It’s a puzzling decision: why would Blizzard invest in creating such a visually captivating open world only to funnel players relentlessly into instanced regular and nightmare dungeons for experience?
Except for the captivating Hell Tides, the open world quickly transforms into a mere intermediary space between dungeons. The introduction of the teleportation to nightmare dungeons has all but eliminated the need to traverse the world to access these dungeons.
My disillusionment began with my level 80 sorceress just before Season 1. Returning with a barbarian for the new season, I’ve come to realize the subpar leveling experience outside of the campaign. Despite attempts to explore every zone and complete quests for experience, progress is sluggish and locating missing quest lines is frustratingly challenging.
Here’s what I’m hoping for:
I desire a Hell Tide-like experience from levels 1 to 50 before Tier 3. The open world should be a realm of exploration where leveling efficiently involves engaging in events and decimating hordes of monsters right outside towns. Quests should be clearly visible on the map, preventing the need to teleport to each town in search of elusive blue question marks.
The grind for renown should yield substantial experience beyond dungeons. The game should be filled with open world dungeons and strongholds, rendering maxroll guides obsolete. I yearn to re-enter towns and take down Asteroth once more for meaningful rewards and experience. Opting for an instanced dungeon should be a choice, not an obligation.
It appears that certain developers shared this vision initially, only for it to be discarded in favor of gimmicky nightmare dungeons. The result is a peculiar amalgamation of two game modes: an open world ARPG with MMO-like attributes, providing a refreshing take on the genre; and instanced dungeons lacking unique personalities and homogeneity (akin to the loot selection, save for a handful of usable uniques per class, and with diablo 4 gold and gear being scarce, I think the rewards should be increased.).
Blizzard, if you’re not going to enhance the remarkable world you’ve crafted, perhaps a different approach would have been wiser. Perhaps a traditional ARPG with randomly generated maps, similar to Diablo 2 and 3, refined to perfection. Instead, we’re left with this hybrid where the open world falls short of expectations in the core gameplay loop and leveling.
