Diablo IV Quarterly Update - Q3 September 2020

General Discussion
446

There is nothing deep about the D2 skill tree. And the attributes were a joke even when D2 released.
So a new wheel really is needed.
Not that I think what they have shown so far is the right solution. Quite far from it actually.

Give me skill choices with a bunch of (10+) skill modifications. Like Last Epoch or Wolcen.
As for attributes, I personally dont care much. Every single attribute system in an A-RPG has been trash. So maybe dont try. But if you try, then look at what Pillars of Eternity (a CRPG) did. With attributes that are actually useful for all classes, where you can make a strength barb, an int barb, a dex barb etc.
For itemization, look at something like Grim Dawn.

It is possible to learn things from Diablo 2. It has a really good overall package of gameplay. Not best at anything, nor worst.
But honestly, when looking at individual game features, it has been surpassed in nearly everything. One of the only things D2 has left is its world building, maybe also its strong class fantasies. While D1 got its great atmosphere. Take those into D4 for sure.

As for D2 with better graphics. Yeah, I want a D2 Remaster. I will pay good money for that.
But it sure isnā€™t what D4 should be.

3 Likes
447

I agree with posters above. D2 was not perfect by any measure, but it was well designed. Dark, archaic, gritty and sharp. Like a mix between Castlevania and Lord of the Rings (with much more horror and fire).

The skill book was simple yet open to creativity and yes, stats could have more of an impact on attributes.

And then add all of the class unique items, runewords and charms, crafting, gems/jewels, side quests, achievements, challenges, easter eggs etc etc etc that add depth.

448

After re-reading all Diablo IV quarterly updates, reading most Q3 September 2020 feedback posts and reviewing feedback videoā€™s my conclusion is that the community is mostly positive.

There are a number of negative feedback posts. Donā€™t forget most of these feedback posts are from D1 / D2 / D3 fans wanting Diablo IV to be the best ARPG it can be. There are also a lot of positive posts. Almost all posts contain very useful feedback.

In general the Diablo IV developers are looking for simple systems that deliver on the ā€œeasy to learn, difficult to masterā€. Will a combination of these systems create the depth hardcore players demand, while keeping things simple for beginners? Should this succeed the focus of the End Game Progression System could shift from a Paragon+ System to more content and challenges on a regular basis.

Perhaps one of the main goals of Diablo IV should be to create depth from combining simple systems in such a way that a Paragon+ System becomes obsolete.

Every time I look at the Diablo IV Official Gameplay Trailer in 4k I want to dive in right away. It already looks and sounds like best of D2 and D3 combined. Provided the story telling will be great you will really feel like you are that Barbarian, Sorceress, Druid or ā€¦ (insert your favorite Diablo character) ā€¦ fighting the armies from Hell.

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449

WOW, the skills Looks awesome, so farā€¦ iā€™m super impressed, something blizzard didnā€™t do for a long time. ( for me )

GOOD JOB, you made me want to come back in diablo !! might start a new character on Diablo 2 :smiley:

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450

Agreed about the trailer!

If the community is mostly positive; Iā€™m a bit disappointed.

I think thereā€™s a big difference between negative feedback and constructive feedback. My reaction is negative about this update but thereā€™s no need in being harsh or toxic towards the devs. Theyā€™re working incredibly hard to deliver to a highly demanding crowd

But thatā€™s the purpose of negative feedback; to point the developers in the direction of what we want to see in our game. Not to belittle them or other community members; I dislike folks who do that.

I donā€™t think the skill tree is really ready. Itā€™s a single screen that combines the previous two screens we saw during the blizz-con demo, the active skill section and the passive tree. I see no additional options; just a blending of the two.

As someone who is planning to sink thousands of hours into this game; I would genuinely like to see more options in the skill tree. The fewer options there are, the less hours I can put into the game

I hope my discontent / say in the matter adds additional points onto the skill tree. Would be great to see a tree-per-skill style system. Something similar to Skyrimā€™s skill tree system.

451

Iā€™ve only recently started looking into the currently known information for D4 and already Iā€™m very disappointed.

