Heya, new to the franchise and ARPGs really. Been on MMOs for 20+ years and I’m done trying to keep up with the sweaties***. Looking forward to a big, semi-multiplayer game that I can play on my time with no repercussions of my poor play except my own poor outcomes.
To help prepare me I have been playing through the free trial of D3…and looking at videos of D4 I’m glad I did…movement is alot different than MMOs I have played as is getting used to a camera perspective you can’t control. I think I’ll do fine in that regard.
My questions I am sure will seem intuitive to you guys but I want to ask:
1- the D3 trial is a complete joke difficulty-wise (which I’m sure is by design). I don’t want to play an impossible game but don’t want Hello Kitty Online Adventures either. Do you think D4 (at least the PVE solo campaign) is doable by a player between competent and average? Can a medium-skilled player (or less) advance into endgame stuff in D4? (based on what we know).
2- I doubt I’ll get a consensus given the temperature of this topic in this forum but I’ll ask anyway:
Whats the expected balance between time-played vs meaningful upgrade? Kinda like my first question, I really don’t want the game to be a loot pinata but I’m also not interested in grinding dumb rep quests endlessly for crap rewards OR being too dependent on an unforgiving RNGesus.
*** yeah i can see there is a casual/sweaty division in this game based on this forum but in a solo game I could care less what a sweaty thinks…they can’t impede me in any way.
I’m pretty casual myself.
I can promise you with a fair degree of certainty that D4 is casual friendly.
If you’re familiar with MMO’s and damage/stats etc mechanics - You should have no problem with D4.
Watch some videos to get a basic 101 if you wish to.
Gear won’t be too hard to find either from what I’ve seen.
Dive as deep as you want or just break the surface.
Just enjoy yourself most of all.
gl & hf!
I guess Diablo3 trial is played in it’s “normal difficulty”, but sooner or later, players switch to higher diffculty tiers.
Similarly, Diablo IV has a difficulty tiers system, by default a totally new player would probably play D4 in it’s World Tier 1 (WT1), while players familiar with the Diablo licence may with to finish the campaign in WT2 (but it’s not mandatory).
Once you fullfil the required condition to unlock WT3, you may wish to switch to it, and so one with WT4. I guess that as with Diablo3, Diablo IV may get higher tiers after a while (probably with its first expansion). Aside of being more experienced about how to play, being able to move to higher tiers is also somehow dependant of your character’s equipement and parangon level. I guess WT3 will be playable even by medium-skilled players, but I have no idea of WT4’s difficulty yet (if I base myself of D3’s experience, I can tell you I was able to go to Tier 6 which was the highest tier before they unlocked the T7+ tiers with the expansion, but nowadays there are very high tiers in D3 and I haven’t been dedicated enough to get very high Parangon levels, so I can’t survive on my own in the highest D3’s tiers).
Please note that it’s not implying at all that casual gamers can’t finish the whole campaign, even if they may prefer doing so in WT1 (or WT2).
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- Yes. There are two difficulty levels available when you start D4 and you can change them any time you want. Adventurer and Veteran. You set it when you start, but can change it in the main Act 1 town any time you want. It is a big statue up by the church. IF you want it harder, change it to Veteran. Lower if needed later. Difficulty Overview for Diablo 4 - Maxroll.gg D4
- Rate of upgrades will likely depend on content you do, but the pace in Server slam was pretty good. Also expect that things like that will change as the Devs gather data, release patches, etc.
And yes, D3 Demo is VERY easy. In fact D3 is very easy if you leave it at the lowest difficulty. It has a ton more that you can access though in the actual game. Higher difficulty gives higher rewards.
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1: D3 has like what, 20 difficulty levels now? You just turn it up as you’re able to because the higher difficulty tiers reward more and better drops, etc.
2:For D4, like D3, it’s basically slot-machine psychology in play here so they want you to get large payoffs frequently enough that it keeps you playing. You should have pretty much continuous rewards over time.
The game was made for casuals in terms of difficulty and time commitment. If you want a Diablo themed arpg you can play in your spare time, you will like Diablo IV.
The rate of those payoffs is the debate. We have no idea right now what the reward rate for actual upgrades is going to be. It won’t rain loot on us, but until there is enough data from the release version I don’t think anyone can really judge. Also, how often someone wants a reward is subjective. Heh. Some like a long hunt, others get bored fast. Game makers have to be somewhere in the middle.
They will undoubtedly try to tune it to maximize total hours played. They should have a very good grasp on this from previous D games.
I’m still not believing the drop rates reported for reviewer previews will actually be what is live.
So, from a non “sweaty” perspective (lol), I’m retired. I’ve had two strokes and have RA. You can absolutely take on end-game. The difference is how long it may take to do it. In my case, It’ll take me longer to grind out paragon levels and find the gear I need. I’ll be behind the masses, but I don’t care. The point is, I’ll get there eventually, even with my reduced movement and reflexes. I hope that helps!
The moment you say “I can’t” is the moment “You won’t.”
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