Blizzard gain a flash of insight?

[LochnarITB]

I still go back and forth trying to figure out if it's the game, or if it's just that it's 12 years later and people (well, me) expect more from the genre in general. I mean, MMOs were a nascent genre (in before the MUD crowd goes "no they weren't!") in the Diablo/Diablo 2 days, and now they're incredibly common - gaming itself may have just moved on from these games.

I don't think it is so much that gaming has moved on but rather that they tried to add a few bits to move it into a genre that it is not. It is a dungeon crawl. IT IS NOT AN MMO. There should be no cries for, or attempts to provide, an "End Game". You should be able to progress through levels and equipment until you kill the main bad guy. YOU WIN!! The closest thing to end game should be making a variant or running another class, or even just doing gear runs to get better shinies just to show off. If Inferno existed at all, it should have been a natural progression in difficulty to challenge the best of the best, not a "make it impossible then double it then waaahhh you ruined our game". If they took off the level cap, those not as skilled could have built levels, along with more gear finds to finally wear their "I Won" button. The AH also should not exist. People say it just makes it easier for folks to trade but it does more than that. It trivializes much of the game, at least Normal to Hell. Feeling tested? Buy something off the AH. Don't worry about l2p, if you can play the AH game for items and gold you are good to go. They rush through the first three difficulties to finally smack up against Inferno, where everyone is looking for the best of the best gear, and the AH can no longer substitute for l2p (and don't cry to me about impossible - people have done it and what was once "impossible" turned into "oh, that wasn't so tough").

At the risk of sounding too "get off my lawn", the majority of gamers out there now have cut their teeth on console games that they run through to a conclusion and MMOs on their computers that they subscribe to and expect to continue to have more and more content to continue with their hard won levels. Blizzard had a beautifully crafted square peg. Either listening to marketing morons or public that didn't know better, Blizzard let themselves be convinced to fit that square peg into a round hole, ripping off all the interesting corners leaving the rough, less interesting round peg.



[edit] I actually wrote this last night, before Bolty added that video, but fell asleep without posting it. I just watched the video. I want my 6 minutes back.