Hello,
Some initial context, I am a seasoned player off all ARPGs around and I am doing so since diablo 2.
I feel that every arpg I played, poe, d2, LE, GD, etc all have their own place and strong aspects that make you play the game and enjoy it.
For me, a game doesnt need to bring all aspects together from all previous successors to be sucessfull. In fact, what really matters is to have only a few REALLY well developed aspects, wth alot of effort to be really a success.
With this in mind, my search on this beta was to find these aspects in D4. I can say that the combat is fluid and most textures are in great shape for a beta, but if you want this to be your “n1 success” feature, then you cant have a really well made looking butcher and then have some really questionable models for necro skellies, or items on ground, etc. You MUST keep the standard for all models please.
Same for combat, like most skills are really visually compelling, high quality impact zones, etc, then you have something like meteor where you just feel like… what is this? Skill is named METEOR. Give it the looks it deserves! All classes have atleast 2 to 3 skills that look are not good enough.
Items: remove +stats from gear, I mean, +5str, whatever, you dont need this, really, If you want to give +stats, then give us something to work with it, like stacking str because there is a unique that scales off strenght. Something like this, thats what makes thorns stat good, you can stack it to build around it. Dont give us empty stats for the sake of rolls rarity, just add more rolls types that we can build around and actually make use of.
Item bases: add more, I like to see what you did there with the implicits, please add more variety.
Skills: I was happy at first, then at lvl25 with all charathers I quckly saw how lackluster it was. We need more skills, specially resource spending. Utility skills shouldnt be 0/5 points, would prefer to have 1/1 but with 4 more passives to choose from that tune it differently.
Resource spenders: barbs and druids should have more skills that “give +30 resource” when used like. Having to “ramp” up in every fight it boring. Some small packs of mobs we just want to slam and move, not staying there 3seconds AA and then spending is boring.
Ultimates: some classes dont have ultimates, like rogue. seriosly, all ultimates feel worse than any skill. Please review your “ultimate” concept. For myself, I would prefer to delete the ultimate concept and just add skills that completly change your gameplay (can only choose 1 like ultimate). We hunger for options to make us think and wonder about.
Dungeons: mob density feels correct as a baseline, size aswell. We need more random events in dungeons, with a wide pool, this is make everyone happier. Also, its obvious you need to decrease or fix the bring this here to unlock boss type, its just not fun after 2 times anymore. Also learn from your realllyyyyyyyyy good idea of the butcher and expand in this directon, EVERYONE loved this, even in hardcore.
Open world: all good, you took 0 risks here, but I think all is fluid, no really big distances, and events ammount was good. Cant expand much here, but nothing impressive to point.
World bosses: zoom us in like 10% more. Boss was fun, well developed. I enjoy the fact the “killer” ability was a DoT, so it would allow people to pot up instead of just beeing dead. This is how it should always be. Dont fall into the mistake of: hard = 1shot. thats just dumb concept. make it hard, but smart.
Loot rate: why the blues exist in the game? I cant seem to find a purpose. Why to whites exist? If you give us something to look, it must have a follow up mechnic right? what are we devoloping here? Overall we had way to many legendaries and yellows, just remove the stupid stats from yellows and make them rare and we all happy. Dont feed us full inventory after 1 dungeon just to find out all is salvage/sell.
Legendary powers: 7/10 are ok, but we need more of these powers like blades spin around you instead. Bolder now returns to you at the end. Kick now scales with dexterity, with 10 times the value. IDK, give us something more.
Imunities: wowwww, please, tune down these numbers, what is this concept of sorcerer beeing the more tanky class in the game=? like they are inteligent, they can have imunity for 1sec, not 4. They can have barriers, but with a cost on mana, etc. Like make it smart, not dumb. Hydra hydra imune for 10secs is 0iq.
CC break: good, must have in all classes, please me it fair and sensable, I would say any hard physical CC like stun, grabs etc barbs and druids should have easy way out, but elemental ones like freeze should be easy for a fire sorc or a necro.
overall: behappy! you have a VERY SOLID base game. Like, its SOOOO easy to just do some changes and have this game be top top. Like I dont see any issues here, dont be afraid of making hard decisions, your core is here and super solid, improve this and you got one of the best games in a blink.
Thanks dev team, be proud. Now tune this up and enjoy!