D4 is 6 abilities enough?

General Discussion
1

In Diablo 4 footage we only have 4 hotkeys and 2 assigned to lmb and rmb.

I’ve been playing Lost Ark and have no issue using 8 abilities + items etc.

I’m probably going to write a bigger post about Lost Ark and setting new standards in ARPGs but one thing for sure is they treat their players with intelligence and know we can use 8 buttons no issue. I’m throwing down and creating my own combos with this system! It’s really cool. Diablo 4 I feel is making things too easy here. This is a game we plan to play for hundreds maybe thousands of hours which should be deep enough combat wise and pvp wise to satisfy this many hours gameplay. I think we can handle 8 abilities.

Is 6 abilities in Diablo 4 really enough? Especially for interesting pvp with get outs and gap closers.

Personally I feel like it is too few buttons. We’re in a new era of gaming, gamers are better, there are younger crowds who have the ability to play difficult mobas and battle royales.

I would like to advocate for more abilities on our hotbar. 6 feels like too few and would get boring quickly.

1 button on Rogue I noticed literally just buffs your other abilities with poison or other elements. So you only have 3 active skills here plus your standard lmb and rmb damage abilities.

More buttons please!

4 Likes
2

Not going to happen, next.

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3

If Diablo wants to compete with games like Lost Ark they should be aiming to reach a new standard. Some pidly 6 buttons feels like an old game not a modern game that respects serious gamers.

If we tell them this is bad then they might change it. Likely they are in a bubble on some issues and I’m here to tell them hardcore gamers looking for depth and good pvp will not be staisfied with tiny 6 button combos.

Look at the biggest competition Lost Ark. They know what’s up. Gamers are not stupid we can handle 8 buttons over hundreds and thousands of hours of gameplay to practice.

I’m not saying the game shouldn’t be accesible and easy to pick up, but it should also be hard to master and have depth, having only 6 buttons does not speak to this.

1 Like
4

You might want to tell them on Reddit. They appear to be more active on Reddit. They already said that they are thinking about moving away from the forums for D4 and D:I.

https://www.reddit.com/user/PezRadar/

https://www.reddit.com/r/Diablo/comments/rl2n3o/what_i_find_funny_from_blizzard_is_that_they_say/hpgqui1/?context=3

“one thing we have been looking at is whether we move community conversations off forums for those titles and more onto other platforms such as Reddit or Discord (an example).”

2 Likes
5

Just to be sure you’ll find the good forum…

Thanks in advance.

3 Likes
6

I personally think that 7 Active Skill Slots is the optimum.

In addition to that you also have +1 for the Evasion Ability and +1 for the Health Potion, depending on whether you wanna count them or not, but they are more like “Standard Abilities”.

During D3’s development, you also could have 7 Active Skills on the Hotbar, but the devs reduced it to 6, because they thought that "with 7 Skills you could have access to everything you wanted/need and you do not had to make “though enough choices”).

Source (with timestamp at 3:32)

I disagree with that decision, because I think that the trade-off of limiting it to 6 Skill Slots is worse than the trade-off of having to make a slightly less difficult choice.

Difficult Choices could imo still be made within the Skill, like in a Last Epoch-like Skill System.

But I agree that 8 Skills to choose from would feel too much.

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I personally would like every class also to have a “Signature Skill” that defines their archetype, that they just have, that does not compete with the other Skills, so to speak as an 8th Active Skill Slot.

Few ideas for Signature Skills

  • Barbarian: Wrath of the Berserker
  • Sorceress: Instant Energy Shield Recharge (if the Sorc has something like an Innate Energy Shield and Passives, Attributes, Affixes that support it)
  • Paladin / Knight / Crusader: various Auras that you can switch between with the press of a single button
  • Rogue: Vanish / Smoke Screen
  • Necromancer: Revive or something with Blood Magic

For the D3 Monk, something like “Fists of Fury” (a ~4-5 seconds Attack Speed buff on maybe a 20-30 seconds CD) would kind fit as a Signature Skill, but he is not making a return.

=====================================================================

So I personally would like

  • 7 Active Skill Slots for Skills you can choose from
  • +1 Evasion / Sidestep / Dodge Roll Ability
  • +1 for a Class-specific Signature Skill
  • +1 for Health Potion

D4 currently has 6 Active Skills + 1 Health Potion + 1 Evasion Ability, so I would not mind 2 additional slots in total (+1 for an Active Skill of your choice, and +1 for a Class-specific Signature Skill).

3 Likes
7

If having 7 or more skill slots (which I’d have no issue with) isn’t an option, I’d gladly settle for allowing players to have at least 2 or more skill hotbars that they can swap between.

1 Like
8

You guys can have as many keys as you want, I just want to be able to play 100% solo.
Not 97% not 85%, make it happen Blizzard or whatever your name will be at launch.

4 Likes
9

Well if It is a upgrade from diablo 3. this would be a feature to make it feel as an upgrade or progress

10

No, 6 skill slots is not enough.
Should be 7-10 imo.
Make each extra slot above 6 cost a bunch of skill points, so the number of slots we use itself becomes a build choice. More skills vs. stronger skills as a choice.

:100:

3 Likes
11

they dont have to
its an MMORPG

8 Likes
12

Wouldn’t some of us as well.

13

World of Warcraft (MMO): I will pretend that I don’t hear that.
Diablo Immortal (MMO): If you want a fight, I am a better and more suitable opponent for Lost Ark (MMO)

Diablo 4 (ARPG): Thanks, my brothers. To be honest I am more worried about PoE2 (ARPG) or Last Epoch (ARPG).

3 Likes
14

Mobas seem to be able to produce hard-to-master gameplay with quite few buttons.

2 Likes
15

why barb gets more item slots and others no mabe add other classes more skill slots or somthing for compensation?

16

Because each class will have a Unique Class Mechanic.

“We have this goal because Diablo is the kind of game where many players try out different builds or classes, especially during seasonal play. We believe that unique class mechanics with very different strengths and playstyles compared to other classes will make exploring the different classes—and playing the game—much more fun.”

Barbarian Arsenal System = Extra weapons.

Sorceress Enchantment System = 3 Passives.

The Rogue specializations: Combo Points, Shadow Realm, and Exploit Weakness.

Druid = no idea.

17

It’s not an MMO, 6 skills is more than enough.

1 Like
18

Depending on the game the amount of abilities we can use at one time is decided by the devs. The whole point is that you have to make some hard choices as far as what skills to put on the action bar. Having more than six in some games means you don’t have any hard choices to make.

Lost Ark is an MMO not an arpg like Diablo 4 is going to be. Sure D4 will no doubt have some MMO elements, but it is not an MMO.

It is not about gamers being able to handle them or any other conspiracy like some have touted like because it is made for consoles. Or any other BS like that, making hard choices as to what to put on an action bar is good for games like D4. Having more than enough choices where you don’t have to make any hard choices is not a good idea.

19

6 is just perfect for ARPG, more and it starts to feel like an MMO

1 Like
20

Pressing more buttons doesn’t take more intelligence. Especially when there’s "filler buttons, like attacks you just weave in the middle of a combo simply because that’s the rotation.

In an arpg, your tactical evaluation of where to position yourself, how to manage your resources, etc, should matter more than how many buttons you can weave in a combo. And this is coming from someone who loves ff14 with it’s 30 button openers.