Iā€™ve played D2 since launch, I endured D3 - Diablo goes to Candyland, and now I learn D4 is an MMO. Sure, they say itā€™s not quite like an MMO but we all know thatā€™s just damage control for a horrible decision theyā€™ve made (probably one forced on them by Microsoft).

I want to play Diablo by myself, as Iā€™ve done for 20 years. I donā€™t want to run around the game world only to see Clarence and his three friends running nearby. Can anything ruin immersion faster than that?

We knew this move was coming for two reasons:

  1. D3 was online only - an obvious first step to their intended goal for D4 - get the community use to the idea of being online at all times

  2. Blizzard, long ago, stopped caring about what anyone in their community wants (Immortal proved that - if any further proof was needed)

If I canā€™t play a single player, private, campaign then Iā€™m not buying D4. I donā€™t play MMOā€™s.

I had some ideas I was hoping to share for the next Diablo, as a long time player of the franchise, but learning D4 is an MMO ended that. I no longer care, literally not one feature of the game matters to me if Iā€™m forced to play in a game world with other people.

This is just the latest bad decision Blizzard has made, proving once again their partnership with Microsoft was for the worst. This is a very clear sign that Blizzard is designing this game with young people in mind, and completely ignoring their long time player base. I hope it blows up in their face like Fallout 76 did for Bethesda. Your studio doesnā€™t exist without supporters like me for the past 20+ years, hanging us out to dry to appease 11 year olds proves youā€™ve lost sight of that.

4 Likes
452

Or even additional skill alterations based on the difficulty from Normal to Hell.

Keep the progression evolving throughout, rather than all at once.

1 Like
453

Then you havenā€™t really read the D4 information. D4 is not an MMO.

You can play D4 by yourself. You may see people in town hubs, you may come across a few players while out and about, and there will be a few local events(world bosses) that open up the world to a few handfuls of players to tackle a world boss.

The key thing is, there is no required grouping to complete content. I know there has been a semantical argument about this regarding the world bosses, but you do not have to interact nir engage with other players to play. MMOs require group play for a lot of activities, have an open economy, which D4 will not, and all players are visable, which will not happen in D4. The summer update specifically mentioned this.

If youā€™ve been apart of the discussion since Blizzcon youā€™d know you second point is wrong. You also seem to be on of thise that equates to popular suggestions not being implemented equates to not listening or caring.

Lastly, the handful of you threatening not to buy the game due to the shared world wonā€™t change anything. There were many claiming the same thing about D3 and always online. Yet 30M+ copies later, that didnā€™t seem to matter.

You keep saying MMO, but Iā€™m not sure you know what one is if you think D4 will be one. And Microsoft? I think this might just be a whine post just to whine. Despite what some people think about FO76, itā€™s actually doing pretty damned well. And supporters like you. Look man, Iā€™ve been around since day 1 with Diablo 1, and have no issues with this direction. You only speak for your self.

454

Their game. It not yours or ours. Itā€™s their game. Even if you donā€™t like something being constructive is far better than being negative. Just look at the poster after you. Nothing but negativity that hold no substance other than I donā€™t like the thing and threats of not buying and slapping real fans in the face.

If it was presented in a way like hey devs, I understand what you are trying to do with this shared world and all, but I really am put off by it and prefer not to see others in my game. You should consider a private mode for those like myself that may be less inclined to purchase the game due to seeing others whole we play.

I know that feedback would be taken more seriously than the drivel that was posted. One pointed out the problem and the reason why he and others have said problem, while the other was negative.

I know people are passionate, but yelling at devs because you donā€™t like a change or direction is just a bad way of going about things. I know it works sometimes, but it just makes the community look bad in the end. Like a bunch of spoiled, petulant brats that got their way.

I mean, I would prefer an offline mode. If it doesnā€™t happen im.not going to cry about it. In the end this is just an entertainment product vying for people disposable income. Itā€™s not a life or death survival product. Too many act as if it is.

