Hello, I want to share my thoughts on the new Diablo since I’m sure I’ll spend another 3000 hours in the game 
and neglect my job. I hope I’m coherent enough. This is like a larger picture so some sections depend on each other. So let’s dive in:
- Graphics
I simply love how the demo looks. It’s gorgeous in my eyes and it feels like a diablo game when I watch it on my screen. I don’t understand why some people say it’s last gen graphics, I would suggest you pick the full HD 60fps setting on youtube and see the fidelity because it’s on point. I would love if you won’t give in on the colors because they feel just perfect.
- UI - gameplay wise
Skillbar - looks ok, however I feel the Health globe is a bit far up. I don’t think it’s going to be a huge inconvenience, it just pops up in my eyes a bit (maybe that will be a good thing on HC). I did see some suggestions like making it customizable, let’s say moving the globes where I want on the screen and maybe the bar vertically.
The Map - I love the pin idea with the GPS stuff when I place a point on the map, that seems fair especially if I already explored the map, I hate however the Quest pin pointer, that has to go in my opinion. The TAB map I feel like D2 was the best, I would like to see that back, however I promise I will not summon Demons to your HQ if you don’t. On the world map I would go even further now and allow users to save points. Let’s say we have a few icons(dungeon, boss, town, …) that we can place on the map. Once we place a point we can add a short title, 20 chars, and save. Next time I open the world map I could search for the title(because 100 dungeons you say :D, I need order in my planning) and it will get highlighted. The I can click it and boom I got my route.
Inventory - Something here does not sit right with me but I can’t put my finger on it yet, however I do like the separate stash for different elements(order is good :P). Right now I’m thinking something like this: when I press I, I want to see my whole stash, a few details (attack, def, specials[CHC, damage type, …], hp) and item slots. A button somewhere which on click will expand the window and display my whole stats and the character up close this could fill the whole screen or ⅔ of it.
- Skills, Talents
Skills - I see the D2 approach and I’m ok with it, plus if I understood correctly you will add progression to them (multiple points in each making the skill stronger). Everybody liked that :D.
Talents - The direction is good but please work more on this. I do not want a POE tree, no way, but I need it to be a bit more complex. Let’s say it’s starts in one point (class core stuff, smth like that) and then branch out in 3 or 4 directions. And let’s say I could fully max 2 directions. Example: a path is poison, another one is storm. If I combine these, the Skills get specific bonuses.
- Damage, Combat Speed, Life, Stats
I would keep these much lower in comparison to D3. Also this section does not include PvP.
Life - I would like to see this reach a max of 30k (for tank builds), 20-22k for normal builds. If we stabilize the health around this value we can talk about damage
Damage - I would be ok with Damage up to 60-70k to witch we apply that 80-90% def reduction. By this I mean I do not want to see 1 shots. I would like to take at least 3 shots minimum.
Stats - need to be in game.(continued later)
Combat/Movement Speed - Combat and movement speed needs to be lowered as well (D3). I would like to see movement speed only on boots and maybe some legendaries. However no more than 2 slots should be possibly equipped with this stat. In case we got auras/ or stacking auras with MS bonus, then stick items with this affix to just 1 slot.
Combat speed again reduced. I would rather evolve tactics, positioning and dodging than putting a book on my mouse and go for a smoke till the boss/guardian dies.
These toughs should only apply to the character. The mobs can attack/move faster if need be to create challenge.
- World, Game Length, Lore, Difficulty
I love how the demo looks so I’m sure the world will be dangerous and nasty as it should be (soo pretty).
Since the map is larger and we have mounts, I’m assuming that there will be a lot less waypoints (maybe 3 per area) so we can make use of this. It is a bold experiment but it might pay off. I like how this sounds and I feel it would be a good addition to the genre.
Level cap 40 seems too low to me. I would go to at least 60. Let’s say all skills can be learnt at 30-40 and the last 20 levels will need loads of farming and give a max 20% bonus overall.
I would be ok with a 40 hour campaign that can be finished at lvl 40 and 40-60-100 hours of farming/mob killing to reach max level. Let’s say latter levels will only give you stats(continued in itemization section). Now we created an environment that can have 100 dungeons and require some gaming hours to be explored, and I will also have a 20% bonus for doing so.
World boss, very conflicted. Nice idea however I’m not sure how the implementation will work. Can I summon it whenever I want? Will it be timed weekly event ? That is the part I’m scared about. I will surely challenge myself to beat it solo. Is that a possibility ?
Lore wise let’s do this right, 1 or 2 plot twists, dark, well written, demons and suffering.
I would like the game to have the normal 3 difficulties: Normal, Nightmare, Hell. Hell can be accessed only after level 40. Overall I want it to be more difficult. I would say at least like D3 vanilla at release.
