Factions could bring flavor & potential to Diablo 4 endgame

General Discussion
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INB4 people freak out by the idea MMO terms associated with Diablo4, please read

I really Hope Diablo4 borrows the aspect of choosing a faction some MMos have. I should i say and highlight it stays a ARPG hack’n slash but borrow a MMO mechanic to empower its endgame Pretty sure that was the original plan for D3 by blizzard North https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swIztpMr4EM&ab_channel=Xtimus

We even got a glimpse of it with the original item designs where there were angelic and demonic powers

Its still a full-on ARPG gameplay but with faction system for the endgame

Humanity VS Heaven VS Hell

Playing the storyline, you are face with choices that makes you choose between Lilith, Inarius or Humanity. those choices are just flavour since they all end up the same way, you die, Lilith killed you because you are with heaven, Lilith betrays you if you side with her(mistress of betrayal afterall) and she kills you just for being a human trying to stop her. Finishing the Storyline you are Reborn as an Angel through the crystal arch or a Demon through the burning hells or get revived by Rathma. This would give good replayability to the storyline by having 3 paths, give cool looks to characters and create a justified neverending endgame

Endgame applications of this choice

Fight to gain control over towns and areas. The precedent behind this could be like the existance of the pandemonium fortress. This forteresse was built to protect the worldstone from falling into enemies hand but through time it changed hands regularlaly. With Lilith’s uprising, world stone shard(giant ones) scattered all over Sanctuary are being the main target of Power Seekers. Fortresses are being built around them to protect them from falling into enemy camp

Having control of a WorldStone fortress could grant buffs to its faction members while doing quests in surrounding areas. Players could contribute to the fortress’s power by financing it with ressources, making the guarding monsters stronger, creating a natural ressource sink for the game. They could even defend it themself in special event

They already said they wanted to make it a Massive open world, this would take full benefit of it. There would obviously still be normal dungeon crawling, you could play the game without even caring about this mechanic. The only difference would be that Those fortress grant Shrine like buffs to allies on a certain radius on the map, its basically a Tug-o-war for faction buffs

Its still a traditional “Clear dungeons get loot” arpg, but its just a flavourful twist to it. It could also be a good pretext to have pvp ingame. The “Faction” system taken from MMOs is just there as a justification for the endgame repetitive grind, it turns the players into the “Eternal Conflict” mode

It just gives a lore/thematic reason as to why you would endlessly grind dungeons, because the other side is also doing this to get stronger…

https://youtu.be/IBAKjviBElo?t=249 even Tyrael talks about the hero choosing a side

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This didn’t go well for you the first time you posted this. Why try it again?

4 Likes
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it went pretty well but the stupid design of these forums force people to create new topics by preventing them to Bump

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So that means it didn’t go well because no one wanted to talk about it. Factions could work, just not what you have suggested. I’ve already stated why in the original as well as many other lore nerds here.

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yeah nobody wanted to talk about it… 73 reply= 0

because we all know that topics need bumping only because they arent interesting… not because it sometimes happen that people reply or creater other topics and it sinks fast and unoticed

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Wow, a whole 73. Compared to the active threads with hundreds and thousands of replies.

It’s more you didn’t like how it was mostly shot down and tried to bring it up again after people came back for the D4 blog.

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Factions are fun but can have no player power attached to them.

Only cosmetic differences, else players will simply chase the meta.

Also allow the factions to group else you lose a chunk of your usable playerbase.

Factions are currently ruining the WoW experience, leaving the Alliance side floundering with a smaller fraction of the playerbase, because players/guilds went meta over flavour.

So again, factions are great but can have no player power attached to them.

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Exactly.

Look at WoW and the problems that game has encountered due to tying power to faction choice. The most egregious example being Covenants in this current expansion.

I’m fine with factions as a way to spice things up a bit, but only if their rewards are completely cosmetic. Having seasonal faction questlines that award exclusive transmog pieces, player titles, pets, mounts, etc? I would be completely fine with something like that in D4.

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Oh i completely agree, with the system i propose, you dont gain anything by choosing a faction over another

the only bugg you get is when your faction hold a Fortress, you will get a buff from the worldstone shard while you do surounding dungeons

ie: You are running the Abadon dungeon and your faction owns the Harrogath fortress, depending on how close they are together, you get something like +X% walking speed.

