Why Diablo IV is not fun to me

PC General Discussion
1

I’ll try to expose what are the things that are killing all the fun of the game.
I’m an average+ player of ARPG (got 2500+ hours on D3 and PoE each), I dont considerate myself as a PGM at all, just a random player.

To begin with, I am a French player and English is not my native language. Sorry in advance for the syntax errors.

OVERALL

  • I dont have the feellingto be stronger during the leveling (even after lv50). Clearly, mobs beeing stronger in the same time we level is not a good thing.

MAP

  • No map overlay ?!
  • Map is confusing to (no colors). When you look at it, all the regions looks the same.
  • The environnement is beautiful …but too labyrintic, not fun to run through.
  • Map in his globality is not fun.

UI

  • Talking about colors, buffs list is not rapidly readable (no colors)
  • We saw the filiation with D2 ui, but the UI of D3 was way more readable.

GAMEPLAY

  • D4 has less spells than D3, build tree is a joke (realy). We dont need PoE passive tree but something between D3 and PoE should provide us more choices.
  • Lots of spells are not fun. I get for exemple “penetrating shot” with “trickshot aspect”. It could be very fun is the arrows goes to the closer enemy rather than of going 90°. This “combo” is Ok… but not fun.

QUESTS

  • Main quest is good but most of side quests are reeeeealy boring : fedex quest, half of quests are old mmo quest but not HnS.
  • You need to do thoses boring quests again in the season … rhaaa please, this is realy torture when you just want to play HnS.

ENCHANT / CRAFT

  • re-enchant an object is not clear at all (D3 system was clear on what we can expect when reforging a caracteristic)
  • Get the essence of a legendary item is a great idea… but I dont like to drop an item that is not “unique” its so confusing (to me). I love when you drop a leg’ and hope it’s the ring that you need. Combining D3 items with D4 essence mecanics is the best solution (hope this point is clear :x …).

DUNGEON

  • Killing lvl 72 mobs in nightmare dungeon at lvl 61 will reward you lvl 61 item : not fun.
  • Dungeon mechanics are globaly boring :
  • “Kill all the mobs” objective is not fun at all !! (it was the worst quest for chest in D3)
  • Go to the left wing, get an item, go to center, go to the right wings, go to the center… run in empty corridor is not fun.
  • Dungeon maps are boring to exept if you like to run in corridor with few mobs.
  • Teleport is a good thing for nightmare dungeon, why no teleport for normal dungeon ? … and why teleport outside the entrance ? I need to go inside ! Teleport me inside please…

HORSE

  • Horse cooldown when not in combat : not usefull
  • no sprint in city : not fun
  • barricades. Travel is not fun…so why block the way ? To get it less fun ?

CITYS

  • we need a chest in each town.
  • vendors needs to bee closer. Run, even with a horse is not fun. (D3 was great in that point)

PARANGON

  • Parangon panel is fun, but get only 5 dext for a point is rewardless.

… and this is a non exhausted list.

I realy hope that the game will change, but some points are the heart of game and seems difficult to change (map, passive tree).

Thank you for your patience and for reading me so far.

5 Likes
2

I think having the monsters scale with player level is one of the biggest downfalls of the game.

This is counter-productive to the goal of an ARPG - the entire point of an ARPG is the particular class having a breaking point of becoming overpowered and the player himself outscaling the monsters; it’s also counter-productive to build diversity and experimentation.

Any progress in power by the player is outdone by the monsters scaling with his level. Thus, it makes the power-spikes feel less powerful and be far fewer and the time in-between them increases.

It kills build experimentation and diversity of gameplay, because if there are zones with designated monster levels, then that allows the player to switch to a build, where he lacks items and power, but can voluntarily choose to face weaker monsters and still clear quickly and eventually farm the missing pieces of said build.

The other core aspect of the game that is very badly designed is itemization. They’ve opted for making “Legendary items” the main focus for most gear slots, which Legendary items in principle are glorified yellow/magic items from D2. That is: it gives no concrete target to farm, since legendary items are completely random - random affixes, random affix values, random legendary aspects, random legendary aspects values. So, you just hope for this brownish drop on the ground to just happen to be what exactly your build needs, but it may not be. If you remove the brownish color and the name “Legendary Item”, these are just yellow/magic items from D2.

On top of this, add all the useless affixes that do not contribute meaningfully to amplifying the power of any viable build, which makes this lottery/slot-machine principle of itemization feel even worse. It’s like aiming for a jackpot, without knowing how to get it; and not having any guarantee that you’ll get it. But this is a video game, it’s not a casino, or some gambling enterprise - why have this design?

Well designed uniques with predetermined meaningful affixes that unlock potential builds and make them powerful is a must. It’s fine to have some gear slots have a legendary as “best in slot” item; but you can’t have almost all your gear slots rely on undefined, completely random loot that you just kill stuff in hope of getting, but never know how, or when, or IF, you’ll get it.

