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Blizzcon 2019 |OT| Seize the means of hype (READ STAFF POST)
- Thread starter Dixie Flatline
- Start date
They did the most work putting in an effort to turn it around. It's definitely playable now and I'm having more fun but BFA as a whole will be remembered as sub-par and rightfully so. Wrath of Bolvar Marrying Sylvanas and Birthing Arthas Back into Azeroth is very much going to be an apology expansion like Legion and I'm here for it.
They should make a console version that has coop and controls like diablo 3
I'm hopeful that Diablo 4 will deliver, but I'm also kind of hedging that on my expectation that PoE 4.0 will be dope, so even if D4 disappoints I'll still have my ARPG fix available
Now of course if somehow both suck then I just get to be a sad man about it.
I know that the shlooter rumor is probably fake, but honestly at this point, D3 did such irreparable harm to the legacy of D2 that I don't care what they do with D4 as long as it's interesting.
If they're remastering D2, that's gonna conflict with D4 if it's a serious successor to that game. And if it's not competing with PoE, people can just continue to play PoE, which is essentially now what D2 fans would have wanted from a D2 sequel.
The worst part of the D4 leak/rumor was that it would launch with only 3 classes. I can't even imagine how badly that would go over, despite it possibly being a throwback to D1.
If they're remastering D2, that's gonna conflict with D4 if it's a serious successor to that game. And if it's not competing with PoE, people can just continue to play PoE, which is essentially now what D2 fans would have wanted from a D2 sequel.
The worst part of the D4 leak/rumor was that it would launch with only 3 classes. I can't even imagine how badly that would go over, despite it possibly being a throwback to D1.
D2, rose tinted glasses? I mean, how? No hack n slash game ever topped it.
Oh, for sure - this is going to (have to be) a pull-out-all-the-stops type expansion, no question about it - but I'm curious if they can replicate that feeling I had with WotLK or Legion.
I think the AP grind as a concept just.....grates on me a little too much - and from what I understand, the 'hamster wheel' it represents isn't going away anytime soon.
(Granted, the heart was WAY worse than the class weapons was, so maybe they can band-aid it somehow but...idk.)
Yeah....the big question, as someone else brought up, is that is the D2 remaster is real, D4 will be competing/cannabalized somewhat.
Unless it sets itself WAY apart - but then you risk alienating the fans of the genre?
It's what has me most curious, at any rate.
Yeah, this is probably a goal if the D2 remaster appears.
I mean....a lot of D2 turned into Wizard teleport spam into Baal runs. I love the game, no questions asked, but there's been a lot of 'new' features in the ARPG genre since then.
A lot of which pull directly from D2, yes, but advancements all the same.
Nice OP.
I'm curious to see whether there are any real protests or whether the gamers will let themselves be hypnotized by new shinies.
I'm curious to see whether there are any real protests or whether the gamers will let themselves be hypnotized by new shinies.
Regardless of how it turns out, I can't imagine an uneventful Blizzcon.
Whether it's for Blizzard or for Era.
Somebody's gonna make something a shit show.
The real disappointment is the support Blizzard offers to an oppressive regime and the leeway they get because some people value their video games above the support of human rights.
But what can you do...
The Heart as a replacement for Artifact Weapons was a mistake and removing the "Gold Ring Abilities/Traits" was an even bigger one. They had far too much faith in the untested azerite traits. I think AP is here to stay for sure but I expect a return to the artifact trait / secondary talent tree again since AP is a good way to keep people invested especially if a talent system is tied for it. And I'm okay with that as long as I'm not stuck with the same weapon again for two years - skins for them were okay but not enough to satisfy the "I got a new weapon" thrill I enjoy about the gearing process.
Ah, I see it now, had to scroll all the way to the right on the schedule. Thanks.
AP is a fucking disease to force people to stay subbed not with content, but with an unavoidable grind if you aim for Mythic raids. Grind for ap, grind for forged (warforged, titanforged, corrupted [and probably another grind for "cleaning it up"]) gear with the proper traits.
It is here to stay.
Should have kept the weapons really or just do something else as AP grind.
Both AP and Rep grind have been forced upon people to stay subbed
As a former long time fan of Blizzard I am Interested in Blizzcon for all the wrong reasons this time around.
I disagree. I like the concept of AP because it gives me something to do/work toward in the game when we've cleared raid content. The problem I have with AP is when it is poorly implemented as it was in 8.0/8.1 since the heart didn't do anything except let you unlock traits you've already unlocked.
People long complained that there wasn't enough "alternate progression" and now that they implemented something it still isn't good enough. war/titanforging is stupid and should be deleted but a) not everyone mythic raids and b) content gets cleared so quickly and we've seen they can't constantly add in stuff. They can't win.
AP can work (or at least a similar concept), but it all comes down to execution and details. I really didn't mind it in Legion at all, but in BFA, especially early on, it made me actively not want to play the game. Instead of compelling me to stay engaged in end-game content, it did the exact opposite.
I think Blizz (or at least someone within Blizz, don't think it was Ion, though) did kind of admit that the 'titanforged' system is going to be 'reduced' (not going away) in the next Xpac, IIRC - though someone might have to confirm.
So at least that part of the 'hamster wheel' won't be as huge of a 'FOMO' situation.
Yeah, Blizz shipping the heart system out as-is was a huge red flag - there were TONS of people talking about the heart's issues - And then doubled down on the 'it's fine, please disperse' train for a good long while.
I preferred the class weapon by far - even if it was a homogenization on the 'what gear is best' (as opposed to the random head/shoulder/chest) pieces, it had some cool gameplay benefits.
