Diablo IV's Early Access Beta Impressions From A Diablo Noob | MMORPG.com

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Diablo IV's Early Access Beta Impressions From A Diablo Noob | MMORPG.com

Bradford has really never played the Diablo series other than scattered times during betas, so jumping into the Diablo IV early access beta was an interesting experience.

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Slapshot1188

I enjoyed the beta as well. Not perfect but overall I found it fun.

I think my biggest gripes were the zoomed in perspective and the (so far) linear story. Yeah I thought the story was good but... it was just laid out. No real choices to make. One path, at least from what I saw so far.

The Jury is still out on the level scaling stuff.

ultimateduck

I love the Diablo series of games (except Diablo Immortal) I thought Diablo IV felt very un-Diablo. It's a good game, but almost felt MMO-esque. This isn't necessarily a bad thing. I have really enjoyed other ARPGs like Path of Exile and Grim Dawn. I have thousands of hours over the 20 years of its existence with Diablo, Diablo II (LOD) and Diablo III (yes, I enjoyed D3 for what it was). I also have thousands of hours with PoE and Grim Dawn. I foresee having a lot of hours with D4.

Scot

What no KFC Double Down, you didn't let the Colonel pack your picnic in Sanctuary?!

Pher0cious

Slapshot1188 said:

the (so far) linear story. Yeah I thought the story was good but... it was just laid out. No real choices to make.

I think you're mistaking dragon age for diablo

Slapshot1188

Pher0cious said:

Slapshot1188 said:

the (so far) linear story. Yeah I thought the story was good but... it was just laid out. No real choices to make.

I think you're mistaking dragon age for diablo

Not at all my friend.  But this is supposed to be a new, MMO version of Diablo right?

Greatsword

I liked it, but no multishot on Rogue almost is a dealbreaker.

Scot

Greatsword said:

I liked it, but no multishot on Rogue almost is a dealbreaker.

One missing gameplay element and its nearly a deal breaker? No wonder studios think every gamer is way too entitled.

ohrecon

Honestly it's pretty good. I see it as one of those games that start off slightly slow but updates really push it in the right direction.

Talin

Slapshot1188 said:

Pher0cious said:

Slapshot1188 said:

the (so far) linear story. Yeah I thought the story was good but... it was just laid out. No real choices to make.

I think you're mistaking dragon age for diablo

Not at all my friend.  But this is supposed to be a new, MMO version of Diablo right?

Yep, it's a theme-park MMO Diablo.

Talin

ohrecon said:

Honestly it's pretty good. I see it as one of those games that start off slightly slow but updates really push it in the right direction.

I agree. So far D4 (through level 20 in Beta) is a better pace of story and skill progression than the plodding pace of D2 and the breakneck speed of advancement in D3 (at least now in the modern game... original release was another story).

I don't really care for the UI of the skill tree (too much scrolling, zooming, and moving for minimal benefit), but I do like that you have to make some meaningful choices in your build.

What I didn't expect at all was the concept of aspects to show up. These seem to help expand skills and possibly define builds through additional modifiers that you get from quests or extract from legendary items (still learning about it), more than just incrementing dmg % or comparable. I love the potential this has to keep offering new skill modifiers in the future versus adding more skills and how it could possibly shift up the meta.

Kudos to them for offering (basic) character customization; was never a deal breaker to me but given the cutscenes now render your character and equipment, it is good to see the character I am using now in all their glory.

Sovrath

Slapshot1188 said:

I enjoyed the beta as well. Not perfect but overall I found it fun.

I think my biggest gripes were the zoomed in perspective and the (so far) linear story. Yeah I thought the story was good but... it was just laid out. No real choices to make. One path, at least from what I saw so far.

The Jury is still out on the level scaling stuff.

Did the first Diablo games offer choices? I don't really remember then again I never finished them.

Iselin

Greatsword said:

I liked it, but no multishot on Rogue almost is a dealbreaker.

I thought Barrage did a pretty good job as a Multishot replacement, especially after level 20 when you can spam it more thanks to Inner Sight and Shadow Imbument.

I mean... same powerful, room-clearing, use,

Iselin

TBH, I liked the MMOish, multiplayer part of the game much more than I thought I would, especially the casual multiplayer nature of just running into an event while traveling somewhere and having a random other or 2 just join in the fun.

I've made no secret of thinking of ARPGs as solo games but this type of drop-in multiplayer felt like an enhancement, not an annoyance.

I also enjoyed the narrative style of using many in-game engine cut scenes with your character as you created it and decked out on whatever it's currently wearing part of the sights and sounds of those... yeah, no silent Bob player character here, we speak too.

I thought the loot quantity and quality felt great with many frequent updates including a noticeably increased frequency of legendary item drops. I mean, it's those legos we play for if we're being honest since they add interesting skill modifiers to the gameplay, not just stats.

I'm happy to see they went with a less impactful but plentiful approach at least in that 1-25 portion of the game. The upgrade frequency and choices presented by the modifiers felt good.

Also loved the ability to learn those legendary modifiers and then use them at the Ocultist to apply them to some non-legendary piece of gear converting it to legendary in the process. It reinforces the plentiful but modest legendary affix approach they're using.

