To add to my previous point:

The only thing they lied about is the PvP. But that(alongside MP system and many others) was cut because game was released in an unfinished state. All the other things such as MP system or AH or brown overdose was what WE EXPECTED, not what THEY SAID would be in the game. Ergo-plain old hype.

I am quite sure that many people can find a way to enjoy D III after 1.05. The only ones that can't are teh hypeburn victims(and I don't pity them). After all, the best reagent to temper hope with is,  you know, common Sense/intellect.

Originally posted by ShakyMo
No greed is to blame. Greed of wanting a steady stream of rmah cash, then designing the game around it, even if it means sacrificing fun.

Bingo.

Really the only thing I don't like about Diablo 3 is the drop rate of loot.  I have a paragon level 100 monk with Inna's set, and even better Unique gear.  And I still don't get a Unique or set 10% of the time I run inferno diablo.  They've made it better, since Infero is alot easier.  I used to not be able to get out of act 2 before they lowered the difficulty.  Paragon Levels help as well.  My friends that I run with all have level 100 paragons, and we rarely wipe fighting inferno diablo now, unless we do something stupid.  There are really only 3 reasons I still play it.

1) RMAH - I don't care what anyone says, I love this.  I've paid for my family's WoW accounts, Rift Accounts, and Diablo 3 and upcoming Heart of the Swarm expansion for StarCraft.  I still have lots of money left over.

2) Alts - I have ever class level 60 and I'm working on getting them all thier gear with my monk, and leveling thier paragon levels.  I eventually want to have them all at 100 paragon :)

3) Friends - I like fighting diablo with my friends.  There's about 20 of us, and when 4 of us are on together, we always meet up and take it to him.  I know a few of them irl and we're good friends.

I didn't play D3 past the beta. Just wasn't really for me. However, like GW2, of the people I game with, there is at least one person still playing the game who played the game at release. This is an exception to the general rule where everyone is done with a game within a month or two of release.

Now, based on the response to games in general, this makes D3 (and GW2) exceptional, not disappointing.

D3 is a very polished dungeon crawler, these things are fun for a long time as a teenager but when you're an adult they're not very stimulating, therefor it will only offer about a week worth of enjoyment for most adults, and like other games they will then move on. D3's hype was built on so much nostalgia from those that are now adults. That's what the problem is. it's a game that you play for awhile and then probably never touch again because now that you are an adult you want something thats more intelligent.

Its good stuff when you're a teenager,  but people are just living in the past, you're not going to get very much from a game outside of your demo.

Originally posted by thinktank001

D2 and D3 are alike?  

 

That article lost all credibility in the first paragraph.   I won't disagree they have similar elements, but games are not about what is there and more about how everything is implemented and works together. 

Yeah.  That guy must have been hitting the crack pipe hard.  What did we expect?

Something that felt like a Diablo game, lived up to the pre-alpha footage, and had a mature story.  We got the opposite of that on all three accounts. 

Originally posted by kalrhael

D3 is a very polished dungeon crawler, these things are fun for a long time as a teenager but when you're an adult they're not very stimulating, therefor it will only offer about a week worth of enjoyment for most adults, and like other games they will then move on. D3's hype was built on so much nostalgia from those that are now adults. That's what the problem is. it's a game that you play for awhile and then probably never touch again because now that you are an adult you want something thats more intelligent.

Its good stuff when you're a teenager,  but people are just living in the past, you're not going to get very much from a game outside of your demo.

There is some truth to this, but while D2 was a grindy loot pinata, at least the loot we got was worth going after. That's really the main failure of D3. They wanted to push people to the RMAH and made item drops so pathetic that there was no incentive to continue playing. People don't mind the loot hunt and playing all day, we do mind grinding for gold all day so that we can buy our gear.

It robs us of the thrill of the item drop. Seeing those shinies fall on the ground and clicking them up. Instead we just kill mobs and hope to have enough gold to pay repair bills and buy a piece of gear here and there.

Originally posted by Rusque

Originally posted by kalrhael

D3 is a very polished dungeon crawler, these things are fun for a long time as a teenager but when you're an adult they're not very stimulating, therefor it will only offer about a week worth of enjoyment for most adults, and like other games they will then move on. D3's hype was built on so much nostalgia from those that are now adults. That's what the problem is. it's a game that you play for awhile and then probably never touch again because now that you are an adult you want something thats more intelligent.

