Diablo 4, release date June 6th! Who else is getting it?

[The Predaking]

So I know Blizzard sucks as a company, but this series has always been one of my favorites ever since the first game came out. I have just finished building a new gaming PC, and while I did miss the beta, I plan on putting this new rig through its paces with this game. Anyone else looking forward to this game?

 

[Steevy Maximus]

Don’t worry, Predaking. I won’t leave you hanging

I got a few hours on the Server Slam, before work and a day long internet outage cut me off. I really enjoyed being Bashing Bear Boi.
I’ve loved the franchise, but absolutely SUCK at playing most of them. But Diablo 3 was accessible enough (especially with the console releases) that I could get into the swing of things. Though, it DID seem D3 got easier each time I went back to it. Tried D2R on Xbox, and found it a bit too…crunchy…for me.

From what little I played, Diablo 4 is striking a nice middle ground between having more edge that D3 (including a better challenge curve), but incorporating some of the QoL and concessions D3 did in making the franchise more accessible. I was rocking multiple rare items in D3 before even facing the Skeleton King, but after 2.5 hours on D4, I only had one or two rare, few blues, and a couple gray commons on my Druid. It felt like each rare, much less Legend, was a major find. Even blue items were uncommon enough that it was nice to come across them. In D3, finding common gear was harder than finding rare after the first half of Act 1.

I’ll probably get the Ultimate version. It’s only $10 more than the Digital Deluxe version. I’m also completely free on launch week (aside from making time for Rise of the Beasts) so I should be able to put in some good time with it.

 

[Steevy Maximus]

IGN's review. tldr: Fundamental gameplay is expertly refined, production values top notch, superb endgame loop with some bugs and a weak story (which will probably given a stronger wrap with DLC content later on)

 

[The Predaking]

That was a pretty favorable review and makes me excited to play the game.

 

[Steevy Maximus]

Tomorrow’s the day! Starting around 7pm EST (if you in the US), you can start playing Diablo 4 if you plunked down for Deluxe or Ultimate Editions!

Sadly, Not sure I’ll get much in until next week, between going to see Spiderverse and my overnight work hours

 

[The Predaking]

I have way too much to do this weekend, so I will just get it next week. Then I should be able to devote some time to it.

 

[Steevy Maximus]

Managed to get through the initial tutorial dungeon before I had to stop. If I’m lucky, I’ll be able to get through the prolog by the end of the weekend with the new Barbarian I started with.

 

[The Predaking]

I usually play Barbarian since I loved that class back in Diablo 2. I might switch it up some this time.

 

[Steevy Maximus]

I skew towards the Paladin/Crusader class, but not here…

Jumped on for a bit today, managed little over an hour, basically getting me back to where I was at the end of my playtime in the Server Slam. Before my internet died for over A day, anyway.

 

[The Predaking]

Ouch! I hate it when the internet goes out.

 

[Tm_Silverclaw]

I want to love it.. It's a fun game.. BUT it has some of the cardinal sins of game design.

Level scaling. NEVER EVER a good game design, as a lot of time it just leads to Tedium when trying to get through areas. And it's especially bad when there are places that are scaled to always stay above you as a general "**** you."

Also.. Tedium. This game is sadly full of it. When your fighting bosses, they arn't mechanically interesting. Most of them boil down to "hit when you can.. then spend the rest of the time fighting never ending adds because ADDS ARE FUN AND DIFFICULT!!!!" and it's like, "No.. they just keep piling on. it's not fun, it's not difficult, it's cheap and annoying."

 

[The Predaking]

I still haven't picked it up yet as I have been sick, but I might grab it this weekend if I get some free time.

 

[Steevy Maximus]

I’ve been clocking a few hours each day for most of the week, got my Druid up top level 27 and have BARELY touch the actual campaign. The RNG gods have been on my side: I’ve found a few Legendary rings/amulets and my exchanges with the Curiosity vendors netted me FOUR Legendary items (3 pieces of armor, and an ax) for roughly 500 Opals (my gloves, pants and ax were first purchase drops!). I’ve settled into the grind, a bit, but I HAVE enjoyed the side missions. They are a major step up compared to D3 and while the gameplay loop is generally the same (go to x, kill y things for z items or go to x, get item z), the accompanying story.

I want to love it.. It's a fun game.. BUT it has some of the cardinal sins of game design.

Level scaling. NEVER EVER a good game design, as a lot of time it just leads to Tedium when trying to get through areas. And it's especially bad when there are places that are scaled to always stay above you as a general "**** you."

Also.. Tedium. This game is sadly full of it. When your fighting bosses, they arn't mechanically interesting. Most of them boil down to "hit when you can.. then spend the rest of the time fighting never ending adds because ADDS ARE FUN AND DIFFICULT!!!!" and it's like, "No.. they just keep piling on. it's not fun, it's not difficult, it's cheap and annoying."

The level scaling seems tied to your level, but NOT your loot. I know my difficulty curve dropped off noticably after “gearing up” with some legendaries and using the blacksmith to upgrade my gear on top of it.

Though, I think a broad “source” of those issues skew from being open world. That said, I’ve seen D3 evolve between the various times I played it over the years (Xbox360, Switch, XBSS), so it might be worth “keeping in touch” and see how it evolves over the years.

