#again. discussing activision blizzard being shitty

[dawnblade]

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[gummybuddha]

Lord of Expectations

Blizzcon is only days away, and everyone is excited about what might potentially become an absolute shit show. Blizzard’s recent plague of controversy involving the banning of Hearthstone player  Chung ‘Blitzchung’ Ng Wai, their shitty appeal to the Blizzard community at large, and the embarrassment of having the US government sending a public letter telling Blizzard to kindly go unfuck themselves, was easily enough fuel to ensure that Blizzcon would have been a three-ring circus with Blizzard playing the role of the fucking clowns.

But before you think this was the end of the spectacle, it was just recently discovered that Blizzard will have no open Q&A’s on this years Blizzcon schedule, possibly suggesting we are seeing a Blizzard that is desperately trying to get the public to focus on “just the game.” Now I know what you are thinking. Kyle, why are you being so mean? Why can’t you just focus on the positive, like new WoW expansions or the possibility of Diablo games? Because I can’t help but think of Bobby Kotick getting a shit-eating grin at the idea that he or anyone else at the head of Activision Blizzard is just going to successfully hide from public scrutiny. Just…no…no…

But for the sake of the discussion, I would personally be overjoyed at the idea of a polished up version of Diablo II. Even if it was just touched up enough to run on modern systems, the game is such a classic, that it’s preservation needs no real justification at this point. It’s earned its place in gaming history. 

But when people ask me about another Diablo game, a Diablo IV if you will, then I can’t help but destroy their expectations. I can’t help but remind them that until Diablo Immortal drops, Diablo 3 is the worst Diablo game in the series.

I know that seems unrealistically unfair considering Reaper of Souls did so much to fix Diablo 3’s issues and make the game enjoyable. I would even admit that I have played many hours of Reaper of Souls and quickly paid for the Necromancer pack without hesitation, a rare moment of don’t give a fuck for me. 

But all of those things don’t hide the fact that at launch, Diablo 3 was an absolute cluster fuck. I have a hard time choosing what was the worst offender for me, the painfully dry story, the utterly neutered imagery, the horrible loot drops, or the fact there was no secret cow level… Ha, sorry, I’m obviously joking. It was the god damn Auction House. You knew it was gonna be the auction house. 

I mean just look at that down there. Someone had the fucking nerve to ask another human being for 135 dollars for shitty crafting materials. That’s more than the cost in USD for two fucking copies of Diablo 333333333333! 

I don’t think I have to say much more than that. The idea that players would have to pay money for items in a genre focused on item acquisition is ludicrous; even back in 2012. Players were obviously pissed about this aspect and as a result, Blizzard’s official forums were full of posts trying to understand why there was such a poor jump from Diablo 2 to 3.  What happened after would be fit for a soap opera. In a rare interview with Blizzard North co-founder David Brevik at Gamescon 2012, David was asked about his thoughts on the game and the community reaction. The interview, done by Diabloii.net, went show that Brevik was not really digging the itemization in Diablo 3 either, pointing out a few key elements that he found rather perplexing. But the drama to unfold was focused on one particular comment Brevik made on how he thought Diablo 3 would affect the overall Legacy of Blizzard North’s work.  

This comment quickly found it’s way back to the staff that made Diablo 3, which were shocked about the criticism and mad about the idea that Blizzard North had obviously been an original A-Team, not easily replaced. 

It was a rare glimpse into the culture of Blizzard employees at the time. It showed that there was a portion of Blizzard that felt no responsibility for turning their backs on fans and embracing the absurd corporate culture that the game industry was slowly being poisoned by.  But the moment was quickly stolen by Diablo 3 lead director Jay Wilson, who simply posted: “Fuck that loser.” A quip that was so outrageous, that it ran on several news sites.

That was years ago. Eventually, Jay ”Fuck that loser “ Wilson was pushed out of the lead role and was replaced by Joshua Mosqueira and Kevin Martens. Reaper of Souls managed to improve upon the game, getting rid of the real money auction house and making loot drops more valuable to the player picking up the items in question.

But even then, with all the improvements, Diablo 3 was still in no way the sequel I was expecting, and I expect Diablo IV to be an even larger departure.

I know that some people will defend Blizzard, saying they had a chance to learn from D3 and even the launch of World of Warcraft: Classic. But although classic WOW proves there is a demand for old school Blizzard games, I doubt it will have any impact on how Blizzard will ultimately approach another Diablo game.

And the recent controversy with China does not assure me that Blizzard is just not moments away from glazing its entire community with jizz over the very idea that players will be opening their wallets again. I don’t think Blizzard has the self-control at this point to make another Diablo game that is not absolutely full of bullshit mechanics designed to print Bobby Kotick another Telsa in his driveway. Want more evidence for that, look at Battle for Azeroth and all its time-gated content, the rep grinds, and systems designed to ensure that you are going to spend 15 dollars a month.  But Kyle your playing World of Warcraft.  Yes, I am. But that does not mean I can’t be critical of the game. I love large elements of Blizzard’s games, and so far the good has outweighed the bad. But there will be a day where I can’t justify the bullshit. There will be a day that no matter how much I love the worlds that Blizzard has made, I will have to push myself away from the computer and find something else to do. Hopefully, that day is a long time away. But it can be surprising how fast that day comes for certain things you like.