I know for some people that found their uber uniques in the wild and posted them to reddit, they might believe that the latest Diablo 4 patch a failure. In my case, I think that’s more like using Scotch tape instead of a proper band aid to triage a gaping wound. For all but the most abused/addicted, I don’t think this patch did much to drum up any newfound enthusiasm for the game. But I want to iterate my stance on the true issue: Blizzard is super cheap and stingy.
Outside of the super hardcores, I think Diablo 4 for most people is just dead. My friend and I have been playing but I don’t really consider us super hardcores. In my case, I’m still enjoying what I can and want to see if I can achieve some things on my latest characters. And my friend is playing because he missed out on season 2 (although I tried boosting him). Outside of the two of us, no one I know is playing at the moment. I’ve given up trying to get my other friends to play. And all the remaining streamers are boring as hell and have turned back to Path of Exile or getting deeper into Last Epoch (which kinda looks good).
Not only that but there’s been so many misplays on Blizzard’s behalf recently. The latest is the cost of transmogs being almost that of the game itself. Obviously, transmogs isn’t for anyone and it isn’t mandatory to enjoy the game nor do they make any difference whatsoever. But the longtail goal in Blizzard’s eyes for having funds to continue maintaining the game is basically the microtransaction model. But players are getting priced out of the market and the season passes themselves aren’t special at the paying level because all the useful stuff can be gained free.
And while the bugs for the Lunar Awakening ended up being fixed, the event itself was a massive failure and disappointment for people hungering for content. Where S2’s special Christmas event was a big grind, this event barely lasted an hour or two. Also, the advertised transmogs ended up being purchase only. This wasn’t even overpromise and underdeliver. This is more like putting a drop of snot in a bowl in an alley to feed hundreds of starving kittens.
Blizzard is cheap and stingy.
What really sucks for Blizzard is that at this stage they’re simply living off their legacy of previous branding as well as their cinematic group. As far as game development goes, it’s a sheer travesty. It gets worse once you read the battle between the brainwashed fanbois and people trying to talk any sense into Blizzard. Some of the deep end people sound like they need real mental treatment and should be locked away in an institution before something goes wrong in their lives.
But one thing that I found disturbing was how the current game director described their approach to game development as sugar. The way it read made it seem more like an abusive relationship that borderlines on entrapment. Obviously, the “Warcrack” meme had been done but I do believe that this philosophy internally is hailed as their core business model. It’s quite scary to think that a company has this level of sickness in terms of how they view their player base/customers.
And while for the most part I’ve found the current season reasonable in terms of my overall enjoyment of things, one thing that I ended up coming to the conclusion of is that the people who work at Blizzard must be really annoying people with a great deal of mental issues. I mean take the Vaults as an example. I get that originally the design was meant to challenge players in avoiding this and that while dealing with high density, traps and other mechanics possibly reminiscent of the lab from Path of Exile. Outside of idea plagiarism, the basis of the vault was mostly to slow the player down in doing content. But it’s kinda stupid when the game play has always been trying to push the player in going faster. Also, in the Vault you can get both the Butcher and Malphas mini bosses. Neither boss really give anything worth shit but are there to clearly annoy the fuck out of the player. Like seeing the Butcher at level 20, you know you’re just going to die. If you’re hardcore (or dumbcore as I call it), you might as well start planning a new character because that person isn’t going to survive.
Now, when the Butcher was first introduced in the beta test, I thought it was just some joke by a sadistic developer. Then they permanently left him in. Why? It’s just some jump scare type of boss that really has no purpose outside of wasting your time. And from what I’ve read each season, they keep buffing him. Again, why? And more importantly, who the hell approved this design and allowed it to stay inside the game? It just seems like a bunch of fucked up assholes writing this shit to piss off Blizzard fans because Blizzard sucks to work at these days. That’s how I interpret the way this game is “designed.”
But my real point in all of this is that I just see failure after failure in this dying franchise. With Last Epoch coming around to a lot of hype, the Diablo days might be over. It sounds like Diablo 2: Resurrection won’t get any more updates while Diablo 3 is clearly on maintenance mode. That just leaves Diablo 4 as Blizzard’s only hope to even be considered a company that does ARPGs. They’re not even in the top bracket when it comes to the upper echelon of ARPGs anymore. But these missteps are beyond frustrating to watch where Blizzard almost seems paralyzed into lack of action. I don’t see any logical justifications for the way they’re handling things either. And I don’t even know if people internally are talking to each other to try to figure this shit out. It’s like a bunch of outlaw indy mudshows wrestlers trying to do their spots and have a coherent match. And anyone who is into pro-wrestling will immediately realize that’s a contradictory statemetn.