Diablo II is a game that many players continued to play for years after its release, long after the point at which the vast majority of games lose their audience. Even leading up to the release of Diablo III in May, there were still those playing the game (and its expansion) after more than a decade. As a result, it seemed fair to expect Diablo III would be developed accordingly, giving players enough to do to keep them busy for a very long time. Only that is not the case. Or, at least in the minds of many, the end-game experience in the long-awaited sequel is not anything to write home about. Surprisingly enough, Blizzard agrees.
“We recognize that the item hunt is just not enough for a long-term sustainable end-game,” wrote Blizzard community manager Micah “Bashiok” Whiple on the game’s forums in response to a post requesting information on possible improvements to the end-game. “There are still tons of people playing every day and week, and playing a lot, but eventually they’re going to run out of stuff to do (if they haven’t already). Killing enemies and finding items is a lot of fun, and we think we have a lot of the systems surrounding that right, or at least on the right path with a few corrections and tweaks. But honestly Diablo III is not World of Warcraft. We aren’t going to be able to pump out tons of new systems and content every couple months. There needs to be something else that keeps people engaged, and we know it’s not there right now.”
