Has anyone written an in depth article exploring exactly what Blizzard has missed in DIII that made DII so much more fun?
I'm actually having trouble figuring out why anyone who played D2 a lot would find D3 fun... if you've spent 1000 hours doing something, why would spending another 1000 hours doing something only slightly different be fun?
I spent 7 years playing WoW... when MoP was announced and left me feeling lukewarm, my conclusion wasn't that MoP was rubbish, it was that after 7 years I'd actually had enough of MMOs in general, and no matter what they put in MoP, it wasn't going to be enough.
why would spending another 1000 hours doing something only slightly different be fun?
I think games in general and ARPGs in particular can get around burnout issues. The thornier issue is just the hours in the week a game has, in terms of blizzard's overall strategy. This is why D3 risks cannibalizing WoW, the "moment of clarity" for gamers trying to play both with 30 hours/week of play, or, worse, having a sudden "why the hell am I ginding" epiphany.
why would spending another 1000 hours doing something only slightly different be fun?
I think games in general and ARPGs in particular can get around burnout issues. The thornier issue is just the hours in the week a game has, in terms of blizzard's overall strategy. This is why D3 risks cannibalizing WoW, the "moment of clarity" for gamers trying to play both with 30 hours/week of play, or, worse, having a sudden "why the hell am I ginding" epiphany.
Good point. They're both designed to be 'space-filling' games that expand to occupy as much time as you can give them... although with Diablo3's fixed content, perhaps the intention is that while they're waiting for MoP (or HotS), people spend their time with D3
Give it several years like D2 and we will have an equal.
I think the experience of people who approach the game totally fresh a year from now without having played it at all will be a good one, and a much better one than most of the people who played it at or near release.
But will it ever come close to D2 circa 1.08-1.10 for its time? No, not at all. The reality is that every lead on this project was making their first ARPG, under a ton of pressure and scrutiny, and it really shows.
Let me give you a couple of quick points to hold you off till you find an unbiased article.
1) Players complaining about D3 were mostly in there teens when they played D2. Somehow they are confused as to why in the hell D3 "seems less fun" than D2. YOU GREW OUT OF GAMES.
2) Diablo 2 did not have amazing endgame, amazing items, lvl cap of 99, etc 2months after launch. Diablo 2 got and expansion and many years under its belt over D3 (not saying D3 is bad).
3) Current technology allowed a LOT of problems to be fixed almost instantly; D2 still had many bugs long into its life.
4) D2 seemed "easier" because it only had 3 difficulty levels. If D3 shipped with Hell as its max difficulty, it would seem just as "easy" as D2. Then people would be complaining about hitting the "brick wall" that is Inferno. Inferno adds a whole new "stuff to do endgame" that wasnt designed to be completed in 1-2 hours. Funny how people complain about not enough endgame while complaining about inferno being too hard while at the same time complaining about how D2 was easier... just wow, but I digress.
5) D3 added a lot more ways to trade. Yes selling and item for 500k gold and then buying that item you needed for 500k gold is much like trading that first item you had for the item that you need; it just took minutes instead of days.
I'm actually having trouble figuring out why anyone who played D2 a lot would find D3 fun... if you've spent 1000 hours doing something, why would spending another 1000 hours doing something only slightly different be fun?
I do.
Upgraded graphics and engine (physics! :D), completely different classes, very unique monster combinations and affixes, lack of a decent hack and slash for a couple years now, first hack and slash with an economy, the list goes on for me
Let me give you a couple of quick points to hold you off till you find an unbiased article.
1) Players complaining about D3 were mostly in there teens when they played D2. Somehow they are confused as to why in the hell D3 "seems less fun" than D2. YOU GREW OUT OF GAMES.
2) Diablo 2 did not have amazing endgame, amazing items, lvl cap of 99, etc 2months after launch. Diablo 2 got and expansion and many years under its belt over D3 (not saying D3 is bad).
3) Current technology allowed a LOT of problems to be fixed almost instantly; D2 still had many bugs long into its life.
