When I saw the scrolls it was like what the heck.
If there was a D3 wardrobe system implemented into D4 wouldnāt that eliminate the entire need for respects?
Am I the only one who feels like the attack damage is too high? This seems like a copy paste of the wow item bloat issue if youre showing items this early with that high of AP then its just going to bloat. I dont see why having it start off slower and keeping the numbers smaller and easier to read. As long as the monster health and damage as well as player damage scale at the same amount i dont see why the numbers cant be 10% of what they are now.
Also dont make the stupid mistake wow has of making monsters scale to your item lvl because the defeats the point of getting higher ilvl. for example at lvl 60 a month into shadowlands were still hitting lvl 50s for less damage then we hit lvl 60sā¦ since when did better gear in RPGs make you weaker?
6 Likes
Really impressed with the direction the team are heading in now. That is all (yes really).
Quarterly Update December 2020
Based on this, weāre confident that it (the skill tree) is a solid direction, so weāre going to iterate on it and make further improvements. For example, weāre increasing the clustering of related skill nodes, so players donāt have to go across the tree to find skill upgrades for their builds.
Why not make it simpler and give each single skill its own upgrades and its own skill points that can not be spend into other skills, similar to how Wolcen or Last Epoch are doing it (where each skill has its own skill tree and its own points), of course with other graphics?
That way you didnāt had to make nodes across the whole skill tree.
My suggestion for Skill-specific Skill Trees would be something like this, or this one, where you donāt have nodes at all, but rather a list of upgrades in which you can spend points into and which you can unlock.
Quarterly Update December 2020
In Diablo IV, you will be able to respec your skills and passives. The number of times you can do this will be unlimited, but it wonāt be free.
This is a very good middle ground!
Quarterly Update December 2020
When you gain a level, youāll receive points to spend in Strength, Intelligence, Dexterity, or Willpower, along with your skill points.
It is great that Attributes are returning to Diablo.
I also like that the attributes are universally useful, and not like the Mainstats in D3, where only a few classes benefited from some of them, and also not like in D2 where most attributes aside from Vitality were either useless or just used for being able to equip the gear!
So that is definitely a good improvement.
I also like that each class gets different bonuses from different attributes.
One minor thing I would like to see is that the attribute that improves resource re-/generation for a class also gives Cooldown Reduction.
However, what I personally would like to see more of are more clearly defined roles for each attribute, instead of each attribute having something offensive and something defensive. Clearly defined roles like:
- one offensive attribute
- one defensive attribute
- one resource management attribute
- one attribute that improves mobility (movement speed, dodge rolls, CC resistance)
The name of these attributes could differ from class to class, but it still would provide the same Main Bonuses, but different Secondary Bonuses for each class, but they would be in line with the theme of offense, defense, mobility, resource management.
This here would be my take on such an attribute system and here is another one that uses D4ās visuals to illustrate the idea, that combines each class gaining different bonuses from attributes than other classes, but also each attribute having its own distinct role, but it is your game, so you do you.
But I overall like the direction in which you are going very much.
On a sidenote: the darker version of the inventory and character screen looks really good and much better than the old, more brown version!
Quarterly Update December 2020
You can supplement your characterās stat build with items to give you a little more Willpower here, a little more Strength there, but the vast majority of your stats will come from how you choose to spend your points.
That is good!
Quarterly Update December 2020
And hereās where it gets really interesting. Many of the nodes in each class skill tree have additional effects if you meet specific primary stat thresholds. Youāll get the baseline effect of these nodes when you spend the skill points to unlock them, but get enough of the corresponding primary stat and the bonus effect will activate.
Oh, I love this. I remember another user talking about this idea here on the forums as well. I like it.
Quarterly Update December 2020
To see what that feels like in action, weāve added weapon speeds and inherent characteristics to all weapons in our latest internal test environment.
It is nice to see that, especially for me personally, since I and others have been advocating for this since a while.
Quarterly Update December 2020
Magic items can now have the most powerful regular affixes, while Rare items get up to five, and Legendary items have four regular affixes and one legendary affix.
I think the idea of making rare and magic items useful is very good since it makes these items much more interesting like in Diablo 2.
The critique I have about your current attempt in doing so, is that it makes endgame-viable legendaries feel less beefy if they only have 4 normal affixes + 1 special affix.
What I mean is this: would you be more excited when you find an endgame viable legendary that has for example:
- 1 Legendary Affix
- 5% Critical Hit Chance
- 155 Life Regeneration
- +36 Dexterity
- 7% Chance to Stun Enemies
ā¦ or an endgame viable monster like this one here?
