Some feedback for future patches: Regarding the viability of long-term play for casual players
I am not in the mood to write a thesis so, I'll keep this short and sweet. As a casual player with two young children working a full-time job, I find that I greatly value my "free" time. Often, I would find myself weighing the merits of staying up to the wee hours of the morning getting charm 'x-y-z' or getting a full nights rest before work tomorrow... tough decisions when the majority of your day after grinding away at your place of employment revolves around diapers and diner. Which brings me to my main gripe; this MOD, or perhaps it is 2.0, I'm not sure... it loses it's fun dramatically post level 120-130... somewhere in that funk zone. You are playing this wonderful MOD and having the time of your life and then, it's impossible to progress without grinding and grinding and grinding. Grinding for better gear, grinding for more exp, grinding for trophy's... and all this "grinding" is so that you can get strong enough to defeat the last couple of ubers on your bucket-list of charms. If I am going to work, I am least better be getting paid for it! Why the fuck am I going to waste my free-time grinding away (fun factor = diminishing returns) for minimal excitement? I used to love staying up till 3am and getting to work half-awake at 7am wishing I were dead because I was so tired when I had a reason to do so, when the game was constantly exciting and addicting, but staying awake all night to grind endlessly and still not have my trophy? It's a waste of my time. IDK what else to say, but this MOD flows perfectly until somewhere between 120-130 at which point, it clearly caters to people with a lot more free time than I have. And I am certain I am not the only person in this situation. It's clear the later portion of the game has been artificially extended with experience requirements for levels past 125 or so, and with the trophy's that are essential for some of the end content ubers. Would streamlining the end-game like you guys did with the initial portion shorten the content too drastically? I feel that if the entire game played out the same as the initial game, from start to finish with streamlined progression, it would feel completely satisfying... reaching max clvl, getting or at least attempted all ubers... That would encourage me to start a new toon with the loot I gathered along the way and try again with that toon as well. Part of the longevity of Diablo 2 actually... Unfortunately with this MOD, I hit a very real wall where I need so much grinding for things that just yield very little reward, and I don't see a purpose in continuing playing at all. Perhaps this is just me, but I don't know if I will continue playing this game in the future or not anymore, and the reason is due to the artificial length extension of the end-game content via grinding. Thanks. I hope someone who gives a shit reads this and at a very least comments why it will never happen, or maybe upcoming changes being made that will have an effect on this. Peace.