You don't know me, I am just another "gamer". A guy who remembers the days of playing Diablo 1 in middle school all the way up until now for the game of Diablo 3. I have always bragged about Blizzard and their quality. I have always stood by Blizzard and realized pleasing everyone is not possible. I know this from my experience in leading people in the Army and to owning my business myself. However, I feel I am finally putting my foot down. Will I get rid of my account? Probably not, I spent to much time and resources into the game. However, I am really considering stop playing the game all together and maybe coming back one day, not sure. I have just seen a steady decline of quality and this forgetting where you came from mentality with Blizzard. I know it is just a game, but it is pretty demoralizing to play and hunt to find the best loot and the thrill of getting a good sale, to buy better loot and progress through the game. However, now the economy seems shot and instead of listening to their customer base, the ones who made them who they are, they are only looking to make money. Not only that, I just find that the game is well..BORING. Besides TONS of suggestions that are completely plausible for Blizzard to implement to create end game content they have not done so. I feel this game is being strung along just to keep AH sales up and lead into a multi-million dollar expansion.
Blizzard I know you will probably not read this and I really do not care. I guess I am just a big nerd, who just feels the need to vent. Maybe this is our breakup, not sure lol? Not trying to seem aggressive or rude, but if you do not change and not be solely about the money and get back to the root of what made you good, you are going to suffer down the road. It is the 2nd and 3rd order effects you are not thinking about. Do no think that since you are a multi-million dollar corporation you cannot fail. There is ton of competition out there and it takes one great game or hungry developer to knock you down a peg. Remember at one point Blizzard was just a dream or vision in someones head as well. The current environment we are seeing now is breeding a new generation of gamers that once who were loyal to you are leaving in droves and may never come back. This will effect in you a macro sense down the road.
If you like the game, forget all the dumb shit. If you don't have fun, perhaps a break is in order.
I'd rather them take the time to get this straight before going live again. I know it sucks, and I sure hope it isn't a bad sign that it's taking so long.
1.08 is a great set-up for the coming itemization patch. No matter how you dice it, things are getting set-up for a much better overall experience.
All in all, not every one will like it. Personally, after near a year of frustration and irritation, I'm starting to see the big picture here.
If you like the game, forget all the dumb shit. If you don't have fun, perhaps a break is in order.
I'd rather them take the time to get this straight before going live again. I know it sucks, and I sure hope it isn't a bad sign that it's taking so long.
1.08 is a great set-up for the coming itemization patch. No matter how you dice it, things are getting set-up for a much better overall experience.
All in all, not every one will like it. Personally, after near a year of frustration and irritation, I'm starting to see the big picture here.
I've been extremely disappointed with the game since launch because it lacked a lot of what I was expecting to have in the game. However, I must admit that every patch I am starting to see a big picture forming for a good future for this game, as you say. I think they learned a lot over this year of what works and doesn't work for the franchise, and hope they put that information to good use for the expansion.
I think the biggest problem is that the community (myself included) probably came from WoW where are use to these grand patches that are coming out periodically. There was always something to do in terms of end game, then came here to Diablo and play the waiting game for the next patch instead. Each patch so far is going in the right direction, but it really is taking much too long between each one.
If you like the game, forget all the dumb shit. If you don't have fun, perhaps a break is in order.
I'd rather them take the time to get this straight before going live again. I know it sucks, and I sure hope it isn't a bad sign that it's taking so long.
1.08 is a great set-up for the coming itemization patch. No matter how you dice it, things are getting set-up for a much better overall experience.
All in all, not every one will like it. Personally, after near a year of frustration and irritation, I'm starting to see the big picture here.
I've been extremely disappointed with the game since launch because it lacked a lot of what I was expecting to have in the game. However, I must admit that every patch I am starting to see a big picture forming for a good future for this game, as you say. I think they learned a lot over this year of what works and doesn't work for the franchise, and hope they put that information to good use for the expansion.
