solution, must choose BEST POSSIBLE solution). But in the end, I think we know what we can likely expect. I'd imagine it'll be nerfed in some way such as Rift bosses are now entered events like normal bosses (except you can revive) and if you die in the fight at any point you're no longer "guaranteed" blood shards and excellent loot. Players only get one shot to kill him. (typically not a problem, unless you're undergeared or trying to cheat! or testing your limits; which to me aren't problems) Only seems appropriate in a scored competitive environment. Otherwise they probably should just give up on the Tiered Rift system because I'm sure this would ruin the true competitive spirit of it entirely. I can only imagine the hundreds of posts per day complaining about how people are cheating the system to get ahead in the Ladder.
Edit: Forgot to mention botting, botting will be an obvious challenge in the success of the Ladder system. Once you begin looking at all these problems... it starts to make sense why it takes so long for these things to get developed. If only they had someone on the team who could accurately foresee most (if not all) of the problems and concerns regarding most of the changes and fixes they work effortlessly on to apply. No one's perfect, some people suffer more shortsightedness than others in this regard... so I guess we can only hope for the best... or hope someone's listening so they don't make these (what I hope would be obvious) mistakes.
Well put. Never personally considered it a problem, because as it stands- there's no actual competition in the game. People are choosing to farm Rift Keys then get free Rift boss kills through a clever "Rift it Forward" community system for each other, which I personally find amazing and helpful. It's hard to bash something that's so purely friendly. A nerf at this point would be uncalled for, that would be taking away an aspect of the game that people created for themselves and ENJOY.
That being said, when the competition arrives (Tiered Rifts), it may become a problem THEN. Because then we'll have ladders and such to match how well people can do a Rift, but it doesn't really work if everyone's cheating the Rift and being carried through the gearing aspect. That is, if people continue to pursue the RIF system within the Ladders. I imagine they're working on a feature to undermine RIF in Ladders (and probably the entire game as a result) in order to finally implement real competition in the game, and sadly as a result it may be a feature that will inevitably be undermined and fully removed.
One must consider how RIF would play out in Ladder Seasons within the current implementation.
Step 1: Choose and create a character.
Step 2: Find someone to carry you if you're late, or find a group to level with.
Step 3: Hit 70, farm gear in whatever difficulty is appropriate; gather rift keys and gold; optimize gear for Rifts and higher difficulties
.. and here's where it begins to look a bit funny...
"optimize gear for Rifts" translates to "Find someone capable of Rifting at a high tier already, or if you are that someone get someone else to open the Rifts for you."
Which becomes an unimplemented, chat related, and community driven aspect of the game.
The CORE aspect of the game, the CORE competition that now exists in the game, exists entirely within a chat community system. If you don't do RIF, you lose. So now suddenly, EVERYONE (who wishes to compete) is forced into not actually playing the game most of the time in the sense that it's actually supposed to be played.
Solution to THAT? Either complete removal of RIF (through direct nerf), or a form of real in-game implementation that supports it. Either are fine by me. (Though the latter can be likened to the Dungeon Finder system that was introduced in World of Warcraft, simplifying the game for everyone perhaps a bit too much, and removing the community aspect again as well.) It's funny how life works. Regardless, someone has to lose in this debate... and it entirely comes down to how the developers want their Competitive Scene to play out.
Edit: For the record, I've never done RIF and probably never actually will (which if it remains an aspect of the game in it's current state, would ruin the Ladder system entirely for me). But in the glorified Practice Mode we call Softcore, I enjoy some Single Player Role Playing, which would be defined as giving my character a pre-defined role (Ice Mage) and forcing myself to follow my own predetermined rules and try to make it to T6 by myself. Game becomes more interesting for me personally if I create my own challenges, because look at this game; there's absolutely no properly developed mechanic to actually challenge and reward you accordingly. (Like the Skulls system in the Halo series) Imagine if it was an actual option upon character creation, like Hardcore... if only Hardcore mode wasn't broken.
There a big problem with gaming culture and people taking the entertainment hours that games provide for granted.
....and with that.....I'm out of this thread. Not the kind of conversation that's going anywhere.
No I wouldn't say that... He does bring about a valid point. People do seem to confuse what Games are supposed to be. That is, entertainment. People sometimes treat them like Second Lives, work and effort to reach the pot of gold at the mythological rainbow... essentially, always trying to reach for something that doesn't exist.
