DiabloFans

I have no idea what's happening. But clearly, *something* was missing. Let's see what the future holds! Anyone still alive and kicking?

Well, the news hit the frontpage, and I'm sure I'm not the only one who's shocked, surprised, and extremely saddened by it. I can sort of understand aspects of it - traffic has gone down, and from a mod view I can say that I have to remove more spam posts each day than I can enjoy reading new posts. Nevertheless, I thought this could've been a nice place to hang out even if the franchise is going downhill (is it though?). But well. Ain't gonna happen.

But instead of endless complaining about things we can't change, why don't we all revisit our past, share our memorable DFans moments, and take a look into the future? Look at your post history to go down the memory lane. So, I'll start:

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I joined Diablofans about six and a half years ago because I had a stupid question about making an Inferno tank barb to support my two DH friends. That kind of didn't go anywhere, so I switched to my other main char (Archon wizard) which should soon become my passion. To share some of the insights I gained from reading up and theorycrafting some of the wizard stuff, I wrote a guide which maybe some of you remember (RoS edition as the old one was from the old forum software and looks ugly, but the first one was written over Christmas 2012). I continued to make a few guides (see thread history, some I didn't even remember like an 1-70 leveling guide, lol) and also my small website (http://d3resource.com/), I think the reason for making D3Resource was that I needed a domain to host my CHD vs CHC calc.

I don't remember when I became mod, because that really didn't matter; what I do remember is the lot of awesome people that I met on Diablofans, ingame, or on both channels. Some of those have sadly long gone, like Jaetch and Loroese - the two best wizard theorycrafters Diablo had (pre-RoS). I also have to mention overneathe, who introduced me to the DFans mod world (without him I wouldn't be here), and his successor Zero(pS). We didn't just play DIablo - do you guys remember the Terraria times? That was fun! There are so many more names I can and probably should list, but many of them were unfortunately purged in the recent transition phase when Fandom took over, and many don't check this forum anymore. But if you do please say high in here!!!

Unfortunately over the years the forum became more and more inactive, and I prefer old-school forums much, much more than Reddit (I just can't deal with the strange thread style, makes it impossible to read "all new posts") and even worse all the video-based info (I'd rather read a long, well-written guide than watch a 10 minute video on Youtube). But I guess that makes me a dinosaur, I dying breed, one that doesn't like to play games on phones ;-)

So, what's up next? I will maintain D3Resource, at least for now. I might lag behind with some updates, honestly, but the best way to contact me is shoot me a Reddit message. I think I'm still behind on the S16 season overview but honestly... not in the mood right now, given recent events. Also, work. If I ever were to abandon D3Resource, I would probably zip all the source code and throw it to someone, so no worries, it won't magically disappear. But it's a static website and I host a lot of old stuff (like a forum that has a much older community, founded in 1997, with less than 10 posts over the last 10 years ;-)). No worries.

I'm not sure about my personal future in Diablo. To be honest, as I expressed here, my view on Blizzard/Diablo shifted. I literally played 8-10 hours for the last 4 seasons each (went online, got a power level, rushed to get Guardian done as fast as possible, delete). S16 took me a bit more than 7 hours to finish Guardian. I'm not sure it's gonna be more given that D3 feels a bit stale to me and PoE looks so much more exciting. I just recently started (~2 months ago) but If someone has a place for a noob (I just played up 3 builds and tried to learn as much as possible, but only tried Shaper once and no kill yet) let me know, I'm sort of looking for a guild, preferably with Discord (and potentially forum, haha, you know me). What a cheap plug, but well, gotta seize the opportunity! I'm also occasionally playing SC2 co-op which I really enjoy (and watching WCS). Once Dfans is gone, I'll continue posting on Reddit, I'm regularly in the chat channel of svr's Discord (where we discuss D3, PoE, and SC2),and maybe we meet elsewhere. See my battle tag in my forum profile (bagstone#2613) or PoE (bagstone).

Thanks everyone for making this a nice home for so many years! <3

Quote from vinnehehe»

Just out of curiousity, which country might that be?

