While I don’t condone DDoS attacks, the only reason for D4 to be online-only is monetization IMO: Blizzard wants to sell cosmetics, so people have to see other people wearing them. There is little gameplay benefit from being an MMO-lite.

I hate them alongside any other extrinsic factors the game companies try to push on us to increase engagement. I want to want to play the game because I like playing it, not to get some reward or FOMO. This applies for battlepasses just as for daily quests or similar things. In fact, I recently have started to prefer games which are not (pseudo) MMOs as these usually come with way less bullshit even if I don’t like the game as much. For example, I think Diablo’s (at least 3, did not try out 4) gameplay is way superior to Grim Dawn’s gameplay, but I still play the latter because it’s not D3 and I want something different.