Boss stagger mechanic, break cc mechanic - awesome, thanks. Can’t wait to play a build like this: <can’t find link> It was a D3 WW barb legendary only build, lightning based, by some russian dude If I’m not mistaking. It was the best build D3 has ever saw, barbs back me up on this. (weapons were thunderfury and the 40% lightning proc mace ) should be somewhere on diablofans.
- Itemization
Very worried here. I saw the systems panel and I saw this: normal, magic, rare, legendary/set, ancient leg/set, mythic.
I consider ancient leg/set its not useful and does not add anything to either diversity or considerable power up. However it it will impact trading in a bad way if they are tradable.
I would simply scrap those. Instead I would do something else to add variety.
Let’s say we have these: normal, magic, rare, legendary/set, mythic. We will talk about legendary/set, mythic only.
Drop rates need to get nerfed big time.
Mythic simple, BIS awesome, items should drop only after lvl 50. 2 Tiers for Legendary/Set; tier 1, higher drop rates than tier 2 however not very powerful. Enough to finish the game on nightmare but underachieving in Hell. Tier 2 drop only in Hell, will be better, but will not make me very powerful. Tier 2 + at least 2 mythics I will become powerful. 4 Mythic’s + Tier 2, awesome, I played a full year on a char, now the world boss fight solo will take under 5, ok 10 mins.
Gate these items under stats requirements. It will be a ‘fake choice’ kinda, but you will kill 2 demons with 1 stone. 1 we will be happy for stats, 2 you have more options for creating legendaries and sets giving stat bonuses so we can equip let’s say a very powerful mythic or tier 2 legendary.
Another way ‘very strict’, would be to have gear that will block some skills. If I equip a Frenzy specific Legendary, I would get some nice effect for the Frenzy skill but I will no longer be able to use Ground Stomp. - these are just ideas :D, some are crap, maybe.
- Crafting, Gold, Runes, Gems
Crafting - one[out of 3] of the main gold sinks. Besides Gamble from which you could get up to Tier 2 Leg/Set items, you could craft items. These crafted items will be somewhere in the middle between Tier1 and Tier2. Basically it will make Hell difficulty feel ok-ish. And you will need to craft because Tier 2 drop rate is low. Let’s say 1 in 20-30 hours of play. Of course for crafting you will need some other ingredients which you will farm.
Runes - two[out of 3] gold sinks. You went with combinations of 2, I would think of something up to 3 so we have multiple layers. I honestly would not go higher than 3 but hey I’m sure somebody will complain about that also :D. Then some progression to them, awesome. Here is where the gold sink happens. Depending on rune level price goes up to get it out of the socket.
Gems - nothing to say here
Gold - Let’s say gold does not drop from monsters, what the heck are they doing with gold, and anyways the goblins gather all the gold from them. Gold should be received from finishing quests, goblins and dungeons if finished successfully. Let’s say the gold farm should come from Dungeons mostly.
- Trading
Three[out of 3] gold sink. The system you presented feels good to me, those 3 types of items.
- Dungeons, Seasons
Feels like the key system + quest will be ok, it will offer replayability. Also I would like if this will be the main source of gold farming, not a legendary fest. Maybe Tier 1 legendary fest. I’m a QA so for me doing things over and over again seems normal :D, we’re all wrong in the brain.
I propose here also a Seasonal Dungeon. I think seasons should be 4-6 months long to give room for the adjusted lower drop rate. A specific dungeon in the game in a specific place, that will be remade each season. Containing monsters from a specific region, the special season modifier (lightning rod following you, smth else each season), key modifier and Specific boss with some new attacks each season, or totally new unit. Now for the boss part I think this will be too much work so I’ll offer another solution which is simpler to implement and maintain in the next section.
- Charms/Trophies (D2 Sigma XL mod)
These will be some specific dungeons containing a boss at the end. That boss will drop a charm with some random stats. Also has a small chance to drop a trophy. Combining the trophy with the charm adds a bonus to the charm. Now these bosses should be gate checkers, as in hard, you need some good gear to beat. And by hard I mean hard. I play Median for 2 year now and I still was not able to beat the last ~4 dungeons.
You can sell the trophies but not the charms. Meaning you need to slay the demon if you want to wear that charm/trophy.
Bam, monetization, sell cosmetics for charm wearing :D. (stop it dude, your making it worse for yourself)
These can be used as season challenges. For each season change the stats on the charms and trophy upgrades, bam low maintenance cost. At the end of the season the charms and trophies should simply be lost.
- PvP
- No comment, I personally don’t care about this and it feels like this will require a new game, but you got David Kim[no pressure] maybe he’ll pull it off. I wish you the best here.
- Online/Offline
Don’t care much about offline but I hear raging hordes of demons every time. I did lost some hardcore heroes to internet or power drops but hey, what can you do, I’ll open a ticket in fustration to support then go out for a drink.
Maybe the biggest downside for the player is that the game cannot be modded, however I completely understand why Blizz(slash that) the Devs don’t want two modes, split community.
Ok, half a bottle of Rum done. Hope this is coherent enough, and I hope it helps.
