Hello,
First off thank you so much for Diablo 4, it seems to be on its way to become the hit everyone is waiting for and I’m so happy we’re able to enjoy the Beta. I’ve had time to play it a little this week end and I thought I’d leave my feedback for what it’s worth in case it is of interest to the developers. To give a little background on my experience, discovered and loved Diablo around 16yo like everyone else, became literally addicted to D2 for many, many years, didn’t like the third one (too “Warcrafty” for me). Also, I’m going to talk specifically on the issues that stroke me the most , since they are much less than the good sides of the game.
1- Character’s selection page: first thing that was a bit of a surprise as I launched the game, the character selection features only black characters. In times where everyone can’t shut up about diversity, it was a strange choice to me. We’re also talking about a fantasy world based on dark medieval religious myths, so seeing an african tribe as the only choice of characters feels out of place. A bit of everything just like all the other iterations of Diablo made for a more interesting background I feel.
2- Character’s customization: same thing this time regarding the options of face/makeup (?!)/earings(?!). The selection seems more geared towards a steam-punk game than the Diablo universe. Things like scars, angels and demon tattoos, standard leather outfits from the knights’ era, that’s what I would have liked to see.
3- In-game - the map: I couldn’t find a way to superimpose the map as a transparent layer over my character. This is the number one issue I’d have with the game. Having to constantly look at the minimap gets tiring very quickly, and I feel you get lost a lot more often because of it.
4- The visual indications: I am not a fan (at all) of visual indicators such as hit points removed per hits and dodges. It creates an arcade feeling more than an RPG / hack and slash vibe. I like Diablo to feel like you’re reading an old book during winter, not playing whack-a-mole surrounded by kids in a fair. I could turn the damage indicators off but not the dodge ones, and I think it would be great if we could turn it off altogether.
5- The skill system tree - not pretty: the skill system tree, from a purely visual aspect, felt very basic to me. Something a little more detailed would certainly add to the ambiance in my opinion.
6- The inventory: being able to drop an item on the character for him to wear it would be really nice (as opposed to dropping the item in the right slot - Daggers in the weapon slot, amulet in the amulet slot etc). It’s less tedious imo.
Those are the points that hit me the most during the meager hour I had to play this game. Hope it’s useful down the road. Thanks again for letting us play ahead of the release!