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Helivon t1_j99akl8 wrote

Reply to comment by jerekhal in Diablo IV’s open beta starts next month by Sorin61

I'm personally comllety OK with certain cosmetics being purchasable only. Almost any game these days that actually survives has continued income. Only making money off an initial purchase guarantees a shortened life cycle, especially for a game like diablo that really needs continued development. Cosmetics are the only way to do that without completely fucking over game play (see immortal)

BUT, when I look at overwatch 2, I feel so snubbed from being able to earn loot boxes that I lost all interest in playing. I hate unlocking loot that everyone else gets at the same intervals.

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jerekhal t1_j99d5mv wrote

More power to you I simply don't share that sentiment.

Diablo would have a perfectly fine lifespan without live-service bullshit imo. It doesn't need a constant and regular update cycle if they just produced bulky and well developed content drops and sold them as DLCs as that would tide people over for a good bit with each. Besides, games don't need to have perpetual development for years on end, the quality inevitably drops pretty significantly as time goes on. But again that's only my opinion.

More importantly you highlighted something that I think a lot of my distaste comes from. Modern live-service design is contemptuous of the user's time and effort, is designed to be psychologically addictive, and gives the absolute bare minimum possible to keep people begrudgingly coming back. That's not something I think is healthy for the game or a net positive regardless of slow content drips that come with.

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