Intro
I remember playing Diablo I back at launch on Windows 95. I was instantly mesmerized and hooked. While I never played hardcore, I did continue on to play thousands of hours of D2, D3, and D2R. I recently went back and completed each game in the series to prep for D4. I consider D4 to be my most anticipated game of the year although I enjoy and review games of all genres.
Context
While I have seen some constructive conversation and feedback in forums and Reddit, there isn’t enough. So, I thought I’d share my thoughts after devouring the Early Beta and reaching Level 25 on my Sorc main and trying out the other classes as well. I played the entirety of the beta on the World Tier II setting. I did play the BlizzCon 2019 demo multiple times in person as well, just FYI.
System Specs
Desktop: I7-12700k, 32GB of RAM, RTX 4090, 4TB NVMe, 42" 4K LG C2 OLED
Laptop: I7-10700, 16GB of RAM, RTX 3080, 1TB NVMe, 15" 4K OLED
The Good
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After much anticipation, The Return to Darkness finally is coming true. The tone, atmosphere, music, art style, and lighting are all a near-perfect return to darkness.
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The graphics, animation, art style, cinematics, music, sound effects and environments are absolutely fantastic. I cannot WAIT to see the whole world and explore every inch of such a detailed realm.
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Even though I love magic users in ARPGs, all three classes in the Early Beta look, feel, and sound amazing to play. The combat is truly fantastic and in every way, even the melee characters
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Having a ton to do in any open world game is important and as long as you don’t sacrifice quality for quantity, you strike a nice balance as in the DIV beta.
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While I was somewhat concerned about the MP/open world aspect of DIV, I think the potential is endless. The sky is the limit. Adding new events, new dungeons, new world bosses, new items, etc seems to be much more seamless in a game like DIV.
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The transmog/wardrobe feature is awesome. The character models and armor are detailed and varied. I absolutely love unlocking new locks and is a MASSIVE improvement over previous Diablo titles
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The world boss was exciting and looked and sounded awesome. It will be interesting to see how the bosses scale across world tiers, as people level and gear up, etc.
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Alchemist, Purveyor, etc were all underrated but awesome services that helped a ton
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Dungeon bosses are some of the most challenging, fun, and rewarding in the series yet. They just need chests to open after each fight, especially on Tier II
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The beta made me want the full game even more. I am absolutely stoked to try the open beta this weekend for Druid and Necromancer classes.
The Bad
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Give option to use the Exocet (Diablo font) - Arial/plain font doesn’t look or feel like Diablo. The Exocet font is being used for the area title on the upper right. Give us an option to use that font for EVERYTHING like D2/D2R
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The way that maps open up as you explore is confusing and overly complex. Having fog constantly over the areas you haven’t explored is much better. When I open a new sub area, I can’t tell which areas I have truly explored or not as the whole sub area opens up and looks just like the areas I have truly explored.
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Cellars are even bugged or way too limited on difficult, content, and reward. I absolutely LOVE the idea of small, random content and encounters but there at least has to be a mini-boss with loot and/or large chest.
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Having a level requirement on World Bosses or item power req would be helpful. Multiple times I got stuck with level 13-17 people in my world boss spawns that could barely do any damage to it. Better yet, give us a choice to see/filter people in our worlds by level and/or item power
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Are other areas larger, smaller, or on point with Fractured Peaks? While there is plenty of content in the beta, the entire Eastern side of the area is… barren. That is a bit concerning for other lands. While I think we need more barren areas, that could be too much empty space.
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Bring back magic find, light radius, runewords and other early affixes. Those were an absolutely critical part of the joy in D2.
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We need much more control on the camera and zoom levels. More options the better and a gradual zoom level as well.
The Ugly
- Luckily, this section is very small but it is also the most concerning. We all know loot is one of the most important parts of any ARPG. While I had fun in general finding new loot and the art of armor and weapons is overall beautiful, I didn’t feel much difference in power as I finally equipped all legendaries by level 24. I heard there is going to be unique items in game but just like in D2, finding a unique with Magic Find was an absolute thrill. I haven’t gotten any true thrill in all the gear I found in the beta. If there is not a massive rush or thrill in the gear and drops, it’s all just a few numbers of improvement here and there which will become dull very, very quickly. In the end, with no set items or unique found in beta, with limited affixes and no magic find, the loot looked amazing but felt… boring. With monster scaling this could further complicate one of the key elements to this game. Will this be different or more in depth in the full game? I hope so.
Conclusion
As mentioned, I absolutely loved my time with the Early Access beta. I think it is a great mix of all previous Diablo entries. While my main concern is a huge one, it’s fixable. The lack of exciting and meaningful loot is a massive concern but I do have to acknowledge, this is only level 25 in a beta, not a complete representation of the full game. Otherwise, I am even more excited for a seeminly otherwise phenomenal entry in the Diablo series. Bring on the Open Beta and full game!