(srsly this is all way too freaky)
Do you have the strange feeling that all of this has happened before? Perhaps all of the news and announcements surrounding Diablo IV feels like what happened a decade ago repeating. The good old days of Diablo 3 art team releases, beta testing, Jay Wilson, AAA crunch and layoffs, controversies about rainbow color palettes, not enough blood, gambling, constant delays, Error 37, Blizzard offices being raided, the Real Money Auction House, and how it was "impossible" remove the RMAH.
It feels like D3 all over again. You're not alone and your feelings are completely validated.
Ten years ago, Blizzard staff were calling fans assholes. Even a high ranking public figurehead like Jay Wilson was calling fans and former D2 devs "losers" who should fuck off. And now, once again during D4 concerns, Asmongold is being called an asshole by Blizzard staff (very publicly). It's all EERILY REMINISCENT of the D3 days when I was frequently called an asshole, as a result of my investigations, by Blizzard staff, Zarhym, Bashiok, Jay, Boubouille, Sacco, Joystiq and Kotaku staff, and many others I've forgotten. Welcome to the club Asmon!
Even their promotional and demo videos parallel Diablo 3 videos from a decade earlier almost as if they were edited by the same person.
Do you remember the intense controversy surrounding the Siege Breaker animations contained within the original Diablo 3 trailers? It was discovered that their trailers contained scripted events and animations, like players being ripped apart, which were never intended for the final game.
Diablo 3 Siege Breaker
Diablo 4 Duriel Fight
Demonstrating ignorance of past failures, they did it yet again in Diablo 4. Even the first intro videos feel shot-for-shot like players start in identical zones.
Blizzard is being asked typical softball questions about the similarities between IV and III, but not really providing adequate answers. They only compare "major differences" in aesthetics but rarely anything else. The Skill Point GUI is going to change, but they're still going to use identical Skills, even identical Names, from D3. The skills are also using identical animations and particle effects from D3.
They're still using the Item Affixes from Diablo 3, with identical Item Names as well which you will see in the Retail release. They're renaming Rifts and Greater Rifts to something else, but it's essentially the same thing (similarly, WOW renames collectible crystals for each expansion or event update.)
I found it very scary that all of their interviews seem to be using the same script from decades ago too. The exact same questions and answers are being provided, almost word for word.
Diablo IV tries to fool you into thinking it's an "Open World game" with freedom. But it's not. It's identical to Diablo 3: a game on rails. In D3, you have set paths, directions, quests, and a fixed storyline to follow. Deviation is not permitted. In D4, it's the same. But now they have taken all of the zone maps and stitched them together into a larger world map that you can scroll and pan. But despite this petty trick, D4 is still the same rail-based map system with a pre-determined path and "random" locations or quests. It's technically possible to integrate this feature into the existing Diablo 3 game too, since D4 is using the D3 engine.
And yes, it's using the same engine despite what random internet users might tell you.
Just to be clear, anyone who says...
"I think it's a bit early to pass judgement",
"It's just a technical alpha",
"It's just an alpha",
"It's just a beta",
"This isn't even the final product",
"They're still testing Warcraft 3 Reforged, it will be much different when released",
"We haven't seen it's final form yet", or
"Blizzard will change this before release"
...is either subconsciously lying and have horrible fucking memories, completely forgetting the massive history of this being proved blatantly wrong throughout the entire history of AAA studios, or they are complete fucking idiots who don't have a clue about game development and just spouting goddamn lies and personal fantasies. Enough bullshit. We've all been through this enough times to know the truth. How can they possibly forget so many significant events and contradictory evidence in their lifetime?
Blizzard does not release Alpha games. Blizzard does not have "Public/Private Beta Tests". Blizzard only releases HIGH QUALITY game VARIANTS for promotional purposes.
If you played one of their real internal beta tests, you'd shit your pants, the internet would be aflame, and journalists would criticize how awful the game will be. Journalists and Consumers are not entitled to these products and they will not be given tools that could possibly hurt Blizzard sales. They are nothing more than marketing tools themselves, utilized by Blizzard how they see fit.
The "Alpha" and "Beta" games you see are in fact Pre-Release editions in disguise. Even a significant portion of the graphics, game, and UI have already been changed prior to that "alpha" product using earlier art. You're just helping to sell the game, and your "welcome recommendations and player feedback" are promptly ignored. This has always been the way.
Back on the subject of the Diablo IV Engine. As mentioned it's using the original D3 engine but an "engine" has many parts and both D3 and D4 have multiple engines running in parallel. The graphics engine is new, for example. There's a new rendering pipeline, lighting and shader system, improved scaling features and physics, and other minor stuff like weather systems. But as a whole, it's still the original D3 engine and back-end but with some modernizations due to its age. Despite what anyone says, it would be highly accurate to call it a "reskinned Diablo 3 engine". When the art team says that they're using a new engine, they're referring to the graphics engine, so it's not "technically lying."
Those who claim "That's not true, Blizzard said this" or "Blizzard can't lie to their shareholders.. it's illegal!!" are naive morons who don't know anything about how businesses operate. "Marketing" is lying and manipulation, plain and simple. Businesses can spin narratives, bend the truth, twist facts, trick consumers, and outright lie to shareholders without any consequences. When readers were first told this 10 years ago, it was met with hostility, anger, and disbelief. But I think most fans are finally beginning to see just how common this really is, thanks to certain events over the past few years.
With the promotional media you've seen of Diablo IV so far, what you see right now is what you're going to get. And, I don't mean the UI, menus, and skill trees. Those are going to change, but everything else is going to be the same. You'll see when the retail version is released, unless they make significant design changes. D4 will indeed have more gritty and gross Path of Exile inspired art assets, and like D2. But it's a fools errand.
Yes, Diablo 2 was gritty and dark. BUT THAT'S NOT THE REASON WHY PEOPLE LOVED IT.
The artwork in D2 could have been completed changed, even to the D3 color scheme, and players at the time would have still loved it. The main problem is that current leadership believe that it was brutal graphics and dark environments that made the game so successful, so they are relying on this factor alone. Unless they change everything else about the game (ie, the main game loop), they're going to have the exact same issues and complaints as D3. The game vision is the problem. Or more precisely, the visionary. It's not coming from the Game Director, he's just being told what to do. The vision is Brack's. But he does not have an understanding of proper game design and the true reason behind Diablo 2's success. His hang up on nostalgia is going to bury the game, and the D4 Game Director will be the one taking the blame on this one.
