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Diablo IV discussion thread
What are your initial impressions of the game?
What do you like about it?
What are your criticisms?
How does it compare to previous Diablo games?
What are your hopes for future patches, content, or adjustments?
My initial impression has been very positive; I'm having a lot of fun with it. The combat is a bit slower paced than some other modern ARPGs, which I appreciate, your attacks feel more purposeful and impactful. The skills are interesting and varied, all with lovely animations and effects. The MMO-lite aspects work well, world bosses, group dungeons, and just seeing others running around is all great. They really nailed the art direction and graphics, and the cinematics are brilliant too.
It's of course not all perfect. I've had some issues with server lag/freezes, sometimes dying because of it. I'm not a fan of the level scaling, you can never over level and get that OP feeling that I love; but it does make the game more challenging, so I understand why they did it. The skill tree could also do with being a bit more in depth, but it's not terrible as it is. And of course the price of the cash shop cosmetics is just obscene, especially considering the box price of the game. Thankfully no P2W items though.
I'd say it's up there with Diablo 2, and is one of the best ARPGs I've played.
THIS. The skills and effects are absolutely stunning. The art team really outdid themselves. Couple this with the map design and the orchestral music, the general feel and atmosphere of the game is nothing short of perfect.
Yeah I've experience this a number of times as well. You can enable fps counter / latency display with CTRL + R on windows. Sometimes the latency is well over 200 for an extended period of time, which is a bit concerning. However, I fully expected the servers to crash during and shortly after launch, which they did not. So overall, while not great, still better than expected.
I don't know how I feel about this one. On one hand, it's a tad annoying that any item upgrade and "felt" power I get seems to dissipate within a few levels due to scaling. On the other hand, the fact that I can play with my friends who are dozens of levels ahead or behind is game changing. We don't have to worry about a balanced power level for the party, everybody can just hop in and play together.
I agree, it's super linear, but IMO they put most of the build customisation options into the paragon board. I would love if the skill enhancements from the skill tree actually changed the skill somewhat, like how runes in diablo 3 did.
YEAH LOL. I don't know who their target audience is with this one. 70+ for a game is already on the steep side, but I understand it as the game probably cost an astronomical amount to develop. Paying 30% of the entire game's price tag for a horse armour is just shocking.
Overall I agree with your conclusions. I'm really enjoying Diablo IV, and if someone likes the genre, I don't see how they wouldn't. The game looks fantastic, the gameplay is butter smooth and it's very easy to sink in lots of hours without even touching the gear grind aspect of ARPGs.
When you say MMO-lite. Are you referring to playing with a paid ps+ subscription? If I'm not subscribed, would I still experience seeing other players and crossing paths with them?
I'm not sure how it works on console, as I'm playing on PC. Sorry!
It's okay. Thanks for answering.
From what I've read, the game requires a ps+ subscription to play, as it's always online and there's no traditional single player/offline mode.
According to the product page, a PS+ subscription is required since it's always online: https://www.playstation.com/en-gb/games/diablo-iv
That's too bad 70usd and subscription to boot. It's too expensive.
I didn't read anything about the game before getting it so that came as a huge surprise to me. I didn't see anyone for the first ~20 minutes of playing so when I finally saw someone I actually said out loud, "Is that a...guy? Wait, that's a real guy!" I love how it's just enough to dip a toe in when you want, but not everywhere all the time. Plus the etiquette has been good in all of my encounters so far.
It’s Blizzard. The game might be great yet but don’t expect to have some quality end game.
It will be a reiteration of what we have seen in WoW and Diablo 3. They will come up with paragon levels or new level caps making everything you did until the new expansion obsolete. Your golden items will rot in some chest while green items will be better than everything you got to that moment.
And there is a high chance that they will monetize every single drop out of the game.
