First a bit of history.
Diablo (1996) was its own unique game there was nothing like it on the market.
Most other RPG games were still turn based like Quest for glory, King’s Quest etc…
Diablo broke away from that turn based system play and really made it a Action RPG game.
By no means was Diablo perfect but the idea of dungeon crawler came to light going into that cathedral walking down the stairs because you are the adventurer and the town needed help. Your skills were taught by using books and items were only there to enforce a bit of extra stats.
For its time, this worked to its advantage Diablo just works.
Diablo II.
Diablo 2 took that ARPG to the next level, More randomised items, Affixes and Suffixes done in a new way a way that still works today. a few Unique items and 4 acts to adventure through.
The itemisation in Diablo 2 is highly unique,
in the beginning from patches 1.0 to 1.07 in diablo 2’s life this was honestly completely broken and overpowered.
Most of the Rare items are better then the unique items.
Diablo 2 Classic is a whole different game then its Expansion.
Lord of the Destruction.
it wasn’t until the dev team started fixing this or adjusting this more balanced during patches 1.08 to 1.10
a lot of the broken and overpowered mechanisms were dealt with by tweaking and nerfing,
After a whole rework to skills, items, balance changes the game has a unique meta.
Mostly due to the Ubers and pandemonium event specialised character builds like Smiter, Zeal sorc players were forced to deal with these events.
while using other characters to do farming routes more efficiently.
Diablo 2 offers a wide variety of builds due to the community, All viable for its own purpose the amount of end-game purpose builds is well in the 40’s for a game that is 19 years old this is extremely impressive.
The depth and the amount of in-game mechanics just makes it work in pleasurable unique way that is far beyond any Arpg even currently on the market.
And this in combination with the art style chosen for this game just works flawlessly.
And then to top it off, No character is the same. if you take even 10 hammerdins and compare stats and gear between each other there is a lot of differences.
Some might prefer 125% faster cast rate, while others prefer +2 to all skills for that little higher Battle orders on Cta. Some use different mercs with treachery for more dmg output others use Fortitude some use anderials visage while others try to find that elusive Eth vampire gaze 20/8 for their mercs.
The game system and its loot just works in harmony.
Even today, if you log in into Diablo 2 you will find more build diversity then in diablo 3.
you’ll find the common builds like , Light Sorc, Trap assassin, Elemental druid, WW barb, Hammerdin, Bowazon, Summoning Necro.
And then you will occasionally see the more uncommon builds like Zeal Sorc, Zeal bear, Leap Barb, BoneSpear necro, Whirlwind Assassin, bolt Amazon, Jab Amazon, FoHdin and many more.
I would say Diablo 2 Lod is a Happy little accident.
A arpg will never be as good or as diverse as that game.
So then why would Diablo 4 fail?
Because they take the wrong elements/mechanics from the wrong games.
Diablo 3 was a absolute blunder, the mechanics/loot system/the whole “Challenge” was wrong farming paragons from RoS?
The combat system in diablo 3 is too simplified.
For end game purposes, It is all the same, all the barbs/necros/Dh’s/Wiz’s/monks have the best output dmg builds, or Support builds. you can make diverse builds yes, but they won’t function on endgame tasks.
Diablo 2 has the better construct, You get certain skills from certain items that are made by runewords like a “Passion” +1 to Zeal
Engima + 1 to Teleport
Chaos +1 to Whirlwind
Dream +15 to Holy shock when equipped this is counted as Lightning damage.
So a Sorceress with +20 in Lightning mastery affects the dmg output of this helm/shield, then with charms you can even raise the dmg output even higher.
These combinations within the loot system make new builds viable.
This is why Diablo 2 has such a deep in-deth mechanics and happy little accidents that just worked out perfectly.
from itemisation Common -> Superior prefix
Magical -> Affix / Suffix
Rare -> Affix / Suffix
Sets -> Randomised stats
Unique -> randomised stats
Runeworded items fixed affix+suffix but with few randomised stats
Crafting the “perfect” item in diablo 2 is near impossible (unless you bot or buy items online)
Getting that Superior common with x sockets is a challenge and grind on its own.
Getting the runes for it to make the runeword is another challenge and then the luck of the draw how well does it roll the stats?
The drop rate of runes in diablo 2 is Low enough to be pleasant.
