I like the game and all, but when I play it, I just do not feel the heart of an action rpg in it. I can play Last Epoch or Grim Dawn for example and I get invested and want to try so many different things, with D4 it is just a couple builds and nothing that challenging save for the Uber bosses which I cannot beat right now, and really boring uniques for the most part.
Some uniques are really cool, do not get me wrong, and there are some great boss fights. I do not know what is missing, heck I was enjoying Diablo Immortal more recently just to see how far I could get F2P save for a few .99 cosmetics for the two new classes because they look cool. I cannot place why D4 feels so weird…maybe it is just me.
It’s many different factors, like skills, the resource management, the map, enemy balancing, etc, but people have written extensive essays on these things already.
I used to hate D3, but now I can go back and it actually feels fun compared to D4.
I can’t fathom how a studio with so many talented people can take all the negative feedback from their previous game, double down on it, and make an even worse version.
It’s like the, “I’m not out of touch, it’s the children who are wrong,” simpsons meme on overdrive.
What’s worse is that the buffoon directors and lead designers who continually handicap each game are not only allowed to keep their jobs, but to continue ignoring feedback and trying to force deeply unpopular gameplay models.
It doesn’t make any sense. The company has used up all their good will at this point, their next release is going to be a disaster if it follows the same trend.
It seems like you have all these options, but just like Diablo, you can run anything at low tiers, but only so many builds can run the highest content.
My problem with it was 90% of your build was done once you got your skills to 20. This happened roughly around lvl 50 as i recall. I lost interest when i realized that nothing in my build is going to change for the next 50 levels. The numbers just get bigger.
It felt like there was a lack of build changing items to chase. I didn’t have that carrot on a stick of farming that one item i need to complete my build. But maybe that’s just me.
As far as Diablo…
There’s really not that much wrong with the game, sure, there’s things to complain about, but there always will be. The game is fun enough. I’ve played it hundreds of hours… but…
It’s not that it’s unfun, it’s just doesn’t get it’s hooks into me like you’d expect. But considering how long i’ve played it, that’s probably an unfair statement.
IMO ARPG is about good combat and intriguing progression systems.
Diablo, LE and POE focus on itemization for the main progression. While Diablo IV has decent to mid itemization progression its the combat system that shines. It just kinetic, impactful and fun.
LE and POE have atrocious combat that could be removed from the game and the game would be improved. Just make them auto clickers.
Hades probably has the most fun and kinetic combat system (just not very expansive), but D4 is a close second.
People think it’s complicated but I think it’s mostly due to 2 factors
1 - The original game was designed to be darker/harder/soul-esque-somewhat in approach. Therefore the “choices” are small, sort of like Doom-ish where you pick either Concussive shells or Silver bullets for your adventurous endeavor
That’s the vibe the skill tree has - it wasn’t designed to be a focal point of the game, it was designed to offer a smaller set of “ammunition” to use for your skill (Vulnerable or Overtime, Crit or Overpower, Lucky hit or Damage vs CC-ed, & similar)
2 - Monsters don’t evolve. Knight fights the same at lvl50, 75, 100, 125, and 150… Repeat for Demon, Shaman, Fallen, Spider, Banshee, e.t.c., they NEVER evolve… The only monster evolution that happens in game is Champion mobs at WT3 and that’s where it ends overall
For the first part you can see what the original devs had in mind, for the second part you can see what the “D3” devs have in mind (equal monsters for everyone so the game becomes a contest of speedruns)… Only difference being - the builds they don’t address and take care of fall really badly behind (like in double digit factors bad in comparison)
Frankly I only hate the second design choice. Think LE is a prime example of “having too many options” for skills is an overrated quality that doesn’t bring much to the quality of gameplay… I also think the Aspect system is just fine, wish they expanded/reworked the Tempering one though (i.e. make it loot-based drop-based as opposed to permanently unlockable collection, kinda talked about this before)
But yes, IMO D4 could benefit from combat improvements more than anything, i.e. rebalance and evolve monsters (much more so than giving players all the more options IMO)