potatohead
Member
Yep this is basically untouchable
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Blizzard was totally off my radar before this gen, but now I love them
- Thread starter psyfi
- Start date
Sub_Level
wants to fuck an Asian grill.
This thread:
hahaha
Clearly never played D3 and SC2 in 3026 or 2017.
Even so, they were good games when they released,
Not as good as previous instalment.
SolidSnakesMyStepDad
Member
Always been into Blizzard games. Overwatch got me and all my competitive friends into their catalogue again. Then we learned Overwatch was a terrible competitive game but now we are going through all the old games. So it's great.
KLoWn
Member
Implying that either of those games are bad. Fuckin lol.
Slamtastic
Member
Overwatch is the first and only game they've made that I give a shit about.
Maybe they can make a fighting game or something, but I couldn't care less about RTS, Diablo, MMO, TCG, or MOBA.
Really annoying when they make me play HotS to get OW content. Make me hate all their other franchises even more.
Maybe they can make a fighting game or something, but I couldn't care less about RTS, Diablo, MMO, TCG, or MOBA.
Really annoying when they make me play HotS to get OW content. Make me hate all their other franchises even more.
Speaking my language. Love Blizzard to an unhealthy degree. Their games do indeed remind of Nintendo's polish, with timeless quality and brilliant design. The music, art design, and replayability shine in all their games. They're like platforms unto themselves for me. I'll probably always consider WoW my favourite game. I'm playing Legion all the time; it's a real return to form. Overwatch and Hearthstone are addictions.
And man, is the voice acting in their games second to none, or what? That's a big plus for me.
Can't wait to see them brave another new genre in the coming years - fighting, racing, puzzle, you name it - and completely own it the way they have with others.
I deeply admire the company and its culture, and as a huge proponent of good corporate communication practices, I'm hoping my career in that field will one day intersect with their business to experience it first hand.
And man, is the voice acting in their games second to none, or what? That's a big plus for me.
Can't wait to see them brave another new genre in the coming years - fighting, racing, puzzle, you name it - and completely own it the way they have with others.
I deeply admire the company and its culture, and as a huge proponent of good corporate communication practices, I'm hoping my career in that field will one day intersect with their business to experience it first hand.
bananafactory
Banned
StarCraft and Warcraft 3 for me, but yeah. Always great to see new people fall in love with their stuff.
Blizzard games are very special.
Basically the opposite for me, except for Legion, which is probably the best WoW has ever been.
Hearthstone, while well designed is a slog while Overwatch is consistently disappointing. Hearing Kaplan talk about his influences shortly before launch I really thought this was going to be a great, "hardcore" FPS. You can have a low barrier to entry while still having a high skill ceiling and room for inventive, skillful play, which Overwatch does not.
Hearthstone, while well designed is a slog while Overwatch is consistently disappointing. Hearing Kaplan talk about his influences shortly before launch I really thought this was going to be a great, "hardcore" FPS. You can have a low barrier to entry while still having a high skill ceiling and room for inventive, skillful play, which Overwatch does not.
This is a weird thing to say, they have always been money focussed.
Your experience almost matches mine to a fault. I played a bit of Diablo 2 back in the day but not got into it. Picked up Diablo 3 on PC since all of my friends at work were talking about and was instantly hooked. Bought it again on PS3 then a final time on PS4. Once the digital version is cheap enough, I'll probably buy it again lol. It's been worth every penny I've spent on it though. Between the three versions I've probably spent 200 hours on it. I even bough Overwatch twice, once for XBox One when I had it than again on PS4 when it was on sale. Probably the longest I've ever stuck with a multiplayer shooter. I plan on getting back into it pretty soon once I can find the time. I definitely see why Blizzard fanboys exist. Their business practices can be a little shady at time but there's no question they put out some of the highest quality stuff out there.
Played until season 5 after the rehaul? They never really added anything substantial beyond QoL. The problem was that they felt they needed to do balance patches even though there are no PvP features and greater rift ladders are seperated by class. Everybody with an ounce of knowledge in Diablo knows that success is always variable with time spent. That they had to invent more stuff as we went along to keep the game alive was very telling. The last straw was when they made super ancient items, an even rarer drop than ancient items. That's when I bailed.
Also their game engine sucked.
GifGafIsTheBestGaf
Member
SC and WC3+TFT the GOAT
I'm still waiting for WC4
I'm still waiting for WC4
Lol. What?
