Feedback Report: Improving Diablo IV’s Gameplay and Seasonal Design Philosophy
- Overview
While Diablo IV has made strides in atmosphere, presentation, and class design, its core seasonal gameplay loop often feels repetitive, shallow, and lacking in intentional design evolution. Many recent additions — such as The Pit, Helltide reworks, and The Tower — follow similar mechanical structures without meaningful differentiation in gameplay rhythm, pacing, or player decision-making.
This document aims to offer concrete feedback and creative suggestions to help future content feel more engaging, replayable, and thematically consistent with the dark, strategic identity of the Diablo franchise.
- Key Issue: Repetition Without Evolution
Each major gameplay addition (Nightmare Dungeons → The Pit → The Tower) feels like a linear difficulty escalation, not a true evolution of gameplay design.
Players are presented with familiar mechanics under new names rather than new experiences with distinct tactical and emotional identities.
The lack of meaningful choice or high-stakes decision-making makes the loop feel grindy rather than rewarding.
Example:
The Hordes activity has the potential to feel like a roguelike, yet currently lacks the adaptive progression or resource risk that defines the genre.
- Suggestion: Make Seasonal Gameplay Feel Like a Roguelike Evolution
Core Concept:
Transform Hordes or similar seasonal events into a roguelike-inspired system with layered decision-making and reused seasonal powers.
Implementation Ideas:
After each level clear, players choose between three “boons” or modifiers:
Options to increase challenge (more enemies, elites, spires, etc.)
Or select a preset power loadout (e.g., Vampiric Powers, Malignant Hearts, Boss Affixes).
These presets allow the reuse of legacy seasonal mechanics in curated, balanced ways — offering nostalgia and mechanical depth without reintroducing imbalance.
Why this works:
Encourages player agency through choice.
Makes past seasonal work relevant again, rewarding long-term players.
Aligns with Diablo’s core identity of risk, reward, and adaptability.
- Suggestion: Redesign The Tower for Environmental Tension
Current Problem:
The Tower feels mechanically indistinguishable from The Pit — it’s essentially a vertical version of a dungeon run with difficulty scaling.
Proposed Rework: Introduce a central environmental hazard that adds dynamic tension and spatial strategy.
Example Concept: “The Eye of Malphas”
Each floor is built around a giant eye that occasionally opens.
When it gazes upon you, you turn to stone or burn over time.
Players must take shelter behind destructible walls, which become scarcer at higher floors.
Each floor increases in pressure, with fewer walls, more elites, and stronger environmental effects.
Why this works:
Adds environmental storytelling and suspense.
Creates a unique gameplay rhythm that isn’t just “clear faster, kill harder.”
Forces movement, awareness, and decision-making beyond pure DPS checks.
- Suggestion: Introduce a Souls-like System within the Endgame
Core Idea:
A new game mode inspired by Souls-like mechanics, emphasizing slow, methodical combat and resource recovery.
Design Highlights:
Players collect unique resources within this mode that empower them only there.
Dying resets enemies and progress, but your dropped resources can be reclaimed if you fight your way back.
Combat pacing shifts — slower animations, tighter dodge windows, and increased punishment for mistakes.
Why this works:
Adds a high-skill, high-reward mode for veteran players.
Breaks the monotony of AoE-spam gameplay.
Appeals to players craving tactical, deliberate combat — expanding Diablo’s audience without betraying its identity.
- Closing Thoughts: Design with Intent
Each new gameplay mode should be distinctly memorable, not just another layer of numbers or modifiers.
Blizzard’s worldbuilding and art direction are world-class — the gameplay systems deserve the same creative experimentation and bold mechanical identity.
In short:
Revisit past ideas with purpose.
Design mechanics that encourage choice and tension.
Let each new system have its own soul.
Diablo IV has immense potential to be the definitive evolving ARPG, but it needs mechanical creativity, thematic risk-taking, and intentional design evolution to reach that status.