I think micro transactions popping back up in Diablo 3 in any form just cheapens the game again. Granted you're not gaining any real advantage..but they've already got enough games with micro transactions ..lets leave Diablo 3 out of it.
I'm going to have to constantly fight the conservative mindset here.
I really wish people would stop convincing themselves "things worked this way before, let's just keep doing this forever" When reality shows there's even better methods to develop! But most people screw it up which only continues to perpetuate these fears. So please, let's try to open our mind to greater possibilities.
Okay I'll phrase it this way, I'd prefer they worked on aspects of the game that actually need improvements i.e. itemization, PVP, etc etc etc. If you want microtransactions that should be at the bottom of the barrel in terms of priority. Adding in micro transactions effectively does nothing, but if your enjoyment of the game is peaked by new voice-overs or being able to rock an all purple set ..then have at it.
Also, if they dared add a micro transaction or fee to get more stash space, I'd probably be pretty pissed off.
Okay... but those are two different topics and two different industries you're comparing. We're talking about and discussing Microtransactions. The people who develop and implement the finance structure within Blizzard aren't (or at least shouldn't be) the people are coding the game or people plugging in the extra artwork. They're the people applying a proper measurement of income based on the proper development of the game. Essentially what I'm trying to say is, we can have both. And it would be nice if BOTH aspects did their jobs to the best of their abilities and synergized with one another more beneficially.
Once I get past the wave of nausea over 'Micro-transactions' your TL;DR is on point:
"TL;DR: Introduce all sorts of micro transactions but make sure they have zero effect on game play and are completely 100% optional."
It's trusting developers to do that and I have zero faith in any of them.
Lol. The trust factor, that I can definitely sympathize with. I seriously doubt they'd pull it off correctly, greed and small mindedness gimp most people from obtaining what they actually are trying to obtain. They developers would lose, the players would lose, everyone would lose. That's why we don't see it, we don't trust them, they don't trust themselves, nobody trusts them or the system. Kinda like communism, works in theory- The Human factor tends to ruin it.
I think micro transactions popping back up in Diablo 3 in any form just cheapens the game again. Granted you're not gaining any real advantage..but they've already got enough games with micro transactions ..lets leave Diablo 3 out of it.
I'm going to have to constantly fight the conservative mindset here.
I really wish people would stop convincing themselves "things worked this way before, let's just keep doing this forever" When reality shows there's even better methods to develop! But most people screw it up which only continues to perpetuate these fears. So please, let's try to open our mind to greater possibilities.
Pay is there as an option, mainly a deterrent and game lengthener. People who play a lot, get rewarded equally so for those who work a lot and can't play a lot. What's wrong with that?
What's wrong with that is what you saw with the AH. I get what you're saying - only an *option* - but in the end it will force people to pay for it. If you as a player have to sacrifice hundreds of hours for unlocking the necromancer, someone with the money can just bypass this step and put the same amount of time into gearing his necromancer up. It just doesn't work. You cannot offer money as an "alternative" to invest time. Time in RoS equals character development. If you can bypass the time needed for unlocking content, it gives you a huge advantage over those who don't pay. And in the end it comes down to the same thing again: Pay2Win.
No, it's not! This ISN'T the auction house. Inferno was designed to take a year to beat. People who designed Diablo 3 were complete idiots. Please let's stop comparing anything to ANYTHING they did in Vanilla. Design and balance a new class (pretty easy to do for a PVE game). To give a shitty example since I seem to need to make this much more clearer, 100,000,000 gold for the Necromancer, or 10 bucks. Takes like a week to get 100,000,000 gold with average play. A week of playing the game and NOT buying gems to unlock a class that you might want to try? OR 10 dollars to skip that week and continue allowing yourself to upgrade your gems and get that extra 200 strength in your gear for that extra bit of optimization? (Which could be translated into 10 dollars for 200 strength if you wanted to stretch it that far) But, in the end... WHAT are you optimizing that gear for? There's currently nothing you're even matched up against? There's no competition, just artificial made-up competition. Make up a few additional rules to your made up competition if you want, I don't care... In the end, none of this would even apply to the REAL competition (Seasons/Ladders Tiered Rifts). Current Softcore mode is nothing more than a glorified practice mode with Hardcore mode having always existed in a non-functional state (server connection issues killing characters), so currently, everyone who plays Diablo 3- Strictly plays it to waste their time whether they realize it or not.
I'm trying to discuss what's actually meaningful for a game being developed, not what's important in the vast majority of underdeveloped minds.
