This is a list of a few things I would personally like to see added to Diablo 4. I hope the devs have a chance to see this and actually consider some of the things I am saying at the very least and truly ask themselves and break some of the points down on why it is or isn’t good for Diablo 4. I really hope the devs actually listen and make Diablo 4 the true sequel to Diablo 2. Thank you for taking the time to read it and if you guys don’t like something let me know but don’t just say it’s bad. Explain why.
More Gem types - Why did Diablo 3 get rid of the skull and sapphire?
- Sapphire (Blue)
- Topaz (Yellow)
- Ruby (Red)
- Emerald (Green)
- Garnet (Orange)
- Amethyst (Purple)
- Diamond (White)
- Onyx (Black)
- Skull (Grey)
Rare Cosmetics/Dyes
- Dyes - I want dyes to be rare tradeable consumable items found in the world that can be used infinitely. I don’t like that in Diablo 3 every dye is given to you already. I want to find them in the world and hunt for that rare dye that you really want to make your character look awesome. It feels more rewarding to find items that make you look cool rather than already looking cool from the start.
- Cosmetics - I want cosmetics to be rare tradeable items that can be found in the world as well. (It was fun farming for cosmic wings in Diablo 3. It would be nice to trade them though.)
Socketable Town Portal to customize the color.
- Blue - Socketing a sapphire into your town portal will make it dark blue
- Red - Socketing a ruby into your town portal will make it dark red
- Green - Socketing an emerald into your town portal will make it dark green
- Purple - Socketing an amethyst into your town portal will make it dark purple
- Yellow - Socketing a topaz into your town portal will make it dark yellow
- Orange - Socketing a garnet into your town portal will make it dark orange
- White - Socketing a diamond into your town portal will make it angelic white
- Black - Socketing an onyx into your town portal will make it demonic black
- Grey - Socketing a skull into your town portal will make it grey
Level
I want the max level to be 100 where each level scales starting from 1. Diablo 2’s leveling system was perfect. I don’t think that an infinite leveling system is a good design. Hear me out please. Having a max level that takes a really long time to get to but a short amount of time to look like you are 90% to the max level when in reality the time it would take to get to max is only 10% complete. When you have an infinite leveling system then what is the point of leveling anymore? There is no end goal to strive for and that does not feel rewarding at all. It’s a treadmill. I hate running on treadmills. In Diablo 3 when I get to the soft max level of 70 I only feel satisfied because I actually get to play the game at that point. Only to start running on the infinite treadmill. In Diablo 2 I feel like I am playing the game the whole time. There is no I can’t wait to get to 70 so I can actually start playing the game(though another part of this is that the items in Diablo 3 drop based on your character level and the damage scales with each level as well which is also a bad design, but lets get back to talking about levels). With a max level that scales similar to Diablo 2 there is an end goal in mind and when someone finally completes it. The satisfaction is huge compared to a soft level cap followed by the infinite level. They get the real feeling of complete. At that point they can find more awesome gear or level up their next character to max if they choose. The thought of maybe getting to max level one day is enough reward in itself. I already do not like the way levels are looking in Diablo 4. They say the max level is 40 as of right now. That sounds like a soft cap where if there is an expansion and they decide to increase the max level to 50. This would be very unfortunate if items scale based on your character’s level. Every item you found prior to the expansion would become obsolete. I absolutely hate this design and think Diablo needs to have its old leveling system back similar to Diablo 2
Item Tiers
I don’t like that Diablo 3’s items dropped scale based on your character’s current level. It makes every item prior to level 70 useless only to be used for crafting materials. I’ve said this before but if there is a soft max level of 40 when every item scales based on your character’s level and they decide to increase the level cap with the expansion. Every item will become obsolete prior to the release. So what was the point of playing the game before the expansion released? It’s cool to to know that a gg item has a possibility to drop throughout my entire time playing the game(Hotspurs). Also let’s say at launch the max level is 40 and the affixes on items scaled based on your character level. The expansion increases the level cap to 50 making all of your time spent before the release of the expansion obsolete. I hope the Diablo 4 devs do not take this route. A better system would be item tiers that unlock based on your character’s level, area, story progression. Probably 3 tiers or so where each tier higher would have increased damage, defense or affix roles. If you find a rare or magic low tier item and it has nice affix roles, you could upgrade it to the next tier with a crafting system. Increasing the defense, damage, or affix rolls depending on what type of item it is. Legendary item affixes would not increase as they are unique to that specific legendary, however the damage, attack speed, defense, etc would change depending on what the legendary’s base item is. Diablo 2 has a nice item system, but it could be expanded upon.
Rare items
There needs to be items that don’t drop as often and some that are just extremely rare.
