The Auction House III: Evil is Back

[Sirian]

Unfortunately, it doesn't take long to realize something: Diablo III's end-game isn't Inferno difficulty.

End game?

Your analysis is keen, but also jaded. I think you've lost something important, somewhere along the way.


Games are simple, by definition. They're purposely kept at a very simple level because complexity doesn't sell. The best games are able to weave together many layers of simplicity to craft a tapestry that, when viewed from a distance, creates a beautiful image.

In simplicity, there is brevity. The execution of game mechanics will always be brief. The closest thing to an exception to this is MMO raid loot mechanics, where time measured in days or even weeks must pass between cycles, but the cycle itself is still simple.

The greatest of games offer simple, repetitive tasks that remain fun over a longer duration. This is true in sport as well as video games. The clash between pitcher and batter, conducted many dozens of times per game of baseball. Hitting a tennis ball back and forth until somebody misses. There is richness and depth in a great game, but only for fans of the game.


End game is a myth. There is no end game. There is only the illusion of end game when brief gaming mechanics are artificially stretched out over weeks and months, for the same gameplay that would otherwise be completed in hours or days.

"End Game" = "Farming" = a hundred other descriptions for doing the same handful of tasks over and over and over and over and (with luck) still managing to enjoy it.

God help me for quoting Occhi, but fun is where you find it.


D3 is fun. As shipped, it is not as much fun (for me) as D1 was, but there might still be some hope. And if not, then I simply won't play it as long.

It would be in Blizzard's interests (and for their pride's sake, which matters more to devs than you might believe) to extend the fun of D3 for as many as they can for as long as they can. And they will try. But they have a lot of fans and there is going to be a ton of noise out there. Most of the feedback they get will steer them wrong -- and they know that, so they will try to pick and choose, and may be prone to tuning out criticism they'd benefit from, comforted instead by their sales figures. But still they will try.


"Progression" is anathema to enduring fun. If you don't already know this, you haven't thought about it. WoW can pull it off because of how hard it is to coordinate groups of 40, 25, or even 10 players, plus the slow cycle of raid loot and lockouts, plus a dev team constantly working on new content, which is 99% like the old content but with a tweak or two and some new artwork.

Progression does not apply to Diablo. Nor does it have any end game. If you play it like hardcore mmo raiding, you'll soon be done with it and moving back to WoW, as you said -- where you'll redo and redo the same raid mechanics over and over ad nauseum and be happy because this raid tier's content has new art to it and you are FORCED to take it slow?


If you find a set of game mechanics that make your soul sing, even when you engage them over and over for thousands of cycles, be happy. If that fun is in Diablo, fine. If not that's OK too.

Diablo 2 and 3 have, for me, lost something ESSENTIAL from Diablo 1 that made the combat itself almost endlessly entertaining. But even great games fade eventually. I got about four years out of Diablo 1, spread over a 9 year time period. That was among the best ever. (Only Master of Orion, Descent and World of Warcraft have done better for me -- and WoW has the advantage of continually developing new art and content for itself. ... Yes I eventually tried WoW after it was given to me as a gift, and I even met my wife there. But my thoughts about WoW belong in some other thread.) Diablo 2 was more like one year. Diablo 3 is too much like D2 to get that much, unless Blizz learns basic math (finally) and fixes what they've done wrong here. But I will discuss that topic in another thread.


If only "Progression" entertains you these days, then your analysis seems spot on and you'll be heading back to WoW any day now. But the so called end game you are returning to in WoW is as much of an artificial construct to keep you on the hook as your depiction of the Diablo AH, so I am wondering where that leaves you, old friend. I am glad I am not in your shoes in that regard. I don't give a rat's ass about Diablo "endgame". I only care about the combat -- which is the essence of the game, after all.


- Sirian