Blizzard: Diablo III lacking "long-term sustainable end-game"
Statement admits that longevity of game failing to meet expectations
Blizzard has taken the brave step of addressing Diablo III players on one of the game's apparent lack of replayability, which is acknowledged had disappointed the community.
"We recognise that the item hunt is just not enough for a long-term sustainable end-game. There are still tons of people playing every day and week, and playing a lot, but eventually they're going to run out of stuff to do (if they haven't already)" said a post by community manager Bashiok on the official forum.
"Honestly Diablo III is not World of Warcraft. We aren't going to be able to pump out tons of new systems and content every couple months. There needs to be something else that keeps people engaged, and we know it's not there right now."
It went on to promise upcoming patches would "do a lot to give people things to do" but that other possible features, like progression systems, were "still a ways out."
"Hindsight is 20/20 I suppose, but we believed pre-release that the item hunt would be far more sustainable, and would work to be a proper end-game for quite a while. That didn't turn out to be true, and we recognise that."