Good Evening all,
[Introduction] I’m very happy with the community that thousands of viewers were able to read my premier forum post regarding the initial Diablo IV feedback and I wanted to thank everyone for their contribution whether they agreed with me or disagreed; it is all feedback the Developers were and currently are looking for.
This is a followup post hitting new topics regarding Diablo 4 that I personally have thought of or saw it on a different forum post but wanted to expand upon:
I. Music. Lately, I started to play games of a different genre that were in Retrospect the face of that given genre. Remember that guitar theme song that Halo 2 had or Renaissance Era style 12 string guitar that Diablo I and II had? Music is so overlooked in a game but it creates an atmosphere for the player who investing their time into that game. It is such a small detail but it causes us to use more than just sight. Diablo 4 needs to have music in the game that when someone hears it on a commercial or walking down the street, they can immediate say, “That’s from Diablo 4.”
II. NPCs/Merchants. Naturally, as someone who put hundreds of hours in Diablo III, even though my character stood in town, town felt empty. I think NPC’s should play a bigger role in the game. Diablo II wasn’t perfect by any means but i’ll use Lut Gholein as an example. Just using the name, the people who have played Diablo II instantly know that is Act 2 within the game. But it was nice to be able to go to a certain area to hire a mercenary, and go to another to buy gear for yourself and your merc. The items the NCP’s sold were actually decent and gave you another option to find gear that normally would have taken a lot longer to give you that extra boost to help you past a part you normally would have been stuck at if you had the funds (Gold). In Diablo 4, I am hoping that NPC interaction is very important because I want to feel at home as a player. I’m not saying make NPC’s overpowered but at least make it another option to help with in game itemization. Gambling from Diablo 2 was a great feature because though not of a lot of people used it and it was extremely expensive gold wise, but if you needed to get a quick magic amulet or ring as a crafting base, you were able to get one on the spot. Diablo II’s Merchants eventually weren’t needed other than super rare occasions in Nightmare and Hell, but I feel like they should be a least a little viable at every stage in the game other than end game.
III. Mercenaries. I need to be blunt. Diablo III mercenaries felt like having a wet noodle by your side but at the same time they were so overpowered that everyone on the leader board used one because of the item where they couldn’t die and you would take half damage at all times. I really hope as a player, the dev team decides to go back to the Diablo II style Merc but with a better balance system. Obviously, In Diablo 2, everyone used the Nightmare difficulty Act 2 defensive merc because of the Holy Freeze Arura. In Diablo 4, they need to have that Diablo 2 customization where you can pick between a archer, barbarian, spell caster, or Trident wielding mercenary. There has to be balance and I feel no matter how strong your mercenary is, no Merc should be invincible.
IV. Story. When playing Diablo 3, I felt like I wasn’t playing Diablo. Killing off Cain to a giant butterfly who wasn’t even an Act boss infuriated the player base during the game’s initial release. The cutscenes mid boss fight actually made me want to return the game as a consumer because it felt like a “Stop go” feeling and took away the fun fighting that boss. It reminded me of Halo 3’s pauses when Cortana would talk when you were walking and it would slow the game down.
V. Gear (Not Itemization). Whatever you equip should look like the time period of the game. I think Diablo III got too carried away with the cosmetic looks and my character felt almost out of place in the world of Diablo. Diablo IV should just have more of a feel when it comes to the looks of items. Interestingly enough, many unique items that dropped were Unid. at a certain look, and when identified, that items look would change and I’m really hoping that comes back when designing Diablo 4.
Any Feedback, please leave below whether its comments agreeing or disagreeing for whatever reason. I’m hoping the Devs can see this and consider it a new source of information instead of looking through the older threads since David Kim has put out his Itemization Update II.