The combination of the Horadric Cube with its recipes allows you to upgrade runes in a easy way in other terms… You will eventually get there.
The game always feels rewarding,
even at its brutal difficulty, if you play solo without knowledge you die at least 10 times in the beginning of act 2, Why? because you have no knowledge about the lightning resist as a new player.
The game is brutal enough that even in normal it can be a challenge, Experience and knowledge of the game goes a long way in diablo 2.
This is the complete opposite for Diablo 3 you can easily rush through the story mode, and then even on Tier 1 without problems its too easy.
your not vulnerable enough to your surroundings.
As for Diablo 4.
When i watched the presentation, and the system and mechanics when quin69 stream with the dev. Red flags appeared all over.
Yes its a new game. but it won’t be improved upon Diablo 2.
the art style might be more Goth and Medieval but that wasn’t the core experience of diablo 2.
Its fun that they bring Runes back, but they won’t have the same purpose like they did in diablo 2.
The core audience wants the same or similar in-depth game structure as diablo 2.
this is what Path of Exile is based upon, this is why PoE is successful.
Are Diablo 4 devs intentionally avoiding this or are they blind to this?
Now they are just copying maps from PoE, and calling them “keystones”
This is not what is important in a ARPG!
Synergies!, items/objects/stats that continuously compliment each other.
Skill tree’s that scale with their own point system and then get complimented by gear. Not the other way around as in Diablo 3.
You don’t want Gear to define your character builds.
Defining you own stats attributes is important.
Because this allows your character to have what it needs.
You need more mana because you burn through it faster then potions can replenish it? then get a few points in energy your gear should have some “increase maximum mana by x%” or “regenrate mana by x%” and it should scale off those.
Having a skill tree and determining your build only enforces you to play in the style that you choose to play.
Complimenting that build with gear you find or craft in the world is a rewarding factor.
This should not be determined by gear.
At this stage, Diablo 4 yeah its nice… But its not a Diablo game.
You could even call this Gibflipblur and just be another PoE clone but maybe done a tiny bit better but no one really cares.
People want Diablo.
Diablo used to be that in-deth complex logic and long grind experience and then as you learn the game you start discovering synergies that you didn’t even know where possible.
At this stage… i’d rather see a Diablo 2 remaster for modern systems.
Maybe with a few quality of life improvements like a dual stash system
one is personal per character one shared through the account.
Some new event like Pandemonium event with a similar activation system would be nice perhaps even a portal to hell on a plateau where you face a large army + uber Baal. And as reward you could get a new charm that adds a Aura to your character. within limits obviously.
And who knows?!? perhaps even a brand new expansion!
That adds the effects of the world stones destruction in a visual aspect.
with a 6th act with new monster types and perhaps even a system that is the depths of hell where you venture down through the world each level increasing monster stats making more and more difficult to go down to each layer. that is pretty much endless because even as a nephilim you are not powerful enough to reach hell or heaving because you are still a mortal being.
Honestly…
i’d be more excited about this then anything i have seen from blizzard in the last 15 years.
The Quality of games has degraded to such a extent that its just another copy of a copy of a copy and not even in a good way.
Its all about the money, Blizzard used to be By gamers for gamers.
Now-a-days its By developers for the casuals. as long as it brings in money everyone at blizzard.
Stop tending to the casuals and make games challenging again people will LEARN the hard way to play it and then people talk about it and that is the way it should earn its popularity.
The true diablo fans will still say to this day that Diablo 2 is a unique masterpiece,
Everything within that game just fits in place perfectly.
You don’t get swarmed with “Legendaries” or uniques or even runes.
Those you have to EARN, and be lucky with sometimes.
the world is a Harsh experience, you are very vulnerable to your surroundings.
Even in hardcore, People still avoid dolls, and souls. because it can be very quick death.
You want something seen done right? Go look at Path of Diablo, Look at the changes that were made learn from that instead of copying people beyond the ARPG community.
Yes opinions differ and this is my opinion ^.
Does anyone care? no.
in other words Rest in pieces Diablo a franchise that was killed for the wrong reasons.
Diablo 2 ruined me, the game is now outdated and still reigns superior above all others even some of the mods out there are far beyond better then anything else in terms of Action Role Playing Games.
or completly out of touch with the community. I wont exlcude both of them.