I got Diablo IV last week and played a lot over the weekend. After 40+ hours (thank you, four day weekend), I realized I wasn’t enjoying myself, and was just trying desperately to justify the money spent.
I intentionality avoided news about it, hoping to enjoy finding things out for myself. I now very much regret my willful ignorance. I definitely would’ve passed on the game if I’d known beforehand that it was effectively an MMO. Forced multiplayer, an open world with too many activities, content balanced for groups of players, endless side quests, and cookie-cutter dungeons. But hey, it has horses! And dodging!
My disappointment is immeasurable and my week is ruined.
On the bright side, it reminded me how much I love Diablo 3. I’ve been playing that the last couple days to get the bad taste out of my mouth.
Oh, I certainly wouldn’t call it an MMO, either; 99% of my experience in the game was devoid of other players. But I do think it’s effectively an MMO, in that is forces multiplayer and combat seems to be balanced around group play.
I used to play MMOs quite a lot. Had hundreds (thousands?) of hours in WoW, and about the same in EverQuest. But in those games, multiplayer is part of the fun; seeing another player, especially as a healer, meant I could help someone else and potentially make a new friend. In D4, seeing another player just means more lag.
I’d probably enjoy the game a lot more if it didn’t have the context of being the sequel to my favorite game in the genre. But I bet a lot of Diablo 2 players said the same about Diablo 3.
That seems to be the biggest factor in one’s Diablo 4 experience - whether you were a bigger fan of Diablo 2 or 3. Diablo 2 fans are prone to love it, 'cause it’s a return to its roots. Diablo 3 fans are prone to hate it, 'cause it stripped out all the best changes from 2 to 3 (IMO).
One thing I’ll freely admit: playing a Druid, though slow and tedious, felt great for a while; I was an earthbender!
As a Diablo 2 fan (and even Diablo 3 to some extent), I hated Diablo 4. The list of complaints I’ve got is too long but lemme know if you’re interested. The long story short is that it’s unbalanced, too grindy, and lacks soul. It’s an “okay” ARPG with some good elements, but it’s not a great “Diablo” game in general (besides the story).