Diablo 4 - The Rise And Fall

[HiddenX]

The Comeback Kids take a look at the current state of the Diablo franchise:

Gaming's Biggest Tragedy: The Rise And Fall Of Diablo 4

Thanks Couchpotato!



More information.

 

[ChaosTheory]

It's funny how everyone was talking about how amazing this game was the first few days after release, then a month later *crickets*. Despite the nosedive, make no mistake, Blizzard still got filthy rich off this title. It's Diablo 5 they need to worry about now.

 

[Greygore]

I'm sure they'll address the end game in patches and in the various DLC/Expansions that will no doubt be released.

I still enjoy it, but I only get to play a few hours a week at most typically... And only then because my wife or kids have kidnapped my PC to play Baldur's Gate 3

 

[Drithius]

It's funny how everyone was talking about how amazing this game was the first few days after release, then a month later *crickets*.

The campaign is fairly well done for an arpg, with an ok implementation of overland exploration. Skip ahead 40 hours and you're left with the husk of poor longterm game design.

There were people on this very site who were mystified by anything less than a 10/10. Different tastes and, more importantly, different rates of progress. The takeaway point? Be leery of any review but your own.

 

[largh]

I enjoyed the atmosphere during the first hour or so when I tried it during the demo weekend, but can believe that the game gets boring over time. Perhaps during a dry year, I could have bought it. After sinking 50 hours to BG3, I have no interest in Diablo 4 any longer. These games are just from different leagues. Then there is Starfield, CP2077, and JA3 still to play. We are getting spoiled this year

 

[SSIGuy]

The campaign is fairly well done for an arpg, with an ok implementation of overland exploration. Skip ahead 40 hours and you're left with the husk of poor longterm game design.

I'm a player who only really wants a decent campaign that isn't too long, so I'll play it someday but have no expectations of pouring more hours into it beyond that. Though I appreciate I'm not their core target anymore, and it's more about appealing to the endgame audience.

 

[danutz_plusplus]

Yeah, I enjoyed the campaign and will probably return for the story expansions, if they're meaningful. But it does worry me when they said there will be yearly expansions. That does not sounds like enough time to make something meaningful. But we'll see.

It is very surprising how even the diehard streamers are dropping like flies, and Blizzard really is in scramble-mode.
While I liked the campaign quite a bit, the itemization in D4 is very poor and uninspiring. The skill system and build also also uninspiring. I loved playing the rogue, but could only find 1 build I enjoyed.
And as I unlocked the skills on that tree, I constantly had the issue that I couldn't pick anything I liked. A lot of options were just nothing I wanted to try. Compare this with Cyberpunk 2077, where on first glace I could pick out various builds I wanted to try out. Almost nothing like that in D4 for me.

I'm more for a casual loot game player, at least ever since I realized I just don't have the time to spend that much time on a single loot hunting game. And even like that, Path of Exile 2 presented a lot more exciting systems and changes.
I think the issue with Blizzard is that while they have the technical ability and artistry to produce something great, they just don't have it in them to experiment and try new things. And unfortunately last time they tried new things, we got Diablo 3. Meh.
When they started D4 they were probably even more conservative and tried to reproduce the same lighting in a bottle that D2 was. But it never came to be. And right now they're probably in a panic not knowing what to do. They probably have no idea as to why people are not playing it, since most players cannot really pinpoint the issues. Or if some can, they're probably drowned out by all the other opinions.

The issue is they don't have a vision for what a Diablo game should be. None of the original creators are there anymore and now they're just scrambling to mimick what the old games had, with no clear idea of what that is.
That's my outside impression anyway.

 

[Couchpotato]

Remember it's not old Blizzard. Once they went MMO and were bought by Activision it was all downhill. If I remember correctly Blizzard North made the first two.

 

[danutz_plusplus]

Remember it's not old Blizzard. Once they went MMO and were bought by Activision it was all downhill. If I remember correctly Blizzard North made the first two.

Yeah, Blizzard isn't doing a Diablo game because somebody there has a vision for such a game, and wants to lead a team to innovate and come up with something thoughtful, that builds on the same legacy but also has its own vision and identity.
It's more-so that the directive came from atop that they need a new Diablo game, it needs to be live-service with monetizations galore, and they had the team from D3 to put to work.

And then, given this, some people have tried to do the best they can and implement various systems to solve various issues. But the main issue is the whole foundation is a bit shaky, a mish-mash of various things. Again, it doesn't seem to have a strong vision. But then again, modern Blizzard was never any good at innovating. They've always been good at taking another studio's idea and polishing the shit out of that and making incremental improvements to that.

My main issue is the itemization is very obviously template-based. They make very little effort to hide the templates. You can actually see the pattern items get generated in. And then you're spending minutes comparing generic items with the same template of attributes, for minimal improvements. A lot less items should be dropped with a lot less formulaic stats and affixes on them. Plus the affixes are really weird. So many conditionals until the affix procs.

I'm sure I couldn't design a better item system, but obviously the people behind D2 did. And the people behind Path of Exile 1/2 did. Maybe it would be worth Blizzard stealing all their designers with huge salaries?