The country of unlimited opportunities Which apparently includes the opportunity for tweeting oranges to become elected president. In all fairness, what gets me most is that this value isn't even embraced anymore. It took just a few weeks and the people who have the power (and responsibility, in my opinion!) to lead the public into the light and away from this marketing BS have given in and are telling us that Diablo: Immortal has great gameplay and whatever. Yes, because this is really what matters, we needed to know that a Chinese mobile game engine with some Diablo textures slapped on provides a nice gaming experience, albeit the fact that we clearly stated multiple times that we have no interest in playing games on our mobile phones. All those "game journalists" telling us that Diablo Immortal is a (potentially) great game are like e-bike sellers (and professional bike reviewers) who constantly advertise e-bikes in car shops, car forums, and car Reddits. Do we have a bike? Probably. Do we like to bike? Sure. But we use our bike for some things and our car for some things, and we have no interest buying an e-bike. And no story of how amazing that e-bike was (especially given that you probably got a really nice personal speech and some goodies from the e-bike seller) will change our mind, nor do we want to be changed (we'll tell you if we do).

I'm just still very much hoping we can leave this shitty year behind, and have some actual good news (no @$#@^#@^ mobile games) in the next. Or announcements will do. I don't care if it takes them 4 more years.

While I hope so too, I don't believe in it anymore. The post-Blizzcon reaction (or lack thereof) indicates to me that they think the backlash of a few hundred thousand (or even a couple million) disappointed/angry PC gamers, most of which are rather old and rational in spending their money. Also, as indicated above, even after a crazy stock market loss and some (only a few though) "game journalists" posting some rational articles about the situation there is no change, no reaction, no indication of Blizzard understanding anything. I see many tech websites posting the same stupid marketing crap (like the "entitled gamers" headline, which translates to "just buy this game you stupid sheep, who cares what you want, as long as you give money to the big corps"). And many of them probably don't even see it. But the Blizzard/Diablo debacle is no exception, but unfortunately the rule. The current trajectory indicates it will only get worse. Just look at any random mainstream website and how they post announcements from Apple's events on their front page, which is basically straight up marketing (for products which are maybe okay, but their main purpose is to lock you into an eco-system which makes you dependent from their everything). Amazon servers had some issues over Christmas in Europe, apparently some people freaked out that Alexa was unresponsive. Imagine Netflix and/or Youtube being offline for a day. Would people survive? Blizzard's transition is not any different, but pales in comparison. Unfortunately it'll be too late before we realize what we've done.

As we wrap up this year, I can't help but wonder if anyone feels like we've witnessed a major paradigm shift. And this is not just a Diabo-esque "tremble" of the heavens, and sanctuary, and Diablofans; rather, it is an earthquake of a magnitude similar to the ones that happen only once every few centuries. Especially given how fast-lived, ever-changing, and relatively young (compared to our history) the video game industry is, for me personally this year shattered some of my belief systems.

To elaborate on this story, it goes back to my early child hood. The first games I've played were rather simplistic mini games, some of which came with the operating system (DOS) or at least along the disks I got when I got my first (used) computer. Those were games that probably no one remembers ("Nibbles", "Gorilla") and no one remembers them for a reason - there wasn't much worth to remember. If you were to ask me to describe them I wouldn't explain gameplay, story, or content - I would rather explain how cumbersome the interaction was, how I learned more about programming or the difficulty of controlling and influencing what was going on in the game than anything else.

This all changed with Blizzard games. The first was WarCraft: Orcs and Humans, quickly followed by WarCraft 2. It didn't feel like I was driving a car that wasn't following my commands. It didn't feel like a computer game. It felt like I was the commander of the alliance and if I would not live up to my general's expectations, the horde would take over and reign with chaos. In my head there was no room to even think about how limited my ability was to influence the fight between the two factions; I was fully immersed in the experience and the atmosphere. When I compare the video game evolution to book genres, the early computer games were short novels written without emotion or any context of a bigger story they were part of, whereas WarCraft felt like Lord of the Rings extended edition.

And then came Diablo. Three things I remember and will never forget: 1) As I tried to grasp what this game was all about and wandered through the dark dungeons underneath Tristram, I opened a random door (just like I had opened so many others before) when a deep voice shouted "FRESH MEAT", scaring me to be bones as I ran away from this scary ass dude hunting me with a hatchet, successfully slicing me into pieces. 2) The eerie music which by a single stroke of guitar strings sends me down nostalgia road until I shall take my last breath. 3) The epilogue video after defeating Diablo, only making me realize that there is no happy end, but rather realizing that this game which is all about defeating all evil teaches us an important life lesson: Evil can never be defeated. Evil will always try to take over, we can only fight back. Oh boy, and how this is almost meta when looking at Diablo as a franchise. More on that later.

