Prior to the release of Diablo IV on June 5, 2024; early-access reviews and software demonstrations had come under criticism by potential players via the mechanisms of social media influence and live-stream content creation. Notions of a preconceived disdain for any product released by Blizzard Entertainment in the coming months seemed to provide a measure of “negative reinforcement” in psychology as to final stages of the games development, and more so comprehensively - to the marketing strategy of the game’s initial sales release. Hours long commentary on social media deriding the company to the cadence of “I can’t recommend buying Diablo IV unless [insert complaint] is either added/removed from the game, etc.” echoed from the bowels of some hell more treacherous than any conceived within the art direction of previous Diablo iterations.
Working as a developer in an unrelated field - (entertaining the concept of being an independent game developer, resulting in an enumeration of incomplete solo projects); this pre-release commentary materialized a sense of hopelessness and dread … prompting a proportioned response of coded maliciousness towards the project “end-user” if compelled to work under similar conditions. I knew then, a purchase on release would be compulsory. The Burning Lords of Hell, in this case divined in their hatred for a capricious “end-user” niche with inflated social media credentials, would prompt a serious and unyielding challenge for any would-be demon-slayer within their oratory midst. Diablo IV did not disappoint …
Still, much to the consternation of outweighed opinion(s) on social media - parishioners of the Diablo franchise received a perfectly balanced, and perfectly paced video game experience …
notwithstanding a compelling story, and breathtaking environments. Despite criticism with regard to Diablo IV and its cultivation of casual gamers - 2 weeks long “no life” marathons following the initial release produced a sense that Diablo IV afforded players a very limited offering of content. Our inclination was to reject such criticism, having become fully engrossed in the endgame loop. A nuanced retelling of the protagonist’s struggle with Lilith - the Mother of Sanctuary, played out with respect to each individual dungeon-delving experience, and randomization. Arrayed as such and optimized in such an incredible way - to include repeated interactions with the Tree of Whispers and preparations for a standoff with an unknown antagonist, this arrangement prompted end-users to play as each of the unique character classes (i.e. with respect to geography based alchemy - in terms of multi-character locality, class-based legendary affix equipment modification, etc.). No part of the game was immersion breaking, and the associated experience/rewards in exploring the world compelled players to not engage in fast-travel.
Here, [a] divergence is needed to explain a personal interaction with the action-RPG genre as it relates to Diablo; where-being Diablo IV has been the most “souls-like” experience with respect to the game’s hardcore mode. Upon hearing of Diablo IV’s development schedule in 2018 … I had been reluctant to anticipate the sequel’s release if a feature in Diablo III had not carried over. Seldom utilized in the previous iteration was the “Elective Mode” within the options setting … as a console player, an unassigned skill to the right-trigger (R2) defaulted to a basic attack with the character’s primary weapon. Hidden in the margins of Diablo III’s combat system was a vibrant constellation of weapon animations seldom experienced by even the most avid players of the franchise. Notably, this setting significantly increased the difficulty and complexity of the game, whereas; no special or player-skill attributes are applied to the [default] basic attack (i.e. special attributes related only to the weapon and player’s base stats). Each character class had a unique hitbox attributed to each of the weapon types, requiring a divergent approach to combat respectively. In the context of roleplaying, this feature allowed for self-enforced dungeon mastering of a Diablo III experience that felt in many ways similar to Diablo I & II. In the end our gameplay experience settled upon allowing the character (1) non-basic skill (irrespective of cool-down times) per critical hit with a [default] basic attack. Additionally, no health potions were permitted for use by the character. Hell itself had risen to consume any aspirant champion of heaven, and this ruleset provided for more desperate combat as applied to a multi-character grand strategy. Regarding the shared-loot mechanic, many heroes would die in combat, but their efforts were never in vain.
Diablo IV, in lieu of a [default] basic attack, offered plenty more to this gameplay approach as an open-world sandbox. Though removed from the gameplay after season 1 (reintroduced in Loot Reborn), the ‘zoom’ feature allowed for an aspect of [minor] input acceleration - generating highly cinematic opportunities to avoid damage when engaging hordes in open battle. I digress … this last statement is the only positive feature available within the “Loot Reborn” update. It appears as though the game’s CI/CD development pipeline has converged to appeal to those voices that might never concede their appeasement. In their perpetual and immediate demand for “god-like” status in video games, and doing so via the mechanisms of blatantly obvious “statistical abuse” - no options remain applicable for the game experience I’ve enjoyed until recently (without complaint). What remains for players like myself - utilizing the flexibility of the game platform and its formerly /balanced/ considerations, is to engage in the high-octane frenzy of Hell Tides completely naked … Due to the immersion breaking consistency of loot drops, this new equipment makes the player functionally invincible.
** e.g. “Elixir of Barbs” + Life on Hit means the player receives more health than damage taken upon receiving damage; it seems to be a jaded developer’s last protest … the only [complex] alchemy recipe requiring 1000 diamonds to “win” the game harder for 30 minutes.
With “Loot Reborn” being an update as opposed to [temporary] seasonal content - no escape to the Internal Realm is available to prevent this bottleneck of emergent gameplay … Notably, player engagement has increased significantly following this most recent update release. Our remorse remains in essence, no future update will provide /this/ margin of adaptability I’ve come to appreciate within Diablo IV and the franchise as a whole. Please … at the very least - reintroduce [full] alchemy, so that our gameplay experience can still make use of the geographic space afforded within Sanctuary. Even if our characters are compelled to traverse the realm without clothing, at least permit them to take solace in their ability to stop for a moment and “smell the flowers” - in absence of any other conceivable grind.
The benefits of this alchemy will be needed to support the feasibility of a - “basic b*tch” (sic. pejorative used to describe the gameplay rule-set described herein … and in rebuke of more powerful skills available in the game) “naked run” Diablo experience. I refuse to boast about my skills as a Diablo player as a consequence of this approach to playing the game, however; the balance of the game has shifted into a space where those acquired skills are no longer applicable. A flattened version of alchemy as exists in “Loot Reborn” makes the collection of distinct flora pointless, and navigation of the world to any destination not consumed in Hell Tide an empty and depressing experience.
With regret and profound sadness … I must refuse to play one of my favorite games - without a return to some semblance of the game prior to the “Loot Reborn” update …