Related tweetstorm on this, which I agree on: https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1058917187061252096.html
Blizzard Says It Wasn't Expecting Fans to Be This Angry About Diablo Immortal
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Re: Blizzard Says It Wasn't Expecting Fans to Be This Angry About Diablo Immortal
#42Diablo 2 was epic. Diablo 3 is just a shadow of its former self. Even the graphics are arguably worse, which is quite the feat.
I can’t be outraged of course. I gave up on Diablo a long time ago.
The article briefly mentioned there was some outrage when they announced the console version too. Well, that’s quite understandable, because the game is really shallow, Zynga-style.
Diablo was never a RPG with depth of course, the gameplay being basically a mindless point and click, but there was a lot of fun in character development, and there are entire websites devoted to guides for developing your character in Diablo 2 and all of that is gone in Diablo 3. Blizzard somehow managed to completely miss the point of what made Diablo 2 awesome.
If they announced a remastered Diablo 2, I’d stay in line for it. Otherwise I don’t see the point of a new Diablo, as I know it will suck.
And yes, for diehard fans, I completely understand the outrage.
Re: Blizzard Says It Wasn't Expecting Fans to Be This Angry About Diablo Immortal
#43Fans aren't angry about the diablo mobile game. They're angry because they were expecting a Diablo4 announcement and blizzard announced a diablo mobile game.. this is very different. IMHO the problem was in the way it was communicated, not with the game itself. It would have been very different if blizzard said: A) We've hired amazing people and we're working super hard on the next big Diablo title on PC, and here's…
The mobile game is just a reskin of an existing Netease (Chinese) game. Mobile games are also full of microtransactions which players already protestested in Diablo 3 with the real money auction house. Players actually are angry about a Diablo mobile game.
Re: Blizzard Says It Wasn't Expecting Fans to Be This Angry About Diablo Immortal
#44The game journalists defending Blizzard seem to be missing the issue here. The issue isn't the mobile game. The issue is where it was announced and to which audience. Let me paint a picture. You buy tickets to see Rage Again the Machine perform, and RATM come out, and instead of performing their set, the do a mime act and that's it. They are done. You'd be pissed. Now, let's realize for a second, they performed for y…
No idea why you are downvoted, you are spot on.
Re: Blizzard Says It Wasn't Expecting Fans to Be This Angry About Diablo Immortal
#45And Kotaku once again spins the wheel against the players >The explosion of outrage has many on social media discussing the extent to which video game culture enables entitlement. It’s not surprising, after all, that there’s been some pushback on the idea of a mobile Diablo game. What’s shocking here is the sheer amount of molten vitriol that’s pouring in over what seems to be a pretty cut-and-dry situation: A proper…
> And people wonder how the hell do they get away with p2w and gambling mechanics in games. Because that business model is profitable, and entertainment is a business like any other. If you don't like it, you are free not to play it. Besides some potential for gambling addiction (about which state lotteries are a far more important target for your ire if that is your concern), mobile games produce no externalities wh…
Besides some potential for gambling addiction (about which state lotteries are a far more important target for your ire if that is your concern), mobile games produce no externalities whatsoever.
I don't think it's fair to claim that. Lotteries have been around a lot longer and gambling addiction has had a lot more time to be studied. It wouldn't surprise me in the least if mobile games turn out to be as bad or worse than lotteries. The sheer amount of effort into creating addictive game mechanics and leveraging of statistical methods, such as A/B testing, puts traditional casinos and state lotteries to shame.
Having said all that, you don't have to look very far to see some alarming articles about the effects these products have on young children [1].
[1] https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/26/style/phones-children-sil...
Re: Blizzard Says It Wasn't Expecting Fans to Be This Angry About Diablo Immortal
#46Earlier quoted context omitted.
The blizzard developer quoted in the article stated emphatically that wasn't true, and that similarities owed to adopting successful GUI idioms in other markets; does the gaming community have information to update the story?
"Successful GUI idioms," is that a euphemism for dark patterns to make people spend more money? Anyway, even if they built it from scratch it isn't enough to refute the spirit of it being just a reskin of some other crappy cellphone game. Many, though certainly not all PC gamers are serious about not having their platform choices manipulated by exclusivity deals. It is interpreted as bullying, and we have had plenty…
Wow, you are harsh. They replicated the control scheme from another game because it was a good control scheme. Sort of like how most PC games all use Q,W,E,S for movement.
You don't know what the monetization scheme will be but you are sure it will use dark patterns to drain peoples wallets.
You apparently didn't read the article to see what the similar GUI patterns they replicated were but you are certain it's just another pay to win game.
Your bias is showing.
Re: Blizzard Says It Wasn't Expecting Fans to Be This Angry About Diablo Immortal
#47I understand wanting something and then being disappointed when you didn't get it. But the anger and lashing out is pathetic.
If you really want something, build it yourself. If you can't do it on your own, open source it and build a community. If you can't do that then your just begging to be disappointed. Relying on complete strangers to continually entertain you in exactly the way you want to be entertained, otherwise you'll lash out - it's sick and dystopian.
Re: Blizzard Says It Wasn't Expecting Fans to Be This Angry About Diablo Immortal
#48The Diablo Immortal announcement was essentially the keynote of an already underwhelming Blizzcon this year. The game itself is just a re-skinning of an existing Chinese market ARPG with Blizzard's IP - Blizzard a company that has been known for axing titles for not meeting its quality standards. The game will be developed by Netease with one Chinese fan quoting "If EA is like a 2 out of 10, Netease is -2859". Of cou…
6 years since D2? Did you mean D3, or was there a re-make?
Re: Blizzard Says It Wasn't Expecting Fans to Be This Angry About Diablo Immortal
#49Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is all fine, but I help demystify the problem here. They marketed the new game to a completely detached audience as the highlight of the event. And when real questions came in, like "maybe a PC version comes later?" The reaction is: "You guys not have phones?" [1] I can see people snapping to rage mode. And then the gaming 'media' calls theys guys out as assholes, which really shows how strings are really pulled…
So the complaint is just that Blizzard should have framed their announcement differently? The project is fine, but just don't present it at Blizzcon? That seems so feeble to me, and the sort of criticism you get when fans can't reconcile their displeasure with the understanding that Blizzard is rational to pursue the mobile gaming market this way. As for "You guys not have phones?", that was obviously a bad look, but…
>The project is fine, but just don't present it at Blizzcon?
Precisely this. It's not that feeble because you must remember what Blizzcon is. Know your audience. Blizzcon audience has paid $199 to get in. They are quite hard core PC gamers. If your main show for them is something they are not interested of course they are gonna be unhappy.
If Blizzard wants to change Blizzcon they should tell the audience that "Blizzcon 2018 is focused on mobile" before they buy the tickets.
Don't suddenly change the theme and expect a good reaction
Re: Blizzard Says It Wasn't Expecting Fans to Be This Angry About Diablo Immortal
#50Blizzard kept re-uploading the Diablo Immortal trailer multiple time to prevent massive dislikes on youtube. The video from the battle.net app is at its third version now.
They should know better, you can't get away with these kind of shady practices, especially with a fan group that pay attention at what you do.