As to the lack of some crucial QoL features, that’s not even worthy to mention. It’s an embarrassment. They definitely don’t break the game. If the game was actually good, people could play through it regardless if it frustrates you with the lack of some QoL. The same way that I don’t mind, in D2, to have very little inventory space, because of charms, but I play through it, because it’s enjoyable nevertheless. In other words, QoL features don’t make, or break, the game - they only add to the other frustrations, if they are missing.

4 Likes
3

Huh? Man i am WT3 Barb anything my level was getting blasted. i need 10 plus levels to even worry about dying.in n/m dungeon.
I wish it was the way u describe it was more fun…

4

[quote=“DragonFire-12106, post:3, topic:120385, full:true”]

Huh? Man i am WT3 Barb anything my level was getting blasted. i need 10 plus levels to even worry about dying.in n/m dungeon. [/quote]

But that’s the point: it’s so random between character and character; and playthrough and playthrough; to the point of the process becoming uncontrollable. Blizzard need to ensure their systems are designed and integrated in such a way, that there’s balance between random and predetermined.

Since all builds and power rely on legendary items, which are so random in nature - random to drop, random item level, random affixes, random affix values, random legendary aspects, random legendary aspects values, - then some people don’t get the “right legendary items”, so their playthrough is so, so bad and slow and frustrating.

The innate power of the classes need to be buffed, initially, to not be so reliant on items, so that when you invest points in skills and passives, you are strong enough to not have a slug-fest at level 40, but rather clear it, at least, moderately fast.

Because some people are not fortunate enough to JUST have the exact legendary power they need, which will make them have a reasonably quick clear-speed. And they are doomed to slow and frustrating gameplay loop, until they get the drop. But, even then, it’s unclear when they will get the drop. How much time it will take; how many levels they’ll go through doing things slowly.

5

you tried, but didn’t really succeed sorry bro

6

Come on guys, we’re way past this…

Yes, “linear” (i mean every single mob out there to be same level at the same time) level scaling is bad, but that does not make it a bad mechanic… They can easily make the mobs -3 instead of -5, elites same level as you, greater elites as +3, and IDK Overworld bosses (if any) +7 or +10

BUT, the issue with itemization isn’t enchanting or crafting (there is some to this) but more generally - items are too similar/bland… There is a good thing about this (sense of affix progression) but also bad (level-gated builds), wrote before about this

Don’t think the problem is dungeon mechanics being boring, the problem is that is the repeatable content of the entire endgame… Dungeon mechanics (i.e. NMD) one after another

Teleport inside ?, yes, TP to a normal dungeon ?, not really… I mean when do you even want to travel the overworld ?, you’ll reduce to TP-ing inside dungeons the whole entire gameplay

None of these matter (at least not as much as you think they do)

The problem isn’t that won’t make the game more convenient to play (they will), the problem is that simply adding more convenience won’t solve the boredom of the game

We need alternative gameplay, we need overworld events that matter in late game, we need dungeons/cellars/arenas at the overworld that matter, we need something as an alternative for Glyph upgrades (say something like make Glyph shards a part of loot, droppable from greater elites at places), not force us to re-run NMD after NMD

THAT is what is bad with this game, not the “blockades”, in fact we need more, many more blockades, make the world feel like it is inhabited and has substance (not the whole thing being an open bigger dungeon without a single door or wall or obstacle)

7

How? He says even after 50 , claiming before 50 feels like you dont get stronger, everyclass every play through has not felt this way…As you play and unlock points each starting alt gets faster and starts stronger so again …huh?

100% disagree even if rng is giving you no luck, you can target farm apsects of power and use these for a working character, people are complaing about aspects storage, so hardly think this is a issue. yellows do fine for WT-2 and if no luck use some aspects.

I change and play around from 1-50 all the time, by 58 im a new character basically.

I also FYI dont pre- plan or pre build, i do it all with what i get from rng.

1 Like
8

do you know how equipment work in diablo 4?

it’s not about the requirement level but the POWER level
and yes, killing higher level monster will result in higher power item

there is a world difference between a lv 60 item that is power lv 800
and a lv 60 item that is power lv 600

and a lv 90 power lv 800 will be the same as a lv 60 item but with power lv 800

what you need to check is the item power level
not the requirement level which will always scale to your level so that you can equip it (atleast most of the time)
requirement level doesn’t affect the affixes range and DPS or armor of the item
Power level does.

would you prefer looting item you cannot equip until lv 70 yet would be the same power as you could find now as a lv 61 item ?

9

Your first point is not understandable. I really don’t know what you mean there. Care to elaborate?

As to your second point:

I’m not talking about “a working character”. Any character works, as long as you manage to kill monsters - regardless of the speed. I am talking about the pacing of the game dropping down to such extreme lows that it brings a frustrating gaming loop, because one doesn’t find items that deliver sufficient power-spike to maintain a good pacing.

For example: I dropped playing the druid and the necro, because the pacing was so awful, that I couldn’t bring myself to go through this slugfest.

