This is my feedback on the Diablo 4 first beta weekend. I will try to incorporate some things that haven´t been talked about, and not delve to much in to the big issues that many people have already covered.
Most of it is subjective, some of it is objective. I have given the feedback on all these points via the ingame bug report system. But figured i want to see what the community thinks. Maybe more people noticed these things, or maybe you disagree.
I´ll start with the bad since that is the important feedback right now. And we´ll end on a good note with the positive.
Graphics/fidelity
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Some animations in the game seems to have very few frames. This might be a beta thing (at least i hope so).
Skeletons for example looks really bad from time to time when they do certain animations that looks like stop motion.
And the animation for gold dropping on the ground also seems to be missing a few frames.
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Lighting in certain places could use a second pass, some places look and feel really nice, very Diablo like. Other places seems to be missing some final touch in the lighting department.
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Your characters own “lightradius” is casting your shadow behind you when dynamic shadows is enabled. It looks really goofy when you turn you character around and the shadow follows. (Probably a beta thing)
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The quality of items dropped on the ground is very low compared to the rest of the game textures. They look basically as bad as in Diablo 3 (very immersion breaking). D2R got this part very nice, and it looks so much better.
The items also seems to be floating above the ground. It makes them not seem connected to the world.
The same goes for chests and some other props in the world. They have much lower res/polycount then the surrounding world and it makes them stick out in a bad way. (This might be a beta thing).
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Health potions are way to big on the ground
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Spelleffects are a mixed bag. Some look really good and grounded in the world. Most barbarian skills looks really nice for example.
Sorecerer on the other hand have a fair few abilites that look subpar. The explotion of the fireball looks like it belongs in Diablo 3. Some lightning skills looks out of place and is missing some character. Charged bolt is particularly bad.
I believe some of the spells needs some work. It really takes away alot from this game when the world around you looks very nice, but the effects doesn’t match that quality. -
Also the arrows on the Rouge ability looks to big/cartoony for the game. I am nitpicking now but that is my opinion.
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Gameplay
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Dungeons become repetitive very fast. More diversity in layouts, and less railroad like structure. It needs to be more labyrinth like IMO
Monster density also seems to be all over the place. Sometimes its very good, other times there is very few monsters.
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While we are at it. Cellars. They are all the “same” and needs some work. Needs more diversity in layout and objective.
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Monsterscaling needs some work. Being carried by a lvl 9 when you are lvl 25 is just backwards.
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Itemisation needs some work, especially dull affixes.
UI
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As a PC gamer the UI is truly horrible. The skillbar and Health/power globes are okay but the rest of it is very bad on PC. It feels like you are playing a tablet game (Diablo Immortal) and it takes away so much from what the game is.
Everything takes up to much space. Too many splash screens and flashy things taking up the screen when completing objectives etc.
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The camerazoom is to close. It feels cramped. There are instances when the camera zooms out abit in the questline and at those points it feel much more enjoyable.
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The FONT! This might seem like nothing, but not having the Exocet font in a Diablo game is really immersion breaking. At least give the option to choose Exocet.
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The text that is popping up when picking up craftingmaterials or gaining XP/gold etc really annoyed me. It feels like you are playing a mobile game. Give the option to turn it off.
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Some combat text are way to big (mobile game big) Like the “IMMUNE” text. There needs to be an option to turn all combat text off, and when turned on there should be some customisability.
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Unable to change the opacity on highlight color. This needs to be a thing.
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When howering items in the inventory, give the option to hold “keybind” to show advanced stats “roll ranges etc”
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Need and option to “HOLD” key to show loot on the ground.
The Good
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Aesthetically very pleasing. I really like the darker more “realistic” color tone and more grounded combat and effects. Aswell as the gear aesthetics. BIG plus here.
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Sound design is very good.
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I like the more “slow” or methodical combat. It feels good!
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Storytelling seems to be a big improvement compared to Diablo 3
There is a lot more to say, most have already been said by others. These are my takes. Let me know what you guys think.
Regards