Jason Schreier’s original article is here
For those who encounter a paywall, an archived version is here
The important bit in his article:
Last year, Overwatch 2 received a paid pack of three PvE story missions that sold poorly, according to people familiar with the business, which was a major reason for the cratering bonuses. In January, as part of a company-wide reduction in its work force, the majority of the team behind Overwatch 2’s PvE was laid off.
Overwatch 2 developers were informed that the company does not plan to finish any of the remaining planned PvE content and will instead double down on competitive player vs. player gameplay, according to the people familiar.
Anyone who still gives Blizzard money in 2024 deserves to get milked dry. You are informed, vote with your goddamn wallet.
D4 got me. They have killed my childhood memories. I am done with them. May not even finish replaying the StarCraft series. Sad times.
Wow did it for me. OW2 convinced me it’s not coming back.
Played wow again after not touching it for years a while back. They finally get the mechanics good and fun and pushing out content, in game community is dead unless you are already in a guilds discord server. Just saying ‘hi’ is enough to get you kicked out of a group. Raiding out of LFG is impossible unless you have a damn raiding résumé ready to send. No point to play it anymore.
All the parts of a good game are there, but the soul is long dead. Community is only a few steps away from being as toxic as League of Legends.
Maybe give FFXIV a try! There’s a pretty expanded free portion that lets you play through a large portion of the game. I enjoyed the gameplay and there’s something resembling a story.
I gave it a try and it didn’t quite hook me. I think if I knew other people IRL that I could play with, it would help. Its hard to get people to buy a game let alone get into an MMO.
Ah yeah I could see that. My family got into it for a few months and was a lot of fun. I did have pretty good experiences with randos though.
Have you tried GW2?
It’s the “beige diesel station wagon” of MMOs. It does everything people explicity ask for: tame monetization, distinct playstyles, a world that’s worth playing outside the most recent level-cap zones, broad cosmetic options-- but it’s still seen as an afterthought.
I hear about it every now and then, but honestly, I thought it was long gone just not seeing news of it floating around. Ill have to look into it a bit more next time I get the MMO itch.
Another rec for GW2. I’d recommend you try the F2P game so you get a general sense of the mechanics and see if you like it, then wait for a sale to buy the “Elder Dragon Saga—Complete Collection” for half-price. I mean, there’s enough content for it to be worth 100 bucks, but for 50 it’s a bargain.
As a gigantic, avid Diablo fan who played the shit outta D2R… I had no hope for D4. I skipped it, despite all of the raucous fan praise on Reddit.
Turns out that only lasted for a month, then everyone said the game sucked. I was very unsurprised.
As a big ARPG fan, I saw that coming a mile away. I never purchased it but D4 just didn’t seem to have anything to offer the genre compared to the likes of PoE, Last Epoch, Grim Dawn, etc.
I just made my first Last Epoch char! I was surprised to find so many dope options right in the game. Like OFFLINE MODE, and a loot filter built in? Neat.
Grim Dawn confused me, moreso than PoE. I should try it again.
It’s an older Kickstart Ed title, but has good bones. It’s just got some rough edges.
Last epoch is sick! I don’t play it as much as PoE as it doesn’t have the same longevity to me, but it’s a wonderful game. You can tell LE devs were fans of Diablo 2/ PoE from the way it plays, but it still manages to innovate in it’s own way.
I like that between LE, PoE, and GD, none of them feel like clones of each other and have enough differences that i can get a new experience from each. Although as another commenter mentioned, GD is a bit rough around the edges.
Late stage D3 is what showed me the future of Blizzard. I was surprised with the success of Overwatch, but when I learned what the pubs community was like, that surprise faded.
If you haven’t tried it, Last Epoch was the first ARPG that got me hooked since D2. The itemization, crafting and skill systems are so good.
Will have to check them out, thanks!
And now D4 is copying that crafting system over in an attempt to salvage their own game.
Yeah. Same here. Blizzard: Never Again.
I feel for you. D3 was the last for me after completing all acts twice. Flashy and hollow. Decided against more Blizzard games after that account got hacked and permabanned. It would have cost $60 to play again and Blizzard support was not supportive.
They are. But have you ever tried to argue with an addict?
What’s wild is that like, Team 5 is still doing great work on Hearthstone. The WoW team seems to have really changed, stuff like their Season of Discovery and their more frequent updates of the modern WoW seems to be going over well. Then, the same company somehow shits out Overwatch 2 and D4? It’s like half of Blizzard has a brain and is listening to it’s developers, and the other half is controlled by C-suite suits who haven’t made a single good decision in an entire decade.