KLoWn
Member
I'll never understand this weak minded logic.
So you don't like two of the games they've made so you automatically dismiss every other game they have, even though it's different genres and not made by the developing section of Blizzard.
What?
Durrzerker
Banned
I like how people in this thread act as if blizzard has become some corrupt money-grubbing bad guy Corporation well completely ignoring the fact that when Starcraft and Warcraft 3 came out games cost a fraction of make what they do now and their genres were much more popular.
The old blizzard only worked like it did because games were quicker and cheaper to produce. Now they have a reputation for polish that they have to meet with every game they release in an environment where a polished game on every platform can cost hundreds of millions of dollars to make.
Blizzard did not lose what made them special. People are just nostalgic for when gaming was not a juggernaut of an industry. I understand that but to put the blame on blizzard for it is pretty disingenuous
The old blizzard only worked like it did because games were quicker and cheaper to produce. Now they have a reputation for polish that they have to meet with every game they release in an environment where a polished game on every platform can cost hundreds of millions of dollars to make.
Blizzard did not lose what made them special. People are just nostalgic for when gaming was not a juggernaut of an industry. I understand that but to put the blame on blizzard for it is pretty disingenuous
Devilgunman
Member
I'm the opposite. I play Blizzard's games less and less now. Hearthstone turned to shit because of RNG. Now OW is suffering the same thing from RNG in loot boxes, and this is a retail game we're talking about.
bananafactory
Banned
All OW stuff is cosmetic though, how do RNG loot boxes make the game suffer?
I mean...Blizzard North literally only put out 2 games, and they were HEAVILY influenced by the main Blizz guys still. Diablo wasn't even real-time until the main Blizz team intervened.
Don't get me wrong, I LOVE Diablo and Diablo 2, but that's a weird distinction to make.
Some people rely on skins to enjoy the core game play i guess.... lol
I'm very similar in terms of my introduction to Blizzard with Diablo 3 before moving onto Overwatch. I did play a bit of WoW back in the day, but never really got too into it like so many others.
I differ in opinion due to my experiences at this point, though. With both Diablo and Overwatch along with some of their other games I haven't tried such as Heroes of the Storm, they seem to push a philosophy of inclusion through allowing anyone to play and feel good with shallower takes on existing genres and excluding information that breeds toxicity.
While I can appreciate the sentiments behind the types of games they make, there are a negatives that I've discovered in my short time playing Blizzard games:
1. They're bad at balancing their games and slow to implement changes unless the community really rallies against them over certain issues
2. While it can be said for a lot of the industry (and to be fair, they are businesses), they come across as greedy. Random reward systems in every one of their games and constant treading-the-line when it comes to how far they can push the monetization of their games. See the ongoing issue with Overwatch lootboxes and some past issues Hearthstone players had.
3. The simplicity of a lot of their titles can make them shallow to experienced players. Diablo 3 seems very dumbed-down compared to other contemporaries but the presentation and gameplay loops are top-notch. The same could be said of Overwatch and (from what I've read) Heroes of the Storm. Skill rarely shines as brightly in their games which likely explains some of their issues breaking into the competitive gaming scene on a massive scale despite repeated attempts.
I managed to get into Overwatch and Diablo because of my limited experience with both competitive shooters and loot-ARPGs, but if Blizzard ever made an attempt at a fighting game or another genre I'm more experienced with, I'd probably see the seams a bit quicker.
I differ in opinion due to my experiences at this point, though. With both Diablo and Overwatch along with some of their other games I haven't tried such as Heroes of the Storm, they seem to push a philosophy of inclusion through allowing anyone to play and feel good with shallower takes on existing genres and excluding information that breeds toxicity.
While I can appreciate the sentiments behind the types of games they make, there are a negatives that I've discovered in my short time playing Blizzard games:
1. They're bad at balancing their games and slow to implement changes unless the community really rallies against them over certain issues
2. While it can be said for a lot of the industry (and to be fair, they are businesses), they come across as greedy. Random reward systems in every one of their games and constant treading-the-line when it comes to how far they can push the monetization of their games. See the ongoing issue with Overwatch lootboxes and some past issues Hearthstone players had.
3. The simplicity of a lot of their titles can make them shallow to experienced players. Diablo 3 seems very dumbed-down compared to other contemporaries but the presentation and gameplay loops are top-notch. The same could be said of Overwatch and (from what I've read) Heroes of the Storm. Skill rarely shines as brightly in their games which likely explains some of their issues breaking into the competitive gaming scene on a massive scale despite repeated attempts.
