To be honest, there are a few good posts in the thread but all in all it is more akin to the Special Olympics...
My opinion on the topic has become less cynical on the game and more on the community. It seems to me, and I am just being frank here, that the community is comprised of two people. Those with less expectations and find themselves enjoying the game and then the people who bought the game expecting that the hand of God himself touched the team at Blizzard and granted them the powers to develop a perfect game and now after having played it feel let down. The entitlement they feel is IMHO appalling.
I know I am going to get flamed for saying so but it doesn’t bother me. Hearing the complaints from those who say the game is dead simply shows the level at which people’s expectations of the game rose and then couple that with the entitlement culture we live in and viola, you have one of the most discontent communities in all of gaming history... Or so it would seem if you simply read these forums.
I question whether you ever played Diablo II. I played D2 for at least a year and only played D3 for 4 months - haven't gone back and probably never will. You say there are two types of people in the Diablo III community, and you may be right, but we do feel let down for a reason. In Diablo II, gear was not the only answer for how to improve your character. There were charms and runes which increased your character's strength. Gear also had skill point upgrades on them. Even if your gear wasn't spectacular, you could have charms, runes, or skill improvements to help give you that extra edge while still seeking out the BIS stuff (aka Oculus, Lidless Wall, etc.). In my opinion, Diablo III is a completely different approach. There are no runes, charms, or skill improvements. Everything about your character is determined by what kind of gear you are wearing. If you have shitty gear, you're not going to get very far. There is little to nothing that can be done to improve your character's strength outside of obtaining better gear.
If you think about it, Diablo III is pretty much a hack-and-slash version of World of Warcraft, only worse. You start off each game by selecting your class. Then, you being the leveling process. Once your max level, you start gearing up to reach the end-game content. In WOW, you can either raid or participate in PVP to obtain the best gear, however in Diablo III, there is no set path or loot tables. All you can do is hope you'll find something good and that you'll be able to use it or even sell it. There is no skill involved in finding good gear, it is all luck.
I enjoy when I can spend my time playing a game to relax. I played Borderlands 2 for a while and eventually got to a point where I completed all I wanted to. I could endlessly farm The Warrior for the best gear if I desired, but I was content. My friend who introduced me to the game continued playing for some time after I was done. Both my friend and I played D2 together for quite some time and were both looking forward to D3. He may have only played D3 for 2-3 months. If I had to choose, I would start playing Borderlands 2 again over Diablo III in a heartbeat as I felt rewarded for my efforts much more frequently than I ever did with the latter. So who's to blame for this discrepancy of commitment? The developers or the players? I think you know where I stand.
P.S. - Whimsyshire is complete shit compared to the cow level of Diablo II. I would much rather be running around a field being chased by hoards of cows with pitch forks than running around looking at rainbows, cupcakes, and searching for the next trash pack every 20 feet only to end up finding only 4 or 5 elite packs. People used to form huge parties just to farm the cow level. Now, speed farmers don't even go there, let alone players looking for gear as it is possibly one of the most inefficient ways to farm. Whimsyshire is a travesty compared to the cow level.
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I question whether you ever played Diablo II. I played D2 for at least a year and only played D3 for 4 months - haven't gone back and probably never will. You say there are two types of people in the Diablo III community, and you may be right, but we do feel let down for a reason. In Diablo II, gear was not the only answer for how to improve your character. There were charms and runes which increased your character's strength. Gear also had skill point upgrades on them. Even if your gear wasn't spectacular, you could have charms, runes, or skill improvements to help give you that extra edge while still seeking out the BIS stuff (aka Oculus, Lidless Wall, etc.). In my opinion, Diablo III is a completely different approach. There are no runes, charms, or skill improvements. Everything about your character is determined by what kind of gear you are wearing. If you have shitty gear, you're not going to get very far. There is little to nothing that can be done to improve your character's strength outside of obtaining better gear.
If you think about it, Diablo III is pretty much a hack-and-slash version of World of Warcraft, only worse. You start off each game by selecting your class. Then, you being the leveling process. Once your max level, you start gearing up to reach the end-game content. In WOW, you can either raid or participate in PVP to obtain the best gear, however in Diablo III, there is no set path or loot tables. All you can do is hope you'll find something good and that you'll be able to use it or even sell it. There is no skill involved in finding good gear, it is all luck.
I enjoy when I can spend my time playing a game to relax. I played Borderlands 2 for a while and eventually got to a point where I completed all I wanted to. I could endlessly farm The Warrior for the best gear if I desired, but I was content. My friend who introduced me to the game continued playing for some time after I was done. Both my friend and I played D2 together for quite some time and were both looking forward to D3. He may have only played D3 for 2-3 months. If I had to choose, I would start playing Borderlands 2 again over Diablo III in a heartbeat as I felt rewarded for my efforts much more frequently than I ever did with the latter. So who's to blame for this discrepancy of commitment? The developers or the players? I think you know where I stand.
P.S. - Whimsyshire is complete shit compared to the cow level of Diablo II. I would much rather be running around a field being chased by hoards of cows with pitch forks than running around looking at rainbows, cupcakes, and searching for the next trash pack every 20 feet only to end up finding only 4 or 5 elite packs. People used to form huge parties just to farm the cow level. Now, speed farmers don't even go there, let alone players looking for gear as it is possibly one of the most inefficient ways to farm. Whimsyshire is a travesty compared to the cow level.