I think its mostly because the game isnt all that great as it was hyped up to be.
Personally i had my fun, even tho it was a terrible launch, however, after that i got my moneys worth in playtime, and probably will check back when the next cycle starts, so yea, i personally wont complain.
Is it a great game? not really.
Is it something fun you can touch every 3 months for a week or 2? hell yea.
LE has a great foundation, but yeah, it just needs more stuff, more content.
TL;DR at bottom.
As someone who keeps coming back to Cycle 1 for a few days only to then quit again a few days later, after having created a fresh character, I think I do have some insight into what happens. At least, for some of us. Since Iām assuming Iām not alone in my motivations for losing interest.
For me personally, it all comes down to the game feeling clunky. And before I address that, Iāll address other points that were raised.
Endgame content: Actually, the endgame content, in my opinion, is fine. All ARPGs do end up having a fairly straightforward endgame loop. And, in fact, that is the way it should be. Overly complicated endgame loops that demand you engage in half a dozen activities, sequentially, would only serve to slow down the pace at which you can execute the endgame content. Which, in turn, would only serve to reduce the progress your character can make. Which, in turn, would reduce the dopamine rewards. Leading to a loss of interest. Soā¦ if LEās endgame loop is a bit short, a bit concise, there is nothing wrong with that. In fact, it is beneficial. Take Path of Exile. Yeah, you can keep all the countless endgame mechanics in the mapping system active but, most people do actually slowly just optimize them out. To limit the maps and such to just a handful of core mechanics to focus on. Not doing so would just make the game unplayable.
Overpowered builds: Fact of the matter is, all ARPGs (even D2) have overpowered builds that perform far better than other builds. You canāt avoid this. Introduce any form of variation, any degree of choice in how to play a character and you automatically end up with permutations that are more effective than others. The only way to avoid it would be to simply remove all classes, all skills and give everyone just 1 weapon choice, 1 armor choice, 1 helmet choice, etc, etc, etc. Level playing field. Andā¦ no one would play that. Soā¦ OP builds are an inevitable consequence of the genre. Nothing wrong with that in and of itself. Itās just, well, inevitable.
Bugs: Now, thisā¦ this I am taking a somewhat harsher stance on towards EHG. The game is too buggy. And not at all optimized to the degree it should be for a product that is now post-release. Yeah, OP PCs will truck through anything and everything the game has to offer but, really, try playing it on slightly older or less potent hardware and itāll start slapping you in the face with just how poorly the game actually runs. To some extent, this is to blame on the engine EHG have chosen to use. Unity is just a very poorly constructed engine, with incredible amounts of bloat and not nearly enough optimization. The fact itās used so much has nothing to do with its quality. McDonaldās serves billions of customers across the globe, every year. And has for decades now. Doesnāt make their food any better. Unity is just a poor choice. Always has been, always will be. But, that only means you have to work around its weaknesses. Which is possible. There are Unity based titles out there which perform considerably better than LE does. This needs to be addressed. And, so do the bugs.
LP/Legendaries: Yeah, well, I canāt do anything but agree with any and all criticism on this point. The whole LP/Legendary system needs to be overhauled. One example I could give, on how to improve itā¦ is to remove the 4 affix requirement on the Exalted item. Fact of the matter is, most LP items you do end up using wonāt be 4 LP items anyhow. So, what harm could it do if we just have an easier time of it to pick the affix we want to go on the LP item. By removing those affixes on the Exalted item we donāt want, leaving just the affix we do want. Now, as it standsā¦ most commonly, you will not get the result you want. Forcing you to do endgame content which mostly will be a waste of your time, since the LP item youāre looking for is not guaranteed to drop. Let alone it dropping with guaranteed LP. The point I am making is that the farm for the Exalted item is enough of a timesink. There is no need to add to that timesink by also making the LP item one. In case the Legendary craft completely missed the affixes we were looking for. Yeah, yeah, you can farm for both a new LP item and Exalted item at the same time. Not the point. Because, they will typically not drop at the same time. You still have to farm for both of them. Soā¦ why not make that a bit more comfortable by at least removing the 4 affix requirement. Make the Legendary crafting less RNG-y. Heyā¦ itās a Legendary, it should be legendary. It should not end up on the ground there at the Eternal Cache the moment it was crafted. Just because it missed completely.
So, now my point ā Clunkieness. Iāll use the Wraith Lord build as an example. Yeah, itās a stupidly powerful build (desperately needing a nerf, in my opinion by nerfing the helmet; the Wraith Lord should only consume minions that the Warlock could actually summon manually; removing the corpse parasites from the consumption, which would tone down the build enough) butā¦ it so demands finding that belt affix. And even thenā¦ if you have it, it still feelsā¦ clunky to play. There is not a good flow to it. Not a nice, comfortable rhythm that you can keep on playing for hours and hours on end. Itās a tiring build, almost frustrating. Same with, say, the Primal Scorpion build. Yeah, itās good. Butā¦ somehow, it just feels off. Clunky. Wonky. And on and on and on. Out of all the builds Iāve played so far, only one really felt comfortable to my aging hands over extended periods of time ā Spriggan-based Thorns Totem Shaman (physical crit). And, well, that buildā¦ just falls so incredibly flat beyond, say, C400. Yeah, you could push it more but, no matter what, itāll never have the damge to really push far. Everything else Iāve tried just feltā¦ weird to play. Not really allowing your fingers to just dance across the keyboard, you kind of being able to zone out while listening to creepypasta stories and playing LE on auto-pilot. The only way to play an ARPG since, well, ARPGs are such a timesink that itād be exceedingly frustrating to have to focus 101% all the time. Itās just the nature of having to farm a lot to find the pieces you need. Which I am not objecting to. Heck, killing endless hordes of mobs can be a lot of fun.
