Diablo Immortal

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jayrebb

Naxxramas 1.0 Raider
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Let me know when you have determined why the 2nd Diablo 3 expansion was cancelled-- over what amounted to a remnant of negative press from the Diablo 3 launch.
 
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Chris

Potato del Grande
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We are going all over the place here.

My point is that Blizzard should have had content ready to go for the first few months, including an event/update at or close to launch to establish what the game would be like going forward.

They are a large studio and this is their second mobile game, the first one which (Hearthstone) was a massive success. They are also partnered with King/Candy Crush. They have the resources.

The success of the game monetarily, game awards, market access and release date are not relevent for the first few months given how long content takes to create. Things happening now should be affecting the game in a few months time.

So no, a balance patch, new cosmetic set and new boss only the top end can access is not acceptable.
 

CaughtCross

Vyemm Raider
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Purse strings are going to tighten up. The point is Genshin Impact was stroked off by the gaming press. Genshin might not be an established IP, but it has "mass appeal". Diablo, just the name alone, is squeezing it out of the candycrush crew. So rather than developers appeasing the masses and doing something to quell the backlash, execs @ Activision just close up the bag and call it a day. That's Blizzard's style.

What is suprising is Genshin now is an established IP and it hasnt even been around for 2 years yet. Was listening to a podcast and the hosts went to MCM con in London which is basically England comic con, they were shocked that 1/3 of the cosplayers are Genshin characters. At this point there are probably more fans into Genshin then into Blizzard games.
 

Chris

Potato del Grande
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What is suprising is Genshin now is an established IP and it hasnt even been around for 2 years yet. Was listening to a podcast and the hosts went to MCM con in London which is basically England comic con, they were shocked that 1/3 of the cosplayers are Genshin characters. At this point there are probably more fans into Genshin then into Blizzard games.
The Genshin characters are really well designed and appealing, not surprised at all. Giving a water mage a swimsuit was genius.
 

Chris

Potato del Grande
18,036
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I was thinking, invisible Gem Gatcha is the dumbest fucking thing in the universe.

Should they have done a Character Gatcha?

Like the game gives you a generic 3* character of each class that you farm your gear for, they have a limited skill selection but can clear the core game.

Your 4* character belongs to one of the classes but has a different skill selection, you gotta level them up again but your gear can transfer over. Give them names, individual designs and storylines - build out the lore. These are a bit more powerful and can take down endgame.

Finally your 5* character is a major lore figure, about as powerful as 4* but maybe weirder skills and flashier looks.

Be as generous as Genshin were F2P can get a whole bunch of 4* and maybe a specific 5* if they save wisely, then some people will pay for the chase new character.

Now you have a product to sell and two new gameplay loops of levelling up the new characters you got and gearing them.

Example:

3* Necromancer Timmy can do Summon Skeleton and related skills.

4* Necromancer Wendy Waifu is an upgraded skeleton summoner with some extra skills like Bone Golem.

4* Necromancer Sexy Steve is a poison necromancer with Poison Nova and related skills. He needs a slightly different gearset.

5* Necromancer Trang-oul uses Teeth and life draining skills.
 

Punko

Macho Ma'am
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Dogshit game from a dogshit company, attracting ??? players.
 
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AladainAF

Best Rabbit
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What is suprising is Genshin now is an established IP and it hasnt even been around for 2 years yet. Was listening to a podcast and the hosts went to MCM con in London which is basically England comic con, they were shocked that 1/3 of the cosplayers are Genshin characters. At this point there are probably more fans into Genshin then into Blizzard games.

What's shocking about this?

Bottom line: They knew their audience, and did character development that they knew full well would be attractive to that audience.

Blizzard, on the other hand, has a "Do you not have phones?" moment with theirs.

It's no surprise Genshin has the following it does. But it's not the game that is the appeal of the masses, it's the characters. Even I think genshin characters are extremely likable and I can't stand the game.
 

CaughtCross

Vyemm Raider
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What's shocking about this?

