4 ms·

For me the big problems were 1) no power spikes, unique gear is mostly irrelevant except for a couple pieces that unlock certain builds. In D2 you’d find some c

For me the big problems were 1) no power spikes, unique gear is mostly irrelevant except for a couple pieces that unlock certain builds. In D2 you’d find some crazy unique early on that makes you completely OP for a few levels, and those spikes really made things memorable. 2) too easy, and the auto-leveling on monsters. On WT2 where you start the game is just too easy and even the +2 level strongholds are not hard. If you do any side quests you quickly get to the point where you have leveled past the area minimums so there is nowhere to go to get +5-10 challenges that are actually fun. It takes so long to unlock WT4 that I was bored by the time the challenge started to pick up. I realize the hardcore players are going to do an optimized route to get to WT4 in a shortish grind, then the game begins, but just playing the game as it is presented the difficulty curves are completely wrong.

Brybry 3y ago
1) You'll get pretty big power spikes (and some power drops) at WT3 (sacred) and WT4 (ancestral) gear jumps. One at 50(?) when you unlock paragon board and get to spend a bunch of points. Then your biggest power spike when you get item power 925 weapons (you could do this really fast from world bosses in season 2 but it's a bit slower in season 3). Then, yes, gradual power increases from other gear/glyphs/paragon and potential big power spikes from uber uniques (but rough to farm). 2) Once you beat the main story/campaign you never do the campaign or side quests again, even during seasons with new characters. Same for renown. Non-expert players hit WT4 in a day or two at season start... as long as they're playing one of the set of viable builds per class. And once you're in WT4 you can effectively pick how hard you want the content to be. In comparison, the expert players hit level 100 in a day or two. If you play D2 "as the game is presented" you'll have a bad time too, eventually. It's very easy to make non-viable builds in most dungeon crawl ARPG. If you really want to have fun, unless you specifically have fun developing good builds, then my biggest suggestion is to play a meta build. Season 2 ball lightning sorc was super fun. It had the full "build struggles" -> "build is now online" -> "build is *zooming*" experience. Yes, it was overpowered (at least until AoZ) and broke the servers during world bosses. The game definitely has problems but each season has been an improvement as well, even if an individual season mechanic isn't the greatest. In comparison, I think a game like Path of Exile is a much more interesting dungeon crawl ARPG but I think Path of Exile is also exhausting to play unless one makes it their main long-term game.

Brybry 3y ago

1) You'll get pretty big power spikes (and some power drops) at WT3 (sacred) and WT4 (ancestral) gear jumps. One at 50(?) when you unlock paragon board and get to spend a bunch of points. Then your biggest power spike when you get item power 925 weapons (you could do this really fast from world bosses in season 2 but it's a bit slower in season 3). Then, yes, gradual power increases from other gear/glyphs/paragon and potential big power spikes from uber uniques (but rough to farm). 2) Once you beat the main story/campaign you never do the campaign or side quests again, even during seasons with new characters. Same for renown. Non-expert players hit WT4 in a day or two at season start... as long as they're playing one of the set of viable builds per class. And once you're in WT4 you can effectively pick how hard you want the content to be. In comparison, the expert players hit level 100 in a day or two. If you play D2 "as the game is presented" you'll have a bad time too, eventually. It's very easy to make non-viable builds in most dungeon crawl ARPG. If you really want to have fun, unless you specifically have fun developing good builds, then my biggest suggestion is to play a meta build. Season 2 ball lightning sorc was super fun. It had the full "build struggles" -> "build is now online" -> "build is *zooming*" experience. Yes, it was overpowered (at least until AoZ) and broke the servers during world bosses. The game definitely has problems but each season has been an improvement as well, even if an individual season mechanic isn't the greatest. In comparison, I think a game like Path of Exile is a much more interesting dungeon crawl ARPG but I think Path of Exile is also exhausting to play unless one makes it their main long-term game.