Diablo 4 players convinced “devs are trying to slow you down”
Blizzard EntertainmentSome Diablo 4 players believe that many of the game’s purported negative aspects are deliberate design choices by the devs forcing players to progress at a slow rate.
The Diablo 4 community has been very vocal as of late. Inconveniences such as road barricades and other general frustrations, comparing Diablo 4 to Diablo 3, have started to draw some minor criticism from a portion of the game’s fanbase.
In fact, some unhappy D4 users think that some of Blizzard’s gameplay decisions are not actually accidental. There have been many complaints that the game is devoid of content once you hit Level 70. But now, players even think that even the lead-up to this point can be a struggle at times as well.
Blizzard EntertainmentDiablo 4 removes “insane speed” featured in Diablo 3
Reddit user ItsAJackal21 made a bold statement to the whole of the Diablo Reddit community: “I’m convinced most mechanics in this game are just meant to slow you down.” They added to their thoughts too: “I honestly think the devs did everything in their power to stop the insane speed we had in D3. Just think about it.”
While we won’t list everything that they outlined, the OP discussed a staggering 26 examples of how the title is slowing players down. It mentions “Clunky leveling/paragon UI,” “No mount until later in the game,” and even “Lower enemy density so you can’t level up/loot too quickly.”
They finished by saying: “I’m sure I’ve missed several, these are just all off the top of my head. Everything seems to be in place just to slow the player down. I still enjoy the game, but unless there is a specific reason I don’t see myself pushing past Level 70 in any season.”
Other Diablo 4 players also agreed with the OP. “It does appear the devs spent considerable time ensuring time sinks dominate our playtime sadly,” remarked one player, and another added: “My conspiracy theory is that this is to slow down the average player’s progression to get to 70 and beyond to buy the devs more time to add end game progression and balance.
Another user also offered: “They’re built this way on purpose. There’s a reason there’s no end game currently and a shocking lack of QoL enhancements and brutal itemization. It’s because they can release these over the seasons as “new content” and updates to appease shareholders with MAU numbers and keep the casuals “engaged” until Diablo 6.”
Diablo 4 Season 1 is going to have its work cut out by the looks of it. We’ll have to see how things pan out and if opinions become more positive moving forward. One thing for sure that the devs are doing though is nerfing billion-damage builds.