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Diablo 4 would probably look quite a bit different if Mike Ybarra was still president at Blizzard, because he's sharing some pretty scathing criticisms of the ARPG after its most recent roadmap was revealed.
Ybarra has been outspoken about the game industry generally, but he's usually not so quick to share his thoughts on Blizzard games specifically. However, following the reveal of Diablo 4's roadmap this week, he posted a detailed Twitter breakdown of what he sees as the game's three core issues.
First, he echoed a very common pain point in the community with regards to Diablo 4 seasons commonly introducing a host of balance issues and bug fixes that can sometimes take months to address. "Don't ship to check a box," he said. "Seasons need to get off the cycle of shipping, spending 2 months to fix issues, then repeating."
He also said Blizzard needs to "pause and give the team time to really address the end-game issues," referring to a common complaint from Diablo 4 players that there just isn't a whole lot to do once you hit level 100.
"Playing for a week to then 1 or 3 shot an 'uber' boss 500 times for a unique, then quitting until next season is fundamentally not fun," he said.
My personal opinion of the top Diablo 4 issues:1) Don't ship to check a box. Season's need to get off the cycle of shipping, spending 2 months to fix issues, then repeating. 2) Pause and give the team time to really address the end-game issues. Playing for a week to then 1 or… https://t.co/Na1zfjUvJSApril 9, 2025
His third critique it takes "too long" for big expansions like Vessel of Hatred to launch. The new roadmap recently reconfirmed that the game's second expansion since launch won't be out until 2026, which definitely wasn't super well-received in general. However, his suggestion for addressing the issue is, well, unique.
"Reduce 'story' investment (costs so much for 1 time element in a ARPG) and focus on new classes, new mob types, new end-game activities that last more than a few days."
As someone who loves Diablo 4's world and lore, this is the only thing Ybarra said that I really can't get down with. I agree with the idea of yearly expansions, but not at the cost of story.
Regardless, Ybarra concluded his argument by saying "If the cycle continues to just ship w/o fixing the fundamental issues, then I'm not sure where Diablo is going. You can add all the end-game activities you want, but you'll be running in place with the same issues. At some point there's just so many random things, it's not worth the effort."
In response to a fan who asked whether Blizzard should just cut its losses and move on with a sequel to Diablo 4, Ybarra said: "If they pause to understand the situation and factors - and they don't fix it, they'll repeat it in D5."
In another reply to a commenter, he joked it was his job "to be Captain Obvious" while he was at Blizzard.
While Diablo 4 is still plenty active, it does now face stiff competition in the form of Path of Exile 2, which released in December to widespread acclaim but has since taken its own turn downward with its Dawn of the Hunt update. Since that update launched last week, Steam reviews went from "Mostly Positive" down to "Mostly Negative," with many of those reviews citing issues with Dawn of the Hunt.
It's not always easy being games like Diablo.