^^Ignore the amount of sockets if you donāt like it. It doesnāt has too look like that legendary, it is just for the purpose of illustration.^^
What I would suggest to make (some) legendary items more beefy, while still having rare and magic items as viable options is to let rare and magic items be the Best-in-Slot items in some equipment slots, while legendaries are the default Best-in-Slot options for other slots.
For example
- Endgame-viable Legendaries are Best-in-Slot Items in the Weapon, Chest Armor and Off-Hand slot
- Rare and Magic Items are the Best-in-Slot Items in the Pants, Bracers, Shoulders slot
- Legendaries, Rare and Magic Items compete for the Best-in-Slot in the Rings, Amulets, Boots, Gloves and Helm slot.
ā¦ or any other composition you like.
That means that you can make endgame-viable Legendary Weapons, Chest Armors and Off-Hand Items really beefy, which would just feel amazing, while Rare and Magic items still could shine in other slots where they are either BiS items, or compete with Legendaries for the BiS slot.
Quarterly Update December 2020
Canāt decide between making your Chill effects Freeze faster or more damaging ground effects for your boots? No problem! Legendary affixes arenāt restricted to a specific slot.
I donāt think this is good, because it takes away the unique identity of each single indiviudal Legendary Item.
As an analogy, this would be like allowing your Barbarian to choose between Fireball and Hammer of the Ancients.
I personally would even prefer if Legendaries had fixed Common Affixes, so basically be like D2ās Uniques with Legendary Powers, which would also take away the unique identity of what makes a Barbarian a Barbarian and not a Sorceress
To also tie this into the previous issue of Rare and Magic Items being sometimes BiS Items for some slots, while legendaries are BiS Items in others:
ā¦ the great thing about D2ās itemization with its fixed, predetermined affixes on Uniques was that when you had your core Unique Items (and core Runewords) together for your build, you would often use Rare and Magic Items that had the right affixes to help you to fill the gaps were your character lacked, or had weaknesses in.
For example if you lacked a lot of resistances, instead of unique boots with fixed affixes like Gorerider, you theoretically could opt for Rare Boots like these here that could randomly roll with a ton of resistances to make up for your lack of resistances.
This maybe not the best example since it was just the first thing that randomly came to my mind on how to illustrate this, but you should get the idea.
To move back to the issue of Legendaries loosing their identity if you let legendary bonuses spawn randomly on various Legendaries: D2ās Gorerider for example were also unique boots with the distinct identity or special power of being very offensively oriented boots, and if its powers would have spawned randomly on other unique items, it would no longer have this identity.
Therefore I would like to ask you to reconsider the idea of letting Legendary Affixes randomly spawn on other Legendaries. I think I proved good enough reasons for doing so.
Quarterly Update December 2020
In general, one-handed weapons excel at letting you attack and reposition quickly, while slower two-handed weapons deal more damage. You can really feel the differences between them.
This gives 2handed and 1handed items more distinct characteristics. I like it!
Now, that we are at the end, I would like put some of my item-related concepts here, in the hope that you may get some inspiration from them, if you find something in them that you like.
Idea for Upgrading Magic Items
Idea for Upgrading Rare Items
Ideas for Rare Items
Legendary Item Gallery
I know it is your game and that in the end you can and should do what you like, what you prefer and what you think is right, but I would lie if I would say that I wouldnāt want you to take a look at these. Though, I still wouldnāt want to push it on you. Take what from them what you like if you find something useful in them.
I have to say that this was the update that I was satisfied the most with so far.
D4ās itemization seems to go into a better direction and the return of Attributes is also very much appreciated.
9 Likes
GOLDEN UNIQUES ARE BACK!! Cant be happy more )))
I like the direction so far. However Iām still unsure about the affixes, at least, on uniques. I mean, they look like just rare or legendary items with a couple of more affixes. I think they should be more unique in that. Maybe some will have just 1, but very cool affix? And another will have 3, but very contradictory? Or maybe smth really unpredictable - like, remember that āneedlerā crossbow? It says it does āspecial damageā. What it that? Maybe likeā¦ not physical, not magic, not elemental, but āunique damageā. Another uniq bow in D1 had āunstableā attack speed (from too slow to too fast). Etcā¦ That being said, they, ofc, should be really tempting to equip and use, not just silly toys.
I like that the stats are back and that they are connected with a skill tree. I think this is cool.
Powerful blues is great as well, however, you should make smth to mark godly rolled blues that drop. Like Diablo I blue ākings sword of hasteā - best sword in this game, better than any unique! Generally they should be trash, but some blues could be really interesting. But we donāt want to look for that godly blue in a heap of common blue trash.
