Diablo/ARPG guru & Maxroll contrinbutor Echohack video on D4 itemization & Occultist. Very interesting video.
3 Likes
He sure got some hot takes.
“Right now in A-RPGs skills and skill trees are just too powerful”…
Looks at D3 and weeps
Yeah, no thanks. Not sure how he could be more wrong in his basic assumptions.
Imo, more power needs to be moved to the skills and the skill trees.
But hey, at least he thinks trading should be removed.
1 Like
He is not talking specifically about d3.
Also in a poll done on Reddit, most gamers want a more even split between skill and gear in char power .
You are the minority.
Since the legendaries are BoA/BoE anyway isn’t the balance of power between “talent” vs. “items” a bit of splitting hairs? as they are both intrinsic inseparable components of your character. A major difference being one hinges on RNG, which I’m guessing is a determining factor in redditors wanting more power from items? I don’t dislike slot machines but I do prefer the “challenge” posed by D2 xp penalty where gaining a level past nightmare has a legitimate lose condition, and you have to be good enough, or give up, and the end result is your character’s power level plain as day from level 1 to 100…whereas getting your next “skill point” off an item drop is a matter of rolling lucky 7. It would be nice if D4 avoided the incessant gearcheck/powercreep “gameplay” where possible, which starts with refraining from dismissing any and all concepts that aren’t functionally identically to the likes of Prestige Simulator aka WoW aka a haven for talentless players to rise to the top solely off a time commitment.
The customization and “perpetual progression” implications look cool, though. I approve of the mechanics of the system itself which I dub the “item chakra” though I maintain that it’s not the weapon that makes the man.
EDIT: Now that I think about it, the idea is that you amass a collection and work toward eventually having free reign to choose, inasmuch as items define the character. It’s like if talent respec only cost gold the first time and every point you unallocate is forever free to revisit, because it’s already “trodden”. Cool.
Yeah, exactly how it should be. I guess the majority sees the light for once 
Instead of 90%+ items.
Hence, more power needs to be moved from items to character, to reach that 50/50 split that both Blizzard claimed was their goal, and that “a majority” of players (and more importantly, I) might want.
He was very much also talking about D3, he specifically mentions D3 in that very sentence.
As well as PoE, & some other I forget.
Indeed.