Diablo III

I played 10 hours or so when it came out but didn't finish it

i feel like a sucker i shouldn't be spending $30 on this kind of thing, that could go to a couple of Cold Ones with The Guys

I also hadn't played any since the first, thought this was much less atmospheric and regretted spending the money

Sometimes have the feeling I should revisit and get my money's worth. I think I paid the full $60

I tried to look up some reviews to see why ppl liked this, pro and con reviews were terribly written. Say what you will about music criticism but at least it's not quite as intellectually bankrupt

The main reason I like this game is because I normally play it while talking shit with friends; it's easy enough that you don't really need to concentrate on what you're doing but engaging enough that if you decide to actually play as opposed to stacking your primary stat and holding down the A button, you can do some ridiculous damage in a short amount of time.

i might not be giving it enough of a shot. Gonna try again without using a trackpad, lol

it's a completely different game than it was when originally released, can't really speak to the fresh from nothing experience. maybe some reviews of the game as-is are out there, but the release ones aren't for what you can play in 2017

playing the early part of the game is probably pretty easy, even on the harder difficulties

the actual game begins when you finish the plot and can either play in a group or solo in adventure mode. then it's either a fun grind similar to diablo 1/2 that gets insane if you want to do the highest difficulties and get the best gear, or kind of a fun scavenger hunt and challenge mode where you have to figure out what actually makes a character/build effective. not what gear to use, but what aspects of that gear you need to change (there's a ridiculous "re-roll" option where you enchant things and use resources to modify one aspect of an item) to make things work

I guess what I'm saying is, if your character isn't level 60, you're still playing the intro? if you have the expansion it's level 70.

I picked it up a couple months ago again when they added the necromancer and it's kind of ridiculous how powerful people get in the seasons

(seasonal characters are this thing where you start fresh, there are a bunch of bonus things you can do, and at the end of the 'season' you can roll the character, gear, and experience points back to your main account)

The post game is fun but you'd have to be much more enamored with the gameplay than I am to keep maxxing and outfitting different classes after the first [two maybe].

In a lot of ways Blizzard created a type of game 21 years ago and, being Blizzard, they have been refining and honing the experience since then, only to have their thunder stolen by the release last year of the fidget spinner.

Gonna try again without using a trackpad, lol

this is a new world version of diablo where it's much better with a gamepad

every day I wake up hoping that Blizzard has surprise-ported this game to the Switch

I think Overwatch would be more likely.

I’m enjoying this mess.

Blizzard going straight up Zynga was always the logical endpoint of their trajectory, glad they’re finally getting roasted for it.

i don't know, i haven't followed the trajectory of the company that closely but it doesn't seem like they deserve this much hatred for announcing the release of a mediocre mobile game. especially when diablo III ruled and they're working on multiple diablo-projects for the future, beyond this little mobile game.

https://kotaku.com/blizzard-says-it-wasnt-expecting-fans-to-be-this-angry-1830204721

i generally sympathize with people yelling at corporations about how they suck, but often videogame communities take things to a bizarre length that's pathetic, like they think they're citizens of a videogame country that owes them something

was pretty tone deaf of them to have it be the headlining announcement at blizzcon though, where people are expecting the announce of a new pc game

the whole f2p mobile game thing is tricky to navigate, on the one hand they do provide this different bite sized gaming experience that's nice for a lot of people, especially people outside the Core Gamer demographic, which makes pushback against these games look a bit like gatekeeping, but on the other hand they are often transparently cash grabby i.e. poorly made or IP reskins of existing games (i think this diablo one is basically a diablo reskin of a chinese mobile game that was already in development, not something made by blizzard in house) and have borderline predatory monetization schemes where the actual business strategy is to cast a wide net by being on this platform that everyone has access to and find the handful of people who will dump their entire disposable income into your game

oh yeah, i mean f2p games are generally garbage, and i agree they're predatory. that's a problem that goes way beyond blizzard, though.

the reactions that i find pathetic are the people that feel betrayed by blizzard and are talking about boycotting. i mean, i really didn't like the direction that Westworld went in after the first handful of episodes, but i just stopped watching. i didn't try to organize a boycott. that's just weird.

generally i think that for some people it's going to be a slow process of adjusting to

it’s going to be really something to see gamers entering their mid to late 30s realize that they’re aging out of industry demographics and that fortnite, pokémon go and mobile games etc are where things are headed

— merritt k (@merrittk) November 4, 2018

i dont think aging out is accurate, theres just different slices now. theres been a huge wave of big budget Dad Games starring sullen middle aged dudes this generation, who do you think those are for

for sure. as long as dad games make money they'll keep making them (and i will buy 2 to 3 each year, like the old 'i buy 12 CDs a year' marketing demographic).

i'm talking about the reaction of betrayal to games that are aimed more at the young whippersnappers

also mobile games aren't aimed at the younger generation, theres tons of older folks playing them on their commutes etc. i see middle aged ppl playing pokemon go at the train station like every week. a lot of the 'whales' are middle aged

I read that mobile games like this are big in Asia, so isn't this latest reaction partly a cultural one?

kinda. they're big in asia partly because more people there have public transit commutes rather than driving everywhere, partly just because there are more people there in general and theres less cultural pushback against these games as a 'lesser' form of gaming

wow, yeah i just looked at some mobile gamer surveys and the 65+ crowd is huge.

anyway the only thing i wanted to say in this thread is that a reasonable reaction to a disappointing game announcement is...disappointment. not entitled anger, certainly not righteous betrayal. doesn't seem like that should be that controversial but i have always been out of step with whatever the "gamer" community is

FWIW I agree with you in principle, Karl. I think the gaming community is childishly entitled and they fundamentally don’t understand what goes into making a game and they generally have bad ideas.