I think the biggest problem is that the community (myself included) probably came from WoW where are use to these grand patches that are coming out periodically. There was always something to do in terms of end game, then came here to Diablo and play the waiting game for the next patch instead. Each patch so far is going in the right direction, but it really is taking much too long between each one.
If we could pay a subscription in order to get more updates with more content, I would pay it.
I've been extremely disappointed with the game since launch because it lacked a lot of what I was expecting to have in the game. However, I must admit that every patch I am starting to see a big picture forming for a good future for this game, as you say. I think they learned a lot over this year of what works and doesn't work for the franchise, and hope they put that information to good use for the expansion.
I definitely understand disappointment. I've been disappointed with various aspects of D3. We all have.
I admire what you said because, through that disappointment, you can see what's happening. You can still see the forest for the trees. Nothing really gets me more irate than people who stop by to tell us that Blizzard hasn't done anything to improve D3 and things of that ilk. I understand that not everyone shares my perspective, but it's clear that even with Jay Wilson at the helm they had their priorities for what needed to be fixed.
I think back and I know I'd loved to have seen monster density sooner. But I'd probably have quit if they hadn't fixed Inferno in some capacity and added pLvls. So, hindsight being 20/20, for me they did a lot of these things in an appropriate order even though it may not have seemed as such at the time. It's easy to say that itemization is the biggest problem so they should have fixed that first. If we're honest, though, imagine if we still had the amazing Act 2 "wall" but itemization was fixed. Would you still play? I wouldn't. I'd have been long gone and I can't imagine I'd be the only one.
Again, hindsight is 20/20 so it's pretty easy for me to say this now. But it also means that our real-time evaluation of these things MAY be just a little skewed too.
I've been extremely disappointed with the game since launch because it lacked a lot of what I was expecting to have in the game. However, I must admit that every patch I am starting to see a big picture forming for a good future for this game, as you say. I think they learned a lot over this year of what works and doesn't work for the franchise, and hope they put that information to good use for the expansion.
I definitely understand disappointment. I've been disappointed with various aspects of D3. We all have.
I admire what you said because, through that disappointment, you can see what's happening. You can still see the forest for the trees. Nothing really gets me more irate than people who stop by to tell us that Blizzard hasn't done anything to improve D3 and things of that ilk. I understand that not everyone shares my perspective, but it's clear that even with Jay Wilson at the helm they had their priorities for what needed to be fixed.
I think back and I know I'd loved to have seen monster density sooner. But I'd probably have quit if they hadn't fixed Inferno in some capacity and added pLvls. So, hindsight being 20/20, for me they did a lot of these things in an appropriate order even though it may not have seemed as such at the time. It's easy to say that itemization is the biggest problem so they should have fixed that first. If we're honest, though, imagine if we still had the amazing Act 2 "wall" but itemization was fixed. Would you still play? I wouldn't. I'd have been long gone and I can't imagine I'd be the only one.
Again, hindsight is 20/20 so it's pretty easy for me to say this now. But it also means that our real-time evaluation of these things MAY be just a little skewed too.
OP, some real wisdom in these two posts right here, really couldn't have said it better myself, though if I may add my own insight to them.....
I think one thing many people need to remember is that very often, fixes and updates are easy to dismiss, but tend to have farther reaching effects. For instance, "Paragon levels? Pfft, just more grind." "Mob density? Pfft, just more monsters." "Multiplayer buffs? Pfft, I hardly like playing solo, what do I care?"
A lot of the changes that have come don't always seem crucial or needed, but the game experience has definitely gotten better since launch. I'm among the many that had at least one character reach level 60 before Paragon levels were introduced. If they hadn't added Paragon levels, the only way for me to upgrade would have been to use the AH, and if they hadn't changed that, I very likely would've quit. I wouldn't have wanted to, but I would've. Small change, but it yielded fun results, and the innate MF is DEFINITELY making me see more high end drops, like legendaries and set items, when killing monsters. This past weekend, I got the second piece of my Monk's Inna set, and last night, I picked up the third piece of my WD's Zunimassa set. Took me a long time before seeing set pieces drop, mind you, but even if they're not perfectly rolled epic finds, I still really like them.