Each worldstone Chunk giving their own perk

But the factions that dont own that dungeon arent penalized, they indeed dont get that buff, but in exchange they now have the Fortress as an extra dungeon to run, which could be tailored to be as rewarding as running nearby dungeons with buffs… overall they equalize

Factions in Diablo 4 would/should only be thematic

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A faction choice would have to include some purposeful decision, whether that means you’re locked into a path to certain dungeons, items, transmogs, wings, pets, whatever… without a meaningful choice, its just another useless checkbox.

It does not have to give an advantage, per se, but there should be some reason to select one.

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There is no purposeful decision to be had in siding with either if 2 factions that would either use us to destroy the other side or erase us completely from existence. The fight for Sanctuary is a fight against both the High Heavens and the Burning Hells. Neither are our friends.

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You can’t have it both ways though, no advantage period.

Meaningful choice would suggest a choice that would change how your character acted within the game world, right?

If you have 2 factions at the least, then that gives you 2 choices and unless they are “just another useless checkbox” then the better one will be picked over the other, which ironically enough completely removes the decision and we’re back with the meta problem.

If you have something cool and powerful for one then you need the same for the other, and they cancel each other out, so better to get mounts or something pretty instead.

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No thanks. I want as few MMO elements as possible. Just give me a Diablo game with strong single player gameplay that I can also play with my friends when I want to.

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Only way i see this working is simply if the bonus for each factions is some slight story and quest objectives changes …Then i could see it work out …(example the end of the story is different depending on the faction you picked)

Add in any sort of bonus or competitive gameplay and you end up with everyone rerolling to X instead of playing what they want .

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Indeed. The Burning Hells have no love for us and would see us corrupted and/or destroyed (mostly the former as it ensures their victory against the High Heavens), and after the events of the Reaper of Souls expansion, most angels likely have nothing but disdain towards us for our role in Malthael’s demise (likely a reason why they closed their gates to us), wouldn’t willingly accept us. Hell Tyrael is an archangel, and most of them shown nothing but contempt to him just for allying himself with Sanctuary.

Now that’s not to say a demonic/angelic/human(or Nephalem/ancestral whichever suits your fancy) system won’t work. It would just be less of a faction system, that requires the use of allies (hence the name “Faction”), and more of an alignment system that primarily affects the actual player, and provides an optional non-canon storyline the player can follow after beating the main campaign, in which the quests and plotline are dependent on which alignment the player is in.

End result however, wouldn’t be the player allying themselves with the respective alignment group, but more so them ruling over it (for example, if you aligned with the burning hells and complete the necessary quests, you’d become the de facto ruler of the Burning Hells.). However if you beat the story without completing the necessary quests, you can achieve different endings, such as being enslaved by the respective group (becoming a pawn of the great evils).

Then they could have some abilities have some visual changes to better show their alignment.

But all in all, I don’t see this happening. Which is a shame, because I do think they could do something with a demonic/ancestral/angelic system (like they were planning previously), just don’t have it to do with itemization.

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It was just an alternative attribute system at best.

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It was, which is why I hope they do something else with it, assuming they ever bring it back that is.

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Hopefully not as a faction system. Maybe as some reputation system. Think of light/dark side systems in SW games. You could do things that would add to Demonic rep, Angelic rep, or Ancestral(Sanctuary) rep.

Rep could be tied to quests, mobs, dungeons. You would be choosing a side to fight for but your actions would be noticed by those in power. Could grant limited time buffs and/or cosmetic appearances.

2 Likes
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Diablo Immortal has factions:

https://immortal.maxroll.gg/resources/immortals-walkthrough

The Immortals represent the most powerful players in Diablo Immortal. The ruler of all of them is known as The Immortal and has the power to appoint four Lieutenants along with control of the entire faction. If you are one of the lucky few to call yourself Immortal, you gain access to the game’s biggest challenges, best loot, and wealth beyond measure. But the Immortals cannot hold their crowns forever, and inevitably, the Shadows will take control of the crowns and become the new Immortals.

https://immortal.maxroll.gg/resources/shadows-walkthrough

The Shadows are one of three factions available in Diablo Immortal and can be joined by all Adventurers through the Shadow Lottery or a direct invite from a current Shadow. Serving as the eyes in the dark, the watchers ensure the Immortals are still worthy of their station as the defenders of Sanctuary. Unlike Immortals the Shadows can have unlimited members to help in their cause. Shadows gain strength and obtain Marks by completing various activities that are exclusive to the Faction. Once enough Marks have been obtained, Dark Houses may enter the Rite of Exile to challenge the Immortals. Below we go over everything about the Shadows and what’s available in this faction!

Just saying.

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Diablo immortal is an MMO. D4 is not. Big difference.

1 Like