Anyhow, this has gone on long enoughā¦ soā¦
TL;DR ā Lots of factors in play to explain the decline, most of which in EHGs hands to solve.
Some ppl defend balance for some reason saying that you get to reach 300+ on anything. And thatās true. But nobody wants to REACH 300+. They want to farm 300+.
This is so wrong.
Why do ppl idolize D2? It was good 50 years ago. If it came out now, even with new gen graphics, it wouldāve been dogshit beyond measure.
Seriously, folks, time to up the standards. One of the biggest issues with LE is that it mindlessly clones D2 stuff that other aRPGs like GD or PoE improved on ages ago.
Agree with a lot of what you say sans the LP system. And for clunkiness, I have to disagree somewhat. Those specific examples sounds clunky, but other builds Iāve played run really smooth such as frostbite swarmblade, acid flask, and frostclaw. There are clunky builds but there are a lot of builds that play smooth.
Because many people still enjoy playing D2 to this day. Whether itās the OG LoD, D2R or a mod like PD2, D2 is still a lot of fun for many players. It has a gameloop that is very satisfying and that has been very hard to reproduce to this day.
Younger players prefer a different gameplay, and thatās fine. But older players idolize D2 because itās still the ARPG weāve enjoyed the most in over 20 years.
Itās one of the reasons older players actually like LE. It brings back that D2 feeling that PoE once had and since veered away from.
It really has nothing to do with standards. Itās just about the game identity. LE aims for an identity somewhere in between D2 and PoE while presenting new ideas. And that feels great for the D2 crowd. Itās all about the type of players EHG wants to attract.
After all, theyāre players themselves. The whole idea of LE was them making the game they would like to play.
that generation is literally dying off 
even though i am part of that generation, i saw the flaws in D2 when it first came out.
1 of the biggest flaws is the inventory system, items taking up too much or extra space for no reason, which PoE seems to have improved, but LE must make players play āTetrisā on top of the mindless grind.
D2 has almost no QoL. Inventory, stash space, game search, chat. Some mods address some of these issues, like PD2, but the point is that the gameplay of D2 was really good. Even though it had no endgame to speak of. Even though you sometimes just ended up farming Meph hundreds of times. It was still a fun gameplay. Making new characters was fun, farming was fun.
Personally, it still is. I sometimes go back to D2R or PD2 for a few weeks. Even this year I played D2R for a couple of weeks. Because itās still more satisfying to me than playing other ARPGs. And yes, I know a large part of it is nostalgia. But LE managed to tap into that nostalgia as well, even while having plenty of differences from D2.
Mentioning it does not equate to idolizing it.
The reason I mentioned it is to illustrate that from the very start of the genre on, there have been overpowered builds. That is the sole reason I mentioned D2. So, then going into some diatribe about how people should get with the program and wake up to modern times isā¦ I donāt know, thatās a you problem. So, solve it. Solve whatever issue you may have with D2ās mere existence. Donāt annoy me with it. Thanks, have a nice day.
this is my point.
if you are going to try clone something and throw your own twist on it, then at least improve it. dont clone the problems too.
i strongly believe that if EHG spent a lot more time on the crafting and skills systems, people would be more interested.
do something that i havent seen in other similar games, allow players to entirely craft their gear even uniques which they can evolve into legendries and then even further into exquisite (or some other name)
when a unique is crafted, all stats are t1 with lowest value and then as you shatter any dropped item you get 1 shard that is used to upgrade those stats or other stats (depending on shard), when all stats reach T5 with highest value, you unlock legendary crafting which allows adding more stats or up to T14 individual stats and then when those are maxed evolve in to exquisite that allows adding more stats or up to T20 individual stats.
LP can be a rune that you get from sacrificing an exquisite item and the LP rune will add 1 tier to all stats with a limit of 4 uses per item.
do you see that there is constant progression, no matter what you are grinding, you will always be getting a benefit from a drop.
4 perfectly working classes is better than 15 half broken masteries.
back in that day of D2, it wasnt so much bad design on some things, as it was software and hardware limitations that made the game what is was.
using an outdated template does not mean you can not improve it to whole other level under the hood.
D2 style can remain, but improve the systems that are now capable of so much more.
nobody can say it would be too complicated, when you look at the current 10+ defensive stats plus all the ailments and how they work, newer players dont even understand half of them.
Disclaimer: when I refer to D2 players, I donāt necessarily mean players that still play D2 or even that have ever played it. Itās just the type of player mentality that enjoys that game. Just like there are D3 players (usually referred as casuals) and PoE players (usually referred as traders harcore).
