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[Drizzlehell]

Would you rather have a game be a one and done affair, or would you prefer to have the developers continue to work on it post-release? If you want continued progress, would you prefer it being funded via a subscription model that everyone pays, or a microtransaction model that only some people pay?

They've been doing fine supporting Diablo 3 post-release for years at no extra cost. And I'd rather they release a bigger expansion every once in a while like they did with Reaper of Souls because at least then I know that I'm paying extra for actual product and not some nebulous promise of post-launch aftercare.

Honestly, this is such a good example of how skewed the perception got on these things has gotten. Back in the day you'd expect to get something tangible, like an actual expansion pack in a box, when you paid to expand your gaming experience, but nowadays people are just happy to throw money at nothing just for a vague promise that they will get something later. It really makes me feel like an insane person for having to explain this in the first place.

 

[93xfan]

I bought Street Fighter 6 (a game with tons of features and polish at launch), and Tears of the Kingdom, so I’m responsible for saving the industry.

May get Diablo 4 when it’s finished with expansions and much cheaper

 

[ahtlas7]

And here I am, debating whether or not I should upgrade my version to the super ultimate alpha edition just to play it a few days earlier. I regret nothing.

There’s a super ultimate alpha edition? …off to upgrade.

 

[HerjansEagleFeeder]

OP is preaching to the wrong folks here. The people who move the needle are the 99,99999% of consumers not present on this forum.

 

[Drizzlehell]

Diablo 4 isn't doing that. Only seasonal cosmetics are paywalled, not seasonal events.

Exactly my point.

Oh gee, how awesome. Now I can play seasonal events for the sense of pride and accomplishment, I guess.

 

[Belthazar]

Yeah... No. It's a great game and the Gaas/always online aspects actually make it better, unlike with Diablo 3 where it added nothing to the game.

I don't understand this trend with Gamers™ where Gaas/live service = bad. We should be more worried about games like Cyberpunk, which was purely single player and was released broken and at a basically unplayable state. Not to mention how bad it actually was as a game, even when diaconsidering the bugs.

So no, Diablo 4 is shaping up to be an excellent game from what I've played and I'm glad they went the Gaas route.

 

[JimmyRustler]

The problem is not people buying Diablo 4, the problem is people NOT buying single player only titles.

 

[ssringo]

I resisted for years but I'm not gonna fight an unwinnable fight or give up my lifelong hobby so...

 

[Dusktildawn48]

Jfc I just wanna play a good game. Can't wait until next week.

 

[dorkimoe]

The problem is not people buying Diablo 4, the problem is people NOT buying single player only titles.

Uhh... Hogwarts, Re4, Dead island 2 and Jedi survivor all sold very well. Redfall on the other hand...

Single player games are definitely alive and well.

 

[Mossybrew]

I don't "bemoan" gaas or monetization so I have zero problem with those aspects of the game.

 

[Dr. Wilkinson]

Good quality games that are well-made deserve to be successful. Don’t go out into the weeds and get caught up in the politics and the corporate greed. None of those people are the ones that made the game so you’re just punishing the wrong people.

C-suite executives aren’t going to feel the pinch in their pocketbooks. The people that do all the actual work are the ones that get pinched. That’s why normally I would say the whole concept of boycotting a video game is just silly plain and simple because it’s way too complicated to oversimplify and just say “let’s boycott this”.

Food for thought

 

[CoreyFlawless]

I mean, idk. I hadn’t play or even plan on it anytime soon. But if the game is fun and I enjoy it and they keep putting content out for it. I don’t mind buying some kinda cool skin every now and then. As for the battle pass thing I think I heard it have. Man, that a tough one. I have to really like the game to do that. I only buy like 1 battle pass for a game a once or twice a year and it be a game I like playing. When more games keep doing battle passes, there gonna be more choices of, which one do I wanna play.

 

[MagiusNecros]

Yeah... No. It's a great game and the Gaas/always online aspects actually make it better, unlike with Diablo 3 where it added nothing to the game.

I don't understand this trend with Gamers™ where Gaas/live service = bad. We should be more worried about games like Cyberpunk, which was purely single player and was released broken and at a basically unplayable state. Not to mention how bad it actually was as a game, even when diaconsidering the bugs.

So no, Diablo 4 is shaping up to be an excellent game from what I've played and I'm glad they went the Gaas route.