4) D2 seemed "easier" because it only had 3 difficulty levels. If D3 shipped with Hell as its max difficulty, it would seem just as "easy" as D2. Then people would be complaining about hitting the "brick wall" that is Inferno. Inferno adds a whole new "stuff to do endgame" that wasnt designed to be completed in 1-2 hours. Funny how people complain about not enough endgame while complaining about inferno being too hard while at the same time complaining about how D2 was easier... just wow, but I digress.
5) D3 added a lot more ways to trade. Yes selling and item for 500k gold and then buying that item you needed for 500k gold is much like trading that first item you had for the item that you need; it just took minutes instead of days.
Just from the top of my head. Enjoy
I've accepted #1 being as HUGE possibility. The idea actually gave me anxiety pre release lolol. I played D1-D2-LOD from 5th grade - end of my Sophomore year of High School. Being that I am 24 now, living on my own(RESPONSIBILITIES!!!), I give way less shit about a game because I have many other far more important things to do than get a Windforce fuckin bow and skip school LOL. But there things that made D2 great that D3 does not have.
I spent 7 years playing WoW... when MoP was announced and left me feeling lukewarm, my conclusion wasn't that MoP was rubbish, it was that after 7 years I'd actually had enough of MMOs in general, and no matter what they put in MoP, it wasn't going to be enough.
Though I find D3 to be extremely fun (while I loved D1&2 as well), I completely agree with you about WoW. After years of EQ, then WoW up-to-date, I too feel that no matter what MoP has to offer, I'm done with MMO gaming. D3 is great because I can spend 30 minutes online and actually do something.
There are many mmos who are quite diffrent than those two though.
There sure are, I'm just at the point in my life where I have no more entertainment value from an MMO. There is nothing WoW, SW:TOR, etc can offer to interest me in the least. It's not that they are bad games, I just am no longer interested.
Has anyone written an in depth article exploring exactly what Blizzard has missed in DIII that made DII so much more fun?
Good luck finding an article you can get people to agree on. I.E. play both and decide for yourself.
Best advise here.
I'm not so sure that's the best advice. I think both are good in tandem. Sure, one can play D2 and D3 and form their own opinion, but there's always something to be gained from hearing/reading opinions from other players. For me, the better ones tend to be without major bias toward one or the other. There will always be some bias, but I discount those that just bash a game and say it's bad all around just because they're not happy with a few (or several) things about it. Other people might easily look past those points -- not that they aren't worth mentioning in a constructive way.
As much as I would like to have no personal bias, I felt it is next to impossible. It to some extend has to be a projection from my personal experience and background.
I'm was a hardcore Starcraft -Broodwar, Diablo 2, Starcraft 2 gamer, before Diablo 3. Off-topic: I am looking for an easy going yet hardcore Starcraft 2 practice partner, preferable Zerg at Diamond level or above.
Has anyone written an in depth article exploring exactly what Blizzard has missed in DIII that made DII so much more fun?
Good luck finding an article you can get people to agree on. I.E. play both and decide for yourself.
Best advise here.
I'm not so sure that's the best advice. I think both are good in tandem. Sure, one can play D2 and D3 and form their own opinion, but there's always something to be gained from hearing/reading opinions from other players. For me, the better ones tend to be without major bias toward one or the other. There will always be some bias, but I discount those that just bash a game and say it's bad all around just because they're not happy with a few (or several) things about it. Other people might easily look past those points -- not that they aren't worth mentioning in a constructive way.
"There's always something to be gained from hearing/reading opinions from other players."
Obviously I've put long long long hours into D2 and long hours into D3 - so the "play both and decide for yourself" isn't useful advice considering the question I asked and that I was looking for exactly what was said above.
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I'm actually having trouble figuring out why anyone who played D2 a lot would find D3 fun... if you've spent 1000 hours doing something, why would spending another 1000 hours doing something only slightly different be fun?
I spent 7 years playing WoW... when MoP was announced and left me feeling lukewarm, my conclusion wasn't that MoP was rubbish, it was that after 7 years I'd actually had enough of MMOs in general, and no matter what they put in MoP, it wasn't going to be enough.
I think games in general and ARPGs in particular can get around burnout issues. The thornier issue is just the hours in the week a game has, in terms of blizzard's overall strategy. This is why D3 risks cannibalizing WoW, the "moment of clarity" for gamers trying to play both with 30 hours/week of play, or, worse, having a sudden "why the hell am I ginding" epiphany.
