This is everything I have that doesn’t fall into something strictly ‘bugs’ or very close to it.
- No Mini-map overlay for center of screen.
This is standard aRPG fare, even if you want an MMO feel. It exists in literally every aRPG, even Lost Ark.
- You are unable to zoom out to the world map from inside a dungeon or cellar.
Massive QoL. No reason that to exit a dungeon my only options are to teleport to the main town or teleport to the entrance, instead of teleporting to any waypoint. Additionally maybe I full cleared a dungeon and just want to figure out where I want to go next.
- Screen flashes when map is open, not when being hit by a mob.
Self explanatory. I should be notified when I’m being hit by mobs, not when mobs simply exist 2 screens away.
- Your TP location does not show on map when teleporting to town.
More QoL. When you TP to town, I’d like to see where I teleported from. Sometimes you have to alt+tab or some other real life thing happens and you’re pulled away for 5 mins, requiring you to re-enter the town TP to see where you are going.
- Need a keybind to ‘Clear Mini-map pin’.
I could be wrong but I had to create a new pin next to my character and run to it, to clear my mini-map pin.
- Only one side quest can be ‘tracked’ at a time.
If we wanted to make an MMO-esque Diablo, why can I only have one quest showing on my quest helper? Very annoying and inconvenient.
- There are no tool-tips for what the chat tabs actually are.
Self explanatory.
- Restricted from manually searching on Skill trees.
I want to be able to search for ‘Causes Vulnerable’, not just anything that has Vulnerable inside it’s description. Functionality and QoL is incredibly low.
- We have no debuff icons on the buff bar, Poison, Frozen, etc.
They exist in D3, I’m hoping this just hasn’t been implemented yet.
- Swipe is missing from multiple buffs on the buff bar.
Specifically I noticed ‘Might’ was missing a swipe timer to be able to gauge when it was dropping off. Also the DR% shows incorrectly on Might.
- CC effects like Freeze, on the player, seem prohibitively long or overtuned.
A full 5+ second stun makes me dread playing Hardcore.
- No Visual or Auditory feedback for ‘Invigorating Strike’s’ regen effect.
There is the small bar above the action skill, yet this is pretty far from the center of focus of the player. Would appreciate an animation on the character itself, or at minimum a buff icon on the buff bar.
- No option for turning off ‘auto move to target’ on melee ability use.
If my cursor is hovering next to my character and I press a melee ability, I will auto run across the screen to an enemy 15 yards away. This also combines with the next point.
- Need a ‘Move+Interact’ keybind separate from ‘Basic’ ability.
As it stands now, you can only select to have one keybind or three. Again this is a pretty standard option for all aRPGs out there. It’s absolutely horrid to try to maneuver and position around mobs as a melee character without this functionality. Which leads again into the next point.
- We need more than six action bar slots.
This is a pretty standard request and exists in multiple other aRPG games out there. It doesn’t hurt anyone that only wants to use six slots, but greatly stifles creativity, QoL, and freedom for those of us that want them.
- Need an option to remove ‘Skill not Ready’ notifications.
The UI element for these right now is surprisingly massive. No reason you need this huge block with art covering the top 1/4 of your screen when you mash the dodge button. I didn’t like the small simple red lettering that existed in WoW, but this UI element takes up 10x more space than that did. Let me use my auditory queues and not clutter my screen more, please. This also covers ‘Not enough energy’ as well.
- Shrines feel massively overtuned, and conduit is way out of place.
I thought this was a return to darkness, not a return to… an electrocuting fairy? I joke, but really though, turning into a ball of lightning feels very… very out of place. I didn’t find it fun at all. I’m not saying I don’t like conduits, I’m saying THIS conduit I did not find fun at all. Strong Dislike. As far as the other shrines, everything felt way too strong.
- Level scaling is… worrying at best.
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I guess I can see why, but… it feels really lazy. For me it actually takes me out of the immersion, truly. Why am I getting weaker as I level up? The entire point of leveling up is to become stronger, not to just gain a skill-point. It’s a massive feels bad. And that’s the small peanuts nitpicky argument.
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If literally everything is just scaling as you level… Every single piece of gear that drops loses all worth the moment I level up. Part of the loop of progression for D2 was something like scraping by until I hit level 17 and throw on my ‘Stealth’ so I could just eek by until 25-27 and equip my ‘Spirits’ and an ‘Insight’, then holy crap did you feel strong. Then you get to Hell and things get really hard again, time for some creative gameplay.
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So you’re already losing all value and intrinsic ‘meaning’ from the leveling process. So is the plan that the entire leveling process only takes up 10% of total gameplay, that you level 1-100 in a matter of a couple of hours? If so you’re losing out on a LOT value in core gameplay loops. I was able to SOLO level a new character in D3 this season from 1-70, in something like 20 minutes. I’ve instantly lost all connection to my character and the journey it goes through. Having a maxed character loses it’s meaning. You risk losing immersion and becoming detached from the Story, and I believe you are HEAVILY leaning into the story this go around, no?
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It just turns leveling into a mindless grind on a treadmill, and that’s the last thing you want your aRPG or MMO players thinking about. I think catering to the lowest common denominator on this subject is a big loss. The players that are going to continue to support you through this game for years to come need replayability and when you undermine the core loop of a game in ‘getting stronger’ then you lose all replayability because you’re not actually accomplishing anything in game. Someone talked a bunch about ‘Static content’ in that you need to set a bar, to be able to test your progression, to see if you’ve gotten stronger or better. X boss in X game always exists at a specific level of difficulty. As you get stronger or better, you can test yourself against it. D2 was a mediocre example in that going into Hell was generally a large step up in difficulty if you hadn’t built properly. You lose these Milestones of progression entirely with this type of scaling.
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If we have 5 different difficulties, why can’t we only have scaling on the level 50+ content? This still doesn’t fix the itemization issue, but at least the story will still feel like a progression.
- Stock Ariel Font… It’s bad. It’s immersion breaking. Also, item tooltips are a complete disaster, as-is.
Please, please, please, just hire this guy. https://www.reddit.com/r/diablo4/comments/11woobe/my_take_on_a_potential_diablo_4_ui_change/
And change the Ariel font.
TLDR:
As you can see, most of the gripes are just UI issues. The UI is absolutely horrendous in most ways. The 'Mobile UI' feedback is well... warranted. It honestly feels lazy, if not out of place. I hope this is the focus for next couple months, because as-is, it will keep me from playing the game. It is better than Lost Ark, for what it's worth. But even Lost Ark has actual menu-bars that open up drop-downs to the 100 different options of different UI windows. I'd honestly rather deal with the D2 UI right now, it's more intuitive and clear, and has character.
Game is absolutely gorgeous and the world 'feels' great. I was worried, after some of the press videos, that the 'non-transparency' of walls when walking through doors would be an issue. I have not noticed it once in practice. I think you've hit a big home run with the environment. Love most of the new mob design as well. Can't wait for the coming acts as far as this is concerned. Your artists probably deserve raises.
Combat feels good for the most part. Melee feels pretty underwhelming at the moment. Very subjective, maybe this will change with higher levels. But melee Rogue felt way squishier, way less damage, and way more situational than a Sorc this early. I'm willing to wait, but I don't think I'm the only person stating this right now. Also Bosses were interesting, well... Much more interesting than D3. Huge upgrade, but we still need more variety.
Backtracking mini-quests in dungeons are really bad. Grabbing items and back-tracking is not interesting level design, it's just monotonous and unfun. I don't really have good suggestions for improvements at the moment. Maybe just make it more difficult to get to the boss? This also leads into the density discussion. Although that's a really fine line when trying to make slower more methodical combat.