I’m not entirely sure where any official channels are to communicate this to the developers and community team, so please comment below if this kind of post doesn’t belong here and direct me accordingly!
First of all, I’d like to point out some of the things that I feel are most important. The team working on this has done an amazing job; the foundations for a solid game are obvious and as a long-time fan of the franchise, I am absolutely thrilled to see IV’s direction leaning more into its roots. Thus far, the gameplay has felt polished and precise. Good f**king job, guys. Seriously. Thank you.
Now, if I may offer some conjecture on a few items, I’d like to share some thoughts and concerns regarding my experience with the BETA so far.
The UI:
The most obvious first impression that I had loading up the game was the UI and how I interacted with it … or rather, how I felt a constant struggle to overcome it. I understand that there is a huge emphasis on cross-compatibility with consoles for this game, but in general there is just too much clutter popping up and claiming massive amounts of screen space and just getting in the way of being able to engage with the game. Options are incredibly limited to manipulate the UI or show what I want and/or don’t want on my screen while I’m playing and there are so many awkward things showing up that I just don’t care about or need to see (i.e. quest item pop-ups, region reward pop-ups, NPC dialogue pop-ups [even when disabled], etc). I would LOVE to be able to scale the hotbar’s opacity and size and make them click-through as well. In a point-and-click adventure where the distance to travel is now an entire world, I want to be able to teleport on my Sorc for as much distance economy as I can while also not needing to struggle with some random trap or mob hiding behind the giant red health globe down in the corner of center of my screen.
The Talent Tree:
To put it simply, this system is a really cool concept, but it needs to grow in order to be meaningful … and it needs to grow a lot. One of my absolute biggest gripes with Diablo III was the lack of useful diversity in the skill system. The skill tree system presented so far is virtually and functionally identical to the system presented in Diablo III but somehow with even less options available. I hate this. Nothing defeats the joy of building a character quite like being forced down a path that only ever has two choices to make, whether that path is laid with yellow bricks or a red line that says it’s finally time to pass go and collect my $200. So many of the ability options available feel constrained and predicated upon an intended functional build that was more based around itemization to be worth taking.
The other serious issue that I’ve been contemplating is a simple one; if my hotbar is full by the time I reach level 25 … what is the point of leveling all the way to level 100 and then getting even more talent points from paragon levels? My kit is complete by this point and this terrifies me. Hunting down loot is cool and all … but is this really going to be the end of the road for character development? Personally, I am of the opinion that character builds are far more interesting than itemization and I feel like items are only there to compliment and enhance the build that I created. This was the joy of having multiple characters for years and years worth of fun in Diablo 2, and ultimately this was the reason why Diablo 3 failed to hold my attention for longer than a week or two each season.
Dungeons:
Dungeons are the bread and butter of Diablo … but something feels very wrong right now. Dungeon design in IV feels more like WoW and less like Diablo – for me, this is a bad thing. Mob packs and the weird objective formula have, so far, all seemed very static, very sterile … and very tedious. There is nothing more frustrating than having to back-track through a maze of hallways and rooms that you’ve already cleared out just because some a**hole vampire died and dropped some weird glowing red orb somewhere in the middle of the dungeon and you absolutely need to run back and pick it up to open a locked door. This is not fun, this has never been fun and even the most hardcore Metroidvania players in the world will tell you that it will never be fun. My suggestion? Spruce up the randomization for layout and mob density. Obviously, keep some really nice, static building layouts or iconic features for each dungeon that help players identify and recognize locations (The Rogue Monastery and Courtyard of D2, for example), but let those areas branch out into the labyrinths that players need to feel like they’re still exploring something dangerous. Right now, the 2 small trash packs and then an elite pack formula … this is lame. No one wants to go into Diablo 4 and feel like their dungeon just turned into a Diablo 3 bounty mission.
Melee vs. Ranged:
There’s something fishy going on here, especially with boss fights. Melee damage feels weak and being engaged with an enemy is more punishing to the player than the boss that just dropped a string of melee attacks and 6 danger puddles under his feet. Meanwhile, the ranged classes are significantly more able to avoid taking copious amounts of damage while also benefitting from dealing out more death than the tobacco industry. Melee needs more mobility and higher damage potentials to account for the fact that avoiding mechanics also often means being unable to be in range to deal damage.
I hope that this feedback is well-received and I hope that the critiques I’ve offered are seen as useful and not taken as criticisms. You guys really have knocked this game out of the park and I’m grateful for the opportunity to have been a part of the pre-release testing. Thanks again!