You say that your golds will just rot in a chest somewhere after new content comes out and greens will be better but sadly that is just the nature of any game with an endgame and you can't attribute that to just a Blizzard thing. There is really no great solution for that because there has to be new, better gear with each piece of new content to incentivise people to play it. If the idea of grinding for gear just to eventually have it be irrelevant bothers you then sadly this game may just not be for you as that is a core tennant of games with constant update releases. Plus it doesn't have to just sit in a chest, there are crafting systems and you can turn that gear into mats for those systems. Also if they follow what they did in WoW, a game you used as a negative comparison, they may implement a system that allows the player to upgrade the gear they have to make it have a longer lifespan. Also another note about your comparison to WoW is that the most recent release of WoW has actually revitalized that end game by adding plenty of things to do with a wide variety of task and rewards. So if they are even close to the quality of the newer WoW end game I think that is a good thing. To provide context I only played the newest expansion of WoW for like 2 months but not once did I get bored of the end game. I just stopped playing because I can't justify the monthly subscription and spending time on it when my backlog is as big as it is. But that doesn't mean that I got bored of it, in fact almost weekly I get a craving to go back.
I think the game has exceeded my expectations. After the Diablo Immortal monetization disaster I was really worried it would be as bad as that. And while the monetization is brutal, it's entirely avoidable and I do not feel like it is only path forward to enjoy the game whatsoever. I've played 5 hours or so on my PS5. Mostly through Chiaki4Deck so I can usually get about 3+ hours of playing in rather than playing on the Deck natively. I have decent internet (around 600Mbps over Wi-Fi) and rarely have issues.
Edit: clarified info
I'll preface this by saying Diablo 2 was one of the most important games of my adolescence. It was like my safety blanket for middle school, and I've since gone back and played it every few years, including the remastered version back in 2021. I don't think D2 is the best game I've ever played, but it is probably my favorite.
Diablo IV is a lot of fun. In fact, I lost my entire Saturday playing and I am currently fighting every urge to play right now. That said, I do feel like I'm playing the latest installment of Path of Exile more than Diablo.
I've actually never played Diablo 3, so I'm not sure how many features are new to Diablo IV, but I like most of the changes to the equipment and inventory. My only issue so far is that the equipment drops are a bit overwhelming early on in the game. I feel like every other dungeon/side quest leaves me with a new piece of equipment that is just good enough to replace the one I'm using. I don't know if it slows down later on, but one of the things I loved about D2 was getting that awesome rare/unique weapon and sticking with it for most of the act.
Story wise, I have no clue what the hell is going on, but I've never really been into the lore. I kinda want to go back and look up what happened in 3 so I know where Cain and co. all ended up.
I would recommend going on youtube and looking up a video on the history of Diablo lore to catch yourself up. The story of D4 is really, really strong IMO and is a lot easier to understand if you have a little bit of context.
I'm so glad it's not just me in this camp lmao.
I learned more from listening to a "diablo lore explained" youtube video than I did from hundreds of hours of arguing with my lanbuddies which aura was best.
When did you last play Diablo 3? Because jumping directly from D3 into D4, like I did, it's pretty easy to see how different it is. D3 was crazy fast-paced and all about clearing full screens of enemies before you could even register what type of enemy they are (slight exaggeration). D4 combat is much slower and more methodical. And the skill tree mechanic is totally different than just picking whatever you fancy like in D3, although I'm not sure how I feel about this one since it kind of locks you into certain combinations of skills.
I feel like D4 will get there eventually. D3 Inferno at launch was super hard and methodical too.
WoW does stat resets every once in a while for that reason, for there to be growth, there has to be room for growth.
I'm pretty sure within the next year (or next year) we'll have builds/items that will enable us to fully clear rooms in seconds.
The growth progression is very fine with me, it's slow-er but not too much. I really like how strong I feel and I see how strong I could become and it's exciting!
There definitely are builds right now that let you just delete rooms, but they're still all being figured out. The lack of set armors at the moment is really encouraging experimentation, which I like. I've just figured out my trampleslide druid build and can tear through rooms quickly and easily (unless I get terrible RNG for my cooldown reset).
One thing I’ll say about D4 endgame compared to D3 is the variety of activities you have. D3 had rifts, greater rifts, and bounties. D4 has nightmare dungeons, helltide events, legion events, tree of whispers, world bosses, renown grind, and PvP. I just finished the campaign myself and quite frankly feel overwhelmed with how much I still have to do.
My initial impressions are good, not staggeringly good, but good. I'm still playing it having beaten the campaign, not yet level 50 but now doing all the side-quests on world tier three. The momentum of the game is quite strong (the mounts are a good addition), at least up to where I am (especially playing a rogue). However, I can see the boring grind just over the horizon, which honestly is (for me) the downside of most games like this. Playing just to roll better gear, leveling to hit a bit harder, it all becomes a bit Cookie Clicker with fireworks and micro-managing cool downs. No doubt there is skill required to play well on, say, tier four difficulty, where micro-movements and timing come into play. But, yeah, I don't love the endgame of these types of games.