All ARPGs since D2 have been āimprovingā on it. Sadly, it never worked because D2 players donāt enjoy it as much. What games have mostly ended up doing is simply aiming at different types of players.
That isnāt what D2 players want, though. They want to grind without results for hours so they can get that huge dopamine hit when something great does drop. Getting constant small improvements doesnāt deliver dopamine, itās just a āmeh, I gained another tierā. Kinda like āmeh, I gained another paragon levelā.
This is something PoE had initially until they shifted their whole stance to currency. The only drops that matter these days are currency ones, whether itās divines/mirrors, div cards, etc.
Again, this highly depends on what you consider improving. D2 players like attrition. They like grind. They like that huge slow buildup to the dopamine hit. Take that away and these players will become bored and uninterested.
You can have improvements on non-gameplay QoL, like stashes, loot filter, etc. But if you start to implement too much QoL on gameplay systems, like legendaries, that detracts from the fun these players have.
All of this is not a bad thing. It just depends on the players EHG is aiming for. Ultimately, there are several types of players and many of them are incompatible. You canāt make a game that will please all of them. D4 tried and failed miserably at that. So games have to decide which type of players they want to appeal to.
So far, LE is far more appealing to D2/GD players than to D3/D4 ones and even to PoE ones, though theyāre closer to them than D3/D4 ones.
Bottom line is that there is a significant number of players that enjoys the grind. That enjoys having near unachievable gear and goals. That enjoy long stretches of no good drops/craft just to have a huge boner when they finally land a 2/20 or a Tyraelās might.
And these players get bored with a game the less grind it has. For example, if you make 4LP gear easy to get (even though you donāt actually need LP gear), they will leave. Because thereās no hard to get goal.
D2 players donāt like NGU (Number Go Up), they like slot machines.
im not saying dont have those, im saying have an alternative route.
some people enjoy the mindless grind, lots of people are enough of it, because its literally in every game.
there is absolutely no reason why both systems can not exist.
either you get something from a drop or you build up to it.
There is. The fact that you can get an easy path means that players that like the hard path wonāt play it. Itās like instant loadouts. Players that donāt like instant loadouts (like me) will leave if they are implemented in the game, even though we donāt have to use them.
Saying that āitās an option and you donāt have to use itā is a dishonest argument, as has been pointed out multiple times in the past. If we had an option for āgod modeā, you wouldnāt have to use it. And yet, almost everyone would leave because of it.
Iāll be back pretty soon. I got in on the new Diablo 3 season (31). The theme is any 3 horadric cube items you want. For necros, it translates into playing with a perma-power pylon. For evey other class, kinda boring. Good for me I like necros thou, lol. I like to compete on leaderboards. We need better ladders here. The arena stuff isnāt that good currently. Iām not a marathon runner, lol. Reasonable time limits that showcase skill over stamina would be fantastic.
so its not about D2 style, its about ego? if you dont have something then other people shouldnt either, and if everyone has it, then its just boring 
ā¦ jk
it would be very interesting to actually know how many people leave because of something being better vs how many come/stay because of something being better.
Itās not about ego. Itās about game identity. If you made a Dark Souls 4 where you can instantly respec, where you can quick save/quick load, you wouldnāt have to use it. And yet, every single DS player would leave the game. DS players love those games exactly because itās hard. If the game has an easy mode, then itās not appealing to them.
Likewise for ARPGs. D2 players like attrition and grind. If a game has an easy mode that avoids that, then itās not appealing to them.
I donāt think thereās a way to know until you change it (by which time it becomes too late to revert).
To be clear, Iām not saying that they shouldnāt improve systems or make things easier. Iām just saying that if they do some players will leave. And some will join. And that applies to every design decision they make. Being ābetterā (which is a very debatable term) doesnāt necessarily mean itās a good design choice. Itās up to EHG to decide which players they want playing LE.
which is exactly why D3 had/has a beta test server for serious updates.
people get a few days to try out some new systems before they release the changes, some are kept and some are scrapped, with others being adjusted according to feedback and suggestions.
thats how you know before its too late.
as it is, everyone is in the dark with what changes are coming with 1.1 and people can only hope for the best.
Thatās fine for trying out new mechanics. Not so much for āfundamentalā game choices, like instant respecs, easy to get legendaries (unless they D3 easy and you can get them in a couple days, a PTR doesnāt give you enough time to test it out), mastery respec, etc.
Those are design decisions that are a part of the game identity and a big part on which plyers will come or not.
Well, this is a two edged sword. Having stuff available in a PTR takes away the surprise element of playing with something new. Iām pretty sure this is the reason why GGG never did it.
Some players just like finding things out at season launch and having it available to test out in an informal way before it actually goes live is a detriment to their enjoyment.
Iām not saying that itās bad (or good) to have a PTR or not. Just that it affects some players whichever way you decide.
this is the same with everything
we are in the time where devs are scared to fix bugs that would result in a nerf
boils down to, keep a dying off generation or try to make a compromise for both older and newer generations.