I started watching Mr. Pokke for the first time with his video on the latest ZZZ endgame, and it was some of the worst gameplay I've ever seen in my life.
And honestly, it just confirmed something I've been thinking for a while: ZZZ will NEVER reach the same level of popularity as HSR or Genshin. Not because it's a worse game. Not because of the character designs. No.
It's because, gameplay-wise, it's simply a step above them. Above Genshin, above HSR (lol), and even somewhat above Wuwa, which is probably the closest comparison among the big gachas. And Hoyo knows this.
Watching Mr. Pokke basically mash random buttons and somehow get 30k with M2 Void Hunters was already frustrating enough. But what really got me was his reaction to the harder endgame, the content where he can't just unga bunga his way through with M2W1 Void Hunters.
"Oh this sucks."
"This is awful."
"I don't want to do this anymore, it's too hard."
THAT is exactly what I mean.
HSR and Genshin are probably the most casual gachas Hoyo has ever made. In HSR you literally press one button and autobattle everything, at worse? Click 2. Genshin is slow enough that even people with no clue what they're doing can spam skills with strong units and get by.
Zenless? Not really. (Unless you have unlimited money).
A lot of people are simply unwilling to learn. Hell, his reaction to the Void Hunter restriction was basically:
"This game forces you to use Void Hunters because they're the only broken characters, so of course I don't know how to play anyone else."
What???
AoD, Velina + Promeia, Seed + Cissia… there are SO many insanely strong teams, especially for someone with practically unlimited money like Mr. Pokke.
But that's the issue.
He doesn't WANT to learn.
Because it's harder.
So why would he? He can just M2W1 every Void Hunter, mash buttons, get his 30k, and move on... but not everyone HAS the same monetary power he does.
And that's what gets me.
This is why ZZZ isn't on the same level of popularity as HSR or Genshin, and probably never will be. The gameplay ceiling is simply above what most casual players are willing to engage with.
It's also why so many people complain about character designs, yet almost nobody talks about SD mobs constantly running away from each other. Why? Because they never even experience that problem. Why would you complain about something you'll never reach?
Prydwen drops a tier list and suddenly everyone screams "powercreep", even though you can comfortably get 20-30k with 99% of the S-rank roster, as long as you know what you're doing.
But they don't. So they see "Tier 1", compare it to HSR or Genshin's Tier 1, and immediately conclude:
"Oh, so everything below this is garbage."
That's how they think.
And that's why ZZZ will probably never reach the same popularity.
Not because it's worse.
But because it's asking more from the player than most of these new gacha players are willing to give.
He's still 100x better than Clowntontas tho lol
Forgive my tears…this one was tough. Thank you to every Warlock + Guardian who kept this legendary game alive for these past wonderful years. It has been an honor and privilege to have taken this journey with you. See you starside… 💙
#Ikora#IkoraRey#Destiny2#DestinyTheGame