Its good stuff when you're a teenager,  but people are just living in the past, you're not going to get very much from a game outside of your demo.

 

There is some truth to this, but while D2 was a grindy loot pinata, at least the loot we got was worth going after. That's really the main failure of D3. They wanted to push people to the RMAH and made item drops so pathetic that there was no incentive to continue playing. People don't mind the loot hunt and playing all day, we do mind grinding for gold all day so that we can buy our gear.

It robs us of the thrill of the item drop. Seeing those shinies fall on the ground and clicking them up. Instead we just kill mobs and hope to have enough gold to pay repair bills and buy a piece of gear here and there.

 People seem to be confused.  All the loot on the auction house dropped in the game. If item drops in the game were pathetic  items on the auction house would be too.  The loot drop rates are similar between D2 and D3. The difference is that gear affixes are highly variable and  "baked in" not modified by runes.

Originally posted by zymurgeist

Originally posted by Rusque

Originally posted by kalrhael

D3 is a very polished dungeon crawler, these things are fun for a long time as a teenager but when you're an adult they're not very stimulating, therefor it will only offer about a week worth of enjoyment for most adults, and like other games they will then move on. D3's hype was built on so much nostalgia from those that are now adults. That's what the problem is. it's a game that you play for awhile and then probably never touch again because now that you are an adult you want something thats more intelligent.

Its good stuff when you're a teenager,  but people are just living in the past, you're not going to get very much from a game outside of your demo.

 

There is some truth to this, but while D2 was a grindy loot pinata, at least the loot we got was worth going after. That's really the main failure of D3. They wanted to push people to the RMAH and made item drops so pathetic that there was no incentive to continue playing. People don't mind the loot hunt and playing all day, we do mind grinding for gold all day so that we can buy our gear.

It robs us of the thrill of the item drop. Seeing those shinies fall on the ground and clicking them up. Instead we just kill mobs and hope to have enough gold to pay repair bills and buy a piece of gear here and there.

 People seem to be confused.  All the loot on the auction house dropped in the game. If item drops in the game were pathetic  items on the auction house would be too.  The loot drop rates are similar between D2 and D3. The difference is that gear affixes are highly variable and  "baked in" not modified by runes.

No there's no confusion. I can boot up D2 at any time and start playing and see gear equal to or higher level than me drop constantly. In D3 (although I've heard that they've been improving it) dropped loot 5+ levels BELOW you and never equal to or higher than. There was something amiss when I would jump to the next difficulty and getting loot that I could have used 10 levels ago but is terrible now.

Originally posted by Rusque

Originally posted by zymurgeist

Originally posted by Rusque

Originally posted by kalrhael

D3 is a very polished dungeon crawler, these things are fun for a long time as a teenager but when you're an adult they're not very stimulating, therefor it will only offer about a week worth of enjoyment for most adults, and like other games they will then move on. D3's hype was built on so much nostalgia from those that are now adults. That's what the problem is. it's a game that you play for awhile and then probably never touch again because now that you are an adult you want something thats more intelligent.

Its good stuff when you're a teenager,  but people are just living in the past, you're not going to get very much from a game outside of your demo.

 

There is some truth to this, but while D2 was a grindy loot pinata, at least the loot we got was worth going after. That's really the main failure of D3. They wanted to push people to the RMAH and made item drops so pathetic that there was no incentive to continue playing. People don't mind the loot hunt and playing all day, we do mind grinding for gold all day so that we can buy our gear.

It robs us of the thrill of the item drop. Seeing those shinies fall on the ground and clicking them up. Instead we just kill mobs and hope to have enough gold to pay repair bills and buy a piece of gear here and there.

 People seem to be confused.  All the loot on the auction house dropped in the game. If item drops in the game were pathetic  items on the auction house would be too.  The loot drop rates are similar between D2 and D3. The difference is that gear affixes are highly variable and  "baked in" not modified by runes.

No there's no confusion. I can boot up D2 at any time and start playing and see gear equal to or higher level than me drop constantly. In D3 (although I've heard that they've been improving it) dropped loot 5+ levels BELOW you and never equal to or higher than. There was something amiss when I would jump to the next difficulty and getting loot that I could have used 10 levels ago but is terrible now.

