The Core of Diablo
- Thread starter Telumatan
- Start date
O_Bruce
Habitué
- Messages
- 277
Okay, so I'd like to share some thoughts now. So, currently regarding Diablo 4, the new itemization, system and game balance is currently being (publicly) tested, and based on my limited experience and seeing how other people test it, I have some thoughts.
But first of all, what is changing
- There will be fewer items dropping
- Gems are overall more useful
- The trade between other players is much more free than before
- Magic items will have 1 affix, rares will have 2 affixes, and legendary items will have 3 +one legendary power. Uniques will remain mostly the same. What it means is that in the endgame, you'll be picking rares only for scraping them. Previously, rares could be used as a base for creating legendary items, now it is not the case.
- There are fewer, but more potent and generalized affixes on most items. One, you feel they power more. Second, the overly specific situational affixes are mostly gone from the items that drop. This makes comparing the items you drop in the game much less tedious. Then again, the now "punchier" affixes are raising one concern for me, but that I'll explain later
- Unique items are no longer restricted to World Tier III and World Tier IVs, so you can find some while playing through the campaign.
- Legendary and unique items can roll with 1 to 3 so-called "greater affixes". These not only have their max roll, they also are overall higher than normal affixes can work. Some top tier items will become extremely rare and very valuable in trading, so that might affect the game's economy and community in a way I am unable to predict
- But that's not all. Finding a great item is just the beginning, thanks to two new systems: tempering and masterworking.
- Tempering allows to add two new affixes to an item that are specialized/specific. In short: you'll be able to find tempered recipes while playing the game, and you can learn the recipes. Looking at the preview in-game, there will be tons of them. Anyways, recipes are divided into categories and you'll be able to add two affixes to item, but only 1 per category. Affixes can be rerolled set a amount of time. Affixes are various, from general damage boost to situational damage boost, to chance of adding flat elemental damage to your attack, to affecting the cooldown of your skills, to affecting the area of effect of specific skills, and duration of specific your skills. Things like that. Generally, it allows you to customize your build to what you'd like to and opens up build possibilities.
- Then there's masterworking. It replaces standard item upgrading that was in place now. There are 12 levels of upgrades, most of them give all affixes on an item +5% boost. But, upgrading the item 4th, 8th and 12th time instead will give only one affix a +25% boost. So, depending on the RNG you can end up with 3 affixes boosted more than others, or even one affix becomes incredibly powerful. This applies to affixes obtained via tempering as well, so for example, let's say you have an affix that gives you bigger area of effect of Blizzard (sorceror's skill). After masterworking, the result might be that your Blizzard will affect effectively all of the screen. After masterworking is complete, you can reset it to 0 and start over, if you aren't happy with end result. The materials needed to masterwork an item can be found in the new endgame activity: the Pit
- The Pit works a lot like Greater Rifts in Diablo III. You have the timer to kill a set number of enemies in a randomly generated dungeon, and after you managed to do it in time, a portal will open to allow you to face the dungeon's boss. After killing a boss, you'll be rewarded with a drop and chest with materials specifically required for masterworking. The deeper levels (more difficult) of the Pit can grant you higher-tier materials as well.
A new Uber boss was added to the game
- Most of Uber bosses have an optional even stronger version to fight now.
- Many skills in the game have been rebalanced. Minions/animal companions in particular are now viable
- There is an option to zoom out camera
- Helltides have been changed. When killing demons in the area under Helltide, you'll gain notoriety among demons. The more you kill them, the more you'll be perceived as a threat and so you'll be ambushed by a more dangerous wave of demons (think of the GTA system of stars). At its max, you can expect a powerful boss to attack, killing which resets the threat level and grants you some sweet loot. You can also summon the boss at certain places.
- There are some no-brainers, like new legendary powers and new Uniques. In particular, we have Tyrael's Might in game now.
Okay, so what do testers and I think of this? Vast majority of people seem to enjoy new systems and claim that the game should look like this on release day - something I can agree with. The new systems are making many more builds viable and, intentionally or not, the update addresses some problems I had with the game and haven't voiced to anyone yet. I also like the idea that whenever I find a really powerful legendary and unique item, then that would be the beginning of the journey for this particular item due to tempering and masterworking. I like the idea of having much more freedom in customizing my character build and not wasting an insane amount of time comparing dropped items with tons of reduntant and overly specific affixes. That being said, I have two big concerns:
First of all, affixes are more powerful and they feel more meaningful and overall useful, but the problem lies in which affixes can spawn where. Because, if main character attribute can spawn on anything, additional life can spawn or anything, or +% damage can spawn on too many pieces, then it dumbs down your choice in a way if there are obvious correct choices. I'd like it to be thought much better, especially given max of 3 affixes on base legendary.
Second and more important, I have noticed in examples set by other players, is insane power creep. Think of Diablo III level of craziness. Things like instant killing of Uber obsses, Barbarian's dune devils covering all the screen, Sorceror's Frozen Orb triggering Hydras that trigger additional Frozen Orbs that trigger Hydras etc. Not only I'm afraid the game will be piss easy at this rate, but also this level of craziness crashes harshly with the mood the artstyle, music and overall vibe the game presents. It was acceptable-ish with much more stylized/cartoonish DIII, but in DIV it does really feel off.
