If you continue to dumb down the game, you will lose half your player base

[s1mulacrum]

The WoW exodus was caused by what Blizzard is currently doing on the inside of their company. I played Diablo 3 constantly, but stopped the second the news hit. I still miss playing it, but any company that does what Blizzard did does not deserve my time or money.

This is why I said "in part". I think it was the straw that broke the camel's back for most people, myself included. There can be many factors that can contribute to a person's decision.

[MagicalChase]

"If you want a challenge play Ultimate" this is straight from the developer's mouth. Otherwise, the game has thrived for years being casual friendly. If you're bored and unhappy then switch games, there's tons of more challenging games out there and they aren't going to change what has been successful for them.

I don't know if you were here for before shadowbringers, but the casual content that you're talking about used to be harder and was a nice comfy challange before going into energy draining savage. Then shadowbringers came around and halfway through it they decided to make all normal content easier and then kept doing this until now.

[D6Damager]

I don't know if you were here for before shadowbringers, but the casual content that you're talking about used to be harder and was a nice comfy challange before going into energy draining savage. Then shadowbringers came around and halfway through it they decided to make all normal content easier and then kept doing this until now.

You are absolutely correct, but that doesn't seem like the direction they are taking anymore since SHB (nearly 3 years ago now + a pandemic).

I also think it's safe to assume that all the players from the 'WoW exodus' are not all going to stick with the game. People will make up all kinds of reasons for why they think they are leaving; but at the end of the day this game isn't WoW and isn't going to appeal to all MMO players (and that's OK).

[MagicalChase]

You are absolutely correct, but that doesn't seem like the direction they are taking anymore since SHB (nearly 3 years ago now + a pandemic).

I also think it's safe to assume that all the players from the 'WoW exodus' are not all going to stick with the game. People will make up all kinds of reasons for why they think they are leaving; but at the end of the day this game isn't WoW and isn't going to appeal to all MMO players (and that's OK).

But then....as a veteran player who's been with the game since 2.1....Who's literally subbed for years on end....what do I do? No other game let's me look like my miqote or express myself like this one does. But all the content feels like it's designed to push me away.
well except the new PVP that's pretty great .

[Niyuka]

Old players are not wanted by SE. MMO design has been about chasing the "millions" of supercasual players that are now firmly lodged in Idle games in mobile. If you just simplify, streamline and shorten your MMO enough, suddenly a huge influx of players will arrive that have been waiting, and you wont even notice the old people disappearing.

The game is, according to the SE defenders here, still far far far too hard and punishing for a vast majority of players, who just wish to open their hearts and wallets if only they could complete every content one-handed with their DPS paladin build and their broken USB steering wheel as controller that they love since it brought them joy in Need for Speed 2.
Also, not everyone wants to press buttons all the time! Savage DPS requirements are still far too hard, why do we get all these emotes if we cannot use them in between watching out beautiful skill animations? And of course my 6 year old nephew wants to join in on the fun, so we need to create a class he can play and complete the content with.

[Lily_Skye]

jokes on you i'm a filthy casual and i love these patches

[Caurcas]

"If you want a challenge play Ultimate" this is straight from the developer's mouth. Otherwise, the game has thrived for years being casual friendly. If you're bored and unhappy then switch games, there's tons of more challenging games out there and they aren't going to change what has been successful for them.

Actually they had a formula that worked for both casual and non-casual alike. Jobs had skill cellings and skill floors. We got a balance of difficulty in the content as well across the board. Now that formula has been abandoned for short term gain.

[BaconBits]

But you will waste time on them, sound thinking there!

I did say I'm not here for intelligent discussion no thinking necessary.

[LalafellDown]

Less combat skills are great if the combat is fun. Fighting damage sponges is boring. Why do we need to do 50 skill rotations for one fate boss? Raise the boss defense or make him immune to damage as he performs unique mechanics the test the played skills
I would rather have a boss cast puzzles at me and die with one hit after solving the puzzle than a infinite sponge that casts brain dead mechanics.

[KizuyaKatogami]

Most people did not quit playing blizzard games because of what they were doing internally, don't try to white knight yourself. You quit cause the games started sucking same as most people. Cause quitting the game makes no difference in what they are doing internally. And if you think that it makes a difference well your just wrong.

Now if you were a shareholder and you pulled back investments and stock, that would make a difference, but you aren't.

Meanwhile me: Doesn’t care about politics and happily bought diablo 3 and is having a blast with it.

If people stopped playing games made by shitty people or businesses, we wouldn’t have any games left to play. SE isn’t exempt from this either.