I got Diablo IV last week and played a lot over the weekend. After 40+ hours (thank you, four day weekend), I realized I wasn’t enjoying myself, and was just trying desperately to justify the money spent.
I intentionality avoided news about it, hoping to enjoy finding things out for myself. I now very much regret my willful ignorance. I definitely would’ve passed on the game if I’d known beforehand that it was effectively an MMO. Forced multiplayer, an open world with too many activities, content balanced for groups of players, endless side quests, and cookie-cutter dungeons. But hey, it has horses! And dodging!
My disappointment is immeasurable and my week is ruined.
On the bright side, it reminded me how much I love Diablo 3. I’ve been playing that the last couple days to get the bad taste out of my mouth.
I think I disagree entirely with you on this one OP, diablo 4 was a blast for me, and really only the world bosses are balanced for group play. I’ve gone all the way to level 60 solo and haven’t had many issues at all. I love the world design, and I love each dungeon having its own little story and appearance. But we’re all entitled to our own opinion, and it just might not be a good fit for you.
The game isn’t insurmountable without a group; it’s just too slow (for me). Maybe I’m an impatient power gamer at heart, but I don’t want to spend 10 minutes whittling away at a boss’s health and dodging one-shot attacks. In an MMO, I’d feel like a badass for doing that. In Diablo, I just get bored.
I think I wanted another Diablo 3, which I really shouldn’t have expected. Diablo 4 is a good game (except the always-online component - that sucks). It just isn’t for me.
You might just need to take another look at your build, or try another class. Most of the bosses I fought (with very few exceptions) were dead rather fast. And clearing a pod of enemies is like two clicks and they’re dead. I usually don’t even stop running.
I have recently gotten into “Last Epoch” on steam and loving it.
Ooh, I’ve heard good things about that, though I’ve also recently heard rumors that it’s been abandoned or is going a bad direction, with a cash shop open in early access. Still, I’m always happy to try new ARPGs.
Grim Dawn is a good one on Steam if you like multi-classing. It has a small, but active modding community. I believe there’s a Diablo 2 total conversion mod for it.
Yes there is a cash shop now that I do disagree with to be frank but I don’t see it being abandoned. I was between last epoch and grim but wanted the option to see where last epoch went in full release//maybe convince some friends to try it out with me
D4 is certainly not an mmo, even if that’s how the devs describe it. I’ve played almost entirely solo, except in the timed events. The ‘always online’ element is always frustrating though.
Too many activities is a weird complaint. It’s about the same as running bounties in D3 to me which i enjoyed there too. Imo the overland stuff is the most enjoyable.
The dungeons are ass. I can’t disagree there. I dread having to run them for aspects and sigils.
YMMV but i hated D3 and loved D2. D4 is working for me right now and I’m having fun, but it’s not everything i wanted it to be. I’m hopeful they’ll tighten it up.
Oh, I certainly wouldn’t call it an MMO, either; 99% of my experience in the game was devoid of other players. But I do think it’s effectively an MMO, in that is forces multiplayer and combat seems to be balanced around group play.
I used to play MMOs quite a lot. Had hundreds (thousands?) of hours in WoW, and about the same in EverQuest. But in those games, multiplayer is part of the fun; seeing another player, especially as a healer, meant I could help someone else and potentially make a new friend. In D4, seeing another player just means more lag.
I’d probably enjoy the game a lot more if it didn’t have the context of being the sequel to my favorite game in the genre. But I bet a lot of Diablo 2 players said the same about Diablo 3.
That seems to be the biggest factor in one’s Diablo 4 experience - whether you were a bigger fan of Diablo 2 or 3. Diablo 2 fans are prone to love it, 'cause it’s a return to its roots. Diablo 3 fans are prone to hate it, 'cause it stripped out all the best changes from 2 to 3 (IMO).
One thing I’ll freely admit: playing a Druid, though slow and tedious, felt great for a while; I was an earthbender!
That last little line just motivated me to make a “toph” character
As a Diablo 2 fan (and even Diablo 3 to some extent), I hated Diablo 4. The list of complaints I’ve got is too long but lemme know if you’re interested. The long story short is that it’s unbalanced, too grindy, and lacks soul. It’s an “okay” ARPG with some good elements, but it’s not a great “Diablo” game in general (besides the story).
I bought it without properly waiting like I usually do, and I really hate that it’s an MMO. I don’t like events and all the stuff that comes with that. But I have found I still like grinding away on my own. I even have tried to join several clans but I either get an error telling me too many applications are outstanding or I just never hear anything. All I’m all, I’m ok with it, just wish it had an offline mode.
