Terror Zones : Why I think they're not good for the game

General Discussion
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I know that many players are really enjoying Terror Zones and I don’t want to dispute the pleasure that people are experiencing. However, I can’t help but think, there are numerous problems attached to this new meta and the game itself ‘feels’ more unbalanced than it did before.

I will list a few of these problems, as I see them:

  1. Terror Zone Runs are merely replacing, the much maligned, Baal and Chaos runs and are over faster than their predecessors. This seems to be already putting unwanted pressure on Blizzard’s server capacity.

  2. The journey to level 99 no longer provides a substantial challenge with the introduction of Terror Zones. Prior to patch 2.5, a friend of mine had worked hard to progress 30% of the way into his Level 98 Paladin. However, since the release of the new patch, he was able to reach 99 in the space of only three days. This was achieved by simply farming terror zones in 8 player games. One of the first things he said to me was, “It was too easy!” and the experience seemed to be an anticlimax and not rewarding enough. Personally Speaking, the experience of reaching level 99, is about the journey and not the destination.

  3. Just Like CS and Baal runs, Terror Zones are concentrating too many players into one area. This is due to the vast amounts of experience they offer and deter people from exploring elsewhere in the game.

  4. Terror Zones don’t offer any significant challenge over any other area, which seems silly when you consider how much more experience can be gained by farming some of these areas.

  5. They do nothing to vary or balance some of the more over powered builds. Any variety gained from patch 2.5 comes from the upcoming ‘Sunder Charms’ and they’re a separate issue altogether.

  6. A subtle, but overlooked point, is that levelling too quickly removes the opportunity for a player to properly develop and refine their character. As most people know, with each level gained, the penalties of dying grow larger and a player has to try and build around that to lessen the risk of death. With added experience gained by Terror Zones the penalties incurred when a player dies are more easily overcome.

Whilst an interesting idea, I can’t help but think Terror Zones have been introduced to meet the whims of people who have only a passing interest in the game and would have gotten bored and moved on regardless.

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i agree in parts, but i think the level 99 thing is overrated. the race to 99 has always been dominated by account sharers and botters. it’s impossible for a guy with a healthy sleep schedule to even get close to the top 10. in my opinion (i’ve been playing the game since 2005), making level 99 accessible to the whole community was long overdue. of course it should still involve some effort, but it was previously unattainable for the casual player (similar to the wow classic pvp system), which they solved with the terror zones. for that alone i’m grateful to blizz. i myself once played up to 98 and know the effort.

the biggest and in my opinion the only problem with the terror zones is the overload of the servers.

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Excuse me, but I was really proud to achieve level 99, prior to the new patch! Neither did I share my account nor bot! I played daily with a group friends and I would get a million xp every couple of hours in games that would last 10 to 15 minutes each. Nothing was set up for me. It was relaxing and fun, we each progressed through the game at our own level. It took a few months and we shared everything we learnt about the game and our characters on the way. The experience was refreshing and we all became quite wealthy too. By drastically shortening the time taken to reach level 99, the opportunity to refine and learn of a character’s full potential is lost. Now, maybe the ‘journey’ to level 99 isn’t for the ‘causual player’ and neither should it be.

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Yes Terror Zones are completely overhyped.

There is no reason to achieve lvl 99 besides the journey and having a goal for people who play the game alot. Everyone else doesn’t gain much by these changes but those who play a lot lose this goal.
Lvl 93 for example was very much accessible for everyone.

Gameplaywise Terrorzones are terrible. Depending on the zone(s) you have 3-12 rare packs and rushing through those zones is done in less than 2 minutes while competing against other players in your group for maximum xp and loot.

So comparing CS+Baal runs to this new Meta i highly doubt this one is better except the XP reward is insanely unbalanced and the new most powerful item in Season 2 is exclusively dropped in those areas.

Imagine farming sewers act3 for an hour xD

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If you want the old gameplay without terror-zones: They’re OPTIONAL. So you’re free to not use them…

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“Playing the game is optional. You are free to uninstall the game if you don’t like the old content.”
These type of arguments are just dumb.
You ignore how a competitive mindset works. Yeah lets just ignore the most effective way of playing the game while we persue the most effective way to play the game. Just accept that alot of people who enjoyed the game for years don’t want a dumbed down gameplay especially early in a ladder. We have had enough games with powercreep. Making the game overall easier doesn’t make the game better. How about we buff builds that are weak instead of buffing already strong builds. And how about we balance the XP gained in TZ to match CS/Baal runs on average?

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I’ll be honest with you, I think you’re better off waiting two or three weeks before chatting on the forums. After that, you might stand a chance of finding some sensible dialogue. In the meanime, I’d leave this lot to it. That is, until they’re attracted by some other cheap marketing ploy that will distract them from the one that led them here. Who knows ? :slight_smile:

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“…they don’t want a dumbed down gameplay…” And exactly THAT is the reason, why this gameplay is OPTIONAL!

If you can’t withstand to use it, that’s YOUR problem… I WANT that gameplay.

