Overall, I was very impressed with the demo. Was it perfect? Nope but I had a lot of fun. It feels more like a modern version of Diablo II with a bit of Diablo III mixed in. My biggest relief is that it seems it is going back to its roots. My biggest fears are that it won’t be out for a very long time and some areas/gameplay look and feel like Diablo III which is a bummer. Lastly, I will have to say that it is disheartening to see Overwatch 2 announced already, yet another WoW expansion coming next year yet still no D2 Remastered and DIV not coming “anytime soon”. That being said, Blizzcon Diablo IV Demo > All of Diablo III IMHO and that give me hope!
A few quick thoughts before you ask them. I apologize for the randomness but hopefully this helps:
Overall, I am extremely hyped for Diablo IV after all the bad news and letdowns we got last year. The cinematic was unreal, the demo fantastic and meaty overall.
I played the demo with all classes. By far, Sorceress felt the best to play. Druid was very cool but shapeshifting was a bit disjointed. Barbarian was bland but… that’s just my opinion.
New graphics and lightning systems are amazing. They are very similar to Path of Exile and Wolcen. Also, armor and items are much more detailed overall, especially compared to Diablo III. The character screen shows a full 360 rotatable model of your character
We were not allowed to take photos or videos of the gameplay in either the main floor or the media demo room
In the demo, you could be a female or male Barbarian, Female Sorceress (of course) and Male Druid. Not sure what gender/class options full release will have
I completed every public event, quest and dungeon in the game. It was quite a large and polished demo for just BlizzCon. The biggest boss in the demo took about 10 players about 10 minutes to beat. I loved the solo and public events TBH.
Diablo font was only present in the area names. Items and quest text is in lame Arial font a la Diablo III. Boo.
Game seems more dark/gothic than Diablo III and that is a good think. Also, much more realistic and less impressionistic art style. Also a good thing.
Even though you could not select other skills or talents, you could see most of what is planned now. Some of it similar to Diablo III but overall, much cooler spells and abilities. Except for Barbarian. Snore.
Voice acting, sound effects, production values were all top notch. Extremely well done.
I also played the latest demo of Diablo Immortal on some fancy tablets if anyone has any questions
This has bugged me about D3 for a long time. We get the Diablo font during the January anniversary event, and it’s much much more readable than Arial is, but then it goes away. And it only shows up in event areas, not in the rest of the game.
A Diablo game without the Diablo font makes it feel like Microsoft bought out Blizzard and went lazy mode on development. To this day I’m still baffled how anyone at Blizzard could leave out the Diablo font in a Diablo game. Only thing I could come up with was someone hated the folks from the defunct Blizzard North so much they couldn’t stand having the font in the game.
Funny how something as small as the font can make such a difference. When I saw the area name pop up in the Diablo font I was like “YESSSS!” Then loot dropped in Arial and I was like “ARE YOU $(%(%% kidding me?! NO!!!” Bummer.
I decided to pass Blizzcon this year, I ‘knew’ D4 was going to be announced but with moving and stuff I decided spending the $ on flights, room, and tickets would be a tad too selfish of me as family $ always comes first (one negative of kids and wife, lol)
Watching Rhykker’s stream right now since I have time. Game i looking fairly good for an Alpha mode.
Can we all make sure to voice our opinion about this when Blizz opens up D4 forums for feedback? It’s such a little change but will make the game feel lot more Diablolike imo
Haha – Didn’t have a ton of huge criticism for a demo that was overall very impressive and a huge step in the right direction. Also, it’s years away for sure so I am sure there will be more to debate in coming years. Crossing my fingers that it stays on track!
A major reason why D3 flopped was that the D3 devs HATED D2 and wanted to change things out of spite / ego. At least this D4 team looks like they respect D2 and aspire to build off of what made D2 so successful.
Agreed 100% on the devs respecting the legacy. The devs I talked to said they wanted to focus on said legacy of D1/D2 but take the good points from D3. From what I’ve seen so far, it seems to be working. If they can nail the loot/end game/customization piece, I’ll be happy!
Not a lot of detail on skill tree but the gameplay and world felt much more fleshed out than last year. It definitely feels more Diablo 3-esque but with some touches that make it unique. If you like mobile games, it’s definitely one of the better ones!
