I really enjoyed the Beta alot. There are a lot of good things to say about Diablo 4 such as very nice, smooth, impactful gameplay, great atmosphere, cool enemy design, etc.
what i really dislike are those lilith shrines. This is in no means an engaging game “mechanic”. If they were a collectible element that doesnt give player strength i wouldnt mind them at all. But since they give ALL chars permanent buffs and are required in the renown system I’m kinda “forced” to find them … and that is not fun.
What everybody will do is look up the locations on an external website, walk there and click on it. Thats all it is. And if i had to do that every season I’m going crazy. I know Blizz wants to get people exploring the world but thats not how you do it imo.
I think every other aspect of the Renown system is fine but those statues suck 
My suggestion would be to just totally get rid of them. The statbuffs could be gated behind another mechanic (sidequests, dungeons, what ever). If they somehow need to stay I would like to see far less of them and not that hidden but more on the “main road”. If you click them an event starts like cursed chests or shrines. you fight elites and champs and get a reward.
8 Likes
As much as I didn’t mind them I understand what you’re saying as this was my experience. I looked up a map and walked round and collected them.
Your suggestion does sound more fun.
If I saw them on a main road and they were hard to miss, and you got an awesome combat challenge to defeat, I agree that sounds more fun than the gameplay loop I experienced in beta.
Which is just like you describe.
I suspect that the statues of Lilith have a bit of a lore explanation.
She wants to unlock the full potential of humanity, so it makes sense that she would construct a means of doing so and litter them around the land to reach as many people as possible.
What they need to do isn’t remove them, but make them much more engaging…rather than just something you run up to, find, click, and run off from. For example, they should be some sort of dungeon where, when you click them, you’re transported into your own psyche and have to battle whatever internal barriers exist inside yourself that are holding you back…these barriers manifesting as entities you kill.
This way, they would be much more fun…and basically exactly what you’re looking for, these stat bonuses being gatekept behind side-quests…rather than just little statues.
I should probably make a thread formulating my thoughts better, but you get the idea…
Turn the statues into an entryway into a dungeon.
1 Like
You kind of making your own version of the lore I see. 
But yes, hopefully its beta and when you open the shrine we will at least see some lore text or hear some voice talking.
Definitely feels empty collectible thing, and personally I wouldn’t really care about them even though they buff me. /shrugs
2 Likes
Yes, pretty much…
I might make a thread about it and put forth the position that they could become much more engaging content…flesh the idea out more. I don’t mind them, and I like how they look…but I agree that they could be more engaging.
1 Like
Would be cool if we got teleported to a hellish area where you have to defeat increasingly harder waves of enemies. A true challenge to earn the stats from these altars. Would be fun going to find them then even if I were looking it up on a map.
1 Like
its aight if there was like…half as many, and they were easier to find.
if this is a seasonal thing i wont participate in seasonal.
I would suggest to not have them at the same place for everyone (so no one can just use a map with pinned statues, as the statues are randomly positioned for users) and additionally add kind of a random challenge to achieve the perm buff (as already mentioned).
This would force everyone to explore the map in detail, if they want to get it.
Yes, much work for everyone, but then it’s deserved to to have the perm buff in the end.
It would be great to have it random for each character you create or each player, but Blizzard decided that Diablo is an MMO now so it won’t be possible.
I wonder if that’s the reason for dungeons not being properly randomised as well? 
I actually like them. But they have to be account wide and dont reset for seasons.
Doing them every season will be a pain.
I didnt really mind them in the Beta but i agree with what you are saying, after one playthrough it would become a a tedious thing to have to constantly redo to get the buff. Perhaps they have future plans for them, i´d like to see them change locations every season atleast so it would not become as easy as just asking google for a map, they could also serve a new purpose each season. But if not then i do agree, they would become a chore i´d rather not want to repeat over and over.
it would be, every 5th one or so you get an event.
I have an idea that players should be given a choice when clicking on a statue: whether they pray for blessing from Inarius or sacrifice blood for Lilith. In turn, depending on what you chose, you would get some different stats. It is not that those stats are impactful, but if you could choose and even see what you were getting, it would give so much more depth to it.
I have a feeling or I would like it if, at some point, we will have to choose sides, and it will be a nice detail in our path to light or darkness.
I don’t care if they’re engaging. Give me them sweet sweet stats and let me get back to bangin.
Yeah it seems strange to gate stats behind them. I try not to cheat generally on a first playthrough, but I see the point. It would be better if they just put the stats behind the renown rewards, or as previously mentioned, some kind of a challenge/dungeon so that even if you look up it’s location, there is still a skill based element to defeat the challenge/boss/dungeon.