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That gameplay is the same as before. They just tell you to go into a specific zone and kill rares. If you can’t make your own goals don’t change the meta for people who actually can and like to use their brain themselfes.
YOU WANT THE XP AND THE STRONG ITEMS. You dont care about the gameplay. Thats the hole problem about people like you. I have already given plenty of examples how to introduce Terror Zones without their major flaws.

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Yes I want, But who not? EVERYONE wants strong items. And therefore EVERYONE makes baal-, Diablo-, Nilathak- and Pindleskin-runs. Now you have the OPTIONAL opportunity, to kill something else instead, and easier yes.
But WHO CARES? Only those whiners, who realy can’t withstand to use this OPTIONAL function.

If you "want to use your brain yourself " you still can do that. Just don’t use the OPTIONAL function.

And this “most powerfull item” (I suppose you refer to the sunder-charms?) are also criticiszed by the whiners. So if you don’t use the terror-zones, you also don’t get this so-called “OP” charm-type, if that realy only drops there. Problem solved.

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You are not very educated aren’t you? That’s not how balance works. Your statement would suggest that every game is perfect because every balance aspect is optional.
A competetive mind strifes to become better and play optimal. If you introduce an unbalanced aspect to the game then this becomes instantly the best way to play the game. But if the gameplay sucks and is not fun and also reduces the progression curve from weeks to a few days then don’t expect people to not be mad about it.

You can achieve your goals with hero editors ALREADY. If you only want this because YOU want an easier game then JUST CHEAT like you used to do.

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the race to 99 is a stupidity, has nothing to do with a fair competition where the best coud win, e.g. in D3 you can be in leaderboards even with much lower paragon and play time than others just because you now to play the game well.

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Balance… in case of Diablo 2 is very subjectiv. For me it makes much more fun, if you can CHOOSE, what you will kill to get to level 99.

And I have much more fun, if there are different Zones, which change from time to time, which can get you to 99 than the force to kill Baal several 1000 times, because this is the only enemy, which has more levels than 85. (This was the case before terror zones apeared.)

And you STILL kill Baal for the best results, since this is a main boss, which has significantly better drops than any mob at any level in terror-zones AND he doesn’t have any immunities, so you can have any build you want.
AND you must have killed Baal to get terror-zones in the first place. Only if you realy rush through the game, you have them at level 35… With normal gameplay it’s more likely that you experience the first terror-zone at level 45… (E. G. at the level you normally play NM first.)
So, you have the option to optimize your gear in the previous difficulty to have an easier time for the next difficulty (which - btw. you even were able to, through the cow-level. Now you can CHOOSE if you play terror-zones or cow-level, until you are prepared for the next difficulty.) The price is, - and was, if you played a lot of cow-level first - that you won’t progress, regarding the “play through” (with has its first normal end, when you have killed baal in hell-difficulty. And its last if you defeated uber-diablo or whatever uber-bosses there are.) You STILL will never reach that, if you are a normal player.

I say, for most players, competition in Diablo-games doesn’t matter. This is only important for a tiny part of eliites, which don’t have a life. (be it D2 or D3 or even D4 when that comes out.)

But you are still able to just ignore terror-zones. You just need to disable them, when you start a game.
You might be right, if terror-zones couldn’t be deactivated. Then you would constantly get the message “hey here is a terror-zone, don’t you want to make it easier for you and play here”. But since that function can be deactivated, you have a real easy time to just ignore them, because they just aren’t in your game. If you can’t do that, again, that’s YOUR problem.
And no, not all players go the path of the least resistance, or there wouldn’t be any hardcore-players.

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I have never argued against terror Zones as a hole, i have argued against terror zones as they are right now. If the xp gain where balanced we didn’t have this conversation. But as it is right now they outperform every other zone by a high margin. So don’t tell me it’s optional when in fact everything in the game is optional. Your argument is just redundant and is missing the point of this hole conversation.

Immunities are no longer a problem since Terror Zones introduce charms that remove that mechanic completely. Also Terror Zones are now the best Spot for farming Uniques since they drop every Treasure Class item in the game and even better charms(ilvl) than seen ever before.
Baal also requires to do the throne event, which makes him even worse than Diablo in terms of XP.

Nobody cares about low level Terror Zones. Everyone who plays this game at a decent level will be doing them on hell difficulty at day1.

Such a dumb argument. Being competetiv doesn’t necessarily mean you compete against others. It fully depends what your goals are. Some compete against others in ladder race, some compete against themselfes(speedrunning) and others just want to be better than they where before.
So everyone who competes in some shape or form doesn’t have a life in your opinion?

And addicted people just need to stop consuming their drugs? And people who are depressed just need to be happy? Do you truly think that’s how our mind works? WE CHASE THE MOST EFFECTIVE WAY TO PLAY THE GAME. → just ignore the most effective way to play the game.

yes it is that’s why i am vocal about it. I don’t want the game to be shit again just like so many other games that where ruined by casual friendly changes just so they abandon the game one month later.

Yes it’s within the rules of the game. You can compare yourself with others and share your experience on the same terms. That’s the hole point of this argument and is also the reason why UNBALANCED changes are a problem.
Imagine telling your friends “WoW you have reached lvl 99”. But now nobody cares because it’s freaking easy now and everybody is lvl 99. You just removed something special from this game for what? Do you think you are so much stronger with lvl 99 than a lvl 93?