10

Having monsters not scale is literally one of the most annoying mechanics when going from Normal to Nightmare in hardcore. Normal monsters cap at level 45 outside of Strongholds and Legion events, Nightmare minimum level is 55. I blame people like you for Blizzard making this stupid, stupid, STUPID change. Your take is dumb and Blizzard is dumb for having listened to you.

Leveling scaling ensures there are no gaps in content and that you can play what you want when you want. It just works. When Skyrim has level scaling you know level scaling just works.

Your build is awful and you are bad at the game. No wonder your take is cooked. If your level 80 character can’t steamroll level 100 monsters you’ve failed as a player.

11

This for me is the biggest issue this game has and I hope they address it soon.

12

Someone else can try to explain.

I can’t help you.

13

Then don’t go no Nightmare when your character is too weak for it?

That’s the point of having tiered content: you choose what and where to go. You’re not always forced to face monsters of the equal power with you.

You can choose to fight monsters your level; or if you’ve had a huge power-spike, you can push higher content; if your loot/power is underwhelming, you can choose to tier down and face lower level monsters, thus weaker ones.

It gives you choice and freedom, mate. Now, if you’re too silly to know what monsters you should be fighting, given your current power - then, of course, you’ll need Blizzard’s guiding hand to scale everything around you, so that it spares you the effort of giving some thought.

For example: in Diablo 2, if my character is too weak for Hell Act 1, I farm Nightmare Act 5, because monster level is fixed and designated, so I can make the choice what to face and fight. It’s not that complicated.

14

Do you even play? They’ve already implemented scaling changes. Normal caps at 45, WT3 caps at 70 I think, Malignant Tunnels in WT4 cap at 75 (why???), etc.

It just made the game worse.

Your choices are weak low level opponents that are massively unrewarding or over leveled foes that are much more aggressive.

Previously with level scaling you could get a nice challenge in WT2 until you were ready to leave. WT2 used to go to 50 and WT3 was level 53. Now you have a 10 level jump from 45 to 55 that also brings increased enemy aggression to appease Andies who had bad builds and thought their level 50 character should feel stronger in normal.

15

Chill out Dude! Did I wrong you in some way that you find it acceptable to be rude?

16

I’m not talking about World Tiers, where all monsters receive particular buff to power. I am talking about fixing monster levels to world zones, where zones have designated monsters with particular level, so you can target things more precisely.

For example, if you’re level 50, but are slowly clearing monsters that are also level 50, you can go to a zone with monsters level 45, which will still get you relevant loot, but you’ll clear them reasonably fast, thus your experience changes and the pacing of the game becomes better. You’re not forced to go through the slugfest.

That allows you to CHOOSE the difficulty and the speed with which you clear.

17

WT1 vs WT2 already exists. If you need something below WT1… I don’t really know how to help you that’s about as low as you can go or should go. If you can’t beat equal level WT1 monsters you should look for online resources to improve.

As far as scaling up, Strongholds are always 2 levels above you up to some cap if you want a greater challenge, and you can toggle WT2 on for greater challenge as well.

You don’t need hyper granular difficulty settings until you get to Nightmare and builds start to massively diverge in power, and Nightmare has NMDs which have a fixed challenge per level.

I reject your argument completely, I think your take is dumb, I’m pretty sure you just watched Asmongold and repeated him when he doesn’t even play the game to keep up with the changes, and therefore I think you should just pipe down. Lol, Christ.

18

First two posts are pretty much spot on.

OP the game is this way due to mismanagement of the project over the first few year, followed by executives forcing the dev team to push the game out a year early.

For those kivitching about level scaling: this is not Skyrim. It’s not even fit to be stepped on by Skyrim.

Level scaling is fine if implemented properly. In Diablo 4 level scaling doesn’t work. It makes the game feel like an anklet deep ocean of bland excrement. There need to be zones that are lower level and higher level than the character so those that haven’t found gear or Aspects can get their build up and running. If they scaled by region from -5 to +10 level it would be fine. Everything being the same is terrible. It doesn’t have the depth of something like Skyrim to be able to pull off level scaling. You should be ashamed for even making that comparison.

19

Damn, so spiteful, dude. What ever did I do to you?

Once again: I am not talking about “World tiers”, but about “World zones”. You can’t get the argument right, so you’re just rejecting a straw-man.

You keep speaking about world tiers, when I’m saying this should be dropped altogether. Have different zones of the world be designated for different level monsters; so you go to zone X to farm monsters level Y.

It’s a simple concept implemented in the majority of RPGs, ARPGs and MMORPGs. Both solo, party, turn-based and real time. It’s not rocket science - it’s implemented, because it gives the player choice and freedom of difficulty and pacing.

You are going mad, mate. Take a chill pill.

Once again, the simple example from D2, which got it right: if I am too weak for Hell Act 1 - which have monsters starting at level 67, - then I go to Nightmare Act 5, where it has monsters at level 58 to 66, depending on the zone. It’s not rocket science, mate.

20

Ahhhhhh!! Why!!! Disconnect Capstone T3 :frowning: everytime…Code 395002 wtf does that mean lol.