455

Lol of course itā€™s their game, I did 0 hours of development on this piece of software

Thereā€™s still a relationship between devs and players, ā€œtheir gameā€ doesnā€™t exist without players, if youā€™re releasing some piece of software you need customers / users. You canā€™t just release the final product to nobody

I agree; being constructive is better than being negative.

Also good point about the poster who posted after me; I read it. It was pretty toxic, we have to ignore these people, they donā€™t really add any value. I feel bad for blizzard community managers and developers who have to endure their commentary

Beefhammer, I pretty much agree with you on every point except for drawing a hard line on ownership. Sure they own it and I buy a copy, but thereā€™s a mutually beneficial relationship between the producers and consumers, one doesnā€™t exist without the other

I think people are very sensitive and vocal about what they want in a game. I do however think that both groups want the same target goal, which is for D4 to be more successful than D3. How we get there is totally a different question

456

Iā€™m just sad to see them do away with Acts. I know that splitting zones can basically achieve the same thing.

I hope they stay true to the style and lore of Diablo (across all games, 1-3)

457

Are they seriously doing that?
If true, sounds like a really bad decision.

458

It sounds like you can move through the entire game without doing any of the campaign. So in that sense, no acts unlocking a new zone.

If you do the campaign, it might of course still have story based acts.

459

I doubt you can get keys for dungeons and other end game activities at level cap without completing the campaign at least once. They even mentioned you are in a private game until you finish each zones campaign. So yes there will be acts if you will. You can just do them in any order.

460

Oh really? I was under the impression that you could only get to zones in a given sequence.

461

Not all of us are fence sitters who phrase or thoughts in a way to appease as many people as possible. Some people accept literally anything a developer puts out, those people are why gaming is in a very bad state.

And youā€™re right, itā€™s their game. Guess what their game is worth without customers? That pretty much sums up why ā€œitā€™s their gameā€ is always a poorly thought out, lazy argument.

I donā€™t agree with their decisions. You donā€™t agree with my post. You claimed it was ā€œdrivelā€. Isnā€™t it funny how quickly the hypocrisy shows up? My words are toxic, but not your own. Right big guy? In reality, you sound like a fanboy, and fanboys ALWAYS mentally break down if someone doesnā€™t like a game, or an idea, as much as they do. In other words, grow up. Not everyone is going to think what you do, in fact most people will not. If your style is to grovel at their feet as if theyā€™re some kind of god, then by all means have at it. Not all of us are interested in going that route. I imagine youā€™re quite young.

When a company puts out a product they open themselves up to criticism. When a company has a 20+ year product and then drastically changes it by, for the first time ever, forcing people to play with others, thatā€™s an objectively bad decision. You can claim itā€™s not an MMO, and I can claim the sun is 3 miles away. Saying something doesnā€™t make it true.

The game is an MMO, even PC gamer agreed and said verbatim just that. Itā€™s almost guaranteed to be a decision about money, as theyā€™d rather not pay for extra server capacity for people who donā€™t want to play, an MMO.

When D3 was announced and it was revealed it would be online only, there was huge back lash (you probably werenā€™t born yet), and now everyone accepts it. Why? Because people over time become conditioned to accept things, even very stupid things. Itā€™s not a better idea today than it was then, the only difference is people that have good ideas are drowned out by people who will accept and play literally anything. In other words, some of us have standards, some of us donā€™t. Can you guess which one you are?

D4 is an MMO and it will be the least popular Diablo game theyā€™ve ever released because of it. Count on it.

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462

Itā€™s actually labelled a dungeon-crawler ARPGā€¦ says so in the official wikipedia

463

Yes it was drivel because you drowned on about it being an MMO which it isnā€™t.

Nice dig at my age. But Iā€™ll guarantee Iā€™m older than most on here considering I played D1 day 1. But you know, everyone accepted online only and still bought and played D3.

Again you keep saying MMO, Iā€™m really not sure you even know what that means.

464

He might be confused given that some streamers were already calling games like PoE a mmorpg^^

465

To be fair, game publishers mislabel their games all the time.