 Loot below your level drops everywhere in D1, D2 and D3. If only loot below your level is dropping for you in D3 you're not playing in the right zones. 90% of all loot that drops in an ARPG is vendor trash. In inferno even the white and grey drops are mostly  level 60. I also use a lot of level 55 gear that is better than most level 60 gear. Depends on what stats you want. Level doesn't mean much affix combinations do.

I don't understand, why the review says that the game isn't succesful? Does he have the actual number of players in the servers, or he just judges by his own experience?

I made a short experiment the other day: i tried to join a public game in completely random stages, in different difficulties. Now, if few people would've been playing, that would've taken ages, because most of the public games are in specific stages (Siegebreaker in Act III, for example). Yet, every quest i chose, the game starts instantly, with people eager to kill stuff.

MAYBE it means that there's tons of people playing... i don't know, this hate-D3-thing is getting pretty old, i think the game is awesome and better than D2 in almost every single aspect. If you don't like it, don't play it. :S

Also, the guy claims that when D2 launched, it was polished and unbuggy... yeah...

The game was successful, and i bet their next expansion sells quite well, meaning....retention doesn quite matter as much with buy to play game, so long as they buy again.

D2 wasnt a very solid game untill the expansion, thats what made the game famous imo.  

also, a quote from the OP's linked article "Another key factor i think is the infatuation with nostalgic pontifications. We as gamers simply love to boast of our seniority in the gaming scene. We often push irrelevant, and inaccurate past experiences into the deciding factor of reviewing current industry titles. Usually just for the sake of sounding relevant, when we are not."

Sums up a big reason for the games generated hate. Very few, if anyone, had played D2 in the last 5 or so years.  A lots changed.  Back in 2000 gamers were willing to play and enjoy games for what they were, fast foward 13 years and gamers can only enjoy games that fit their complex and specific template, one piece missing and the games an utter failure, who cares right...you can just go play any of the other countless games out there.

Another reason is, well it become popular and cool to hate games and developers.  This is true with any game, hell i wouldnt know who Jay Wilson was if it wasnt for everyone taking personal pot shots at him on the forums and in other similair games.

Once people are dissapointed with the big title, they become permanantly angry and combative, and are willing to settle for a lesser game to prove their point.

This is true for all mmorpgs these days, its very unfortunate.  People stopped having the ability to play a game with a clean slate, every game must fit into pre-set mold perfectly, if the game doesnt, they are unable to enjoy it, but not only that take it personally.

D3 was an average gameplay experience at launch, imo, with the endgame loot grind being sub par given infernos insane difficulty level, lack of drops, and lack of systems to aid and enhance that grind.  The grind enhancements are in game, inferno is enjoyable with more difficulty/reward settings.  It does need some work, but having played all 3 ARPG titles competing with it, D3 is hands down the most enjoyable.

Oh and i really expected to be blown away by TL and more specifically POE having been out the ARPG scene for ages.  POE was a huge dissapointment, seems that game has become the disgruntled D3 fan revenge game, both gameplay and community are atrocious.  TL was fun but lacked the quality combat, and the look kinda botherd me.  TL's combat was lightyears ahead of POE however.

Love or hate blizzard (no im not nor have i been a wow player) they always stick with their games and put a lot of work into them.  Im sure D3's life is that of a child right now, i think it will be a hell of a lot better down the road, wich i cant say for the competitions games..i do know blizzard has the money from 10mil box sales to work with, not that they are short on cash or manpower.

I didn't play much of D2, but I know the legacy it left behind.  I think I entered D3 with a blank slate.  A LOT of my friends and co-workers bought the game (over 50) and almost all of them were disappointed.  But, a few of them are still playing to this day.

People are pretty disappointed with it but I really didn't have any expectations other then a hack and slash game.  To me, the game delivered on what it was promised.  I think the ability to mix and match was pretty cool.  I like how the gear synergized with different builds.

But yeah, it took a long time to get the gear - inferno was like smashing my head into a wall the first few days.

But, idk - I don't feel disappointed /shrug

The RMAH is the biggest dealbreaker for me, Blizzard went from combatting itemsales in D2 to providing a service for it. D3 also lacks important permanent choices and awesome items. How they managed to come up with such a boring statsystem for items in a itemcentric game where the RMAH is supposed to create alot of revenue is beyond me, pure incompetence is the only thing I can come up with.

There are alot of things I don't like about D3 but it's been said so many times already.