What I really liked about this game is the tone, art direction, story, and general mood. This is more Diablo, to me, than Diablo 3 was. I played Diablo 1 as a kid, and then a bit of Diablo 2 as a young adult (unfortunately not as much as I wanted to). Those were both really excellent games, and especially in the case of the first one, I can really speak to just how dark, weird, and full of gothic-horror it was. I think Blizzard, and gaming in general, has really turned to the BRIGHT color palette to keep players engaged, whereas the really dark, shadowy, almost bloodless tones are less used now. Diablo 4 has more of that. I really, really didn't like Diablo 3. It felt cartoony, I never got invested in the story, and with all the early issues of the release (server-stuff, the real money AH), I didn't finish it.
Diablo 4 is way more brooding, violent, demonic. The story is something that intrigues me, that captures the weirdness of angels and demons being anti-pathic, not just monsters, but inhuman. A couple of the cutscene cinematics were the best I've come across in gaming so far. There's a feeling of Sanctuary's environment having taken inspiration from The Witcher and the Dark Souls series. The music is great. Just in general, this game world feels established, horrifying, and beautifully rendered.
I do wish the drop-in, drop-out co-op was available for dungeons. It is fun seamlessly teaming up with other players in the world, and I think an underrated part of the game. But for dungeons, I've once or twice stood around and spammed invites outside an entrance until I found a party to join. As for the in-game shop, it's a tab I've never even once bothered with. I understand that we've reached this ugly place in gaming where micro-transactions are full blown in-game cosmetic stores, gambling services (I'm not sure this is in Diablo 4, but it's in other Blizzard games), and currency-exchange schemes meant to rip off kids. It does make Diablo 4 shimmer a bit less for me, but it's worth saying it's never once been imposed on me during my play-through.
So yeah, in the future, hopefully some more story content I don't have to pay too much for, an in-game LFG, and that's really it.
I'm currently a level 71 druid and screamed through the campaign and world map completion while grinding out Nightmare dungeons. I like it a lot, and have been playing with a few friends. I never played Diablo 1 or 2. I didn't really PC game when 3 came out so this has been a nice game to chat during when I and friends have finished work for the day.
58 Rogue checking in, really enjoying it so far but wondering how the gameplay continues post T4/lvl70~. Like others said, cosmetics are a total ripoff, but like d3, etc it doesn't really make a difference since you can transmog other gear you've picked up, etc. I only played 3 previously so that's all I've got as a comparison, with a general thumbs up for both currently. It's still really early and I'm relatively confident they'll continue to improve and develop based on how seasons/expansions are looking. We'll see for sure though.
What kind of build do you have? I started with a bow but kept getting my ass kicked early on and had to switch to melee
I've been using this twisted blades build. Not there yet with gear, etc but I had initially done the twisting blades build with shadow infusion and it was strong but I lacked survivability. I stay alive a lot more with this one fortunately.
Thanks for the link! I just switched over to this one and it is a lot more powerful and fun.
Been loving it so far. Love the open world, seeing other players running around and joining them for events makes it seems much more social than D3 was.
Low 60s Necromancer here. I lucked into 3 really fantastic pieces of unique gear in my late 40s/early 50s. I'm currently pushing my way towards 70 so I can go to world tier 4 where hopefully the grinding feels like it pays off more. I'm not sure if it's just the way it is, or if it's because I landed near to best-in-slot items relatively early on, but it's really starting to feel like I'm getting nowhere.
That said, I have easily already gotten my $70 worth. And with seasons promising to add story content, I'm certain that even if I stop now I'll keep coming back.
My favourite thing about D4 is the utterly crisp user interface, I love blisteringly sharp fonts and clean buttons. It's staggeringly crispy! This is something I hated about Grim Dawn, it looks muddy, low rez and it put me off of playing it [despite it being ok from early impressions].
My only real gripe that is developing is the lack of power growth, i'm in my 40s, we cleared Act 3 on T2 and every encounter is just a bit dull IMO, i gambled and got a legendary weapon for my Druid but it might as well of been another Yellow. Granted i'm not built for the synergy.
