I’m a developer and have been a passionate gamer for over 27 years, playing every day. I’ve seen some of the most spectacular games being created (like WoW), and now I want to discuss some aspects of Diablo 4.
Every game has unique elements that make it fun. For example, in Tibia, you need to train, and it has P2P salable items, with some people playing it to make money. In Ragnarok, you craft your equipment, and certain gears work across all classes to deal significant damage. Meanwhile, a core aspect of Diablo has always been creating the best gear to support any build you want to play.
With this context in mind, consider this: Diablo 4 today is so heavily restricted for older classes that it’s hardly feasible to enjoy them, while the new class has no limitations and some overpowered passives. The combination of multipliers and item stats has made the game confusing. Why do I need a “+” stat if it doesn’t increase my actual damage? What I really want are multipliers on my items. This was always a core appeal of the game. Today, I find it hard to enjoy and am gravitating toward games like Path of Exile, which offers more relevance and priority over Diablo 4.
If I want to play a critical build with WW (Whirlwind) without Dust Devil, I need some foundational stats to make my damage viable, like core skill damage. Similarly, if I want to play Rogue with Dance of Knives, I don’t want to rely on snapshots every time I get stunned.
Think of a way to give characters a primary source of damage multiplier to make builds minimally functional. This would allow players to focus on making builds enjoyable.
For instance, if I have a Barbarian that relies on Fury, then my base damage should come from Fury, and that should work. If I build Fury with critical, I have explosive damage and would focus on attributes like critical chance and critical damage. This would leave little room for attack speed, so I’d trade DPS for burst damage.
As a developer and gamer, I can see clearly that simpler systems are effective.
Today, Spirit Born has base damage with life barriers and sustain, while classes like Barbarian and Rogue lack viable builds. However, these classes share similarities. The Rogue, for instance, is both melee and ranged, like an archer-assassin hybrid. The assassin part should deal relevant burst or poison damage, but recent nerfs (such as to Andariel’s Visage) have weakened poison builds. Mages who want to play with Meteor lack multipliers to make this build viable; it doesn’t matter if I have 3k bonus fire damage if this doesn’t multiply my skill’s damage, which makes no sense.
In my opinion, as both a developer and gamer, simplifying the game would be beneficial. Remove additive damage stats and rely solely on multipliers, with a base cap (e.g., 10k) that all classes can reach from various sources. This would help balance damage for all classes.
Practically, it would work like this: as a Rogue who wants to play Dance of Knives, I need a base damage (such as critical, poison, cold, shadow, or Dark Shroud). I choose my base damage and reach a multiplier cap, like 5k from stats, with another 5k from the Paragon board and legendary nodes, totaling 10k damage in this build.
With this base established, the game can introduce aspects to make builds more fun (e.g., Dance of Knives procs twice, throws grenades during Dance of Knives, or now pierces targets). If I have 26k attack power, the skill can start by multiplying 500 of Dance of Knives by attack power, yielding 13 million damage. With all my multipliers, I could reach 130 billion damage. In this scenario, the build is viable and controlled, as all multipliers are known, allowing content to be balanced around this damage.
Currently, only one class has this kind of construction, while others are outdated. This could be fixed for the next season, but PoE already uses this concept. So, why play a game with broken classes when I can play another with similar mechanics where all classes work and are fun to play? Diablo 4 isn’t working today because there’s no solid foundation for new builds or theory crafting. You’ve essentially wasted this season, as one class can clear all content effortlessly, including Pit 150, bosses, and dungeons, without needing specific items like WoW bosses. Why not introduce unique dungeon gear that can only be acquired inside?
There are so many missteps despite having a wealth of content to build on. Innovate in the right areas – content, dungeon mechanics, new bosses. Add more complex mechanics to bosses, understand the damage output of characters, and you’ll stand up to any game. Remember, this is already the second disappointment under the Diablo name. Diablo 3 started similarly but was fixed, and I’m sorry to say that it’s now more enjoyable than Diablo 4.