Now, every time I log on and head into a game with my Plvl 44 Monk, I think, "okay...what'll drop this time?" :-D
You say in your post, OP, "There is ton of competition out there and it takes one great game or hungry developer to knock you down a peg." So, as a fan of D1, you should remember just how many games have succeeded in unseating Diablo from its throne as the standard-bearer of ARPGs.
Answer? None. Not a dad-gum one.
And look at games to come out recently. D3 comes out last May, gets largely negative response from the forums (or, at least, the Bnet forums), and what happens. "Check out PoE! It's the REAL Diablo!" "Torchlight 2 is coming, say goodbye to D3!" "Titan Quest, guys, it's way more Diablo than Diablo." Hell, even on Facebook, I see ads along the right side of my screen, "Better than Diablo? Check out Wartune!" I don't know, aside from mild buzz here and there from various games, D3 is still going strong and even with negative press due to gold dupe bugs and AH glitches, it doesn't seem to be suffering that badly.
With every major patch they release, the smaller and more common issues, like QoL fixes, are all getting tuned up and improved and are largely are out of the way entirely. Thus, from my perspective, you know what I've been seeing?
The major problems (like itemization, skill balance, customization, etc.) are staying at the surface, as expected, and the complaints about them are staying strong, as they should...but the little piddling problems that bugged people are either disappearing, or the playerbase more and more are getting behind the "come on, it's fixed, move on" vibe. Yes, the negativity in the Bnet forums can really be draining on a loyal fan like me, but while many people just stay on the negativity bandwagon because it's "hip" to hate things, I'm genuinely seeing more and more people change sides and accept that the game really is getting better, Blizzard is improving things the players want (albeit at their own pace, which at this point, is six of one, half dozen of the other), and the game experience is getting deeper slowly but surely.
Another few patches down the road, and by the time the expansion comes out, players who were around since launch may not even recognize the game anymore.
This is only the beginning. I can share some of your pain about certain things in D3, but I can honestly say...at launch, I liked this game...now, I'm absolutely HOOKED. It's gotten better, by far. Does it have a way to go to be insanely good? Yes. But it's not impossible.
If we could pay a subscription in order to get more updates with more content, I would pay it.
IMO...the RMAH does this for us. Whether you use it or not, the existence of the RMAH should excuse any need for a sub cost as far as man-hours spent on development.
I think, its easier to be critical than anything. However, if you're going to be critical..at least offer some ideas for them to fix things, don't just complain and compare it to what D2 was and what not. As far a steady decline in quality, I'd have to disagree..each subsequent patch and fix has made this game better. I'll give you that the release version of this game was terrible and very bland, but they've come a long way since then.
If you're going to be critical and not going into specifics but just provide a broad generalization of why you're upset..I'm not going to take your post seriously. If you have complaints..validate them..provide specifics, and then provide your way of improving on them. It drives me nuts when people bitch and moan but provide no insight into how to make it BETTER or how to FIX it. This leaves me to believe, you don't have a better solution at all.
Diablo 3 has a lot of room to grow, and I don't think their done yet for this game, but I believe they'll be leaving a lot of stuff out for the expansion (at the end of the day their a business, and they have shareholders to answer to) to make a profit. I think the biggest thing people forget to realize is that d2 really was fairly simple in its concept, and it was so simple that it lacked a lot of things that d3 provided.
a format for trading was not around in d2 outside of spamming trade channels and joining pub games and spamming again until someone clicked on your character to trade. The real economy of that game was driven by a private site (d2jsp). The real PVP scene was driven by d2jsp members hosting their own tournaments and structures for duels and itemization.
Build diversity- Build diversity is an illusion, you're given the option to create so many builds but only a select few will provide to be the most viable, this is unavoidable no matter what they do.
