A live Diablo IV developer chat was just announced by Blizzard for August 14 on Discord; the reactions among the players are extremely mixed. Diablo’s official Twitter had the community good and will with the revered line from Deckard Cain, “Stay awhile and listen.” It is said in the folklore that this line sparked an emotional resurrection and skepticism within the community.
Discord will be joined by the much-beloved community manager Cliptis. The very mention of Discord prompted questions from some players: “Why not go on Twitch or Youtube?” @exitusengel went all in accusing Blizzard of lacking confidence in their product and questioning why Discord is the channel being used and why YouTube or Twitch were not considered: “why discord? no yt no twitch… are you afraid of the ppl’s reactions?”
@rebeldottie, on the other hand, felt that for the type of audience Discord has, it was a fine choice and went on to call Twitch a cesspool of trolls. @RolandNorbertB may have been the genuine hype man, however, tweeting: “August 14 — time to pull up a chair in Sanctuary” paired with an emoji of a sword and a red drop. These are the vibes of classic Diablo.
Unnerved even beyond the platform choice are criticisms aimed at some of the Diablo IV gameplay systems. @traderxblack scoffed at the damage numbers saying: “There is no soul to stay and listen to. Get rid of trillion damages that we cannot even think about.” Others like @JeffSpartyjeff want that mechanic fixed and declare: “Ever going to fix the third blade so it actually works?”
Release timing appears to be another sore point. @raph_42 asked with less diplomacy than was perhaps possible: “Beta test is very long, when the release?” while @NotExulai expressed the surprise felt by many at the duration of certain changes, tweeting, “Cant believe it took u this long to get rid of nimRod.” The other point of contention is the campfire chat format, with @dethsight saying, “they could have been emails” versus live streams.
Mixed in with all the salt, there are a few wholesome requests: @GibiSerge wants the devs to “bring back the region-specific herbs for more personality in the world,” and @AymericHLX just wants them to “Bring Diablo I-III on Steam.” We can all get behind that one.
“Most chaotic”-worthy would have to be @MyWifeLovesU, who managed to equate Diablo with Battlefield by calling it a “dead game” and asserting that “Battlefield 6 is a better ARPG.” That statement will create infinite reply chains questioning the mental state of the poster. Never change, gaming Twitter.
Clearly, Blizzard wants to involve their community in this, but the backlash shows how divided the Diablo playerbase still is. Some want more radical changes to mechanics; others want very clear communication; then there are some that are just Watching The World Burn. The August 14 Discord chat should be interesting, if nothing else. Whether this big talk will become something productive about player concerns or will only add gasoline to the fire, remains to be seen. Popcorn, anyone? It’s going to be loud!
