It’s been a couple of months since I stopped writing. For the most part, this has been a good decision as it has meant less wasted time. But I thought I should at least write down my thoughts on this past BlizzCon.
The best part of this years convention (to me) was the concert (both Elite Tauren Chieftains; the band comprised of Blizzard executives including CEO Mike Morhaime, and Metallica).
I haven’t been really following the group in recent years (I was heavily into them from around 1986 until just after St. Anger was released) and the last time I saw them at a concert was 2006’s Summer Sonic Tokyo at the Chiba Marine Stadium. They still bring it live though.
The other best part was the talent show; everything – the musical groups that performed, the movie makers, and especially the cosplay. That part is getting significantly better in terms of overall quality that eventually is going to require a much more transparent way of judging which ones are the best. Anyway, notice what I found the best part wasn’t about their actual games. That’s for a reason which should become clear.
As for the Blizzard specific stuff, while the new IP Overwatch looks good (cinematically as well as in-game visuals), I’m just personally not into first person shooters. They haven’t announced a business model for it yet. Given the success Hearthstone has seen as both an F2P and as an e-Sports, I can see them going this route (Heroes of the Storm will likely give them more information though). Many questions centered around stuff like skins and other cosmetic add-ons which are perfect for microtransactions. So my guess is they will make it a F2P with a lot of stuff that one can shop for.
The most interesting game related news for me was how the 2nd/final installment of StarCraft 2 (Legacy of the Void) would be a standalone product. It doesn’t mean that it’s disconnected story wise from the other two campaigns. If you have Heart of the Swarm (which itself required the first campaign), then it will still act like an expansion. However, LotV will not require either the original campaign (Wings of Liberty) or the first expansion (Heart of the Swarm) to work. And since it is the final installment, it will wrap up the entire storyline for SC2.
I think they are acknowledging that SC2 in general, isn’t an easy to get into sort of game (and that forcing potentially new players to have to buy the other 2 campaigns, isn’t the best way to achieve that). I’m still undecided if I will bother with the last campaign myself since I rarely played SC2 in general. I didn’t even bother finishing the Wings of Liberty campaign because of how frustrating it was on the Mac where the game would lockup after completing several mission objectives (the bug still exists even though it was known for several years).
As for World of Warcraft, it’s something I don’t play so I cannot really comment on that franchise as far the announcements are concerned. I did find the “Looking for Group” 10 years documentary interesting (more so regarding the rarely seen IT part where they showed a small portion of their global IT operations and their server cage at AT&T Enterprise Hosting. But for someone like myself, I find I’m WAY outside of that Blizzard community that was emphasized in this video. I know they like to stress how “great” the Blizzard community is, but its one that also has a lot of toxicity to it as well (probably much smaller numbers compared to actual good part but still….).
As for Diablo III, I saw both panels and there were unsurprisingly, no real surprises; it’s pretty much just more of the same thing with Ancient Legendary Items being the new power creep with most end game play, funneled into Greater Rifts (since it’s the only place to put all that power to use).
They did use part of the day 2 session to explain the evolution of their design philosophies (I kind of chuckled when lead designer Kevin Martens said they originally created an item hunt that was meant to last several years – which explained the original stinginess). As I’ve noted ad nauseum throughout this blog, this team doesn’t have any clear design philosophy. And it changes as needed to suit their needs. But when you don’t really have a clear vision, you end up with all sort of conflicting design decisions that make zero sense.
On day 1, Martens didn’t even know that Uber Diablo was already in the game. This was in regards to the first question asked during the Q&A part of the panel which I’m still trying to figure out the angle with since Uber Diablo does exist in the sense of the new Hellfire Ring and Amulet; though not in the Uber Diablo sense of the one that could spawn anywhere in the game world in D2 once so many Stone of Jordans were sold. Regardless though, Martens did answer the question and stated “they” haven’t built one yet.