Itemization- I think I preferred d2's itemization because you could build the character around the gear, not the gear around the character (as in d3)
I preferred d2's structure in how you could just go through any act within the same game, I HATE D3's quest act/quest based game creation, I wish they'd revert this and I'd probably be the happiest camper in the world. Yes there would be some issues to work out, but I'm sure this is possible.
Player limit in games- I think they should increase it to 5-6 players at least. This would promote world PVP if they ever opt'd to go that route again. I hate that we're forced to just simply join an arena type of zone. I feel this is a big mistake on their part. My biggest problem with PVP in D3 is that they tried to over think what people wanted and tried to over complicate things.
If you like the game, forget all the dumb shit. If you don't have fun, perhaps a break is in order.
I'd rather them take the time to get this straight before going live again. I know it sucks, and I sure hope it isn't a bad sign that it's taking so long.
1.08 is a great set-up for the coming itemization patch. No matter how you dice it, things are getting set-up for a much better overall experience.
All in all, not every one will like it. Personally, after near a year of frustration and irritation, I'm starting to see the big picture here.
I've been extremely disappointed with the game since launch because it lacked a lot of what I was expecting to have in the game. However, I must admit that every patch I am starting to see a big picture forming for a good future for this game, as you say. I think they learned a lot over this year of what works and doesn't work for the franchise, and hope they put that information to good use for the expansion.
I think the biggest problem is that the community (myself included) probably came from WoW where are use to these grand patches that are coming out periodically. There was always something to do in terms of end game, then came here to Diablo and play the waiting game for the next patch instead. Each patch so far is going in the right direction, but it really is taking much too long between each one.
If we could pay a subscription in order to get more updates with more content, I would pay it.
I would not, which combined with your statement, is a pretty clear example of the "you can't please everyone" rule.
This is completely not meant as a flame or attack, but if you want a subscription-based game and the more frequent, larger updates that come with such games, why are you playing Diablo? I'm asking an honest question. I have zero desire to pay a monthly subscription fee, and thus consider Diablo 3 to be, by far, the best game I can play under such restrictions.
good post OP the game is clearly improving though, frustratingly slowly....and IMO i don't agree with the approach blizzard has taken, if you are going to fix things you should fix the big things first....they have been tweaking and tuning and i appreciate some of the new content and fixes but at this stage it looks like it will be more than a year before this game can hold a candle to D2 in terms of re-playability.
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You don't know me, I am just another "gamer". A guy who remembers the days of playing Diablo 1 in middle school all the way up until now for the game of Diablo 3. I have always bragged about Blizzard and their quality. I have always stood by Blizzard and realized pleasing everyone is not possible. I know this from my experience in leading people in the Army and to owning my business myself. However, I feel I am finally putting my foot down. Will I get rid of my account? Probably not, I spent to much time and resources into the game. However, I am really considering stop playing the game all together and maybe coming back one day, not sure. I have just seen a steady decline of quality and this forgetting where you came from mentality with Blizzard. I know it is just a game, but it is pretty demoralizing to play and hunt to find the best loot and the thrill of getting a good sale, to buy better loot and progress through the game. However, now the economy seems shot and instead of listening to their customer base, the ones who made them who they are, they are only looking to make money. Not only that, I just find that the game is well..BORING. Besides TONS of suggestions that are completely plausible for Blizzard to implement to create end game content they have not done so. I feel this game is being strung along just to keep AH sales up and lead into a multi-million dollar expansion.
Blizzard I know you will probably not read this and I really do not care. I guess I am just a big nerd, who just feels the need to vent. Maybe this is our breakup, not sure lol? Not trying to seem aggressive or rude, but if you do not change and not be solely about the money and get back to the root of what made you good, you are going to suffer down the road. It is the 2nd and 3rd order effects you are not thinking about. Do no think that since you are a multi-million dollar corporation you cannot fail. There is ton of competition out there and it takes one great game or hungry developer to knock you down a peg. Remember at one point Blizzard was just a dream or vision in someones head as well. The current environment we are seeing now is breeding a new generation of gamers that once who were loyal to you are leaving in droves and may never come back. This will effect in you a macro sense down the road.