Bottom line: They knew their audience, and did character development that they knew full well would be attractive to that audience.

Blizzard, on the other hand, has a "Do you not have phones?" moment with theirs.

It's no surprise Genshin has the following it does. But it's not the game that is the appeal of the masses, it's the characters. Even I think genshin characters are extremely likable and I can't stand the game.

If you told me 10 years ago that a Chinese developer that makes gacha games is more well received and like compared to Blizzard. I would not believe you. Now in 2022 this is the case, so it is shocking to me. Blizzard is now below Chinese gacha games in terms of goodwill.

Here is the clip from the podcast where they talk about how popular it is getting at conventions.
 

Nirgon

YOU HAVE NO POWER HERE
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19,318
Let me know when you have determined why the 2nd Diablo 3 expansion was cancelled-- over what amounted to a remnant of negative press from the Diablo 3 launch.


Its a controlled demolition of things that based nerdy dudes loved. I see them doing it to TW3 because it hit a certain level of greatness.

You dont go from this:
1658851467413.png



To this:
1658851486458.png



by accident or not realize how much of a turn off its going to be to actual enthusiasts.
 

AladainAF

Best Rabbit
<Gold Donor>
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If you told me 10 years ago that a Chinese developer that makes gacha games is more well received and like compared to Blizzard. I would not believe you. Now in 2022 this is the case, so it is shocking to me. Blizzard is now below Chinese gacha games in terms of goodwill.

Here is the clip from the podcast where they talk about how popular it is getting at conventions.

Blizzard sell out their" soul to the SJWs years ago. All that's left is a husk of a corpse of once was. Mihoyo, while a predatory Chinese gacha company, did put their fans and players first when it came to character development. I know of no one that actually thinks they have bad character design. They might hate the game, the gacha, and hate the mechanics but pretty much everyone respects the character design.

Thinking about Klee being put into time out for almost blowing up her school still makes me smile.
 
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Tuco

I got Tuco'd!
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Blizzard's current system of "1 legendary gem chance per month for FTP players" only works if the lootbox is limited to gems people might care about (gems you might use and equip).

That's where the problem is. The lootbox isn't enough of a chance to get even a 2 star gem that you can use. It's filled with a dozen trash gems you could possibly get. I'm not saying you should get a big chance at a BIS gem just from 1 crest. But almost no chance at all at for a gem you can equip??? With a dozen unusuable gems that you would never equip on the loot list? That's bad design. Whales don't like it and neither does FTP.

If they don't lift the time-gate on Legendary crest purchases via hilts this month, right now, in July.....I think that the game is immediately dead as it's a signal of bad-faith decision making.

That's the change people want to see the most. Whales like free stuff too guys. That guy spending 10k would use the hilt system to get 5,6,7,8 more crests a month if he could. And if the change was added, he would gladly take it. The entire game wants more chances on these abysmal lootboxes.

The lootboxes are so ass that they've never been accurately described by any YouTube commentator. It's real bad.
These are the words of a person deranged by loot boxes.


stop-it-get-some-help.gif
 

jayrebb

Naxxramas 1.0 Raider
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These are the words of a person deranged by loot boxes.


stop-it-get-some-help.gif

They opened it up to 3-4 lootboxes a month, and 1 lootbox per week, instead of just 1 lootbox per month. Blizzard probably had to fight NetEase hard for it as they have final say on monetization.

An improvement for FTP but gem power remains fully paywalled.

Which was something that YouTube content creators missed in their reviews. You're guaranteed at least "some" gem power if you do choose to spend money, but the amount of gem power you get per dollar is nothing worth talking about. A creator could have done a spreadsheet using a 100 crests purchased and used the % chance for gems, then calculate how much gem power you could get at minimum if they wanted to expose the so-called "pay2win" system.

There isn't a lot of winning. Just paying. It was never about getting a 5 star gem. Even powering a 1 star gem costs quite a bit of money.

