P.S. OK, I can't resist: you do realize the irony of stating that there is no such thing as "objective truth" as if that idea were objectively true, don't you?
That would be an irony, but that's not what I've been saying.
I said there's been no objective truth that we can VERIFY or ESTABLISH. Believe me, I wish that wasn't the case. Any truth we've "established" so far - is simply theory based on our capacity to perceive and process - which may or may not be sufficient for objective truth.
I tend to believe that objective truth exists - and I live to establish it, but so far I've been unsuccessful.
I have no problem with your use of "massive failure" because you qualified it with "when it comes to delivering a truly worthy sequel to Diablo 2." Again, this is different from the criticism I'm criticising (ha!) that stops at failure in a general sense without qualifying it in a way that is either satisfactory or not hyperbole.
But why are you assuming people don't have qualifications? People don't always have the disposition or capacity to express their reasons - but they tend to have them all the same. They may not be reasons you agree with - but they're usually there.
To be fair, however, you've struck on the one argument that I do believe can be made most strongly in favor of the position that D3 is a failure: the item system. They blew it. They sucked the fun out of Uniques and Sets and didn't include Runewords. Big, big mistakes. Big enough to ruin the game to the point of failure? Maybe for folks that had the expectation that they were going to play it for hundreds and hundreds of hours, but not for me. Don't get me wrong, it's a bummer, but it doesn't spoil the rest of the fun. At least not at 50+ hours in.
Yeah, it's a pretty huge negative. That, and the total lack of replayability in terms of classes. I don't enjoy Hardcore mode (I think it's a silly way of creating tension) - and neither does the vast majority based on statistics. So, they messed up on two aspects that I consider vitally important for the genre.
The good news is that Blizzard is acknowledging that they got Legandaries wrong and it is a relatively easy problem to fix. It remains to be seen if they fix it to our satisfaction, but I see good reason to be optimistic.
Yeah, they do seem to appreciate that something isn't right - though I've yet to see them state, plainly, that their item design is poor. They seem too arrogant for that realisation.
Problem with Blizzard is that they don't have any visionary designers. They have craftsmen and experienced developers.
Their design process is basically about taking from other games, and then doing endless "trial-and-error" design through thorough iterative testing with constant feedback.
That's great for moment-to-moment gameplay and it's great if you actually understand the games you're stealing from. It's not so great if you trust your designers/testers to give you solid long-term feedback based on a lack of vision.
They REALLY need a true visionary designer calling the shots over there - because they're being way too trusting when it comes to the iterative process. At least, if you ask me.
It must be said, though, that if you ask enough people what they want - enough times - and you give it to them, exactly as they ask for - you're going to have a lot of happy customers.
So, there's no question they know how to make money - and they know how to make people happy in the short-term. The thing with people, though, is that they generally don't think beyond the short-term - and that's a pretty big minus when designing a Diablo game.
Long-term and "brilliant" gameplay is not something you stumble upon during iterative testing. That's something you need a person (or persons) with a vision for.