Edit: And to keep things clearer. Remember, a class as a suggestion is a subset of the game. Not everyone will be interested, most probably won't be. Therefor, it is just to 'charge' those who do SPECIFICALLY want it.
If I were to ever suggest that perhaps a new set of maps and enemies to explore and slaughter can be unlocked to you for strictly paying $10 (EA routinue), that's strict dumbassery. Some people will pay, some won't. You've just split your consumers and made your life more difficult.
If I were to suggest adding in new more powerful items. (Kind of like how the Auction house SERVED, but not acted) That would be Pay-to-Win. Undermining the goal of the game (become powerful) buy allowing direct paid access to the end. It's backwards design. The Auction house was pure idiocy, everyone working on Diablo 3 vanilla presented that. Whoever did Reaper of Souls either learned from their mistakes (bravo, few people do), or were just simply much better at their jobs.
Final Edit: I think it would be worth noting that if Blizzard DID implement Micro-transactions and maintain a fair atmosphere, they should reduce the price of Reaper of souls by 50% and make Vanilla free. They'd probably make more money, and we'd probably pay less.
I only approve of Microtransactions that aren't solid Cash Only. That being said, here's what I would kill to see.
$10 to buy a Necromancer class or skin for the Witch Doctor, or 100,000,000 gold, or materials. (Comes with additional character slots) (Imagine having to put in 50 Forgotten souls, 500 blue and white crafting mats, +10,000,000 gold to create an item that can be used to summon a boss, kill the boss and it drops a hand in (if you did the first step) and voila! New class to play!$3-5 for extra stash space or more gold, more expensive than current slots.
Additional character slots, and options to spend millions of gold every new Ladder Season for a new slot or so.
Numerous other classes, Druid/Rogue/etc, always options to unlock them in game through either Achievements, Difficult Quests or Grinding (or free if you've been playing a long time and managed to save up ridiculous amounts of Resources to unlock these characters).
Microtransactions are acceptable as a suplement, not as a main gating mechanism. Allow the rich or those without time a chance to experience everything in the game, but obviously not for nothing. You're either going to play the game to get unlock these additional FEATURES (not content), or fork over a few bucks so you don't have to. It's often the difference between dedication (cheaper for the individuals who stick with the game), more expensive for people who burn through everything and then put the game on the shelf till the next content patch or something. That's what I see.
Most of what you mention here should never be part of micro transactions again (it was already in D3V and it was horrible). Exclusive game content you have to pay for? New classes and events for money? Hell no!
Gold/materials for money? Hell no!
Allow the rich to experience everything in the game? Absolutely definitely hell no! Don't turn this game back into Pay2Win or I'll be out immediately. I like the AH when it was introduced, I defended it for a long time, but in the end D3V was Pay2Win. 99% of those who played MP10 used the AH/RMAH, either by flipping or putting in real money. As soon as any content becomes accessible through money *as well* there are enough who do this such that Blizzard has to balance the game around those people (especially since they paid for it!) which will make it terrible for all those who don't want to go down this road. This was what made D3V so horrible.
Keep micro transactions purely cosmetic or to non-game changing additions. Micro transactions should never allow you to bypass game content at all, or the game is doomed.
Whoa, dude. You either didn't even read my post, or you read it ass-backwards.
I never ONCE said Pay-to-win was a good idea.
It strictly promotes PLAY-TO-WIN traditional gaming.
Pay is there as an option, mainly a deterrent and game lengthener. People who play a lot, get rewarded equally so for those who work a lot and can't play a lot. What's wrong with that?
Every suggestion I made was with "Pay money, OR unlock in game!" and NOTHING, was regarding maps, or EXCLUSIVE game content- because that is terrible, it seperates the community which is bad. Buy SKINS (cosmetic), buy classes (similar to buying an expansion pack, but more regular and smaller and cheaper)
Every class comes with some extra game content (available for everyone for free!) that would be included with every patch, but to get the class or that fancy new part of the game, you're going to have to continue playing to unlock or (or unlock it with all that stuff you've saved up since the last patch) OR, pay with some real money (if you want to support our company) if you don't feel like playing this much or if you devalue the time it takes to manually acquire it in game and value your Real Life time more.
All valid, all representable, all fair.
Sometimes I work a lot. Sometimes I LIKE to be able to just fling 10 bucks down to get something new to do tonight before going back to work in 10 hours for another 12. SOMETIMES, I'm not doing anything for months, making no money, with a lot of time to blow. Would be nice to have something great to build and play towards in game. I can understand and feel both sides of the argument, and I support both. So let's have both damn it!
