The Queue: Kabourophobia

Nick took this great screenshot for his arachnophobia post yesterday, but forgot to add it to the post so I put in a picture from the Sennarth encounter instead. But this is such a great shot I had to use it somewhere, so here you go, my future kabourophobes. The Crab King awaits in judgment.

Let’s Queue.

I’ve never really thought about it like this. I play games to play them, and I play them for as long as I’m enjoying playing them. That may be like Fallout 4 where I put in hundreds of hours without ever actually finishing the game. It may be like Mass Effect where I finish the game dozens of times in various permutations because I love the story. It may be like Dishonored where I do achievement runs because I think it’s fun. (I think Dishonored 2 is the only game I’ve done 100% achievements on.) And it may be a game that I play a third of the way through and think nah, I’m not enjoying this, that’s enough for now.

I have no opinions on the Olympics except that sailing is objectively the coolest sport.

How many other sports get canceled because there isn’t enough wind? None (probably).

One of the reasons Diablo 3 seasons have staying power — and according to the traffic on the site, they definitely do — is because they all provide some new mechanic that changes how the game plays that season. Even though Diablo 3 is now in a sort of maintenance mode where the team rolls out a remixed season with an old theme every three months, each season has fresh gameplay that the base game doesn’t have.

Diablo 4 started out the same, adding new mechanics to the game for seasons 1, 2, and 3. But seasons 4 and 5 have only been changes to the base game, with no additional mechanics. And though sometimes Diablo 3 did this as well — such as the follower rework — I don’t think it ever did it twice in a row. Seasons still felt different, and added fundamental changes to the game.

But now here we are, heading into the second Diablo 4 season that has barely offered any new content to encourage players to make the daunting journey to level 100 for the fifth time. (Even though leveling is faster than ever, this is still not a speedy trek.) The novelty of leveling a new character is well gone, and the only unique content the season offers is (1) a season journey to progress through, (2) a battle pass, because everyone loves a battle pass, (3) an additional in-game rewards track, because we definitely needed one more rewards track. Admittedly, Season 4 had a short quest with the Iron Wolves, but the quests are so slim that they don’t feel much like content.

As a game, I think Diablo 4 is in a great place right now. The game has been streamlined, leveling systems have been sped up, and there’s a far more diverse set of activities, both at end-game and while leveling, to keep you busy. But there’s less reason than ever to play seasonal content, because in seasons 4 and 5 it was almost entirely updates to the base game. Why make the long grind to 100 (again) for something you can do on any existing character? The game just isn’t selling the experience.

And the fix for this is pretty clear: give players an interesting reason to come back and start over. Offer some novel gameplay mechanics or tweaks. Add something special each season, that makes it more than just another alt grind.

It’s a formula Diablo 3 has (mostly) followed for years now, and it works.

As it is, the promise of another lengthy grind when my dance card is already packed with games I want to play isn’t making me want to pick up Diablo 4 next week when the new season launches.

What’s a rogue?

And that’s all for now my friends. Take care of yourselves and have a good afternoon. I look forward to seeing you here again next week!