Trading
I want to be able to trade everything I find. It gives value to items. Being able to trade items gets me excited for items I may have never been excited for because other players want the items I don’t. Free trade is a cornerstone of successful arpgs. I don’t like the idea of everything bind on pickup, people should be able to play the way they want to play. People will bot and sell items/account services for real money with or without open trade. Binding items on pickup really only hurts the legit players that want to have a fun trading community. I think the pros outweigh the cons of open trade.
Skills
Skills primary source of damage and resource cost should be leveling up the skill not based on weapon damage. Weapon damage should only be a secondary source of damage and should be balanced for each class. A physical attack character might use more weapon attack for their source of damage.
I think that skills should have a maximum cooldown of 5 seconds if any cooldown at all. I’d rather have a resource system with potions, resource per hit, resource regeneration, etc. The cooldowns and resource system doesn’t matter to me too much. Just as long as it is fun to use. The only thing I really don’t like are ultimate abilities that turn you into a super saiyan to deal a massive amount of damage for x seconds. If there is a skill that lets you deal a lot of damage for your other skills, it feels required rather than a cool side option. If I want to deal more damage with whirlwind. I should increase the skill level of whirlwind not turn into a super saiyan and then use whirlwind.
Items
All items have an innate affix unique to that type of item as well as possible affixes depending on rarity.
- Normal - 1 innate affix varies from item to item - I think normal items should be used to have the base item you want to craft. Runewords too if they are implemented the same as Diablo 2 runewords but probably not.
- Magic - 1-3 possible affixes - Magic items have the highest affix rolls but only 3 total affixes - a consumable can be used on magic items to add a legendary power.
- Rare - 4-6 possible affixes - Rare items have the most affixes but lower affix rolls than magic items - a consumable can be used on rare items to add a legendary power.
- Set - 5 static affixes with set bonuses
- Legendary - 6 static unique affixes with a legendary power. Make legendary’s legendary. Why should someone use a legendary over a rare with a legendary power? Legendary powers should not be the only difference between legendarys and rares.
:
Make items have Identity. Why should I use a dagger over a sword? Does the dagger have more attack speed? Is the swords innate affix x% chance to bleed and would be perfect for my build? Should I use a dusk shroud over an ornate plate? The dusk shroud has and innate affix of x% to resistances but the ornate plate has the highest amount of defense any armor can have.
:
- Helmet - 3 possible sockets
- Body Armor - 6 possible sockets
- Gloves - 2 possible sockets
- Bracers - no sockets
- Pants - 4 possible sockets
- Boots - 2 possible sockets
- Belt - 1 possible socket
- Ring - 1 possible socket
- Amulet - 1 possible socket
- Weapon - 3-6 possible sockets depending on the weapon 3 for one handers/ 6 for two handers.
- Off-Hand - 3 possible sockets
:
- A consumable that puts a legendary power onto a Rare or Magic item.
- A consumable that creates a copy of a Rare or Magic item
- A consumable that adds 1 socket to an item - can be used more than once to keep adding sockets to an item. If you have more of them of course.
Charms
I would love to see charms come back to Diablo 4 with a special inventory for them.
Cube and crafting
I would love to have the cube come back in some way. Probably involved with crafting somehow.
PvP
- PvP zones in the open world
- PvP game modes moba style
Goblins, Secret/Rare levels
Itemization/Affixes/Numbers
Sets should not tie into skills specifically but generally to one class or all for more build diversity. Skills could have tags like projectile or fire damage. This lets any item that increases skills under projectile or fire damage be used by multiple classes instead of just one class and skill. NO crazy damage percentage like in D3 and smaller numbers. My characters maximum damage should be 1,000 not 1,000,000 with crazy crits
Whirlwind gains the effect of the Dust Devils rune and all Whirlwind and Rend damage is increased by 10000% (6 pieces)
Instead of +3 to Meteor (Sorceress Only), it should have +3 to Mastery Skills (Sorceress Only). This way you can use other skills like Nova in the Mastery section creating more build diversity. Another example would be +3 to projectile skills, or +3 to fire skills, etc.
Items can tie into skills specifically but should have several for every skill in the game and be mixed with items that are tied into skills generally.
Expansion
The expansion should never increase the level cap. Instead it should add new items, areas, bosses, classes, etc.
Resistances
I have not seen any types of resistances yet on any of the Diablo 4 items. There needs to be resistances in Diablo 4 similar to the way Diablo 2 does it. I’m not sure about monster immunities but it still makes the game interesting and hard when you come across something that is cold immune. You need a different element to be able to kill it. It makes you think at the very least.
World Immersion
I don’t want to feel like I am just playing a game. I want to believe I am in the Diablo world. The game needs to feel real. Small details like item art, the way gems sound when they are dropped or placed into your inventory, the noise a chest makes when you open it, the spaces that items take up, a dagger should not be the same size as a two handed maul. I want to believe I am in the Diablo world and not just playing a game. This matters a lot in the long run.