Who all is in for Diablo III at launch?

[Rush]

Diablo 2 didn't really have goals. They just didn't finish the game up to level 99, so people "created" goals. End game was a social construct, not a game construct.

Right, that's my point. There were fun goals in D2 for players to set for themselves. That isn't the case long-term for D3.

When I say the fans were an anomaly, I don't mean that in terms of numbers. What I mean is that they never expected the game to have a fan base that played for years on end, because they figured people would get bored. After the skill tree was complete they just pretty mush stop developing the game and then just scaled it all the way up to 99 because they could, not because there was any reason to do that.

Have to disagree again - they did expect this because of the previous wild, lasting popularity of D1. They designed D2 with longevity in mind and overwhelming achieved it. This was evident with positive early tweaks and additions to "vanilla" D2 that bridged the gap on the way to releasing the LOD expansion. The skill tree was not complete - they added synergies. They added charms, so you could further customize and pump up even "useless" skills to be fun, viable builds.

There was a very simple reason to grind for level 99 - the rankings sheet. Anyone and everyone could easily pull this to see the top players for each class.

The reason for replay ability IS PvP. If you remove PvP from D2, it's pretty much the same loot grind, and the problem is there is no reason or motivation to do it. Even if you didn't participate in PvP in D2, the fact that it existed is the reason you played to 99. It's the reason gear mattered.

It's not the same loot grind because the loot in Diablo 3 blows. The legendary and set items might as well just be rares. There is nothing "legendary" about them. Examples of awesome loot from release-day Diablo 2 twelve years ago:
Iceblink - Unique armor that froze any monsters you hit when equipped. This was the only item in the game that could do this.
Magefist - Low level unique gauntlet that had fast cast rate on it. Even high level casters used this item because it was the only gauntlet in the game with affixes like fast cast and mana regen.

I could go on at some length, but you get the picture. Loot was truly epic in D2. That is not the case in D3... it just totally sucks. You're stuck looking for the same Primary Stat / Vitality / Resist All items as every other player in the game because there are zero items with unique and cool affixes to make up for any shortcomings your character has in hit points or resists.

Diablo 2 was designed to be played to maybe level 50 or so. Beyond that the XP grind was severe. The only reason people kept going was because you were competing against each other, even if you weren't dueling. What Blizzard realized is that you could extend an RPG, without actually adding any content, simply by letting people compete against each other.

This was part of the initial game design. Eventually, long after release, they decided to tone down the requirements to hit level 99 to draw in some new gamers and add some high-level pvp flavor into the mix.

If they add PvP to D3 it will fundamentally change the game. It will either end up being exactly like D2, or end up being something else entirely if the PvP is more action based. End game in D3 may end up being like NOX, which I wouldn't be opposed to. Or it may end up being just like D2.

PVP would be nothing more than a band-aid on the problem of bad game design. Like I said earlier, they did away with all of the proven mechanics that made Diablo 2 such a successful game. They killed systems from Alpha and Beta that they were receiving positive feedback on because they were "too difficult" to implement. Diablo 3 is a massively botched game that had huge potential.

You don't have to be a die-hard D2 fan to just feel that something is off with D3... that there's no real hook to keep you coming back for more.