If only the blog had contained any new information to give feedback on 
Welcome to the forum we have a few well intentioned members who derail threads on a regular bases.
- Even if you ask them to stop they keep on going just like the Energizer Bunny.
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It does though. That new information is in regard to the art style and the technology theyâre using to bring that vision to the computer screen. Itâs every bit as important as the game mechanics we usually end up talking about, and thatâs particularly true of Blizzard. Theyâve always approached their games as works of art as long as I can remember.
For example, I remember Blizzard North going to great lengths with the animations in D2 that were time-consuming because of the way sprites were created and rendered using the technology of the day. I remember deep and quite heated discussions over the direction the art team would take WoW, and the desire to create a style that would have staying power over time as technology improved. They wanted to create a unique style, and certainly weâd all recognize that style today. I remember D3âs art team talking about their art direction, taking lessons from the WoW team, but solving the problem of persistence as technology improved by going with a more painterly style.
Art is incredibly important to creating the fantasy universes we all love. While itâs not the hardcore game mechanics and math many of us really enjoy, itâs still critical to the ARPG experience - and we definitely got some great feedback, IMO. I think we can expect some info about other maybe-less-glamorous aspects of the game at some point as well: sound design and bringing the environment to life, UI design and allowing the player to maximize control of his character, and the like. Theyâre all things youâd notice immediately if they were poorly done or missing.
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Maybe, but we already have hours of streams showing how the game looks, and we have already given lots of feedback to Blizzard on that topic. This is not bringing much to the table.
Sure. And I am definitely not one to shy away from discussing topics that are hard to change. Such as Offline mode.
But an argument that D4 should look more like WoW would be quite a few years too late unfortunately.
For Baals sake, please donât⌠
WoW already looked terrible the day it launched IMO so Iâve never played it.
D4 will be the first Blizzard game where the art style of the cinematics and the game matches. That was something that I always found strange with older Blizzard games.
Wasnât saying it should look like WoW (although WoW looks great) 
Just that it is way too late to change art direction.
Smaller things can probably still change, like color saturation and such. And hopefully it will.
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Thatâs fine with me that you like WoWâs art. But Iâm so relieved D4 looks like it doesâŚ
Iâm hopeful that the saturation doesnât change honestly. I like the bleak look that it offers, as it truly makes the world feel hopeless.
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I never argued it should. That point was made to show Blizzard really pays attention to art seriously with all of their games. Itâs important to them. I didnât express an opinion on liking that style or not, let alone advocate for or against it. Please donât put words in my mouth.
I disagree. We certainly have seen some demos, but it has been limited. We got to see some technical details about how they create. We got to see a look at what their focus is on, what details theyâre paying attention to, and a reinforcement of their overall style.
In terms of new, we got some great insight into character customization which is new to Diablo. We get to pick body types, faces, skin tone, accents like piercings and tats, etc. And they look great! We also got a look at how theyâll deal with dyes so we can customize our armor. For those of us who like the RPG elements of the genre, this is important.
If itâs not your cup of tea, thatâs fine. Iâm certain weâll be getting more mechanics in future updates, especially as some of those systems get fleshed out and to the point where the team feels confident they have enough to present. Remember, weâre also dealing with early development and a team with enough experience to not want to overpromise and then have to change things and be seen as underdelivering to fans.
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I know sorry i was ironic. But it dosenât comes through.
Not to mention that we got some great info (both gameplay and lore info) on some of the monsters/demons weâll face in Diablo 4.
Maybe in future blog posts we can get a little bit of both. I think we are all really excited for the game and just want as many information as we can get about everything. Iâm a software engineer and also did work in game development - so I should know it takes time. But it is DiabloâŚ
I didnât try to put those words in your mouth. Just saying that giving feedback on the art style is a lot less relevant than most topics. As it is really hard to change.
So even if I wanted Blizzard to make Diablo 4 look like WoW (which I dont, even if WoW does some things better imo), it might seem pointless to give that feedback based on this blog.
Especially because it is early development, should mean it is the best time to present these things. While there is still time to change them.
For the art direction it is hard to give much meaningful feedback beyond like or dislike.
Next update is going to be endgame and music us i remember correctly.
It could be the last blog of the year 
"Be sure to stay tuned, as weâre planning to delve deeper into the topics of sound design and endgame systems later this year."
Sounds like a better one at least.
Which btw, is also worth repeating. They could have chosen to make a blog post with half art and half something else. Might have given a bit more meat to talk about.
Previous blogs typically have not been so singular in their focus.
Maybe we will get a blog on what D4s version of pony level will be 
Which I guess is a counter argument to my claim that art style is hard to change. Pony level was some quick response to feedback. And quite amazing on top.
Why is the base appearance so important if we will change our look as soon as we start equipping gear from the other âzonesâ. They said that gear will look different in each area. Do players really care what color eyes the hero has. Wont the bodies be covered in gear? Why will it matter what they look like under the armor?
Totally feel that!
It is harder, for sure. Around post ~130ish, thereâs a discussion about the succubus. I think some of that type of feedback is important. I also think the generally positive response in the first 100 replies or so is good for the team to know theyâre on the right track with what fans want. Art is so subjective and the only way for an artist to get feedback from people not really trained to evaluate it is to show a lot and get a feel for the response.
This is so tricky though. The dev team is going to want control over what they do. Theyâre definitely responsive to feedback - weâve seen that pretty clearly through their quarterly updates. But thereâs a balance between letting the fans design the game and the devs designing with input from the fans. You canât democratize too much, so I think they prefer to have something well thought out, maybe partially implemented and tested a bit, and something theyâre confident with before presenting it. You donât want to have to constantly go back to the drawing board. This may be why weâre still seeing a lot of broad ideas coming out, and more specifics will come as development progresses.
Of course as a player, Iâd love to be part of helping design the game. I think many of us would, but I respect the devsâ position and am willing to be patient.
Yeah, I am very much against devs listening to their customers. Trying to do what players claim they want, is typically a bad path to go down.
Sadly Blizzard seem to need it, since much of what they have presented has not been very good, and then they have improved (a little) on it based on feedback.
Surely the game will have a âhide helmetâ toggle.
But the details do seem a bit much for a bird view game. Probably worth the development time for the cinematics alone though, as making those outside of the game engine isnât exactly easy either.
I think people will care. Look at CRPGs and how much time people are spending building their character. Even in Cyberpunk which is a first person game where you donât see your character at all.
In D4 I think a big part will be the ingame cinematics where it is your character. That helps connecting the player to the story. But you are also right, for most of the gameplay you wonât see the eye color.
I also like that I can create visually âdifferentâ Barbarians (for example) in my account (of course that will only be the case if there is some kind of build persistence so that I need more then one Barbarian).
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