First of all about me: I’m 34 years old and have been playing various MMO or ARPG’s for about 20 years.
Diablo 1 was the first Diablo game I got to play. It was incredible to go deep into hell as a 14 year old and bring out treasures to make my character stronger. After that came Diablo 2. The game changed everything! You could really feel the developers’ incredible passion for this game. After a few initial difficulties, everything was “next generation”. It implemented a faster fighting style, better graphics and great mechanics. Everything was grim and a unique item drop or high rune felt incredible. You felt a noticeable difference after putting on such an item. Unfortunately, with the current version of the game, I have my doubts as to whether there is still passion for the game series on the part of Blizzard, or whether it will be similar to other franchises that are only milked or squeezed out so that executive salaries can be paid. Hence my conclusion/feedback on the beta in the hope of a better gaming experience:
Graphics: I’ve been following the development of the game since it was revealed at BlizzCon. When I saw the first images of the game, I was pleasantly surprised that the developers are going back to the dark, gory Diablo that it was before Diablo 3. So I can definitely say that no savings were made here and that we players are presented with a feast for the eyes.
9/10
Sound: The sound atmosphere is also very good for me. You get presented with an unbelievably dark and bold mood. I would still prefer a few aspects, such as taking over the goldrop sound of the old games.
9/10
Character: The characters can be designed very individually and each piece of armor can be recognized on the character (except rings/amulets). Super solved and you associate much more with an individual character than with an “off the peg”.
9/10
World Map Design: Exploring the world of Sanctuary in an open world is super interesting for me. It was fun taking the strongholds and thereby getting progress on the map. The random events that popped up on the way to a dungeon were also okay. But partly reminded me of bounties in D3. I think there is definitely still some room for improvement here. E.g. More raregroups in outdoor areas.
8/10
City layout: The cities/camps/encampments, however they are described, are clearly oversized in my opinion. I don’t want to take 30-40 seconds to run from one corner to the other. I think the predecessors have definitely delivered much better. I’m in Sanctuary for smashing monsters, not for running through beautifully painted towns/villages.
4/10
Dungeons Design: Like many others in the community, I don’t find the dungeons in Act 1 very innovative. It lacks ingenuity. The normal progression in the dungeon was in old games, dungeon level 1 → level 2 → possibly level 3 → boss/chest. Today: level 1 → get item → place → get item 2 → place → boss room opens. For me, personally, a deterioration in accessibility. And not thought through from the logical point of view either. Why would a boss hide behind an enchanted door? As long as it was logical and, for example, in a dungeon with a tree-like boss you first had to kill its roots to get to its heart, I might still understand it, but adding a mechanic to place stones just to include a mechanic makes sense in my opinion not much sense. Maybe it would make sense to get rid of the idea of just “making dungeons underground” and instead integrate a map that leads to a dream world that is also above ground. This would also have open areas in dungeons.
3/10
Boss Mechanics: When it comes to boss mechanics, a lot has been carried over from other games and it feels good. Finally there are things that you really have to dodge.
9/10
Items: Phew, for me as an old veteran the items don’t have much to do with the items from older generations of Diablo. In my opinion there are far too many modifiers that are not relevant and only make the game unnecessarily complicated. Why not adopt what worked and is still incredibly fun today. The Diablo 2 item system was great then and it still is today. Uniques are rare, but you get a noticeable boost. The items in the current beta were designed confusingly; the arrow over item power confuses players to the max, as it tempts you to equip the item marked in green instead of paying attention to the individual modifiers. The drop rate of legendaries is too high or the legendary system should be reconsidered. In Diablo 2, 75% of the players knowthe “Jordan Stone”, the “Harlequin’s Crown” or the “Herald of Zakarum”. Legendaries don’t feel like great item drops since they appear in abundance and have generic names. In addition, the same Legendary Modifier can be on different items, which makes the character more individual, but simply negates the value of such items. For me, a drop must have value. An attempt is made to get this value via “Bases” (rare items). I think these can also be very valuable, but having to look at my entire inventory for 3-4 minutes after a dungeon to decide whether a rare item is good or not is questionable and inhibits the flow of the game. In D2 there are white bases that can have sockets or are ethereal. These are obvious and it takes only a fraction of the time to decide if they are useful or not. Rares can also be valuable there, but somehow it feels clearer there. +* to *Skills can be seen at a glance. Currently, the modifiers of the items are confusing and you can hardly see the artwork. 2/10
So to the next point…
UI: Artworks 10/10, but unfortunately these don’t really come into their own as the developers decided that 1 item occupies 1 slot in the inventory. So much emphasis was placed on great graphics and character staging. Why aren’t items that are the focus of the game highlighted? Give the items more space in the inventory so that it becomes more logical. A shield takes up more space than a ring! Also, I see my character on the screen all the time, why do I have to have him again as a full body portrait on the character screen. Use the template of the old games and place the items over the individual body parts! The UI looks too clean, the font is too linear. Therefore only:
5/10
Attributes: Why can’t I customize my character by assigning attributes and why does this only happen by creating different items? In my opinion, it makes no sense to do without this feature, as you lose a lot of variation. Maybe I want to achieve a manashield buildplay or maxblock. Of course, the developers want to make it accessible for beginners and ensure the “attribute distribution” via the Paragon board. For me as a veteran and probably for ¾ of the community, that’s exactly what separates the old Blizzard from the new. As expected, the aim is to hit the masses, so more players → more money for shareholders and companies. Here I miss the passion for ARPG’s in the ranks of the bosses and board members of Blizzard! It’s not all about money and if you are the best in what you are doing you are gonna be richer than ever before. So unfortunately only:
2/10
Other Mechanics:
Potion System/Generator/Dispenser: I was and am not a fan of the potion on the “Q” key and the trivialization of resources. Because there used to be fewer boss mechanics, the “action” was created by playing with your resources. Life/mana/stamina that’s it. Simple but efficient. Potions were positioned on the belt and related to it. Today I don’t know where my potions are. Do I have them in the bag in inventory? Is there a MarryPoppins bag that isn’t visible but holds various charges for me? In my opinion, poorly implemented and a step further away from the role-playing aspect. At least in my opinion it would make sense to implement a “mana/rage… whatever potion” and not have to regulate everything via generator. I played the rogue in the beta and it didn’t feel smooth. The pattern was: left click → left click → left click → right click. Press 1,2,3 or 4 in between and wait for my CD. I think some kind of resource potion would be a better choice here.
5/10
Cooldowns: As described above, I find it sometimes useful, sometimes not. Poe/Diablo 2 has few cooldowns and I liked it because once you hit a breakpoint you got an incredible boost. In Diablo 3 they tried to work via CD Reduction but the feeling was only good after having items like Ingeom. Therefore, I would be in favor of rethinking CDs and partially doing away with them. At least for some skills.
6/10
Conclusion: I don’t know if I’m maybe too old for video games, but it seems like big game manufacturers no longer develop games out of passion, but to appeal to the general public (there are exceptions"). It is not without a reason that more and more indie games are in great demand, since developers are at work there who can implement their own ideas and are not controlled and directed by money-hungry managers.
Blizzard ran into the wall with the Diablo Immortal franchise and still
nevertheless are also made in D4 design and mechanics decisions that are contrary to the regular player community.
You’ll see how Blizzard will beat the crux between old players who love the franchise and I’ll call them the “mobile phone generation”, the “casuals” who represent the broad masses and flush money into the coffers, but for the long term won’t be there. It is not without reason that player numbers fall so rapidly after a few weeks to months of Blizzard games starting.