So, I want to talk about what would make itemization infinitely better in Diablo 4 as well as the skill tree feel more compelling and better overall. A big issue we’ve all seen since Diablo 3 is the introduction of insane multipliers with this infinite scalability where you stack four multipliers and do 30,000% more damage, and that’s it. 30,000% more damage with one skill and done.
I do want to also mention that I think Diablo 2 was very glorified with its lack of choice. It had a great base skill tree, and many builds were viable, but at the same time, a lot were completely unplayable. Due to immunities, infinity was necessary on most builds, and enigma was necessary because of how broken teleport was. Diablo 4 could easily fix this problem, and it has the potential to do even better.
For instance, you can max your skill at level 5, but they now allow one level further. Once it hits six, the skill willevolve, so to speak. One special affix is automatically given to the baseline skill. You don’t need insane multipliers if the base skill itself is useful. I’m not implying they do anything like runes do in D3. I didn’t enjoy it at all. I see where they tried to go with D3 and make it all feel customizable, but it doesn’t feel customizable when everyone can run the same exact build on the fly with no build distinction.
What I’m hoping to see with D4 is that there is one additional skill point to somehow change the way the skill works. If they need to remove a few legendarys to add it to the core skill tree that’s fine too. For instance, say that at level 6, pulverize on Druid automatically gains shockwave, or it starts out with shockwave. It then gradually grows until level six. Then, to make the skill more interesting, have another legendary that now makes shock waves split into three waves.
Random legendary lets name it pyroclastic; for example, a druid remembers his primal rage, and every shockwave mixes with lava and rock dealing x% fire damage as dot and x% damage as crushing blow. Another example of a legendary staff of turbulent force: every time you consecutively land a tornado on an enemy with hurricane active, the “wind field” grows up to x radius and enemies have % chance to be knocked down. Even if tornado isn’t my best skill, I now want it to buff hurricane.
Again, I’m not saying this is the perfect solution. I just don’t want to see multipliers on every item. I’m sure uniques will change one skill quite a bit, but you can only equip ONE. I don’t expect to see huge changes like this. I just wanted to brainstorm and share my thoughts because I thoroughly enjoyed Diablo 4 and think this is the #1 problem holding it back from being an incredible game.