In the art from 2019 they showed someone that looked like a Paladin in Hell, sorry I cannot post the link.
Agreed. Having such incredible designs would be such a waste imo, if they were overshadow by generic elite affixes that can be found on any elite enemy regardless of monster type and/or family.
While it may involve more work, I think each monster type should have itâs own pool of elite affixes to pull from for itâs elite variants thatâs unique to that specific monster type. For example, an elite succubus wouldnât (or at least shouldnât) have the same elite affixes as an elite spider would, and vice versa.
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Not really. Art is more than technical features.
It would be completely reasonable to prefer D3s look over D4s.
Not that I am saying I do (however the color palette in D3 often seems better).
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I agree the artistic take is of course objective, however I think D3 is vastly inferior to D1, D2, and D4 in that regard and obviously graphically (technically) worse than D4.
Even games like PoE, which has received improvements, often misses the mark on animations and such. D4 is overall looking great and to recapture the feel of D2 and D1, more or less. D3 was far too exaggerated, pastel colored, and over animated in my opinion.
D1 and D2 both leaned closely toward realism, but still felt stylized in ways, rather than being a hyper realistic look like Kingdom Come, where it looks real, but looks boring and lacking in style. So far D4 seems to be following that trend.
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I agree that would be awesome, though think they could find a middle ground, where a large pool of affixes could be applied to most monsters (maybe some only apply to ranged, some to melee, some to demons, some to undead, etc.) barring some exceptions, and the way they affect the monster is more personal. Such as a Multi affix resulting in the Blood Bishop casting multiple aoe bombs that cause the area of denial (as they put it). Rather than him still only casting one of those while lots of lasers pop up everywhere around him. Then the same multi affix could apply to an archer by having them use multi-shot, or by having a fallen be able to revive 3 devilkins at a time rather than 1, or a maggot spawning enemy spawn 3 at a time instead of 1. To me, those affixes are similar, but operate differently on the enemy and their already existing abilities, which enforces the enemies look and feel.
Am I the only one looking at the 4 girls pic (âYou can choose from a variety of personasâ) and wondering if the hair was painted on as an afterthought because hair rendering was missing altogether?
I donât like the way the super conan beefy male barb makes the female look weak next to him. Afraid of physically strong women? The fembarbs look badass but more wildcat than bull. Itâs supposed to be a class fantasy, not a class-at-a-gender fantasy.
And I find the turban looks silly (cover the missing hair?).
Also why dial up gore up to 11 and nudity down to 2? Succubus in a chaste top? Even Billie Eilish shows more cleavage than her. The seduce part is nonexisting.
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Another point Iâd love some clarification on, it feels like the game is being designed from the ground up with smart loot / armor matching in mind. If each of these armor sets is hand crafted for their respective classes, then it feels like the design of the game can go in one of three ways:
- All loot is accessible to all classes and can be worn by anyone, but the art style changes depending on which class is wearing it. It feels like this would be problematic for uniques though if they change art appearance depending on which class equips them. (The D3 way, which is fine but D3 didnât have uniques.)
- Diablo 4 is embracing a character exclusive smart loot style game where if you play a barb, only items with barb art are allowed to drop, i.e. you donât get full access to the item database because art is tied to the item exclusively.
- There are a mixture of these two concepts: some armor (magic items and rares) have swappable art depending on who is wearing the item, while sets, some legendaries, and some uniques are class restricted.
I would love to know which way the developers are approaching the game. Can a barb equip any weapon/armor in the game (sets notwithstanding)? Can a sorc choose to wear a two handed axe and equip plate if they want, or will we have tightly controlled options as to what characters can wear/equip to better serve the art direction and fantasy? The answer to these questions has huge design implications for itemization, so a lot of us would love to know the foundation you are working from.
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They wonât spoil their 5th class announcement by casually dropping it into a character art blog beforehand.
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Yeah, completely agreed.
Create a bunch of general elite affixes, such as what we know from D3. But apply them differently for different monster families/monster types etc. so they feel thematically coherent.
Some could work fairly different, like your Multi examples, multiplying a specific monster ability, others could be pure reskins, like Arcane lasers showing up as different graphics depending on who use it, but otherwise working fairly similar. A bandit might throw some kind of swirling blade trap on the ground, a demon spellcaster might throw the good old arcane laser, and a spider might throw a web that circles around, and slows you if you touch it, etc.
I really hope this is the outcome, the other would be bad.
Though imo it is complete waste of artist resources to create a unique look for each item for each classâŚ
That is definitely the kind of answers that would have been more interesting than showing some art. Mere 4 months after Blizzcon were 99% of what was shown was art.
Most likely it will work like this:
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First Iâve looked at it, honestly. Not a fan of Aladdin the Barbie.
So, when possible, if possible, I will be changing how the armor looks. Others might like it. I do not.
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This should make some people happy.
"Be sure to stay tuned, as weâre planning to delve deeper into the topics of sound design and endgame systems later this year." 
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âToday weâre going to be focusing on Diablo IV character artâplayer characters, monsters, and allies.â 
Could the Knight be on our side? As a Follower/Merc? Or someone who helps us on a quest?
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Hi Diablo peeps!
I read the post thoroughly and Iâm loving the character work so far. Art-wise, I know all artists there usually kick it out of the park.
Feedback:
If I can suggest something, it would be decreasing the shine on golden parts and increasing the dirt / wear and tear. Some of those outfits are looking brand new and, judging by the gritty nature of the game, I believe it wouldnât look that way. Just a quick dirt pass on Substance Painter should do the trick, specially for the metallic parts. The UV work is apparently amazing and the bakes are looking pretty sharp! Iâm sure Substance could tackle that in a jiffy, since you guys probably have really decent mappings (heightmap, curvature, color, âŚ)
I believe keeping most things dirty and worn is important also because when you see a player with that extremely rare item, that looks pristine and shiny, they really stand out.
Iâd like to suggest the same thing as a feedback to the art direction in general. Always tone down lights and only make them strong when the time comes. That makes the moment, object, monster, ⌠way more important and memorable, specially considering the DARK nature of crypts, ancient monuments and lost relics.
Thanks for another update! Iâm really looking forward to see howâs the environment department doing.
Have a good one you all! I hope everybody is having a good time. <3
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Frankly, the games industry is gravely afraid of boobs, but all about the violence. Otherwise, seduction actually isnât the root of succubus, or incubus for that matter. Rather, cubare is often cited as the source, with its general meaning being âto lie beneathâ. themoreyouknow.gif or something~
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Good thing thereâs usually more than one armor set in an RPG. 
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Yep, could be - Was an interesting photo to publish, nice speculation value.
Kormacâs son or grandson? 
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Kormac, one of the lamest characters in the Diablo series. âI AM KORMAC!â âTHE WILL OF A TEMPLARâŚâ
Thinking about it and lots of other D3 parts just makes me so happy D4 is shaping up to have presentation that returns to D1 and D2 style.
I am really impressed by the amount of work put into details and creative looks
Something I didnât see mentioned, probably a bit off topic, these random floating orb enemy affixes really donât fit into these great, dark and gore monster designs
I hope you can see that as well 
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