Good point. They're both designed to be 'space-filling' games that expand to occupy as much time as you can give them... although with Diablo3's fixed content, perhaps the intention is that while they're waiting for MoP (or HotS), people spend their time with D3
I think the experience of people who approach the game totally fresh a year from now without having played it at all will be a good one, and a much better one than most of the people who played it at or near release.
But will it ever come close to D2 circa 1.08-1.10 for its time? No, not at all. The reality is that every lead on this project was making their first ARPG, under a ton of pressure and scrutiny, and it really shows.
1) Players complaining about D3 were mostly in there teens when they played D2. Somehow they are confused as to why in the hell D3 "seems less fun" than D2. YOU GREW OUT OF GAMES.
2) Diablo 2 did not have amazing endgame, amazing items, lvl cap of 99, etc 2months after launch. Diablo 2 got and expansion and many years under its belt over D3 (not saying D3 is bad).
3) Current technology allowed a LOT of problems to be fixed almost instantly; D2 still had many bugs long into its life.
4) D2 seemed "easier" because it only had 3 difficulty levels. If D3 shipped with Hell as its max difficulty, it would seem just as "easy" as D2. Then people would be complaining about hitting the "brick wall" that is Inferno. Inferno adds a whole new "stuff to do endgame" that wasnt designed to be completed in 1-2 hours. Funny how people complain about not enough endgame while complaining about inferno being too hard while at the same time complaining about how D2 was easier... just wow, but I digress.
5) D3 added a lot more ways to trade. Yes selling and item for 500k gold and then buying that item you needed for 500k gold is much like trading that first item you had for the item that you need; it just took minutes instead of days.
Just from the top of my head. Enjoy
The game is far from perfect, I have plenty of things to criticize, but it's not as bad as some of the kids (mentally-wise) are claiming to be.
I do.
Upgraded graphics and engine (physics! :D), completely different classes, very unique monster combinations and affixes, lack of a decent hack and slash for a couple years now, first hack and slash with an economy, the list goes on for me
I've accepted #1 being as HUGE possibility. The idea actually gave me anxiety pre release lolol. I played D1-D2-LOD from 5th grade - end of my Sophomore year of High School. Being that I am 24 now, living on my own(RESPONSIBILITIES!!!), I give way less shit about a game because I have many other far more important things to do than get a Windforce fuckin bow and skip school LOL. But there things that made D2 great that D3 does not have.
Not much of a D2 vs D3, more of a D3 analysis in depth.
Though I find D3 to be extremely fun (while I loved D1&2 as well), I completely agree with you about WoW. After years of EQ, then WoW up-to-date, I too feel that no matter what MoP has to offer, I'm done with MMO gaming. D3 is great because I can spend 30 minutes online and actually do something.
Battle.net Profile / Diablo Progress Profile
There sure are, I'm just at the point in my life where I have no more entertainment value from an MMO. There is nothing WoW, SW:TOR, etc can offer to interest me in the least. It's not that they are bad games, I just am no longer interested.
Battle.net Profile / Diablo Progress Profile
I'm not so sure that's the best advice. I think both are good in tandem. Sure, one can play D2 and D3 and form their own opinion, but there's always something to be gained from hearing/reading opinions from other players. For me, the better ones tend to be without major bias toward one or the other. There will always be some bias, but I discount those that just bash a game and say it's bad all around just because they're not happy with a few (or several) things about it. Other people might easily look past those points -- not that they aren't worth mentioning in a constructive way.
http://www.diablofans.com/topic/58587-diablo-3-analysis-article/
As much as I would like to have no personal bias, I felt it is next to impossible. It to some extend has to be a projection from my personal experience and background.
I'm was a hardcore Starcraft -Broodwar, Diablo 2, Starcraft 2 gamer, before Diablo 3. Off-topic: I am looking for an easy going yet hardcore Starcraft 2 practice partner, preferable Zerg at Diamond level or above.
"There's always something to be gained from hearing/reading opinions from other players."
Obviously I've put long long long hours into D2 and long hours into D3 - so the "play both and decide for yourself" isn't useful advice considering the question I asked and that I was looking for exactly what was said above.