Maybe it's because I grew up with 8 and 16 bit rpgs but I despise level scaling. It really takes the enjoyment out of playing for me so I just don't play games that have it. Some games have min and max enemy levels based on location but others keep the enemies in lock step to you and it just makes playing the game feel pointless. In either case, every game with level scaling would be better without it.

Weirdly enough the D4 skill tree is even worse than the one (I know not really a tree) in D3. The first abilities almost don't matter and are just "filler" for your resource regen or cooldowns and the main abilities are just a handful, most of them kinda meh and with barely any progression & variety behind them.

As for D2R I wish they would've gone a bit farther with it, like an item filter feels like a must have with how much it spams loot onto your screen to the point where it does not display everything. This can cause you to literally not see something like a high rune on the ground because of some trash items taking up the tooltip space. Or things like the vanity system from D3 and D4 (minus the micro transactions).

Whatever... They lost touch with their base in favor of a new one that they can milk. Their profits and shareholders will love it though. I'm done with them.

I agree, it feels very artificial and it breaks my perception of the game almost immediately.

In path of exile, you kind do the same thing. You want to fight stronger enemies because you are stronger and by doing it, you can get more and better rewards. But it's ultimately your decision when you want to face harder content. Not some algorithm that is tied to your precieved gear level.

They adjusted the level scaling for S3, with different thresholds depending on the world tier you're in. As you approach the monster level cap for a given world tier, the scaling slows down so that it's outpaced by the player level.

I agree it shouldn't have scaled 1:1 all the way to max level on launch, but people are super quick to forget how well D4 was generally received on launch. It was literally used as a counterexample to games that launched badly, "it was more like a toddler trying to make an MMO" seems like a dishonest characterisation to me. What complaints do you have that aren't long since resolved?

Isn’t that the point of him saying about “the consumptive nature”? They couldn’t do what they wanted to, because they were doing a live service (that a large portion of people do want) so concessions had to be made.

I don’t think they are saying they tried doing it, it’s just the two ideas couldn’t coexist.

Warframe is kinda cool in that regard, almost all content remains accessible.. in some form or another. Save for a rare few time limited events, all quests and such have remained accessible.

The one major caveat to that is "prime" versions of weapons and frames, you will have to get into player trading if you want certain ones and don't want to wait for the rotating "unvaulting". But, thanks to that unvaulting, most primes aren't ridiculously expensive to trade for. Even when you get back into the game years later and are missing a bunch (me).

There's a completely free battle pass-like system too, but that also will return items from previous passes.

There's a lot of systems... one issue of keeping so much around I guess. There are more technicalities, some weapons become less viable with time and power creep, yet a new mod or update may revitalise them! Same goes for the frames themselves, the devs have gone back and reworked older ones to bring them up to par with more modern ones.

It's even worse in D4

Huge difference between gaming and marketing. In gaming, you make things that you enjoy, hope others enjoy it too. In marketing, your opinion is worth jack shit. Only engagement counts. That makes for shitty games imo.

It’s mostly to maintain user engagement. It’s a way to bring players back every now and then.

I don't mind an option. Some people enjoy the start more than the finish. "Alt-itis"

Maybe try Last Epoch or No Rest for the Wicked? They aren't perfect and nothing will ever be Diablo 2, but I feel like they're decent.

I'm pretty sure the always online drm was used to justify transactions in there first place due to the real money auction house.