The somewhat niche ARPG space is already competitive enough in strong game design with the likes of PoE, Grim Dawn, and Last Epoch for subpar games to make it long term.

I agree with you on some things and disagree in others. Random mobs don’t need to be particularly complex imho. I have skipped D3 but in D2 the most complexity random mobs had were the immunities, which imo is also not good design. The boss battles is where skill and brains and preparation should play a role, and in that regard I think D4 does a good job. The problem is that when playing I felt everything was a slog and enemies were a damage sponge at all times.

Also, seasonal resets were a known quantity and are standard for this kind of game, so I don’t really see the point on complaining about those. PoE also does resets and it’s never been an issue. The forced grind is where the problem lies.

As for Lilith, I didn’t feel she was morally grey. I felt that she was manipulating everything in such a way as to always be or be perceived as the lesser evil, trying to find her way to the top via underhanded means and manipulation, but always purely out of self interest. Definitely a black character, but in a more interesting way than the simple “I am evil so I must destroy”

That said, I have not touched this game since I completed the campaign. The story was decent, but the game was simply not fun, even though I like a lot of the artistic and technical details.

Hopefully it’ll be fun at some point, for now I still consider the money I spent to buy the game strongly in the not well spent category