I also kind of despise the format of the level cap. My buddy and I are map clearers; I was so cresftfallen when I heard about T2 level capping, we've since been doing campaign missions only until we clear them. T3 will hopefully allow a bit more freedom there.
D2R was fun when I played through it for the first time with a buddy. I loved that slot machine feeling, I got a unique mace early on and that thing absolutely SMASHED. I'm almost tempted to re-install that, but the potion management was dog awful; and town scrolls....ugh! D4 handles all of the D2 inventory issues amazingly. But D2 had the best RNG loot for sure.
Hopefully something can be tweaked down the line to bring it more in with D2...I dunno. On the contrary, my whole group has the game and it's been a blast for mid-story or brand new characters to hop RIGHT INTO where we are, so...who knows what the future might hold on that regard.
Honestly, the always-online thing is a complete dealbreaker for me and I won't be playing this game for a long time. I'll likely pirate it years down the road when there's an offline patch. I have no interest in competing for online trophies or achievements, I just want fun gameplay and an engaging story. And the fact that if my internet goes down for any reason I wouldn't be able to play a single player game I paid for is just aggravating.
Not super far into it yet but initial impressions are that I’m really liking the story/vibe so far. At initial glance the skill tree seems a bit basic but hopefully that’s just my initial impression.
The only real complaint I have is that I don’t get to play Monk anymore :’)
I’m a total noob when it comes to ARPGs. It’s just not a genre I’ve ever played. I’m most at home in MMOs, MOBAs, and FPS. That being said, I’ve been having a blast with D4. I don’t know if the end game will capture my attention, but it’ll be worth the money just for the initial leveling experience.
I can't comment on the gameplay because the egregious monetization is something I refuse to support. If the game is going to have a cash shop, premium currency, battlepasses and forces players to be always-online then the game should be free-to-play (F2P). In my opinion it's unacceptable to charge a $70USD entry fee for such a title. As if that wasn't enough, they're still planning two paid expansions on top of all that. Don't even get me started on the whole "pay more and get access to the game a few days early". I'm thoroughly disgusted with the greed in this industry.
I don't disagree with your point about the monetization being excessive but it's important to keep in mind that the cash shop is cosmetics only. The rest of the game is huge and is more than worth the $70 price tag IMO. The main questline has 6 full acts of content plus the numerous side quests that are actually quite entertaining...I've already sank 50+ hours into it and it's been a blast.
I understand that the items are currently limited to cosmetics but buying a title that uses these practices is still an endorsement of their inclusion, whether you purchase said cosmetics or not. I won't tell anyone what to do with their own money but I simply cannot reward such behavior myself.
If there was a way to be sure, regardless of what Blizzard says that the D4 cash shop would be cosmetic-only I'd buy it tomorrow because the Diablo necromancers are some of my favorite interpretations of the archetype, in gameplay and lore. But in light of Overwatch 2, WoW Classic adding boosts, and Retail WoW (further back when they shifted the cash shop to include paid boosts) it's difficult to take them at their word. For the sake of everyone enjoying D4 I hope it does stay cosmetic-only, but I'd rather put my money towards companies with a better track record.
Yeah but why do you have to be online to play it?
I've played every game since the 1st one, and can say it's a solid continuation of the Diablo series!
I only got it a few days ago and am about to finish Act 3 as a lvl 40 Necromancer, but so far it's an enjoyable experience! Combat requires just enough skill and attention to be engaging without getting repetitive. There's a lot of freedom to play around with skillsets and item builds without worrying about opportunity costs. And the atmosphere and lore are done well enough to keep me immersed. I found myself spending most of my last day off playing the game, when my attention span usually has me switch activities after only a couple hours.
We'll see how endgame goes, though. But even if it's limited, I'll still consider this while experience a worthwhile time!
I'm new to Diablo series, but I am really loving this. It gives me old Asheron's Call and early MMORPG vibes. Quests, friends, cross-platform. Cheaper than mobile games for sure.
I remember playing $12-20 for monthly access. That's cheaper than bars and I have fun more.
I really enjoy the dark feel and the storylines. My obit issue is that not playing on PC means it's all voice chat and sometimes I just don't feel like talking.
So far the game has been really great. D2 and D3 I would rush to the end asap. There is so much discovery that I am taking my time. My second character will probably try to blow past everything quick.