I managed to get into Overwatch and Diablo because of my limited experience with both competitive shooters and loot-ARPGs, but if Blizzard ever made an attempt at a fighting game or another genre I'm more experienced with, I'd probably see the seams a bit quicker.
Baleoce
Member
I'm not into their whole homogenization of I.Ps into cartoonier looking games. I get that it clearly works for them and makes them bank though, so I don't expect it to change.
My favourite era for sure.
My favourite era for sure.
eot
Banned
Truthbombs right here
As a sequel to D2:LoD, D3 is trash. I guess people enjoy it for other reasons, but for me it's maybe the most disappointing game of all time.
zackmorris
Member
Are you talking about Overwatch? Pretty much the furthest thing I can think from an arena shooter.
Dude Brood War...
Steeped in a Sea of Games
Member
It's funny because like others have said, I too am the opposite. They've gone way downhill from the old days to me. Their stuff just feels so shallow to me now. I felt like there used to be a lot more substance to their work.
Technically they have seen me play Diablo but my girlfriend's boys first proper foray into a Blizzard game has been Overwatch. Like if we let them they would play it all day and do nothing else . I buy a ton if games and they don't even care, it's all about Overwatch. Which is cool in the sense that it was exactly like that for me during my teens with Warcraft 2 and Diablo.
I actually agree with this statement. Such an INCREDIBLE game.
BW is great, but the balance in that game always felt more like an accident than anything else
WaterAstro
Member
Yeah, they dropped off right at Diablo 3. Everything went to shit in my view.
As a company ofc to a certain degree, but there are different levels.
SC2 e.g. where every decision was based on establishing it as an esport instead of making the game as fun for as many people as possible.
In the end failing at both, because the former was/is based on the latter.
Blizzard has always been one of my favorite developers. They basically introduced me to multiplayer gaming when I was younger. First with Diablo II and Brood War with friends in middle school (shoutout to battle.net) and then starting in 2004 World of Warcraft came and just blew away everything. I was a sophomore in high school and it was all me and my friends wanted to play for years.
13 years later I'm still playing their games weekly. Mainly Wow (still!) and Overwatch.
13 years later I'm still playing their games weekly. Mainly Wow (still!) and Overwatch.
I meant their recent titles and development efforts rather past games. I've also not seen much competitive RTS play since I'm a console person but everything I have seen is borderline terrifying in terms of the skill of the players and I fully agree with you, but there's also a reason why Starcraft 2 never took off at quite the same level and it can't be singularly attributed to the emergence of MOBAs at the time.
I'd imagine there were a few priority shifts at Blizzard when they merged with Activision and while it allowed me to play their games due to the diversification of their market, I can also see what they used to have and how it has changed.
They're still a fantastic developer that can't be beat in addictive gameplay, pleasing presentation and character variety. They just have a few rough edges, too.
I thought that they did the frozen throne expansion for wc3 too. whether they did or not i think that blizzard was at their best from diablo 1 to wc3.
No, they literally only made D1, D2, and LOD. Blizzard in Irvine made everything else (Including during the era you listed, SC, BW, WC3, TFT).
Meh. The edges of the skinner box poke through the facade of the setting and lore. To me, that makes it a bad game. By all means, have an addicting as hell gameplay loop, but please don't make the psychological strings you are pulling so painfully obvious.
TheRedSnifit
Member
I'm basically the opposite.
They make good games, but the last exceptional ones they made were Brood Wars and WoW imo. Their design philosophy seems to just be taking whatever some higher-up's favorite game is and dumbing it down.
They make good games, but the last exceptional ones they made were Brood Wars and WoW imo. Their design philosophy seems to just be taking whatever some higher-up's favorite game is and dumbing it down.
Jaguar Victory
Member
OP needs to build more pylons. Blizzard has been amazing for over 20 years now.
Every dev has rough edges. No matter how good they are one of the several million players is going to find a way to imbalance your game. I played WoW for a 10 years and overall their balance patching was pretty good. I remember when they merged with Activision also. Every second forum poster had "BLAME KOTICK" in giant ASCII letters as their forum sig. Even though it wasn't really all that crazy, Vivendi already owned both companies and simply decided to merge the names.
Starcraft 2 definitely has issues but I consider it to be an exception to the rule. And even then it's a damn good game.