And keep in mind people, what other people decide to do with THEIR characters, and in THEIR games, has NOTHING to do with YOUR characters and YOUR game. It's all just false enemies built in your mind. Now when it comes to Open and Public games, there's some slight overlap sure. However we've all experienced public games enough now to see that really, you're frequently matched between so many different people that you probably couldn't tell the difference between someone who's bought the Necro class, or someone who unlocked the Necro class... and when it comes down to it, does anyone REALLY care if that random in your pub group bought or unlocked? Do you? Do you REALLY?
I only approve of Microtransactions that aren't solid Cash Only. That being said, here's what I would kill to see.
$10 to buy a Necromancer class or skin for the Witch Doctor, or 100,000,000 gold, or materials. (Comes with additional character slots) (Imagine having to put in 50 Forgotten souls, 500 blue and white crafting mats, +10,000,000 gold to create an item that can be used to summon a boss, kill the boss and it drops a hand in (if you did the first step) and voila! New class to play!$3-5 for extra stash space or more gold, more expensive than current slots.
Additional character slots, and options to spend millions of gold every new Ladder Season for a new slot or so.
Numerous other classes, Druid/Rogue/etc, always options to unlock them in game through either Achievements, Difficult Quests or Grinding (or free if you've been playing a long time and managed to save up ridiculous amounts of Resources to unlock these characters).
Microtransactions are acceptable as a suplement, not as a main gating mechanism. Allow the rich or those without time a chance to experience everything in the game, but obviously not for nothing. You're either going to play the game to get unlock these additional FEATURES (not content), or fork over a few bucks so you don't have to. It's often the difference between dedication (cheaper for the individuals who stick with the game), more expensive for people who burn through everything and then put the game on the shelf till the next content patch or something. That's what I see.
I'll put it this way. Did I get my money's worth from Diablo? Yeah I guess, it's better then a lot of games out there.
But...
a) Is it what I expected? No not at all. Is it a good game? It's a decent game, better then most but definitely in a pool of mediocrity.
c) Do I want to keep playing it? No not at all, why? Because of no end game? Maybe, I think more so that there's really nothing that stands out in the game. It's like every other game of the series with a few of its own unique quirks. Yet it has a childish retconned story, annoying end-game play. A not-so-interesting or fun F2P system. Even the leveling isn't even really that fun, too many restrictions not enough freedom in this game. So, mediocre.
d) Could they have done better? I expected so, but I guess from their recent history I should've expected this.
I can't even load the game up anymore. I tried about a week ago or so, I got to the character selection screen and just closed it. I look at these patch notes and they're the furthest thing from interesting now. Bleh...
However I've taken into consideration the poor choice in naming this mode. "greater" would technically imply it's better, but it's not. It's different. Challenge Rift or what have you may be somewhat more appropriate and cause less misunderstanding.
1. Diablo Ladder system is dictated by things like RIF (among other persistent things like Clans having obvious advantages, people working together to glorify a single person) and everyone continues to enjoy standard Softcore (if people even still end up doing it as much)
2. No more RIF. Ladder is now strictly dictated by people excelling through concerted efforts (another perceivable problem) and everyone else in Softcore goes back to playing the game the longer/drawn out way and the developers (or people making decisions) will adjust 'gear acquire times' and difficulty based on the wealth of complaining in the forums, and their own personal preferences.
We can argue what we prefer. We can... attempt to argue what's "proper" (Hint: No 100% Good solution, must choose BEST POSSIBLE solution). But in the end, I think we know what we can likely expect. I'd imagine it'll be nerfed in some way such as Rift bosses are now entered events like normal bosses (except you can revive) and if you die in the fight at any point you're no longer "guaranteed" blood shards and excellent loot. Players only get one shot to kill him. (typically not a problem, unless you're undergeared or trying to cheat! or testing your limits; which to me aren't problems) Only seems appropriate in a scored competitive environment. Otherwise they probably should just give up on the Tiered Rift system because I'm sure this would ruin the true competitive spirit of it entirely. I can only imagine the hundreds of posts per day complaining about how people are cheating the system to get ahead in the Ladder.
Edit: Forgot to mention botting, botting will be an obvious challenge in the success of the Ladder system. Once you begin looking at all these problems... it starts to make sense why it takes so long for these things to get developed. If only they had someone on the team who could accurately foresee most (if not all) of the problems and concerns regarding most of the changes and fixes they work effortlessly on to apply. No one's perfect, some people suffer more shortsightedness than others in this regard... so I guess we can only hope for the best... or hope someone's listening so they don't make these (what I hope would be obvious) mistakes.