Curious to see if they keep their 'no more tier sets' ideology going forward, too.
Right. I was never a huge endgame guy. I did those Baal runs a few times, leveled a few characters up to 90 or 95 or thereabouts, but always had much more fun just solo-ing (or just playing though the acts with friends). Which is to say, for me, they don't need to redesign that aspect of D2 that much (though if they figure something out, great).
Also, I don't think there are that many games that cracked the endgame problem in a satisfying manner (WoW's instances are good, but that's a different genre really, and hard to compare due to monthly fees). DIII's endless mode is alright, but also makes the whole thing feel even more trivial than it already did. I played some PoE, but never enough to get anywhere close to the endgame. Not enough of an identity, that game.
In that sense ->
Honestly I'm more worried that 2019 Blizzard will force DII through their homogenized post wow art style generator, stripping it of its wonderfully unique style and atmosphere.
So far and in my opinion AP has been poorly implemented since Patch 7.0.3 hotfix 10 and up until today.
Tier Sets will be back. I'd almost be willing to do an avatar bet on it. It's one of the easiest goowill bullet points they can do in a forgiveness expansion and an easy way to build hype. They said it was about art team stuff but really they didn't want to balance / compete with azerite traits. It's pretty obvious there.
That's your right and opinion for sure. I just want retail and classic to stay separate things now that they've launched an official Classic avenue. There's some lessons to be relearned from Classic but giving multiple types of players alternate avenues for advancement is not something they need to move away from imo.
I might actually riot if they keep tier sets out again. The reasoning for not having them in BFA was fucking stupid, and the armor from all 3 current tiers is atrocious. Palace is okay I guess but still not tier worthy.
The art direction for 8.3's raid's sets is A+ too but tier is such a cool concept that I hate that everyone feels so same-y in their gear. Tier is sorely lacking.
But that's where I kind of disagree because having a certain artifact power level is used as a conditio sine qua non for you to be included in raid composition for Mythic progress. And that's happened through every guild and server I've been for the last three years. It didn't matter once if you did better with lower ap levels than those with a higher ones. I'm always talking about Mythic progress. It's true that no one cares about it in the easy modes.
Not only that, I've really liked certain Warfront/PvP sets and heritage armors through the whole expansion. Art has not been a problem. The single item (not the items you see in the Set tab, but the special version you find in the apparances for each slot) version of the Alliance Stromgarde Plate set in particular is incredible.
I kinda feel like this is just Mythic Raider snobbery, honestly. I'm not sure if you meant it that way but basically discounting anyone who doesn't do mythic raids is kinda shitty.
I did not meant it that way at all, it's actually a critique on how Mythic Raider snobbery wrongly uses AP to kick people out. It's not different as how they used item level before. I don't think I'm more than an average player, I just happen to dedicate more time or be more focused into that particular "section" of the game.
That's what it feels like. The story has quieted down so too have those blizzard fans.
Hopefully I'm wrong though. Free Hong Kong.
In fairness, there are quite a lot of shinies this year - D4 alone makes it a highlight, OW2 only seals it further, and then there's everything else. And this couldn't really have been thrown together haphazardly. I'm sure the devs were fully intending this year to be a bombshell.
Unfortunately it's going to be a bombshell for completely different Chinese-flavored reasons.
Free Hong Kong
I'll probably just stick to the "Play a new WoW expansion for a few weeks and then bail" style of playing WoW, all the shit loot RNG (forging, sockets, secondary stats) and AP grind just ruined the game for me.
It seems they've "learned" a bit about RNG. We'll see how corruption works out for 8.3 but they know War/Titanforging/RNG is incredibly unpopular in a game already dictated by RNG. Hopefully they learned the right lessons - we'll see in a few days.
OP
OP
Already did :) That's such a dope version!Fucking awesome OP Dixie. I went and changed the lightning a bit on the header image, to make it closer to the original one. If you like it, dope - if not, just ignore this.
Excited to see Wow, Overwatch and Diablo, but even more excited to see, if there will be any backlash/fans protesting etc.
I remain skeptical, so far all they've done expansion to expansion is make things worse. :P
I get where you're coming from. I love alternate advancement systems in games, but I don't think WoW's done a very good job with the artifacts given how much additional RNG exists around those systems and how much a grind they end up being.
At least the weapons felt good with how much power they kept accumulating as you played, and it never felt like you were worse off for having it. Azerite as it launched was a terrible idea, and while the heart essences make an attempt to bridge the gap, it's a mess having to deal with both systems in tandem.
The important stuff on the first day (opening ceremony and new game announcements) are all free, so virtual ticket is pretty unnecessary for most.
Since they've lost the element of surprise with D2 remasted, D4 and OW2 reveals it'll be interesting to see what they show of those games and what the reaction to those games will be when they're all shown off.
Between how things went last year and what has been going on this year, this year's show will be impossible to ignore. Having said that, I have a feeling that people expecting something to happen on stream will probably be disappointed. Stuff will go down but you'll probably see 90% of that stuff on Twitter, not on an official Blizzcon stream.
Between how things went last year and what has been going on this year, this year's show will be impossible to ignore. Having said that, I have a feeling that people expecting something to happen on stream will probably be disappointed. Stuff will go down but you'll probably see 90% of that stuff on Twitter, not on an official Blizzcon stream.
Which is your right - I don't agree that each subsequent expansion has gotten worst but more so the classic "Blizzard always goes too far in one direction" mode when they make adjustments is always in full force.