In the following years I've played many games, but Blizzard games always took a special place in my heart. They were never the ones with the best graphics, the ones driving technological innovation in video games. They didn't follow trends - they established new ones. They created a gameplay atmosphere which made you forget that you were playing a game. As someone who has traveled a lot and changed countries multiple times, I look back and realize that I've made friends through Blizzard games, and especially looking back at World of WarCraft and revisiting old videos recently I realize that I care less about the game, but about the memories I share with people I met in the game (I only played vanilla). Blizzard didn't create video games. Blizzard created experiences. Their motto was "gameplay first", but their actions were more than that: they created and flourished a family, and even though I've never been at the family gathering in person, the annual BlizzCon event shows that this family is more than words and games.

The holiday season is upon us, and for many of us - especially those who celebrate Christmas - it is about family time. We get together and, despite all our potential differences, emphasize the bonds between us. Traditions are a big part of this, and they are deeply connected to nostalgia. Some things can (and will) change; technology wasn't a part of Christmas decades ago, but it is now, and it has its place without disturbing the nostalgia. But some things you can't change. We have a traditional Christmas dish that I had every year since I can remember; when we discussed changing that we dismissed it almost instantly, reminding ourselves that without this traditional dish Christmas wouldn't be the same, and there would be no purpose anymore for us to meet. Those traditions, connected to nostalgia, memories, and experiences, are what has brought us together as a family, and what holds us together. Abolishing those breaks the bond.

I feel that in 2018, Blizzard has proposed such a change, and with it, I feel like I'm not part of that family anymore.

Maybe the majority of the family is interested in mobile games, as their CEO said. Maybe the majority of the family is interested in playing video games differently, is not alienated by non-cosmetic micro transactions. Maybe the majority of the family has found a lot of enjoyment in other games and wants to adopts their spirit into Blizzard's own identity. But to me personally, it means I will have to find a new family. I cannot follow Blizzard on this path. I'm not even talking about the Diablo debacle in particular; I am still waiting for Diablo 4, and albeit skeptical, will consider it once it's there. But in recent years I've noticed a change. I've tried to defend my family countless times; if someone was to go through my post history you will find me defending Diablo and Blizzard countless times, you will realize that I have been branded a "fanboy" more often than I can recall, and I have always stood by Diablo's and Blizzard's side. I have always given them the benefit of the doubt. But I cannot do that any longer.

In light of recent developments - such as Blizzard officially announcing that their most skilled developers are now working on mobile game across all Blizzard franchises - I need to see clear evidence (and no *word* is an evidence here, to make this clear) that will make me believe once again that Blizzard "hears us". I am deeply, deeply concerned that our family is being dominated by a new friend who has broken with all our traditions, and I consider this new friend an evil. When I have so far defended Blizzard and Diablo, I will still do so, but in a different way - I think it is our duty as Diablo fans to fight this evil, be it the "new Silicon Valley" business model, be it aggressive micro transactions, be it pay to win games, be it anything that does not resemble "gameplay first". Because evil will always try to win, we can only fight back.

This post was inspired by three recent things I've read: first the front page post, but even more so a fan letter and a critical, yet rigorous analysis of how Blizzard has changed. But given that it's holiday season I don't want to end on such a daunting note, but in all of this that happens this year see the light.

First, let's remember us that the strength of the community that emerged from Blizzard's games is far bigger than the games itself. Take StarCraft 2 for example, a game that was 2 years ago where Diablo 3 is today: pronounced to be dead, almost no one playing anymore, professional teams closing down and the game considered in "maintenance". Now, 2 years later, SC2 is more healthy than ever before in its history, and even though Blizzard is continuing to make strange decisions with regard to the official WCS circuit, the community is an absolute delight to be part of. We are all still basking in the light of our undisputed god (literal god) Serral who has shown us that dreams can come true, even those that we thought would be too ridiculous to ever see the light of reality (please read this). This also is true for Diablo Fans, and especially these forums (well, as long as their owners let me - I am not affiliated with Curse who owns those forums, but as long as they don't close my account I will speak my word here, as I believe in free speech, and so should they, being based in the country that prides itself on said value). Let's use those forums to continue to critically but constructively discuss Diablo - it's past, present, and its future. And besides all, let's never forget our memories. Until one day, we shall be as happy as in 2008, when we heard the most favorite tune any Diablo fan can hear live on stage, giving us goosebumps and filling us with excitement, all remembering us that Blizzard used to not just create games.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ogXqCNkyHE

And when that day comes, we'll still be there. Diablo Fans will always be there, constructively discussing Diablo, because it's what we love and care for deeply.

Happy holidays everyone!