RoS sales is a sign that millions are still searching for a better arpg playing experience. .

As of April 4th the following was released (http://diablo.blizzpro.com/2014/04/04/press-release-reaper-souls-sales-figures/)

"It’s been a little over a week since Reaper of Souls launched and we finally have the sales figures.
Over 2.7 million copies have been sold since launch by brick-and-mortar retailers and online sales."

 The hardcore PoE players can say what they want to about D3:RoS having a shallow more casual play style than PoE (which I agree) but Blizzard must be doing something right by getting that many sales in such a short time to gross over $100 million. There must be a tremendous desire for better rewards for time played by a huge segment of the arpg crowd to get that many sales that fast. This is even more amazing since we all know how bad D3 turned out to be and are of the "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me." mindset.

 So the question of GGGs thinking that most want to play an arpg so we can grind forever to get any great loot is lost. The complete failure of D3 is proof that crap loot drops after crap loot drops and a 100 hours to get a set item to drop is no fun. So for GGG to keep on this path of diminished returns and ultimate self-destruction by ignoring all the cries for better item progression (better loot at the higher levels) or some kind of a SF league that gives the solo player more loot for not wanting to party play is baffling. Further proof that GGGs refusal to make any concessions toward a Self-Found type of league (but keep trading in) because it's not the type of arpg they would want to play makes it even more baffling that they (GGG) would want to "cut off their nose to spite their face" or "bite the hand that feeds them" or any other appropriate metaphor.

 Sure, I get the fact that PoE is a labor of love for the devs (and a big reason I play it as GGG provides fantastic support) but if only a small fraction of the 5+ million registered accounts are actively playing PoE and the Gameplay Discussion forum having many threads on the SFL then I would think that GGG would eventually wake up and realize that it would be in their long term best interest to add 2 more permanent leagues that offer a better playing experience for the solo player who really doesn't desire to engage in trading to acquire better gear. D3 was completely ruined for just this reason (to say nothing of other problems it had/has) and the sales figures on RoS is a sign (if not proof) that millions of arpg players are looking for a more rewarding arpg playing experience. This more rewarding playing experience includes more ways to craft and/or find better gear. But if GGG stubbornly keeps the crafting orb drop rates super low to artificially extend the grind time and doesn't tweak drops so we can get items that are closer in itemlevel to our character level as we progress then GGG seems to be missing out on a lot more of everything. More players, more revenue, and more fun.

why are you even here ?

Starcraft 2's success really shows you everything that's wrong with Ruse.

Call of Duty's success really shows you everything that's wrong with Insurgency.

I could go on...

Huh? People actually bought that? Using money?

Well. That's great. Not even close to as bad as McDonald's selling billions of tons of zombie flesh every day.

"You're telling me... you can't taste the zombie in that shit?"

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The hardcore PoE players can say what they want to about D3:RoS having a shallow more casual play style than PoE (which I agree) but Blizzard must be doing something right by getting that many sales in such a short time to gross over $100 million.

You answered your question in the first sentence.

The game is aimed to make casual gamers who just want to play some video games to have fun for a while which is the majority of people out there.

People who take gaming serious are a niche still and will always be a niche thus are not a big group of people who will make sales skyrocket.

Since the RoS Expansion is basically turning D3 into a even more casual friendly game (choose your difficulty, easy leveling to max level, self found is now 100% viable and easy as fuck, legendaries everyhwere) it has a very high potential at making a lot of people having a good old fun time at home.

Also Diablo franchise is super famous. Blizzard is huge company with many fans. AAA games are easy accessible and of course have better marketing behind them.

"

KenshiD wrote:

Since the RoS Expansion is basically turning D3 into a even more casual friendly game (choose your difficulty, easy leveling to max level, self found is now 100% viable and easy as fuck, legendaries everyhwere) it has a very high potential at making a lot of people having a good old fun time at home.

Well...

Choosing your difficulty is making a game casual? How about gambling for difficulty, what does that make a game? I really cannot see what's exactly casual in choosing the difficulty. A choice is always a good thing.
If you like gambling for difficulty, just write all difficulties on small papers and mix them, pull one out and play that one, that would bring a PoE feeling.

To be honest, leveling to max level in PoE is a lot easier than getting to 100+ paragons in D3 (you're saying max level in D3, but there is no such thing), it just requires flipping instead of slaying monsters.
By easier, rolling easy 77-78 maps and just facerolling in parties. 77-78 maps provide most experience, and T6 provides most experience in D3, so, lets compare a piss-easy 77-78 map with T6... Clear as a day which one is incredibly more difficult.

Self found easy, in what way exactly? It's easier than in PoE, logically, because it's a self found based gameplay.

The casual argument is very unclear to me.

D3 was a hardcore game, now confirmed! Since prior RoS self-found was very hard and trading was the best option to gear up (like in PoE). :P

"

kaarelo wrote:

why are you even here ?

 Please stop your lame trolling. Or don't you even read the Gameplay Discussion thread where we love the way GGG made PoE but are not liking the too low of crafting orb drop rates so that self-crafting (I didn't even open the Pandora's box on "crafting" vs. "gambling" debate with the RNG) is not viable without trading to amass enough quantity of crafting orbs, etc.

 Since you asked, I'm here to be the "Horton" to the millions of "Whos" that want GGG to wake up and listen to us and stop catering only to the uber-hardcore masochist arpg player. And for the record, if GGG is only interested in this audience they should make a formal announcement that this is the way they want PoE to be and tell us to stop making suggestions on the SFL because we never ever intend to add this to PoE. I would have more respect of GGG if they were candid on this topic (sad, but at least I'd know that more talk on this subject is futile).

 PoE is by far the better of the 2 arpgs for long term value for the money (yes, PoE is FTP but we all need more stash space, a pet, and some bling), replay value, and build diversity and all that and I love these features. But with several key features of this arpg significantly lacking in fun: too low of crafting orb drop rates, too few drops that come close to our character level once you get to Merciless, crafting is just RNG gambling, etc. it is through the posts we make here that informs GGG of our likes and dislikes of PoE. A great example are the strongboxes in Ambush League. A great feature and I love it. (Putting the graphics cache in a ram drive to reduce lag when opening a strongbox works very well.)

 So if we don't speak our mind then GGG is going to go along a specific development path that fails to take into consideration the wants and desires of their players. This will work out well for some players that like everything that GGG does but that's a select few and with millions of arpg players in the world that GGG could capture as fans (and thus increase their own financial success) it is vitally important that the free flow of information between the developer and the player be kept open.

People bought millions of other video games after D2 was made? Does this mean they are searching for a better ARPG playing experience?

Also how does D3 compare? PoE is free, everyone literally owns it.

Even then people are allowed to play other games, I think skyrim is better then PoE but it doesn't mean PoE is bad ;v

I was expecting 2 million copies sold at release for RoS...
After selling 15 million, but receiving super negative feedback, I figured about 2 mil was a good guess. I was very happy for Blizzard that they got closer to 3 million. If they make it to 6 million in the next 6 months they may even make another ex-pac.

This being said it's still horrible... They should have sold so many more copies. There's not much PoE can take from D3 and RoS other than don't cut content...

I think GGG would do well to listen to its player base. I think jeweler/fusing could be improved. There are also a few things that could be done to help the self found player.

But I don't think Diablo 3 ever needs to be brought up here as an example. That game is monumental disappointment for most ARPG fans...