DiabloFans

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!

Good point, I'll highlight this to the developers. Not sure though this will do anything, I see a lot of bluetrackers messed up; I think Blizzard just changed something which makes it difficult.

To be fair, most relevant news isn't coming through trackers anyways, as they frequently drop the real news in other channels (Reddit, Twitter, Twitch chat, ...)

Quote from Fight»

Diablo 3 Season 16 Journey and Conquests

Awesome, thanks! S16 tracker prepared to go online as soon as S15 ends

Yeah, until I see it I'm sorry but I remain cautious about what that is. We joke about triple goblins the same way we joked about a mobile MMO before Blizzcon.

That being said, another really really good reaction video (also a bit shorter) is Leviathan's:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-yOjm3JD6ek

Unfortunately everything he says is true. But also, unfortunately, in Silicon Valley the marketing people have taken over again. This includes, and maybe even started with, ironically, Apple. Especially since he talks about XEROX it really hurts. To anyone interested in the history of computing and so on - Apple never invented anything. NOT A THING. XEROX PARC has been the true invention force in Silicon Valley since the 70s; it was just people like Steve Jobs who were 100% marketing-oriented sharks who took their ideas and turned them into products.

So what does that mean? The video is supposed to fool you into thinking "it's a great product" and you as consumer are in control. When in reality, it's just good marketing, and despite a shit product people are still going to buy it. That's for example exactly the case with the iPad. No one needs it. It serves absolutely no purpose, there is literally zero product design going into it (it's all just technical advancements that made XEROX's visions, like Mark Weiser's UbiComp scenario possible). And then with proper marketing people think they need it, and buy more Apple devices.

Blizzard has been doing the same thing. Just look at this Blizzcon in its entirety. There is ZERO development going on. It's video shorts for many franchises (Hearthstone, Overwatch, WoW) that they sold as new content and big stories on the opening stage. It's some quickly developed random add-ons that just follow a template of the previous ~30ish add-ons for their existing products (new heroes in HotS, new cards in HS, new hero in OW, new co-op commander in SC2). They even sell a simple "remake" as a new product for a fully fledged price (WC:R). There is absolutely no creative, innovative work visible to me; it's all just "use this template to add a new skin and sell another DLC".

That's just the industry these days. What's sad is that Blizzard is following it. They used to be different. But now they're like Steve Jobs... fooling you into buy mediocre, overpriced products that you don't need. Gutted.

Yeah, I updated the data for S15 a few days ago already - but I don't swap the Journey Tracker before the season has ended, since there's always some people who do it last minute. Now that season has ended, I've switched to the S15 view. As usual we won't know the boss names except for the ones you pointed out. Apparently the data is too difficult to access for Nevalistis, so we'll have to fill in the blanks ourselves. I definitely will miss the season start, just not sure by how much - maybe I'll be just 5 hours late, maybe a few weeks. Last season it took me 8 hours solo (after a power level) to finish Guardian, so maybe I can complete all the info by Saturday evening. We'll see. If anyone is faster post it here and I'll update the tracker.

Have fun everyone in S15!

Hm interesting idea, haven't considered that. Didn't make sense so far yet since it would just be "-" for 13 seasons and only one entry. Yeah, maybe I'll add it for the next season!

I think they're working on 3 things:

1) D2 Remastered (this was now basically 100% confirmed I believe in a combination of recent articles and job postings and so on). But if they learned any lesson from SC:R they should know this is not gonna be anything else but calming down the D2 nostalgians.

2) D3 new class and some new features (like that boss chamber that was promised at Blizzcon 2 years ago, some new items, maybe some new events to give us more interesting "themed seasons"). Basically, similar to the necro pack. Why? Because I think even if they work on an entirely new game, D3 is still too fresh to let it completely run out, especially with the recent presentation of themed seasons. I also don't think any new Diablo game would be ready for release right away (unless Blizzard now jumps into Steam-style official "early access" BS) and it'll also be a different genre (like Diablo Battle Royal or Diablo Racing or Diablo Theme Park or Diablo Go or whatever).

3) A new Diablo game, which is not Diablo 4 - neither by name nor by spirit. Worst case they'll just try to put it into an existing genre (like MMO or Battle Royal or so), maybe they revive an old genre (like Adventure or Sandbox - I'd love an RPG-heavy Diablo-esque version of Raft, or Terraria, or Rust, or stuff like that - wishful thinking), and best case they try to define a new genre (back to the roots of Blizzard).

The hype they caused with the video and the disappointment after previous years of toilet-sized Diablo stands would make a presentation of "only" #1+#2 turn this into a big meme of overhyping and underdelivering a franchise, so my hope is that they preview #3 and people get excited enough to waste their time until that is available by coming back to #1+#2.