Mind you, this is the lead game designer we’re talking about (one of two key people who usually should know about these kind of details since they had to clear it to begin with). Martens had to clarify this on day 2 but this is just another reason why I’m not very high on this team really fixing the game. The excuse these guys have a lot on their plate also doesn’t fly. Some of us have been in that same role in terms of managing and overseeing large projects; high level/profile details like that aren’t something that one doesn’t conveniently have a lapse of memory in. Furthermore, we’re talking about games here where those really passionate about what they are working on, tend to know a lot of the details about the actual game itself at that higher level (maybe not all the nitty gritty underlying technical ones that those with the expertise would tend to be more cognizant of). It’s becoming more clearer why Diablo III is the way it is…
But going back to the original premise that the item hunt was meant to last several years, this doesn’t compute though because they originally refused to have an open world to go along with that item hunt. The only way to play the game was its original story mode (and that is ridiculous to have to farm the game that way which is what led to this game flipping culture in the first place). And as documented in this blog, the game’s original design did not take into account an open world mode (as Jay Wilson once said, it would require a lot of technical changes to accomplish something like an adventure mode – which meant the original game was specifically hardwired in its linearity).
The devs continue to claim the changes are meant to provide a firm foundation to give the game the longevity it deserves. Sorry, but I still don’t see it. The biggest flaw is the itemization (and that is a core system that would need to be overhauled). But this has been covered ad nauseum and I don’t want to get into that again. So I’m ending that here.
Speaking of Heroes of the Storm, around a week before BlizzCon, I got two of my other accounts, flagged for access into the technical alpha. This is actually unfortunate since I don’t plan to sink any time into playing and providing feedback (this is my new stance on all Blizzard properties and one I took after the time wasted with Reaper of Souls).
I say unfortunate because there are so many others who want in to the alpha (there was a time when I too was in that group but after how Reaper of Souls turned out despite feedback during closed beta, I wanted no part in any future Blizzard testing/feedback). Neither account has much game play hours as they were both D3 mule accounts for the vanilla game (as a result, they also have no other game licenses attached to them). The technical system profiles for them also are pretty vanilla. I know selection is random but its too bad there isn’t a mechanism where I could just reject the invite such that it could potentially go to others who want to be in the alpha.
I know they (the designers and devs) often times say they “listen” to their player base, but that is often times PR fluff. And BlizzCon is actually just that, a PR/marketing laden event. The biggest marketing push during the convention was Overwatch as the new IP (not to mention the continued e-Sports focus). And boy did they preach to the choir (i.e. the Blizzard fan base at BlizzCon). I mean, the game will do well with Blizzard fans as well as those enjoy playing first person shooter type games. Myself, I don’t care how accessible it is; FPS’ have never interested me and this one does nothing to change that.
F2P won’t make a difference for me either. I mean after the initial hype, I played Hearthstone, but haven’t in recent months. This applies to F2P in general as well. Take GGG’s Path of Exile for example (while free, I did purchase a Divine Supporter pack); I played for several months from its October 2013 launch but stopped when I ended up playing mostly race events and not my own characters since I ran into a gear brickwall trying to progress through the final portion of Act 3 in Cruel difficulty; I haven’t logged in and played since April 2014). Not even a multitude of free content patches including an expansion, has been able to get me to log back in play again (I’m not saying this will be forever as one day I might).
Note there are many things I like in PoE (their seasonal content is far better than what exists in Reaper of Souls for example) but what I disliked the most was RNG with sockets and getting them linked (often times burning through most of my orbs in the process) as well as some of the game play mechanics with character classes (without a doubt, Blizzard does visuals and character movements to a level that ones standards become much higher in that area). Thus just because something is free, doesn’t mean something is going to hold a players interest for a long sustainable period.
I’ve actually been spending most of my recent gaming time on console. That is a switch since I’ve never been a huge console player and only eventually ended up buying a used PS3 to play a copy of the original D3 that I had bought at launch, months after the fact (likewise for the PS4 I bought this past summer). And no, it hasn’t been spent playing the UEE.
Basically, Blizzard is losing its grip on longtime players like myself (dating back from those earlier 90’s days) who used to be automatic sales for some of its IP’s. Which is why it makes sense for them to expand their franchises. They’ve gained a large amount of players from Hearthstone and will end up doing the same with Overwatch and Heroes of the Storm. Some of us though are just getting off that train though (I guess that old saying applies; “out with the old, and in the with the new”).
Anyway, back into my cocoon I go….