That being said, when the competition arrives (Tiered Rifts), it may become a problem THEN. Because then we'll have ladders and such to match how well people can do a Rift, but it doesn't really work if everyone's cheating the Rift and being carried through the gearing aspect. That is, if people continue to pursue the RIF system within the Ladders. I imagine they're working on a feature to undermine RIF in Ladders (and probably the entire game as a result) in order to finally implement real competition in the game, and sadly as a result it may be a feature that will inevitably be undermined and fully removed.
One must consider how RIF would play out in Ladder Seasons within the current implementation.
Step 1: Choose and create a character.
Step 2: Find someone to carry you if you're late, or find a group to level with.
Step 3: Hit 70, farm gear in whatever difficulty is appropriate; gather rift keys and gold; optimize gear for Rifts and higher difficulties
.. and here's where it begins to look a bit funny...
"optimize gear for Rifts" translates to "Find someone capable of Rifting at a high tier already, or if you are that someone get someone else to open the Rifts for you."
Which becomes an unimplemented, chat related, and community driven aspect of the game.
The CORE aspect of the game, the CORE competition that now exists in the game, exists entirely within a chat community system. If you don't do RIF, you lose. So now suddenly, EVERYONE (who wishes to compete) is forced into not actually playing the game most of the time in the sense that it's actually supposed to be played.
Solution to THAT? Either complete removal of RIF (through direct nerf), or a form of real in-game implementation that supports it. Either are fine by me. (Though the latter can be likened to the Dungeon Finder system that was introduced in World of Warcraft, simplifying the game for everyone perhaps a bit too much, and removing the community aspect again as well.) It's funny how life works. Regardless, someone has to lose in this debate... and it entirely comes down to how the developers want their Competitive Scene to play out.
Edit: For the record, I've never done RIF and probably never actually will (which if it remains an aspect of the game in it's current state, would ruin the Ladder system entirely for me). But in the glorified Practice Mode we call Softcore, I enjoy some Single Player Role Playing, which would be defined as giving my character a pre-defined role (Ice Mage) and forcing myself to follow my own predetermined rules and try to make it to T6 by myself. Game becomes more interesting for me personally if I create my own challenges, because look at this game; there's absolutely no properly developed mechanic to actually challenge and reward you accordingly. (Like the Skulls system in the Halo series) Imagine if it was an actual option upon character creation, like Hardcore... if only Hardcore mode wasn't broken.
I really wish people would stop convincing themselves "things worked this way before, let's just keep doing this forever" When reality shows there's even better methods to develop! But most people screw it up which only continues to perpetuate these fears. So please, let's try to open our mind to greater possibilities.
No, it's not! This ISN'T the auction house. Inferno was designed to take a year to beat. People who designed Diablo 3 were complete idiots. Please let's stop comparing anything to ANYTHING they did in Vanilla. Design and balance a new class (pretty easy to do for a PVE game). To give a shitty example since I seem to need to make this much more clearer, 100,000,000 gold for the Necromancer, or 10 bucks. Takes like a week to get 100,000,000 gold with average play. A week of playing the game and NOT buying gems to unlock a class that you might want to try? OR 10 dollars to skip that week and continue allowing yourself to upgrade your gems and get that extra 200 strength in your gear for that extra bit of optimization? (Which could be translated into 10 dollars for 200 strength if you wanted to stretch it that far) But, in the end... WHAT are you optimizing that gear for? There's currently nothing you're even matched up against? There's no competition, just artificial made-up competition. Make up a few additional rules to your made up competition if you want, I don't care... In the end, none of this would even apply to the REAL competition (Seasons/Ladders Tiered Rifts). Current Softcore mode is nothing more than a glorified practice mode with Hardcore mode having always existed in a non-functional state (server connection issues killing characters), so currently, everyone who plays Diablo 3- Strictly plays it to waste their time whether they realize it or not.
I'm trying to discuss what's actually meaningful for a game being developed, not what's important in the vast majority of underdeveloped minds.
Edit: And to keep things clearer. Remember, a class as a suggestion is a subset of the game. Not everyone will be interested, most probably won't be. Therefor, it is just to 'charge' those who do SPECIFICALLY want it.
