Diablo 4 beta feedback

General Discussion PC
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My beta impression after finishing campaign , min-maxing Sorc and slaying Ashava // A Gamer Approach:
TLDR : I LOVE IT! I was really worried after Diablo released a video with console showcase (which was not announced ), but in the end PC version is nothing like that.

Menus, UI , yeah it could use some tweaking , but it’s ok more/less.
Atmosphere, music, combat, all very well done and this time I could say this could be real Diablo2 successor.
Dungeons are much better then i expected. People say they are pretty generic but i see all the potential in the end game customization ( don’t’ let us down).
MMO elements got heavy inspiration from Lost Ark and I could only say that’s the good actually. I would dare to say , continue this trend with endgame content, for the love of Lilith don’t simplify it like in D3. People like challenging stuff and a lot of options.Most important, everything should have some kinda identity, forget about pure randomization.People should know what they are facing and remember it for some time.

Itemization actually looks okish (for now), I see how you want to make it complex, but beware with so many normal random affixes, they might get easy useless at the later stages of the game since the heavy weight of legendary aspects and normal Attributes (Especially with paragon).
I hope Unique tier of items carries the same identity items had in D2, people really want strong rare drop chase items.

As for class balance it’s pointless to comment it at this point, but I expect everything to scale decently in the end game. I know Sorceress is really popular and strong early, but I hope other classes don’t get left behind. ( and No don’t nerf it, buff everything else if needed)

In the current content showcase my biggest problems are :

a) Skill tree lacks customization
I’m aware it is a beta release and they might be a lot more options, but I really hope you are not focusing only on aspects and paragon board.
Every skill should have more a lot more customization in the tree itself.
Ex. Meteor should get better aoe passive, converting to another element, multiple projectiles etc., some addionation character buff/debuff… Current customization is worse than d3. I repeat i’m aware of aspects but core itself is even more important.

b) Hardware optimization
There are several memory issues, game is hungry for RAM and it doesn’t matter how much you have.
CPU usage is very heavy too, I have an old gen of Intel but by hardware recommendations it is too much for my taste.
Problems are occurring mostly in main towns/teleporting to them.
There are some graphical interface bugs( Nvidia) → you only see half of menu , might be some rendering issue when the Anisotropic Filtering /shadows are high idk.

In any case I’m counting the day for the full game release, please listen to the some of the feedback, fix the issues and we gonna have really great RPG again.

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I’m also gonna give my feedback here (Hope that’s ok), the way the forums are structured, seems better to group similar info together.

My playthrough of the Diablo 4 beta was mixed, but mostly positive.

My 1st impression was with the visuals, I was very impressed with just how good everything looked. I started without HDR then turned it on, HDR took the visuals up a notch. I found I kept being impressed by all the details, the quality of the tracks in the mud in town and all the other texture work, how snow formed around your feet when standing still, also how there was no jarring teleport between towns…. And not just 1 town with a blacksmith etc, but many across a seamless landscape. I also kept appreciating the reimagined more “realistic” portrayal (For lack of a better way to say it) of spells and monsters from prior games.

I really enjoyed the amount of options with the Character creation…. Though more options with body shape etc would be nice.

I was concerned about the difficulty being too easy at first, but at around Level 14 it started to be more of a challenge, I feel this could be a bit more tweaked for the early levels to keep players engaged a bit more.

I played with the sorcerer, While I see there are a range of spells etc, I feel that there’s a gameplay balance that could do with some attention, it feels like there’s only 1 useful attack that is very limited by mana for the 1st 15 or so levels, which makes the gameplay for him feel a bit flat (It’s possible I’m not making the right skill choices, but if that is the case bringing my attention to synergies, Without forcing the choice, could be a way to resolve this).

My initial thought with the skill tree was less clicking with all the skills and passives in 1 place is nice (D3 was so much clicking between skills etc), but only a fraction of the runes (If I was comparing to D3). While I understand D4 is not trying to be D3, I am concerned about oversimplification.

I really am enjoying the cinematics and seeing my character in his custom gear in them with the visuals looking amazing. I realize there are some that are keen on the story and some that are keen to get into the gameplay…. An option to reduce the amount of narrative would allow those who aren’t as story enthused to get into the gameplay while also allowing those like me to enjoy the story could be a good compromise.

While the gameplay is slower, I am appreciating it as a whole, however I do feel like there is a level of gameplay depth missing, it’s hard to identify exactly and may be related to my sorcerer gameplay balance comments. It almost feels like floating from place to place where a bit more grounding could be effective… interactions with the quest givers being more pronounced, maybe a bit more visual/audio feedback instead of a small textbox above their head for giving and progressing a quest.

Some spell effects (Like meteor) could benefit from a more dramatic impact, I found it a bit underwhelming

RGB LED keyboards aren’t reacting like in D3 when levelling up, but they do behave the same in the other aspects as D3. I would like to see the level up RGB visuals introduced.

Technical issues encountered and feedback:

  • I had no crashes during my playthrough of the beta.

  • chat box in the way of inventory when trying to link items in chat

  • Have to open chat to click linked item instead of being able to click the item in the minimal chat display directly (Like you can in Diablo 3)

  • Comparing linked items is fiddly, windows overlap chat and inventory, stats don’t seem to be compared and I need to manually read the stats of both

  • Stuttering during cutscenes

  • Notable stuttering when entering towns, possibly due to high ongoing CPU usage

  • Waypoint animation over the loading screen when using a waypoint would be nice

  • Quest prior to “Ill Tidings” did not detect completion after speaking to quest giver, had to reset quest state

  • Unable to leave Kyovashad via the eastern gatehouse after visiting the Horadric vault

  • When playing with a friend, there was a desync that occurred when leaving town and he couldn’t progress into the world where I could (He kept being bounced back at an invisible barrier).

  • Some lag issues when changing to new areas (Characters literally bounce back to where they were a few moments ago)

  • Having to manually track other quests you are getting items for is fiddly, if you get items for an untracked quest, a popup of your progress when you get relevant items would be a good approach

  • Stat changes on compared equipment would be nice (i.e. when changing from a fire perk item to a lightning perk item, it should show the decrease in fire and increase in lightning).