(05-20-2012, 07:48 AM)Elric of Grans Wrote: Something that one needs to keep in mind is that Blizzard has to keep with the times and stick with industry trends. `Normal' mode in games today is essentially a casual mode. It allows the widest possible audience to play the game, have a bit of fun and generate great big wads of cash for the companies involved. The next level up (Nightmare, in this case) is geared for the serious gamers, and higher difficulty levels are for the hardcore. You see this in most games today, and I am not in the least bit surprised that Blizzard did not buck the trend. They would have to be foolish, from a marketing and sales point of view, not to.
It's nonsense really. Little kids with crap coordination used to play games like Ghosts N Goblins, Castlevania, Mega Man, etc. Getting their butts kicked just gave them a reason to replay. It was ultimately casual as well because you could play half an hour and probably were killed by something and go could eat cookies or bug your sister or something. Not like anyone other than the hardcore actually expected to play through the entire game.
Edit: Of course there *should* be progressive difficulty. It is more a question of pacing and also the nature of that challenge.