I’ve been a huge fan of all the previous Diablo games, and when I realized this weekend was the server slam, I was super excited to play. But after playing for about 20 minutes, all I felt was boredom and disappointment. Even though the graphics are modern (if drab), in its current state, Diablo IV feels like a dumbed-down ARPG knock-off that wishes it were an MMO (in ways that don’t improve the core gameplay loop).
Overall, I was hoping to see Diablo IV really stake out a bold new direction for AARGs, but it seems like Blizzard messed with the formula in ways that haven’t paid off.
- The characters move and attack too slowly. It’s just… so… frustrating… watching my character plod along in and out of combat. Improve the base movement speed, add early-game access to movement boosts (e.g., mounts, equipment), or add movement skills to the barren skill trees. Improve the combat pace so it looks like we’re actually fighting instead of rehearsing to fight.
- “Boss” fights feel repetitive and unnecessarily drawn out. It appears that bosses have 3-5x more HP than interesting mechanics. Plinking away at the boss’s HP while he repeats the same few behaviors (and I repeat the same few behaviors) just isn’t that interesting.
- “Dungeons” are incredibly repetitive because (a) they aren’t randomized, and (b) they seem to be built from a surprisingly limited tile set. In the very first dungeon I could see the repeated set pieces after just a few rooms.
- Where are the monsters? The dungeons still largely feel empty, and this makes the pace seem even slower. It’s bad enough that we walk and fight slowly, so why include all the unnecessary walking sequences in dungeons? It just give us more time to notice how repetitive the set pieces are.
- Skill trees are unimaginative compared to Diablo III, which allowed for much more creativity and diversity among characters of the same class. Compared to Path of Exiles, class customization in Diablo IV feels shallow and uninspired. Also - for there to be so few nodes on the skill tree, entirely too many of them are wasted on minor mechanical buffs that should really be on the equipment. This makes it seem like the team was just trying to pad out the skill tree to mask how few options there really are.