Since the release of Diablo 4, the community has criticized numerous aspects of the action RPG. Now, players complain that Diablo 4 is worse than it could be because the developers are trying to please everyone.
Since Diablo 4 hit the market, feedback from players has been coming in regularly, both positive and negative. In almost every Campfire livestream, the developers say they are happy to receive feedback and will continue to consider it moving forward.
For example, the spawn times of world bosses have been increased, the speed of mounts has been adjusted, and hard endgame content has been eased. However, on Reddit, players note: Diablo 4 is constantly trying to cater to everyone and is losing focus on what the game should be.
The community is also discussing the gauntlet. One side celebrates it, the other side says: “Complete garbage.” Here you can see a video about the gauntlets that are part of the leaderboards in Diablo 4:
“Does Diablo 4 want to be more complex or accessible?”
How does Diablo 4 want to please everyone? In a Reddit post on March 17, user “yxalitis” writes that Blizzard must decide what Diablo is and stick to it. Whatever Diablo 4 was supposed to be at release has been diluted by numerous changes.
Many of the changes, in his opinion, have led the game in different, contradictory directions. He articulates his thoughts as follows:
But in general: Is this game more for casual players or challenging? Is the game trying to be more complex or accessible? Is the game Diablo 2.1, Diablo 3.1, or something of its own?
I acknowledge that there is very little trust in the development team at this point; many mistakes are being made, updates often bring exploits and bugs with them, and the balance is a joke; fixes often make things worse.
But what doesn’t help is that the development team is driven by random, chaotic feedback that goes in different directions.
“The developers seem to be losing focus”
“yxalitis” believes the developers of Diablo 4 “seem to have no clear idea of what Diablo 4 IS.” The vision was a return to the dark, evil, hostile, and cruel world of Diablo 2. “More realistic graphics, a distinctive art style, cruel settings, torture, cannibalism, evil.”
In his opinion, the team has obviously lost focus:
But as the game developed and changed, the developers seemed to lose focus, more concerned with fixing the “problem of the week” rather than advancing a coherent game structure.
Whatever comes out of the itemization and other changes in Season 4, I would like to see a clear line, a clear statement of what their vision of the game is and how they are trying to achieve it.
“The biggest problem is balance”
What do other players say about this? In the comments below the post, there is an active exchange on the topic. Many users agree with the author. “ironside855” thinks Diablo 4 fails in both innovation and refinement. “The game cannot compete with an informed player base but instead relies on casual players who do not have a plethora of other ARPG experiences to fall back on.”
“coupl4nd” comments that Diablo 4 seems aimed at streamers and fast players. That is simply not the kind of action he can relate to. “Doing the same thing over and over again, with the best glitches to win.”
The biggest problem for “toolateforfate” is the balance. He notes that Blizzard needs to stop catering to players who don’t want their buggy builds to be fixed. […] “I know that perfect balance is difficult, but every build should at least be viable for endgame.”
User “Frozenpucks” feels reminded of a teacher’s job. He comments, “Limited, important feedback is great, but if you place too much value on it, you end up losing the whole class. […] You need to have your vision for the class and stick to it.”
And “-sEvan11-” points out: “If half the people want ‘x’ and the other half want ‘y’ but both completely contradict each other, then the game won’t get better if the developers try to please everyone. They should just choose a side and let the other side play a different game.”
In about a month, Season 4 is upon us. The development team plans to continue to consider feedback from the community – so it remains to be seen how this will affect the upcoming weeks in the game.
With the new season, new content comes to Diablo 4 – a new quest line and new seasonal features. The developers also announced that they are planning numerous updates for Season 4 that they have been working on for months. They have already mentioned two features. Here you can find everything that is known so far and when it will start.