1 Like
rofl
attribute points are back
LETS GOOOO XD
Whether itās anticipating the next piece of perfectly rolled mythic itemā¦ Not anymore.
Well, maybe weāll see mythic stuff in some other form a la D3 cube. Itās something every dedicated player would like to chase after.
Besides this, all of the other changes are solid and an improvement as long as the unique items wonāt be stronger (a better tier) than the legendary.
Nice update. I am looking forward to Blizzconline!
oh wait
oh no
we have main stats again XD
attribute treshhold boni for skills is very cool tho
I like the idea. Both runes & points to boost runes in a single screen. Lots of combinations possible.
1 Like
oooh
and they addressed different weapon types
this is a great update
2 Likes
Some ideas to give itemization depth, affixes should affect the power of the items themselves, not just tiny increments to the player.
https://i.redd.it/zyqc2i2bdf561.jpg
1 Like
i also like how the weapons look like now and they went back to the 3D look 
1 Like
I love the idea of brining back the stat point allocation. However, I am skeptical of the stat point requirements unlocking additional effects on the skill tree. This may force some players to put all their points into a specific stat category just to unlock the additional effect faster. Also, I didnāt see any notion that these could be re-specified. I would like to see some sort of re-spec option on the stats even if it were of substantial cost. There is nothing worse than spending hours leveling a character and making one wrong or accidental click that may force you to re-roll entirely.
The random affixes on legendary gear sounds great on paper, but Iām not quite convinced yet as to how it will perform in practice. It is bad enough when you roll the wrong or really poor secondary stats on gear, but now you could potentially be out the specific affix you are looking for. Though, this will more than likely be augmented by the Unique gear. I also didnāt see any indication regarding the stacking of certain affixes. If you are allowed to stack the affixes, then this may make finding the right gear that much more difficult as you may want or need to stack a particular affix. Alternatively, if you are not able to stack, a new piece of gear may drop that is a good upgrade but has the same affix as another equiped piece of gear.
Overall, I really loving the design and direction with Diablo IV. I do enjoy seeing these quarterly update and the response to the feedback of the community. Keep up the great work!
1 Like
I really like this iteration of itemization. It looks pretty close to perfect in my opinion. Unique items making a come back is really great. I like that rare items will be viable, and that legendary items will be strong but not the end all be all. I like what I am seeing so far. I really hope that you make unique and legendary items sufficiently difficult to obtain. It would be a real shame to see these items drop as frequently as they do in Diablo 3. End-game items should drop sparsely and be truly rare to find or they wonāt feel exciting and valuable when they are finally obtained!
1 Like
overall
this is the best update so far and i really love it
the only point that seems a bit odd yet are the attributes
they seem a bit āforcedā just for the system behind them
maybe they should be a bit more creative and not so āok, lets just shove these boni somewhere into these attributes and get it doneā (resource regeneration from dexterity)
2 Likes
If they continue with this idea, then you should just stick to Diablo 3. Especially if you like big numbers.
I personally think this is a great decision. It involves thinking and planning for your character. When I play a game like that, I feel more invested in the game. You bring up PoE as an example, and call it āanti-playerā, but then we look at the player base and all the people who quit D3 for PoE. Just saying.
If a poll was made, Iām leaning more that āIām happy with thisā and āDoesnt matter to meā, would out weigh the āI donāt like thisā
2 Likes
Yeah this would be pretty cool. Itās one of the nifty features of FF14 and Genshin Impact. You can chill at your computer playing, and then still play on the go, in the living room, etc
Really glad to see that portal scrolls in the backpack. One thing I dislike here is that everything other than armor has some attack value. I donāt know what is that for or why is it there but in my point of view it is completely unnecessary. Some items other than armor parts can have attack added like 6-14 attack dmg added to your damage overall etc. the system from D2 about this was good.
P.S. I mean it feels simplified when everything besides armor pieces gives you Attack. Like some sort of mobile game: this gives def and this gives you atk, yay! Anyway Iām really glad to see statistics again and D4 goes in a good direction in general.
1 Like
There is so much different from D3, even the graphics aside. Itās also not āStealingā ideas/stuff. Itās looking at other games in the genre, seeing what people enjoy about them, and dislike. Looking at their own game, and hearing feedback. This has led them down this path.
I think theyre going in a great direction, Ive read enough to be quite happy with how it is on paper. Canāt wait to see an early access of it, and if it holds up to its potential.