GaaS can be good but most company decisions make it bad. GaaS would be more acceptable if the always online had a larger component then just a cash shop.

I think D4 is probably gonna be a great game. I'm seeing a lot of similar things that were present back in Sacred 1 and Sacred 2 and that's a nice thing.

---------------

I buy games to play games that are fun. Diablo 4 looks fun. What company makes the game, what color kite they fly isn't important to me.

If the game is garbage it won't be bought.

I think if the thing people complain about most is the MTX then don't do any MTX. If everyone did that they probably wouldn't push it as hard. But since a lot of players DO purchase MTX in GaaS games I think this is primarily the gamers fault for allowing it to happen.

 

[JimmyRustler]

Uhh... Hogwarts, Re4, Dead island 2 and Jedi survivor all sold very well. Redfall on the other hand...

Single player games are definitely alive and well.

Well, I know. But GaaS games still sell better overall so my point remains.

 

[TylerD]

They have said nothing about any p2w micro transactions and it’s all cosmetics based stuff. If it remains like that and so far, there is no indication to think that it won’t remain that way based on what we have been told.

We are free to not give them any money through MTX and not buy an inevitable expansion when they come out if they change course on that.

Gaming for the most part has turned me off with the MTX, DLC, etc over the years. I have continued to follow the industry though. This seems like a “fine” middle ground for how egregious this stuff can get for such a huge AAA game from a massive publisher. The ship has sailed, genie is out of the bottle, etc because all that stuff is so effective.

Diablo 4 wasn’t on my radar until closed beta weekend then I consumed tons of content that weekend and played it open beta weekend and had an excellent time. Enough that I upgraded my ancient PC to run it better. I played it server slam weekend and had an excellent time. There is some serious quality apparent in the art including the included gear that looks great.

It’s not like PoE where you might look like a hobo wearing a thimble on your head and draped in a burlap sack without paying for cosmetics.

It’s going to be very easy for me to not buy any cosmetics and enjoy the game for potentially hundreds of hours with free updates every 3 months or so for $70. That is kind of an awesome entertainment value proposition when I can spend $100 easily on one concert.

 

[\m/etalStorm]

If the microtransactions are not intrusive and purely cosmetic, it's fine. Vote with your wallet and don't buy them. They promised no P2W and i hope they keep that.

 

[Xaero Gravity]

I'll buy you a copy OP

Edit: Nevermind I think I'll just upgrade to the Ultimate Edition instead

 

[Rush2112]

people thinking that cosmetic microtransactions are completely benign and don’t hurt the game. Keep the copium going.

 

[OmegaSupreme]

people thinking that cosmetic microtransactions are completely benign and don’t hurt the game. Keep the copium going.

How do they hurt the game? Educate us oh wise one.

 

[DeepEnigma]

"Ourselves" nothing. I don't participate in the normie nickel and dime loop.

They just played the long game, and said that they would have to take the initial bad press until us dinosaurs die off, and the youth are raised on their slot machine game designs with a pachinko phone in every one of their hands.

They were right, and it's paying off for them.

 

[HeisenbergFX4]

people thinking that cosmetic microtransactions are completely benign and don’t hurt the game. Keep the copium going.

How do they hurt the game? Educate us oh wise one.

 

[TerribleAtThisGame]

I face no morally quandary since this game looks dull as fuck and it catapulted itself off my wishlist after I got over my nostalgia for the Diablo name.

 

[Stuart360]

Well i mean Diablo 4 is going to be massive so this is all moot really but i have never bought any MTX. I have bought dlc expansions, but i have never bought any MTX, cosmetics, P2W mtx, loot boxes, boosters etc.

Of course many people do buy this crap, and buy it in big numbers. So who is really to blame here, the publishers or the idiots thta buy mtx?. Publishers will only add this crap if people are buying it, and they are bisinesses that want to make money, so for me the idiots that buy this crap are more to blame because if people didnt buy it, they wouldnt put it in games.

Also with the way publishers are, if mtx didnt exist we would probably already be on $80 games, AAA games at least.

 

[Alebrije]

If diablo 4 were launched on the PS2 era those cosmetics surely would be part of the game..." You want that sorcerer setup..you need to kill the Spider guardian in less than 2 minutes with just spears".