 

[Hagen]

Despite the nosedive, make no mistake, Blizzard still got filthy rich off this title. It's Diablo 5 they need to worry about now.

Indeed, I gave them $70 for a very disappointing game.
Next time, Blizzard will have to wait for reviews to be positive for me to buy a game from them. When I speak of reviews, I speak of course of (actual) user reviews, not the ones done by more or less corrupted professional reviewers.

 

[arthureloi]

Can anybody walk me through on why there's so much hate towards Diablo IV? Not being sarcastic here, I'm genuinely curious.

I have been playing Action RPGs since Diablo I, played nearly all of them, and I find Diablo IV incredible, the epitome of the genre, along with Grim Dawn.

 

[JFarrell71]

I liked it. But I never viewed it as a game I was going to play forever. I don't view any games that way.

 

[JDR13]

It seems premature to call it a "fall". It's only natural that a lot of people left to play other games when you consider all the quality releases the last couple of months. A lot of those people will return to it eventually.

The opening minutes of the video are hilariously hyperbolic. The biggest disappointment in gaming history? This guy couldn't be more full of shit if he tried.

 

[They Live]

It's funny how everyone was talking about how amazing this game was the first few days after release, then a month later *crickets*. Despite the nosedive, make no mistake, Blizzard still got filthy rich off this title. It's Diablo 5 they need to worry about now.

they got rich, as you say because people just buy every piece of....scrap they dump. I'm quite a fan of the genre and i was a fan of the franchise - well, until diablo 3 - but signals where there : mmo elements (timed dungeons), lack of freedom in building those things were well known even before release so i just avoid buying.
Other 99% of guys in my situation just threw money at screen.
Blizz does only care for money.

 

[largh]

Can anybody walk me through on why there's so much hate towards Diablo IV? Not being sarcastic here, I'm genuinely curious.

Perhaps hate is too strong word to use here, but let's use "haters" in the American way, i.e. a person who dislikes something. It seems like most haters on this site have not played the game and just hate it because its online requirement and because it is made by Blizzard. Uncertain whether we can generalize to entire internet, but I bet many haters just want to hate it because Blizzard is an evil epitome of capitalism. Then there are the others that have opinions how ARPGs should be made and apparently D4 did not fulfil their expectations.

That's my outsider impression as I rarely play these types of games.

 

[Couchpotato]

You nailed it I'll take a bit of every reason for $1,000. Basically I hate modern Blizzard.

Doesn't matter though as fools and their money are easily parted.

On June 6, 2023, Blizzard Entertainment announced that Diablo IV became the fastest-selling game in Blizzard Entertainment’s history. The game generated over $666 million in revenue in its first five days after launch and was reported to have sold 12 million units by August 2023.

Also when you think about that revenue quote - $666 million is great, but also equates to ~9.5 million copies. That means it sold nearly 10 million copies in a week - and 2 million additional copies in the next THREE MONTHS.

 

[largh]

666 is a fitting number for Diablo

 

[korynael]

The game is still good and I dont think its dead... The solution is CONTENT... Season 2 has to be twice the content size as season 1... In other worlds, just combine 2 seasons... We know season 2 is about vampires, and whatever season 3 is going to be, well, they need to simply include that content in season 2. I think that should be enough to entertain for the 3 month duration of a season... Also, the QOL improvements; like better management of items (gems, aspects, etc.) and more item drops in general (like more uniques, or a system to allow us to add aspects to uniques). Diablo 4 is beautiful and has so much potential... Do not count it out yet, as their are still ways to make it the best Diabo yet...

 

[TheSHEEEP]

It seems premature to call it a "fall". It's only natural that a lot of people left to play other games when you consider all the quality releases the last couple of months. A lot of those people will return to it eventually.

The opening minutes of the video are hilariously hyperbolic. The biggest disappointment in gaming history? This guy couldn't be more full of shit if he tried.

The game lost 99.3% of players in a few months. That might quite possibly be the biggest drop in the fastest time that any game that wasn't just downright taken offline has ever taken.
70-80% for an online game (which D4 undoubtedly is, even if most prefer to play solo, another failure in Blizzard's assessment) in the same time would already be considered a lot.

So if those numbers are what is your expectation metric (an odd metric, IMO, but it is one), it might very well be the biggest disappointment in gaming history.

Either way, I'd also expect a lot of people to return for expansions - IF THEY ARE GOOD.

 

[arthureloi]

Perhaps hate is too strong word to use here, but let's use "haters" in the American way, i.e. a person who dislikes something. It seems like most haters on this site have not played the game and just hate it because its online requirement and because it is made by Blizzard. Uncertain whether we can generalize to entire internet, but I bet many haters just want to hate it because Blizzard is an evil epitome of capitalism. Then there are the others that have opinions how ARPGs should be made and apparently D4 did not fulfil their expectations.

That's my outsider impression as I rarely play these types of games.

I have the exact same impression. Seems like something against Blizzard itself and the fact that the game is always online.

It bothers me a great deal that it forces me to be always online when playing but that's about it, the rest of the game is simply brilliant. I cannot see what the criticism is all about, nor do I care about the % of players currently playing it.