Amazing. Crate however, suprised me more than Blizzard. Blizzard kept their Quality, Crate however surpassed/outdone themself - so yeah…
I never left Diablo 3 to begin with, and i’m not sure if they loosing their Fanbase, if you look how many Copies sold. The thing is, and examples like Diablo 3, Path of Exile and Grim Dawn shows us perfectly, what “modern” Gamers are. If you look at Diablo 2 period, of course it have gotten an Addon and Updates over the Years, but PEOPLE could enjoy the Game for what it offers and respected the Work behind it. Modern Gamers seems to have an small attention-span so they constantly need content shovend in their back, even if the “Content” -"“Quality” lacks. I mean - i don’t want to talk bad about Path of Exile, but as they announced 6 Arcs, it felt for me more like they are an Fast-Food-Chain which mindlessly throw content to their Fanbase, instead to offer less but with an higher Quality. Or - look at Diablo 3. I for one are happy aboust most of the Updates and enjoy the Content. The new Areas are amazing, however what does the Majority hype? That stupid carrot called Seasons… run through all the Content as fast they can and don’t enjoy what blizzard actually gives us. That tell the Mindset of modern Players and the truth is, people like us(the Grim Dawn Community) are pretty rare nowdays - atleast compared to the huge Casual and modern Gamer-crowd. So get my point straight: i don’t think it stands bad for “Diablo 3” or “Blizzard” if we talk about Population. I think what Blizzard might win back are classic Players like us, so they widen their target Audience a bit. I’m not sure if an “Class” helps - because in my opinion only an Addon could achieve that…
I don’t hate Necro, i for one find it as a great Addition. I can’t explain it, because its pretty hard, but if you ask me, with the Necro (in generall) they have outdone themself and set GD to an new Level.
I think the People who are against necro are mostly people who dislike “Meanstream”-Classes. And not because of something like Quality and such, but simply because they’re rebels who are against everything which is a bit popular.
Let’s say this. I yesterday saw the Necromancer on the DevStream… i don’t have anything i want or expect from the Mastery. It’s also amazing and can’t wait to get my hands on it.
And like i already mentioned, i can’t explain it - because its hard to express my feelings towards this whole thing. Let’s say it have alot of Blizzard-Vibe. And i don’t talk about the “obvious” Reason like -“because it’s necromancer which got popular in Diablo 2”. I talk about the whole Quality, Art-Direction etc. For me Necromancer(but also Inquistor showed the first signs) catapult the Level of GD up to an next one. Like to progress even further
I don’t care what “most” think about that. For me Diablo III was as dark as Diablo II. For me the Artstyle like Cell-Shading or Realistic doesn’t tell about how Dark and Atmospheric an Game is, it’s more about how it’s done. And compare Diablo III with Torchlight 2 or even the Ponylevel - that clearly shows “how” dark the Diablo 3 Atmosphere is. I think the real issue lies by the Players itself, who can’t get into this Artstyle and have more Problem to feel how Atmospheric the actual Game really is. Also i don’t find “Grim Dawn” darker than Diablo 3 or Diablo in general. I simply find its an complete different Atmosphere. That also applies already due the Setting, because Diablo is Dark Fantasy - while Grim Dawn have an way more modern Scenario.
Other Example: The Legend of Zelda - some People who played BotW might agree with me - it can be pretty atmospheric on Nights and certain spots, and even pretty dark due Bloodmonds. Also the overall touch like the enemybases with the Bones scattered and flies is something, which told me i shouldn’t let that play my nephews who are too young, because this is some mature topics/themes in this Game. But it doesn’t have an realistic Artstyle sooo…
Or Animes: People who dislike Animes will mostly find it childish and not mature. But if you are into Animes and watch such things like Hellsing, Higurashi and so on, you know there can pretty dark and atmospheric Animes which are only for Adults. Heck there was even one Anime which scared the shit out of me…
#In General:
I have to say the Necromancer(but also Inqusitor) makes me happy, but not because it is one of the most wished “Classes” - and not mine as well. Again i tell it, it’s hard to explain, so i hopefully there is no misunderstand. You’ve to know Grim Dawn is besides Diablo 3 and Torchlight 2 under my top 3 Hack’n’Slay. On PC clearly Grim Dawn(because for Diablo 3 i prefer Console-Version due offline playbility plus Local-Gameplay) and as someone who followed the Game nearly since the beginning, also was part of the majority of Early Access and so on, i saw the development from an pretty nice, potential Game, to one of the best in the whole Genre. Still in my Opinion, and that might be because they’re Indie-Developers (so less Budget etc) compared to Blizzard they quite don’t have the Quality-Standart and Iconic-State.
The Reason why the new Masteries makes me happy, is, because the different Vibe we get from them. It seems due their experience which they made due their Development with Grim Dawn, that now they can show off it even more with the Expansion, because this new Masteries also are(in my opinion) on an new Level (of Quality). The Necromancers really catches the Iconic-Feel but still with such an high Quality and this Class doesn’t seems off, like they simply throwed it mindlessly into the Game because it’s wished. There seems to be an vision behind it, so they adapt the Class as their own, unique “Necromancer” which fits Grim Dawn, while they even raise their level of Quality. So if they keep this up with the Rest of the Expansions, its not only new additional Content, but moreover raise the Quality of the overall Game. That’s pretty Amazing if you ask me, because a lot of Expansion or DLC’s doesn’t do that. They expand on Content, maybe offers new Features, but they keep often their Level of Quality and not progress further.