But well at least are not Pay to win accesories. But basically this remembers how videogames used to be vs actual reality.

 

[drotahorror]

PoE can be enjoyed casually just as much, and at no point did you have to fork out 70 clams for any of its 10 acts. Hardly a "demo". You guys are trying to make Diablo 4 sound like what PoE was doing back in the day but the difference is that PoE delivered some actual value as a free game, and the optional monetization was actually optional if you were a more hardcore player. Diablo 4 is just gonna try to milk everyone's tits from the get go.

Seems a bit naive to think that it's gonna be any different from Immortal, except with a paid entry fee.

A casual player won't complete every act in PoE. I mean yeah it's free to play but I doubt a casual could even beat the main campaign. If you make it to the end, you're going to spend money for premium stash tabs and other stash tabs because you'll want to actually trade/sell items. I only played one league of PoE, I spent around $60 or so because I felt like stash tabs were absolutely necessary. Without those tabs, I don't believe I would have had nearly as much fun or made nearly as much progress. I quit due to the game destroying my wrist. Probably saved me some money as well. Breach league was the shit and I do miss it.

 

[DemonGamerTTT]

Blame yourself.

I'm not bying shit products just because of hype. This type of retard behavior is what people's like me call "destroying gamming" and retards that buy into this shit call "making the game more accessible and fun".

I'm really glad that AI will empower indie developers into producing their own AAA games, retard/whales can keep fighting to see which one spends more money into manipulative cassino like games.

 

[ElCasual]

Or you can play with no buying any cosmetic or a campaign that not catch your interest.

 

[Antwix]

How do they hurt the game? Educate us oh wise one.

Obviously the same way cosmetic skins hurt CS:GO. That game is a total flop...
/s

 

[JPSLotus97T]

The whole Hogwarts Legacy boycott was the final straw for me and "State of the Industry" stuff, I straight up blocked and muted ANY site or outlet that didn't talk about one of the biggest games of the year and my god its like I've seen the light and games have been more fun without thinking about it, D4 looks great, the Betas were fun and I cannot control what some assholes in Blizzard may or may not have done, I just don't care about the Politics anymore

This is why I stopped reading all gaming media outlets. The gaming media is a joke.

I'm just here to play games. I don't have time for the bullshit.

 

[UniformDeliverance]

I honestly do not get this outrage. There's nothing that Diablo is doing that is out of the normal for a GAAS game. From everything I have seen it seems remarkably tame as far as microtransactions go, with a battle pass and cosmetic only storefront. This is exactly the same model we see in Fortnite and Destiny and damn near every other live service game on the market these days. It funds a robust offering of consistent post launch content to the game after release. Further I have seen no indication of a diminished experience for players at all if you don't buy the cosmetics.

There's no paying for power (which BTW was not the case for D3 at launch, so this is already an improvement)

I am planning on ignoring the cosmetic shop and only paying for the battle pass. If this hooks me like past Diablo games, I'll be pouring hundreds of hours into this and have no qualms about dropping $10 every three months for battle pass rewards. If you don't then.. just.. don't buy the battle pass. You can still play the game man, jeez, again I just don't get this drama.

 

[SCB3]

I honestly do not get this outrage. There's nothing that Diablo is doing that is out of the normal for a GAAS game. From everything I have seen it seems remarkably tame as far as microtransactions go, with a battle pass and cosmetic only storefront. This is exactly the same model we see in Fortnite and Destiny and damn near every other live service game on the market these days. It funds a robust offering of consistent post launch content to the game after release. Further I have seen no indication of a diminished experience for players at all if you don't buy the cosmetics.

There's no paying for power (which BTW was not the case for D3 at launch, so this is already an improvement)

I am planning on ignoring the cosmetic shop and only paying for the battle pass. If this hooks me like past Diablo games, I'll be pouring hundreds of hours into this and have no qualms about dropping $10 every three months for a battle pass rewards. If you do then.. just.. don't buy the battle pass. You can still play the game man, jeez, again I just don't get this drama.

Yea and tbh it does fit something like Diablo where there is incentive for more loot, the real game is the Endgame and its supposed to be infinitely repayable

 

[dorkimoe]

Well, I know. But GaaS games still sell better overall so my point remains.