Maybe the game will be more fun and that's all that ultimately matters, but I am afraid something will be lost.
But first of all, what is changing
- There will be fewer items dropping
- Gems are overall more useful
- The trade between other players is much more free than before
- Magic items will have 1 affix, rares will have 2 affixes, and legendary items will have 3 +one legendary power. Uniques will remain mostly the same. What it means is that in the endgame, you'll be picking rares only for scraping them. Previously, rares could be used as a base for creating legendary items, now it is not the case.
- There are fewer, but more potent and generalized affixes on most items. One, you feel they power more. Second, the overly specific situational affixes are mostly gone from the items that drop. This makes comparing the items you drop in the game much less tedious. Then again, the now "punchier" affixes are raising one concern for me, but that I'll explain later
- Unique items are no longer restricted to World Tier III and World Tier IVs, so you can find some while playing through the campaign.
- Legendary and unique items can roll with 1 to 3 so-called "greater affixes". These not only have their max roll, they also are overall higher than normal affixes can work. Some top tier items will become extremely rare and very valuable in trading, so that might affect the game's economy and community in a way I am unable to predict
- But that's not all. Finding a great item is just the beginning, thanks to two new systems: tempering and masterworking.
- Tempering allows to add two new affixes to an item that are specialized/specific. In short: you'll be able to find tempered recipes while playing the game, and you can learn the recipes. Looking at the preview in-game, there will be tons of them. Anyways, recipes are divided into categories and you'll be able to add two affixes to item, but only 1 per category. Affixes can be rerolled set a amount of time. Affixes are various, from general damage boost to situational damage boost, to chance of adding flat elemental damage to your attack, to affecting the cooldown of your skills, to affecting the area of effect of specific skills, and duration of specific your skills. Things like that. Generally, it allows you to customize your build to what you'd like to and opens up build possibilities.
- Then there's masterworking. It replaces standard item upgrading that was in place now. There are 12 levels of upgrades, most of them give all affixes on an item +5% boost. But, upgrading the item 4th, 8th and 12th time instead will give only one affix a +25% boost. So, depending on the RNG you can end up with 3 affixes boosted more than others, or even one affix becomes incredibly powerful. This applies to affixes obtained via tempering as well, so for example, let's say you have an affix that gives you bigger area of effect of Blizzard (sorceror's skill). After masterworking, the result might be that your Blizzard will affect effectively all of the screen. After masterworking is complete, you can reset it to 0 and start over, if you aren't happy with end result. The materials needed to masterwork an item can be found in the new endgame activity: the Pit
- The Pit works a lot like Greater Rifts in Diablo III. You have the timer to kill a set number of enemies in a randomly generated dungeon, and after you managed to do it in time, a portal will open to allow you to face the dungeon's boss. After killing a boss, you'll be rewarded with a drop and chest with materials specifically required for masterworking. The deeper levels (more difficult) of the Pit can grant you higher-tier materials as well.
A new Uber boss was added to the game
- Most of Uber bosses have an optional even stronger version to fight now.
- Many skills in the game have been rebalanced. Minions/animal companions in particular are now viable
- There is an option to zoom out camera
- Helltides have been changed. When killing demons in the area under Helltide, you'll gain notoriety among demons. The more you kill them, the more you'll be perceived as a threat and so you'll be ambushed by a more dangerous wave of demons (think of the GTA system of stars). At its max, you can expect a powerful boss to attack, killing which resets the threat level and grants you some sweet loot. You can also summon the boss at certain places.
- There are some no-brainers, like new legendary powers and new Uniques. In particular, we have Tyrael's Might in game now.
Okay, so what do testers and I think of this? Vast majority of people seem to enjoy new systems and claim that the game should look like this on release day - something I can agree with. The new systems are making many more builds viable and, intentionally or not, the update addresses some problems I had with the game and haven't voiced to anyone yet. I also like the idea that whenever I find a really powerful legendary and unique item, then that would be the beginning of the journey for this particular item due to tempering and masterworking. I like the idea of having much more freedom in customizing my character build and not wasting an insane amount of time comparing dropped items with tons of reduntant and overly specific affixes. That being said, I have two big concerns:
First of all, affixes are more powerful and they feel more meaningful and overall useful, but the problem lies in which affixes can spawn where. Because, if main character attribute can spawn on anything, additional life can spawn or anything, or +% damage can spawn on too many pieces, then it dumbs down your choice in a way if there are obvious correct choices. I'd like it to be thought much better, especially given max of 3 affixes on base legendary.
Second and more important, I have noticed in examples set by other players, is insane power creep. Think of Diablo III level of craziness. Things like instant killing of Uber obsses, Barbarian's dune devils covering all the screen, Sorceror's Frozen Orb triggering Hydras that trigger additional Frozen Orbs that trigger Hydras etc. Not only I'm afraid the game will be piss easy at this rate, but also this level of craziness crashes harshly with the mood the artstyle, music and overall vibe the game presents. It was acceptable-ish with much more stylized/cartoonish DIII, but in DIV it does really feel off.
Maybe the game will be more fun and that's all that ultimately matters, but I am afraid something will be lost.