If I were to ever suggest that perhaps a new set of maps and enemies to explore and slaughter can be unlocked to you for strictly paying $10 (EA routinue), that's strict dumbassery. Some people will pay, some won't. You've just split your consumers and made your life more difficult.
If I were to suggest adding in new more powerful items. (Kind of like how the Auction house SERVED, but not acted) That would be Pay-to-Win. Undermining the goal of the game (become powerful) buy allowing direct paid access to the end. It's backwards design. The Auction house was pure idiocy, everyone working on Diablo 3 vanilla presented that. Whoever did Reaper of Souls either learned from their mistakes (bravo, few people do), or were just simply much better at their jobs.
Final Edit: I think it would be worth noting that if Blizzard DID implement Micro-transactions and maintain a fair atmosphere, they should reduce the price of Reaper of souls by 50% and make Vanilla free. They'd probably make more money, and we'd probably pay less.
I never ONCE said Pay-to-win was a good idea.
It strictly promotes PLAY-TO-WIN traditional gaming.
Pay is there as an option, mainly a deterrent and game lengthener. People who play a lot, get rewarded equally so for those who work a lot and can't play a lot. What's wrong with that?
Every suggestion I made was with "Pay money, OR unlock in game!" and NOTHING, was regarding maps, or EXCLUSIVE game content- because that is terrible, it seperates the community which is bad. Buy SKINS (cosmetic), buy classes (similar to buying an expansion pack, but more regular and smaller and cheaper)
Every class comes with some extra game content (available for everyone for free!) that would be included with every patch, but to get the class or that fancy new part of the game, you're going to have to continue playing to unlock or (or unlock it with all that stuff you've saved up since the last patch) OR, pay with some real money (if you want to support our company) if you don't feel like playing this much or if you devalue the time it takes to manually acquire it in game and value your Real Life time more.
All valid, all representable, all fair.
Sometimes I work a lot. Sometimes I LIKE to be able to just fling 10 bucks down to get something new to do tonight before going back to work in 10 hours for another 12. SOMETIMES, I'm not doing anything for months, making no money, with a lot of time to blow. Would be nice to have something great to build and play towards in game. I can understand and feel both sides of the argument, and I support both. So let's have both damn it!
And keep in mind people, what other people decide to do with THEIR characters, and in THEIR games, has NOTHING to do with YOUR characters and YOUR game. It's all just false enemies built in your mind. Now when it comes to Open and Public games, there's some slight overlap sure. However we've all experienced public games enough now to see that really, you're frequently matched between so many different people that you probably couldn't tell the difference between someone who's bought the Necro class, or someone who unlocked the Necro class... and when it comes down to it, does anyone REALLY care if that random in your pub group bought or unlocked? Do you? Do you REALLY?
$10 to buy a Necromancer class or skin for the Witch Doctor, or 100,000,000 gold, or materials. (Comes with additional character slots) (Imagine having to put in 50 Forgotten souls, 500 blue and white crafting mats, +10,000,000 gold to create an item that can be used to summon a boss, kill the boss and it drops a hand in (if you did the first step) and voila! New class to play!$3-5 for extra stash space or more gold, more expensive than current slots.
Additional character slots, and options to spend millions of gold every new Ladder Season for a new slot or so.
Numerous other classes, Druid/Rogue/etc, always options to unlock them in game through either Achievements, Difficult Quests or Grinding (or free if you've been playing a long time and managed to save up ridiculous amounts of Resources to unlock these characters).
Microtransactions are acceptable as a suplement, not as a main gating mechanism. Allow the rich or those without time a chance to experience everything in the game, but obviously not for nothing. You're either going to play the game to get unlock these additional FEATURES (not content), or fork over a few bucks so you don't have to. It's often the difference between dedication (cheaper for the individuals who stick with the game), more expensive for people who burn through everything and then put the game on the shelf till the next content patch or something. That's what I see.
But...
a) Is it what I expected? No not at all.
c) Do I want to keep playing it? No not at all, why? Because of no end game? Maybe, I think more so that there's really nothing that stands out in the game. It's like every other game of the series with a few of its own unique quirks. Yet it has a childish retconned story, annoying end-game play. A not-so-interesting or fun F2P system. Even the leveling isn't even really that fun, too many restrictions not enough freedom in this game. So, mediocre.
d) Could they have done better? I expected so, but I guess from their recent history I should've expected this.
I can't even load the game up anymore. I tried about a week ago or so, I got to the character selection screen and just closed it. I look at these patch notes and they're the furthest thing from interesting now. Bleh...