If your point being you're wrong then yes it remains. GaaS do not sell better

2022

1. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II
2. Elden Ring
3. Madden NFL 23
4. God of War Ragnarok
5. Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga
6. Pokemon Scarlet/Violet*
7. FIFA 23
8. Pokemon Legends: Arceus*
9. Horizon Forbidden West
10. MLB The Show 22^

2021

1		Call of Duty: Vanguard
2		Call of Duty: Black Ops: Cold War
3		Madden NFL 22
4		Pokemon: Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl*
5		Battlefield 2042
6		Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales
7		Mario Kart 8*
8		Resident Evil: Village
9		MLB: The Show 21^
10		Super Mario 3D World*

 

[March Climber]

I don’t mind Gaas if it’s behind a good video game that is built around those features from the start. D4 works because it does both. The reason it never worked for something like Avengers is because you could feel the injection of Gaas into a decently fun single player/co-op game. It didn’t make sense and both the game and the Gaas features were fighting each other throughout each update.

How do they hurt the game? Educate us oh wise one.

He won’t. Rush2112 only posts once per thread and won’t come back to answer questions or responses. I would love for him to prove me wrong just this once and answer yours.

 

[Pop]

The game is real good

Blame me, idc

 

[AJUMP23]

You don't have to buy it. I think Blizzard of old is dead, and what made them great is gone. Diablo 4 will be aa good game, but it will not change things like warcraft did or starcraft or even Diablo 2 did. But it will make a ton of money. I don't buy cosmetics or any of that. But I don't care that other people do.

The things about blizzard that disappoint are how they treat their employees. And their unwillingness to say anything about China.

 

[Mattdaddy]

I pre-ordered the game.

I upgraded to Ultimate Edition for early access.

I like the battle passes. I will buy cosmetics.

I made a Kentucky Fried Chicken account. I will be buying Twitch subs when the drops happen.

If Mt Dew does a cross-over I will have a flat-bed trucks deliver kegs to my house.

I am public enemy #1. Hate me.

 

[Danjin44]

Or let people buy what they want to buy? There is still plenty of offline SP game coming out this year alone and if you dont like GaaS games then dont buy it like I won't.

You guys making things waaaay more complicated than it needs to be.

I am public enemy #1. Hate me.

 

[Arsic]

My take is:

“Oh wow, another Diablo , I’m finna cum!”

 

[Drizzlehell]

How do they hurt the game? Educate us oh wise one.

I refer you back to what I told you earlier.

You know, that argument that you only bothered to reply with with an unfunny gif because you're not really interested in an honest answer, only in dunking on people who don't share your opinion.

 

[German Hops]

I'm sorry, OP, but it's already too late.

That said, I'm going to enjoy this game, so what do I care?

 

[LazyParrot]

Why should I blame myself when I didn't even buy the damn game?

 

[OmegaSupreme]

I refer you back to what I told you earlier.

You know, that argument that you only bothered to reply with with an unfunny gif because you're not really interested in an honest answer, only in dunking on people who don't share your opinion.

I wasn't asking you this time. I wanted his opinion. Yours is lacking and silly.

 

[Dr_Ifto]

Why should I blame myself when I didn't even buy the damn game?

Yeah, why are we to blame?

 

[Drizzlehell]

I wasn't asking you this time. I wanted his opinion. Yours is lacking and silly.

Iron-clad argument, really. For a 3rd grader, that is.

 

[Fuz]

Boy some comments in here really make me

"DURR I have no problem if there's BP and MTX in my 70$ game!!!1!"

 

[OmegaSupreme]

Iron-clad argument, really. For a 3rd grader, that is.

Very well. I'll tear apart your argument in a few sentences then.

"Not to mention that the game's balancing will be inevitably skewed towards exploiting players, thus making us either grind for eternity or pay up."

"inevitably" You have literally zero evidence of this. Cosmetics are all that's for sale. Could this change? Maybe but you have no way of knowing that.

 

[MikeM]

My only concern is the promise of content that may not be delivered on. Halo is a good example of how that can be a slippery promise to make.

 

[Bumblebeetuna]

What is predatory about the monetization?

 

[OmegaSupreme]

Boy some comments in here really make me

"DURR I have no problem if there's BP and MTX in my 70$ game!!!1!"

I have no intention of spending a dime beyond the base price of the game. Others have said the same. What's your issue?