Thing is, I recognize what the pull of D3 is. And it’s very similar to the pull of Destiny – more better loot, tasks to tick off, lists to complete. In the moment, it’s *great*. Super motivating, often fun to play – Destiny was one of the best feeling shooters I’ve played, and everything else since has felt worse.

It’s also nice that it’s a game, like D3, that you can just … keep playing. The core loop is fun & rewarding, and you can just keep grinding away pretty much forever. I haven’t put more hours into a game than I have with Destiny, and D3 is probably a fairly distant second.

But the reason I play these games is to basically “turn off”. They’re games that require no thought, no emotional engagement, no … effort, other than time. But they demand a LOT of time. Destiny always felt like I was working really hard, but that the top end was always cut off to me, because I simply would never be the kind of person who would work as hard as the folks who were really into Destiny clans.

I also wanted something slightly different than what hardcore Destiny players want. I don’t want the enforced social interaction. I want to play with my friends, or play with faceless-but-decent randos, but I don’t want to schedule it. I don’t want to coordinate it. I don’t want to shape my real life around it in any way.

And with Diablo, I’m starting to feel the fact that I’m only playing to tick off a few more lists. Season 11 was fun, but I’m done with it – to the degree that I’ve done as much as I care for. And I’m not looking for another thing to eat my time. I get more pleasure – literally – out of folding laundry, because the satisfaction at the end is that I did something I needed to do, and made progress on something in real life, even if it all falls apart in a day.

So I think I’m passing on Destiny 2. At least for now. I’m sure there will be lots of wonderful stories that come out of it, and I loved my time with D1. But I don’t need more.