But, y’know... maybe I’m OK with it in this instance?

hahaha, i mean i was pretty disappointed with the details of the mobile game too, especially because when it was first announced (several hours earlier) i was excited to try it!

maybe a good compromise is that everyone is allowed one total freakout about a gaming franchise, per year

"Do you guys not have phones?"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqjVdPtB9lU

Accuracy gonna be an issue unless you don’t mind just mashing your finger on a bunch of enemies

Which sounds like something a 6 yo could do better than me

why are all the people who hate the game angry that they can't play it on PC?

It's worth pointing out that Diablo stans* are generally found complaining about the low level of new shit in a game that they bought five years ago, with no subscription fee. They are, by and large, a whiny bunch of bastards, the absolute picture of people demanding a barter economy where what they bring to the counter is a big jingling bag of their loyalty.

was pretty tone deaf of them to have it be the headlining announcement at blizzcon though, where people are expecting the announce of a new pc game

Eh, they posted last week saying basically "We have a lot of stuff to show but no Diablo 4". A problem is that people knew that what they had on the go was Diablo on Switch, and Diablo 4, and something else - obviously Blizzard would have loved to have had D4 available, but instead it's this sad trombone.

*and I say this as someone who just finished the Season 15 'Journey'

Diablo III also the only modern Blizzard game that they don't sell in-game items for.

What in game items were avail in SC2?

Commanders, which seem like they'd be of some actual games usage:

https://eu.shop.battle.net/en-us/product/commander-abathur

Also announcers - they missed a trick by not having TotalBiscuit as the default announcer, with people having to pay to turn him off.

Also whatever tf this is:

https://eu.shop.battle.net/en-us/product/starcraft-ii-war-chest

use, not usage.

why are all the people who hate the game angry that they can't play it on PC?

― Karl Malone, Sunday, November 4, 2018 5:09 PM (two hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

lol are people doing the 'terrible food, and such small portions' bit in earnest?

Yeah, check out the outrage in the video above! It’s crazy

maybe the real problem is that people let themselves get attached to / invested in specific brands at a time when there are zillions of good games being made in every little genre. i can't think of many styles of gameplay that a single developer has monopolized, blizzard least of all

Diablo III also the only modern Blizzard game that they don't sell in-game items for.

Why Diablo's Auction House Went Straight To Hell

Also: https://blog.hoard.exchange/diablo-iiis-failed-auction-house-why-true-ownership-won-t-save-your-game-c6d692b9de1

why are all the people who hate the game angry that they can't play it on PC?

When Diablo III first shipped, there were a lot of complaints that the control design (and by extension the skill trees, character customization, and how you level up) was dumbed down to accommodate console gamers who couldn't handle more than four buttons. I suspect the players who have spent serious cash on gaming PCs, maximizing frame rates, etc. just see gaming on a phone has being inherently inferior. See also: hardcore flight simulator or auto race players who make fun of anyone who don't have either a complete 737 or Porsche 917 in their gaming room.

I suspect that much of the backlash could have been sidestepped if Blizzard had just put up a slide that said "Diablo IV Coming Soon"

yeah thats how bethesda did it when they announced the elder scrolls mobile game this summer and i didnt see any complaints really, just 'dont care's

Those are good article, ET, but not really what I was getting at (also lol the 'items are hard to come by' seems 100 years ago now, you get a set mailed to you once you hit level cap and prove you can tie your shoelaces)

Weirdly I don't get the impression that the PC Master Race lot actually have a significant problem with the existing and massively successful console version of these games - but mobiles are a different matter because girls play on them for reasons we may never fully understand.

Gamers are the biggest bunch of whiney bitches it's really hilarious

Peak Reddit hysteria was seeing a video of someone throwing their phone out the window after watching the "Do you guys not have phones?" video.

So, Diablo III... I still play - look for the ILX clan on US West.

ums can we quote you on that

https://kotaku.com/sources-blizzard-pulled-diablo-4-announcement-from-bli-1830232246

Likewise, I still play Diablo 3. My life is a mess.

Blizzard has been antagonistic to the Diablo fanbase for the past decade. I’d never voice this stuff outside of ILX because I don’t want anyone to confuse me with these people, but the following stuff is super annoying:

* Many of the systems that made Diablo 1 and 2 incredible were simplified for 3 to open up space for a number of systems that were both terrible in their conception and implementation. When these new systems were removed, the husk that remained is hilariously basic compared to Diablo 2.
* Blizzard promised a lot of content that never arrived (e.g. two expansion packs). They also keep “dropping hints” about stuff that never materializes like a druid class (or Diablo 4).
* The content that did land, like the Necromancer update, was super basic compared to expansions from Diablo 1 and 2.