You have been warned.
Your loyal and disappointed gamer,
Vincent
I'd rather them take the time to get this straight before going live again. I know it sucks, and I sure hope it isn't a bad sign that it's taking so long.
1.08 is a great set-up for the coming itemization patch. No matter how you dice it, things are getting set-up for a much better overall experience.
All in all, not every one will like it. Personally, after near a year of frustration and irritation, I'm starting to see the big picture here.
BurningRope#1322 (US~HC) Request an invite to the official (NA) <dfans> Clan
I've been extremely disappointed with the game since launch because it lacked a lot of what I was expecting to have in the game. However, I must admit that every patch I am starting to see a big picture forming for a good future for this game, as you say. I think they learned a lot over this year of what works and doesn't work for the franchise, and hope they put that information to good use for the expansion.
I think the biggest problem is that the community (myself included) probably came from WoW where are use to these grand patches that are coming out periodically. There was always something to do in terms of end game, then came here to Diablo and play the waiting game for the next patch instead. Each patch so far is going in the right direction, but it really is taking much too long between each one.
If we could pay a subscription in order to get more updates with more content, I would pay it.
I definitely understand disappointment. I've been disappointed with various aspects of D3. We all have.
I admire what you said because, through that disappointment, you can see what's happening. You can still see the forest for the trees. Nothing really gets me more irate than people who stop by to tell us that Blizzard hasn't done anything to improve D3 and things of that ilk. I understand that not everyone shares my perspective, but it's clear that even with Jay Wilson at the helm they had their priorities for what needed to be fixed.
I think back and I know I'd loved to have seen monster density sooner. But I'd probably have quit if they hadn't fixed Inferno in some capacity and added pLvls. So, hindsight being 20/20, for me they did a lot of these things in an appropriate order even though it may not have seemed as such at the time. It's easy to say that itemization is the biggest problem so they should have fixed that first. If we're honest, though, imagine if we still had the amazing Act 2 "wall" but itemization was fixed. Would you still play? I wouldn't. I'd have been long gone and I can't imagine I'd be the only one.
Again, hindsight is 20/20 so it's pretty easy for me to say this now. But it also means that our real-time evaluation of these things MAY be just a little skewed too.
OP, some real wisdom in these two posts right here, really couldn't have said it better myself, though if I may add my own insight to them.....
I think one thing many people need to remember is that very often, fixes and updates are easy to dismiss, but tend to have farther reaching effects. For instance, "Paragon levels? Pfft, just more grind." "Mob density? Pfft, just more monsters." "Multiplayer buffs? Pfft, I hardly like playing solo, what do I care?"
A lot of the changes that have come don't always seem crucial or needed, but the game experience has definitely gotten better since launch. I'm among the many that had at least one character reach level 60 before Paragon levels were introduced. If they hadn't added Paragon levels, the only way for me to upgrade would have been to use the AH, and if they hadn't changed that, I very likely would've quit. I wouldn't have wanted to, but I would've. Small change, but it yielded fun results, and the innate MF is DEFINITELY making me see more high end drops, like legendaries and set items, when killing monsters. This past weekend, I got the second piece of my Monk's Inna set, and last night, I picked up the third piece of my WD's Zunimassa set. Took me a long time before seeing set pieces drop, mind you, but even if they're not perfectly rolled epic finds, I still really like them.
Now, every time I log on and head into a game with my Plvl 44 Monk, I think, "okay...what'll drop this time?" :-D
You say in your post, OP, "There is ton of competition out there and it takes one great game or hungry developer to knock you down a peg." So, as a fan of D1, you should remember just how many games have succeeded in unseating Diablo from its throne as the standard-bearer of ARPGs.
Answer? None. Not a dad-gum one.