Glad you are getting caught up on the thread though. We learned Cheng can call shots on D4, which is relevant to your interests (D4).
 
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Sludig

Silver Baronet of the Realm
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To cross threads a bit, look at the phenomena and money involved in simps for thots and the revenue of onlyfans etc...... now apply that to young/old/women/ others that had at least some pride not to pay that much for nekkid pictures and upgrade it to the relative shameless paying for a video game mentality.
 

jayrebb

Naxxramas 1.0 Raider
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I hate how they stand on "Every aspect of the game is fully free to access" as a justification for whatever they do with the cash shop.

And there is no way to grind gem power in a normal MMO fashion. If gem power wasn't fully paywalled I'd let it slide.

They are slowly opening up to allowing FTP to grind Legendary crests.

However, they are NOWHERE NEAR addressing the gem power situation and the immense paywall on that aspect of the game. They need to boost player ability to obtain gem power by 50% over the current FTP rate.
 

jayrebb

Naxxramas 1.0 Raider
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All of Blizzard's mea culpas so far with Immortal have been "Oh alright, you guys can grind Legendary crests for a chance at 5 star gems for free. We are going to add more systems for players to grind these crests every week, including special events,, but not too significantly all at once. But it's going to be several".

Cool, keep it coming. Get it up to a dozen, two dozen crests a month for FTP.

Get some end game content in the game ASAP, meaningful POE style bosses, expand PvP system to include direct 4v4 competition queues without having to play a shitty event like Vault. Let shadow guilds queue to fight each other outside of the brackets during normal play. Add a reward system for the proposed shadow clan 4v4 skirmish arena grinds (Hilts is fine if they can expand the use of hilts) And then expand itemization somehow besides the current braindead leveling a gem to rank 10 and then having to get the wallet out for Awakens on gear. Then maybe you will make 200m instead of 100m in 8 weeks.

More than half the game isn't spending any money at all according to Ybarra. He won't disclose the exact amount of players that don't spend. But he cited it as "most of the players we have do not spend". Someone made a joke out of it and posted on the interview "Correction, most of your players no longer play the game." Both true. They could have made a system that isn't insulting players who actually do pay for things, and gotten those holdouts to spend the cost of a WoW mount. They just didn't care enough. Hypercompetitive whales will not carry this game out past 2 months.
 

OneofOne

Silver Baronet of the Realm
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More than half the game isn't spending any money at all according to Ybarra. He won't disclose the exact amount of players that don't spend. But he cited it as "most of the players we have do not spend". Someone made a joke out of it and posted on the interview "Correction, most of your players no longer play the game." Both true. They could have made a system that isn't insulting players who actually do pay for things, and gotten those holdouts to spend the cost of a WoW mount. They just didn't care enough. Hypercompetitive whales will not carry this game out past 2 months.

You know there are multi-billion dollar gaming companies made that way on a 1-2% monetization rate of their users, right? FTP players are content for playing players. Content Blizzard is trying to monetize. You seem to have an insane expectation of the conversion rate, though.

If you can get a 50% conversion rate on a FTP mobile game, you'd be the next Elon Musk.
 

jayrebb

Naxxramas 1.0 Raider
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You know there are multi-billion dollar gaming companies made that way on a 1-2% monetization rate of their users, right? FTP players are content for playing players. Content Blizzard is trying to monetize. You seem to have an insane expectation of the conversion rate, though.

If you can get a 50% conversion rate on a FTP mobile game, you'd be the next Elon Musk.

Ybarra won't release the numbers so it's all conjecture. "most" could mean 51% or it could mean 98-99%

Point being current Immortal players on this forum all know people who drop money on a WoW carry and WoW mounts, that can't justify any money on Immortal, despite playing both. They didn't go after existing spenders within the Blizzard sphere, and damaged brand goodwill in the process. It's been said, but if you see a Battlepass on D4-- it's an automatic no from the community since Immortal tipped their hand.

Prior they might have considered it. The insult runs deep is likely bad for business long term.