Diablo III Game Director Steps Down

[Nazulu]

Don't let the door hit you on the way out Jay.

Thanks for ruining one of my favorite game franchises btw, as well as completely turning me off of any future Blizzard products (partly out of fear you might now be involved with one of them).

Well said. Sums up my thoughts too.

He certainly made many mistakes, too much trouble to fix. I don't know how they could make so many terrible decisions.

 

[dtgenshiken7]

I only refused to play III because IMO II wrapped up the story line plenty well enough. The third one is obviously going to try to outdo itself having nothing to build off of, and it sucks for it. That and general consensus leads me to believe the game sucks farts (and money) turned me off the game before it hit aussie shelves.

Really, he tries to pretend that Diablo III was any fun anywhere except for people completely new to RTS's. The original Diablo and DII was so damn good they spawned their own genre. III is nothing but a generic stocking-stuffer, it had none of the spirit.

If this guy had actually admitted there were problems I'd have been fine, but he took pains to make himself come off as blameless. I don't much like this man. not really sure if his next game will be all that good either.

 

[Aaron Sylvester]

D3 was my first ever Diablo game, believe it or not. I bought into the hype (Blizzard game n' all that) but sadly I was a twat and didn't read the "always online" DRM part. It was the first time I had encountered such an incredibly obstructive DRM, even compared to the kind of bullshit DRM Ubisoft was notoriously infamous for...couldn't play the game when I bought it, or even the day after. Error 37 everywhere.

I know it's not a big deal since it was only 2 days, but for someone trying a game out for the first time from a supposedly "legendary" franchise it was a MASSIVE kick in the balls. The fact that I would keep getting disconnected and experience LAG (character skipping/glitching, etc) in what I assumed was a singleplayer experience made things even more painful. A singleplayer game that has lag. Yes I know it has multiplayer and you can do shit with other people, but I don't WANT to do shit with other people, I want to be the lone hero alright?
I couldn't fucking believe someone at Blizzard thought it was a good idea.

I know as a first-time player I was supposed to see the game all the way through before judging it, but by the time I reached Act 2 Hell I was just bored the fuck out of my mind, put the game down and never resumed again. Just couldn't be bothered.

 

[Scars Unseen]

I don't get all the hate for this guy. The way I look at it, he's helping me save money by destroying a series I might have otherwise bought into for pure nostalgia reasons. What's more, by leaving that clusterfuck and working on a new project, he's more or less cemented Blizzard's status as a "don't buy" publisher, further fattening my wallet. I mean, they've already trashed Warcraft, Starcraft and Diablo. All they have to do now is shit out deformed Lost Vikings blunder and I will be able to safely ignore Blizzard forever.

 

[black_knight1337]

Sigh, And the Escapist shows just how old they really are.

OT: Good luck to him for his future projects. He did a pretty good job at an impossible task with Diablo 3 so kudos for that. Deserves quite a bit respect for how he's gotten through all the bullshit that's been thrown his way too.

 

[black_knight1337]

How old would that be?

Oh around 12-13 ish. Directed at all the crap directed at him on the first page. I mean you don't have to like the guy or what he did but at least show him a bit of respect

And why exactly are you calling Diablo 3 an impossible task?

Because of the hype for it. 11 years of fan expectations constantly building. It's impossible to get anywhere near that level.

 

[-Dragmire-]

wow...

Played Diablo 1 and 2 enjoyed both.

Bought Diablo 3 a week ago ... and im really enjoying it!

I understand the rage at always having to be online, and auction house stuff (haven't bothered with that part yet) but all these claims saying the game is terrible is pretty surprising. I don't agree with a lot of the policy stuff either, but otherwise.... hell this is coming across as a really polished and fun game to me.

As for Jay Wilson... best of luck wherever you go.

P.S.

Also loved starcraft 2, but that seems to be a no no as well these days.

Yes, the game is great on the surface, at first glance. Have you gotten to the point of the game where all that matters is stacking like 5 stats and only 5 stats...on every single class? No? Well talk come back when you have. Its the itemization that kills Diablo 3. Its the most important part of the game, and its dreadful. Primary, Vit, Crit, Crit%, and Resists All. Attack speed used to matter, then they nerfed it, now its useless. Farming for 2 days in Inferno for +2 Dex, +50 Vit, and +25 Resist All on 1 slot, when 99.99999% of the drops you find will be completely useless...basically forcing you into auction house, now you're farming for gold. Farming for days...for gold...to buy from the auction house....

wOOOoooooo

Plus the first time through, the bosses drop extra rares...on your next THREE playthroughs of the game, their drops are all trash. So that blinds the newbies a bit too, boss farming sucks. In fact you can't really farm effectively at all until Inferno, which is why you are basically forced there very quickly after 1st enchanted foray into Diablo, lord of the bitches.

Its trash, don't look silly defending it.

It feels like Diablo 3 was made for people like me who play through it once on normal and maybe again on normal somewhere way down the line. For this kind of play style the game is alright, not great, but alright.

I do not in any way feel like the game should have been made for people like me though, Diablo 2 seemed to fit everyone who was interested in it but I guess Blizzard's shift in focus didn't allow for that. I agree that the auction house is designed for the hardcore players who are grinding through difficulties and require the loot to continue which sucks.

It's easy to see why the idea was implemented but it just seems like poor taste.

 

[Carnagath]

How old would that be?

Oh around 12-13 ish. Directed at all the crap directed at him on the first page. I mean you don't have to like the guy or what he did but at least show him a bit of respect

And why exactly are you calling Diablo 3 an impossible task?

Because of the hype for it. 11 years of fan expectations constantly building. It's impossible to get anywhere near that level.

Why exactly would you "show some respect" for someone who spent 7 years and millions of dollars to make a game that has half of its prequel's features from 11 years ago and is infinitely worse than a game that 20 guys from New Zealand made as a side-job with zero funding? Do you actually have an argument or do you just call people "12 year-olds" because you are upset?

 

[Carnagath]

I remember a reddit quote

/paraphrase
If Diablo 3 had been the same game, but developed by another developer and called "Demon Slayer" then people would like it.
/paraphrase

D3 has some fairly significant flaws, but it does have some improvements as well over the last game (because I know I will be asked to point them out. D3 was better at setting up, letting you test and execute playstyles).

Either way it is a solid game for what it is. Not for what it was suppose to be.

Torchlight 2 is a prime example of this
It was an equally fun game with almost identical mechanics, which got about the same review scores as D3. Yet it was praised by "the vocals" (as they shall be named henceforth) while D3 was hated. If you look at the 2 objectively, they're pretty much identical (I have no favourite).

Did I just spawn a D3 vs T2 flame war? Maybe... We shall see *leans back and heats up the popcorn*

Indeed, they are identical. Apart from the fact that TL2 has no pay-to-win AH, has talent trees with a ton of customization, costs a third of D3 and doesn't have always online DRM.