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No one is denying that Terror Zones aren’t fun. I think the main problem many people have with Terror Zones is they grant too much experience, for too little effort and feel this isn’t healthy for the game. This increase will see the time taken to reach higher levels slashed from weeks to mere days. This does create an effective ‘imbalance’, as people who play in these areas will level significantly faster than those who dont and simply having the option to turn them ‘on’ or ‘off’ wont change that. By implementing this change , Blizzard have ‘amplified’ an existing problem and moved it to different/varying areas of the game. Even the penalties of dying will be lessened in Terror Zones, as any loss of experience will be easier to make good. Personsally speaking, I think Terror Zones were potentially a good idea, but one that’s been badly implemented and is currently detrimental to the overall gameplay of Diablo 2 Resurrected.

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I’M denying that they aren’t fun!

I’m talking about the MAIN PLAYERBASE. And the main playerbase will NEVER reach Baal in Hell difficulty. They will NEVER even reach dablos in hell dificulty.

And for the MAIN player base are the terrorzones.

I won’t tear apart the post, who quotet me in this way. I’m just too lazy. So, again. You have the OPTION to disable. if you can’t do it, that’s your problem, not the problem of the rest of the playerbase.

It isn’t “not healthy for the game!”. Since the people who whine about terror-zones are people a tiny elite. My quote said, “Nobody is talking about the low-level terrorzones”

Tha tisn’t true! I’M talking about them!
I also have some online-characters, one of them being a sorceress level, 74. But I tend to give up hell, since I none the less play solo, so I don’t trade and only play with self-founds. My mercenary don’t last 5 seconds in hell difficulty, act 1… (yes, an act 2 frozen-aura-merc with insight-weapon, e. g. the 99% standard.)

But with level 74 you won’t progress very far in NM, if you play normal. Except you contantly fight a boring Baal-run. Thank god, there are terror-zones now, which provide a good alternative.

You compete against yourself? But aren’t able to deactivate the terror-zone-feature and play as you played the last 20 years? Again, that’s YOUR problem.
I WON’T do that. I have fun. leveling. And I have fun, leveling FAST. And if I first reach level 99 (I still doubt, that this will ever be the case, since I only play online - and will play ladder, when the next season starts - because there are terror-zones now. which provide the online-alternativ to the /p8-command! ), I’m will be VERY satisfied.

WHO CARES if someone reaches level 99 in merely days, what before was nearly IMPOSSIBLE?

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And how does a balanced terror zone change that for you?
You are trying hard to argue against something that doesn’t really affect you so i don’t get your point. @GrumpyPants was obviously talking about the endgame XP gain not the early XP gain where this isn’t even an issue.

This hole threat is about HELL Terror Zones so you kinda missed the hole point.

We play the same game aren’t we? How do you expect people to compare themselfes when they all play by their own rules. A game like chess or Diablo2 has its ruleset and when you are talking about the game you always refer to that.
That’s also the hole point why people ask for solo selffound ladders. Why do they bother? Because they want to be able to measure their progress and have some kind of value. It’s that simple.

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It DOES affect me, because, I will play online again, only, because there are terror-zones here, now. The start is none the less a torture in comparison to a /p8-SP-game, however.

Read! I said comPETE, not comPARE… You said the competition of the game goes against oneself, yet arn’t able to just deactivate the terror-zones…

The original post NEVER mentiones hell in regard of terror zones… So I think YOU missed something. The only regerd in that case is the mention, that it replaces baal- and other boss-runs. But you make those also , when you finished normal or Nightmare, to better prepare for the next difficulty-level.
Again WHO CARES about that? Terror zones make leveling and reaching level 99 available for a greater part of the communitly. People arguing against that are just jeolous imho. They don’t want them? just deactivate them!

And can you say, what you mean, when you say “balanced” terror-zones? I admit, they COULD be a bit more challengable.
But that is all. I don’T want a change of the XP-gain, and I don’t want a change how they’re implmented (with exception of the change-interval… this could be every 30 minuts, not only every hour. imo. but I don’t realy care about that.)
I would also wlecome, if terror zonee would make all mobs to champions. (with all advantages, they bring: more gold-drops, more xp, better loot. But also all disadvantage: which means always a boss which shares some of its features with the minions. Like a cold-effect.) Now they’re normal mobs with champion-loot. At least, I have the feeling, that it is like this. Yes, this could even bring more XP. But let it be so!

If terror zones would be available in SP, I would also appreciate that. But I think, they’re implemented to motivate more players to play online. So, I don’t realy mind. And you still have /p8 in SP.

(BTW: it’s spelled W hole, not H ole. A hole (without “w”) is a gab in something. :wink: But I’m not a know-it-all. I just want to correct you in that regard.)

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There’s a certain type of ‘Hole’ that could think of, that’s often used to decribe people who write things like this.

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Hey, that’s important. My absolute favorite sentence, which sadly can’t get translated wordly into my native language (German) is: “I’m feeling saint-like, because I’m holy…”

But it’s definitly a WHOLE lot, not a hole one… At least this I know for sure.