I liked their character build system also with meaningful choices of active skills as well as modifiers and passives and with the legendary affix powers toned down, skill slot choice feels more prominent than in a game like say, Diablo 3, where skills are just starting points for insanely overpowered legendary affies or set bonuses.

I enjoyed taking both the sorc and rogue to 25 and am looking forward to doing the same with the necro and Druid next weekend... Sorry Barbarian, you and "spin to win" both suck

Iselin

Sovrath said:

Slapshot1188 said:

I enjoyed the beta as well. Not perfect but overall I found it fun.

I think my biggest gripes were the zoomed in perspective and the (so far) linear story. Yeah I thought the story was good but... it was just laid out. No real choices to make. One path, at least from what I saw so far.

The Jury is still out on the level scaling stuff.

Did the first Diablo games offer choices? I don't really remember then again I never finished them.

No. Role-playing choices has never been a Diablo franchise feature. The stories have always been on-rails linear.

Slapshot1188

Sovrath said:

Slapshot1188 said:

I enjoyed the beta as well. Not perfect but overall I found it fun.

I think my biggest gripes were the zoomed in perspective and the (so far) linear story. Yeah I thought the story was good but... it was just laid out. No real choices to make. One path, at least from what I saw so far.

The Jury is still out on the level scaling stuff.

Did the first Diablo games offer choices? I don't really remember then again I never finished them.

No.  But I think if you want to have folks run the same content a bunch of times it would be an improvement to have some choices.

Ensifer

Slapshot1188 said:

Sovrath said:

Slapshot1188 said:

I enjoyed the beta as well. Not perfect but overall I found it fun.



I think my biggest gripes were the zoomed in perspective and the (so far) linear story. Yeah I thought the story was good but... it was just laid out. No real choices to make. One path, at least from what I saw so far.



The Jury is still out on the level scaling stuff.

Did the first Diablo games offer choices? I don't really remember then again I never finished them.

No.  But I think if you want to have folks run the same content a bunch of times it would be an improvement to have some choices.

Disagree, not many people play the game for the story. And those that do play it a single time and more then likely wont touch it again. Me personally rush through the game as fast as possible and begin my grind lol

Sovrath

Slapshot1188 said:

Sovrath said:

Slapshot1188 said:

I enjoyed the beta as well. Not perfect but overall I found it fun.

I think my biggest gripes were the zoomed in perspective and the (so far) linear story. Yeah I thought the story was good but... it was just laid out. No real choices to make. One path, at least from what I saw so far.

The Jury is still out on the level scaling stuff.

Did the first Diablo games offer choices? I don't really remember then again I never finished them.

No.  But I think if you want to have folks run the same content a bunch of times it would be an improvement to have some choices.

I wouldn't disagree as that would be my take on it. Just wasn't sure if the original games had that option.

I get that some people don't mind the linear story line. I've seen reviews where people noted that this "could" be an issue (as well as in this thread.)

I suspect that won't change any time soon and the game "is what it is" at this point.

I'll add that I get it as the meat of the games seem to be action oriented combat destroying waves, or at least, many, enemies and the loot system.

GatsuZerk

Scot said:

Greatsword said:

I liked it, but no multishot on Rogue almost is a dealbreaker.

One missing gameplay element and its nearly a deal breaker? No wonder studios think every gamer is way too entitled.

Gamers are way too nit picky these days. Like this guy here, 1 little thing and he dismisses the entire game. I've got friends like this, it drives me mad.

As for Diablo 4, it's simply Diablo 3 Rebooted. Combat is identical to D3, they gave D3 a facelift. Added a few things from Lost Ark, Path of Exile and called it a day.

It's fun for what it is but it's not anything special, that's for damn sure.

emperorhades1

Refund.

Kratier

i think the one deciding factor for me will be whether or not the battle pass gives you back all the currency you spent, or if its paywalled completely each season.

Arglebargle

Ensifer said:

Slapshot1188 said:

Sovrath said:

Slapshot1188 said:

I enjoyed the beta as well. Not perfect but overall I found it fun.



I think my biggest gripes were the zoomed in perspective and the (so far) linear story. Yeah I thought the story was good but... it was just laid out. No real choices to make. One path, at least from what I saw so far.



The Jury is still out on the level scaling stuff.

Did the first Diablo games offer choices? I don't really remember then again I never finished them.

No.  But I think if you want to have folks run the same content a bunch of times it would be an improvement to have some choices.

Disagree, not many people play the game for the story. And those that do play it a single time and more then likely wont touch it again. Me personally rush through the game as fast as possible and begin my grind lol

Probably good that folks aren't there for the story, as I recall the Diablos being pretty poorly written in both interaction and lore. 

Will try it in open beta, but I generally like the Diablos for having created/popularized the genre.  Most of the others in that genre played better for me.

OG_Solareus

possibily the best visual game Blizzard produced in a 26 years.

[Deleted User]

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Valentina

I had a TON of fun playing the game over the weekend, I'm really excited for it now.

[Deleted User]

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