And look at games to come out recently. D3 comes out last May, gets largely negative response from the forums (or, at least, the Bnet forums), and what happens. "Check out PoE! It's the REAL Diablo!" "Torchlight 2 is coming, say goodbye to D3!" "Titan Quest, guys, it's way more Diablo than Diablo." Hell, even on Facebook, I see ads along the right side of my screen, "Better than Diablo? Check out Wartune!" I don't know, aside from mild buzz here and there from various games, D3 is still going strong and even with negative press due to gold dupe bugs and AH glitches, it doesn't seem to be suffering that badly.
With every major patch they release, the smaller and more common issues, like QoL fixes, are all getting tuned up and improved and are largely are out of the way entirely. Thus, from my perspective, you know what I've been seeing?
The major problems (like itemization, skill balance, customization, etc.) are staying at the surface, as expected, and the complaints about them are staying strong, as they should...but the little piddling problems that bugged people are either disappearing, or the playerbase more and more are getting behind the "come on, it's fixed, move on" vibe. Yes, the negativity in the Bnet forums can really be draining on a loyal fan like me, but while many people just stay on the negativity bandwagon because it's "hip" to hate things, I'm genuinely seeing more and more people change sides and accept that the game really is getting better, Blizzard is improving things the players want (albeit at their own pace, which at this point, is six of one, half dozen of the other), and the game experience is getting deeper slowly but surely.
Another few patches down the road, and by the time the expansion comes out, players who were around since launch may not even recognize the game anymore.
This is only the beginning. I can share some of your pain about certain things in D3, but I can honestly say...at launch, I liked this game...now, I'm absolutely HOOKED. It's gotten better, by far. Does it have a way to go to be insanely good? Yes. But it's not impossible.
IMO...the RMAH does this for us. Whether you use it or not, the existence of the RMAH should excuse any need for a sub cost as far as man-hours spent on development.
BurningRope#1322 (US~HC) Request an invite to the official (NA) <dfans> Clan
If you're going to be critical and not going into specifics but just provide a broad generalization of why you're upset..I'm not going to take your post seriously. If you have complaints..validate them..provide specifics, and then provide your way of improving on them. It drives me nuts when people bitch and moan but provide no insight into how to make it BETTER or how to FIX it. This leaves me to believe, you don't have a better solution at all.
Diablo 3 has a lot of room to grow, and I don't think their done yet for this game, but I believe they'll be leaving a lot of stuff out for the expansion (at the end of the day their a business, and they have shareholders to answer to) to make a profit. I think the biggest thing people forget to realize is that d2 really was fairly simple in its concept, and it was so simple that it lacked a lot of things that d3 provided.
a format for trading was not around in d2 outside of spamming trade channels and joining pub games and spamming again until someone clicked on your character to trade. The real economy of that game was driven by a private site (d2jsp). The real PVP scene was driven by d2jsp members hosting their own tournaments and structures for duels and itemization.
Build diversity- Build diversity is an illusion, you're given the option to create so many builds but only a select few will provide to be the most viable, this is unavoidable no matter what they do.
Itemization- I think I preferred d2's itemization because you could build the character around the gear, not the gear around the character (as in d3)
I preferred d2's structure in how you could just go through any act within the same game, I HATE D3's quest act/quest based game creation, I wish they'd revert this and I'd probably be the happiest camper in the world. Yes there would be some issues to work out, but I'm sure this is possible.
Player limit in games- I think they should increase it to 5-6 players at least. This would promote world PVP if they ever opt'd to go that route again. I hate that we're forced to just simply join an arena type of zone. I feel this is a big mistake on their part. My biggest problem with PVP in D3 is that they tried to over think what people wanted and tried to over complicate things.
I would not, which combined with your statement, is a pretty clear example of the "you can't please everyone" rule.
This is completely not meant as a flame or attack, but if you want a subscription-based game and the more frequent, larger updates that come with such games, why are you playing Diablo? I'm asking an honest question. I have zero desire to pay a monthly subscription fee, and thus consider Diablo 3 to be, by far, the best game I can play under such restrictions.