 

[Tm_Silverclaw]

I know the scaling is tied to level, and not loot. But that starts to bring up the question.. why have levels? Why not just base everything on loot and let you earn ability points, just don't count levels. *especially when you have zones that will ALWAYS be above your level*

Also doesn't solve the problem with the side bosses being just "Add more Mobs!"

I love some of the campaign bosses. They have been fun, it just seems the side bosses are mostly crap.

 

[Steevy Maximus]

Performance comparison on the current consoles and mid-upper tier PCs. IGN will be doing a look over the prior gen and steam deck in another video

 

[Steevy Maximus]

Any of you still playing? I been plugging away since launch, and my Druid is up to level 52, and I’ve yet to push through the rest of the story (just started Act 4 and got my horsey). Still on Tier 1, and with the assorted updates, it feels like Blizzard has addressed some of the difficulty issues from launch. I know that when I started on some Act 3 stuff, I had ended up over-leveled for them. Strongholds are still a bitch, though.
I feel like Blizzard could still improve things by working on the level scaling, maybe knocking Tier 1’s down a bit below the player level? I’m not a complete overpowered god, but my character (with legendaries on all slots) can hold his own against most.

But why a bump? New content!
Diablo Immortal players are getting a brand new class- the Blood Knight. A completely new class, I can see fragments of the Paladin, Necromancer and Druid in the structure of the class. I think the lore and class are fascinating…but am less thrilled to see it in Immortal. Hopefully, Diablo 4 will be getting some of these new classes in the future. Blood Knight becomes available July 13.

And on July 20, Diablo 4 Season 1 begins. From the press releases, it sounds like seasons will be quirky little “micro campaigns” that pick up from the end of the main campaign. As a result, you MUST have completed the base campaign before you can access seasonal content. One thing that will carry to Seasonal will be any Altars of Lilith and any revealed portions of the map will be revealed/unlocked and you will be granted the corresponding Renown for them. Here’s the full dirty on them, so you got less than two weeks to finish the campaign to be ready! I think I’ll be trying Necromancer for my seasonal run.

Malignance Runs Rampant in the First Season of Diablo IV

A deadly dose of malignance is overtaking Sanctuary: a new Season Journey, Questline, Boss, Dungeons, Battle Pass, and more are coming with the first Season of Diablo IV on July 20.

news.blizzard.com

 

[Steevy Maximus]

I beat The Butcher! Granted, I'm still on Tier 1 and I'm really overleveled at 55 with full slate of synergystic legendaries...but I still held my own with my Druid!

 

[The Predaking]

I still haven't had a chance to pick this up yet. I need to get it, I have just been super busy with the kids lately.

 

[Steevy Maximus]

So…Season 1 has been out for a week. I like the mini campaign associated. hell, I actually DID like the overall story campaign, even if it felt a little too ambitious for nature of the game itself. It had some nice twists and explored some relatively new ideas in regards to the nature of the world of Sanctuary. Ending was a bit open…which probably means they are either working on a massive lore update for D4 in the future, or saving for D5 sometime in the next 20 years.

But the overall season stuff? The malignant hearts are overrated, at least at the level I’m playing. The 3 main hearts all seem to do the same thing with slight differences in the stats. At Tier 2, the hearts really aren’t altering the playing field. But my biggest gripe is how the Season Journey and Battle Pass are being handled.

The biggest issue with the entire first season is that you are required to “start over”. A fresh, new, character, at level 1 (albeit with the horse and some of your Eternal Realm unlocks, like the extra Skill Points from finding all the Altars and such). My frustration comes from just how much else is “level locked”. I can’t use the Jeweler or the Occultist at the outset, limited my ability to use what I’ve already acquired. In my experience, while I’ve been given a few new aspects, by and large the season journey loot has been quite stingy.
And the mighty battle pass? Pretty much pointless. Cosmetics are cool, but have no meaningful impact in game. The Smoldering Ashes are not only hard to get, but level locked in both your character AND the battle pass. I know Blizzard wants to avoid “pay to win”, but couldn’t they have at LEAST dropped a few more resources to supplement the Season Journey?

We’ll see how things go by October. I might well find my “trick” to manage the season a better way, or maybe one of the MANY patches will spruce things up. Speaking of, Blizzard‘s frequent patching almost makes this feel like a different game every week depending on the balance adjustments they make.

I’m not having a BAD time or anything, but it definitely feels like there is still a ways to go in finding a balance. D3 took almost a decade to fine tune, so it remains to be seen where D4 ends up.

 

[Steevy Maximus]

It sure feels like I’ve seen The Butcher more often than I should. I finally trudged through and got to Tier 3 (Nightmare) and did my first Nightmare Dungeon.
The new “features” I could handle (I had gotten some Sacred gear by this point), but as I was clearing out some Elites…HE called out. Gee, thanks Blizzard. I got to deal with The Butcher on my first Nightmare Dungeon. I kited him around for over 5 minutes, waiting for dashes to refill to get some space to revive some of minions and get around cooldowns for my special barriers and Ultimate attack. I got him, but damn if that wasn’t a stressful thing ON TOP of the random Nightmare Portals that kept showing up.

Also, Labor Day weekend? We got bonus gold and XP ON TOP of the in game boosts. Might actually get enough levels to use these Sacred Ashes in the battle pass…