Diablo 4 changes show the game is on the right path

Hello, PureDiablo community! It has been a while since I’ve posted an article, and I wanted to discuss the Diablo 4 changes that stood out for me in the past year.  History tells us that a pattern of post-launch changes have improved each game dramatically increasing the players’ overall satisfaction since the initial launch. So let’s take a look back at how that has panned out for Diablo 4 and previous Diablo titles.

Diablo 2

If you didn’t play pre-LOD Diablo 2, the game was very rough compared to where it is today.  You can download the patches in various ways and try it out or visit the SPF.  Multiple threads are available where players partake in different Diablo 2 patches, with some also detailing changes and difficulties in that specific patch.  The game a year after release wasn’t the same and then 1.10 the game moved into a totally different league changing it for the better.  D2R came out to major hype, but unfortunately, adjustments have been nonexistent for the past couple of seasons, hopefully, Blizzard will add a bit more items/rune words and fine-tune the remaster at some point.

Diablo 3

Launched with the in-game auction house where you could make real money on, the auction house dictated a lot about how items dropped.  About a year later Diablo 3 launched. Blizzard changed the loot system with the launch of Reaper of Souls.  No longer did rares reign supreme, but legendaries and their affixes changed the game and introduced new build-defining sets.  Kanai’s Cube allows a player to equip specific powers regardless of equipment and the game has a dedicated seasonal rotation of themes. Everything changed for the better with Loot 2.0.

Diablo 4

So where does Diablo 4 fit into this?  Initially, from my point of view, Diablo 4 has tried to find a middle ground that should attract players from previous games and cater to the different styles of players.  The max power with pushing does lean towards Diablo 3’s max power route. The first seasonal welcome change was the Altar of Lillith and other changes that applied at the start of a season.  It was great that we no longer had to redo these tasks and the change was welcomed by all.  Although the first few seasons introduced a few things that did stick around such as abilities and new uber bosses, the more recent Loot Reborn update has set the stage for drastic changes.

Note, I played the beta when the current iteration of uniques dropping at all levels was still active, I’m happy they reverted back to this beta state change.

The overall changes to damage bonuses and tempering are great, although I hope more options for tempering exist as the game progresses to open up a few other alternatives per class. I’m excited for boss runs.  If we could only get a World Tier I/II campaign run followed up by a World Tier 3 and then 4 run to mimic the Normal/Nightmare/Hell campaign, I would be super happy with Diablo 4 in general.

With the expansion Vessel of Hatred right around the corner and the reveal of the Spiritborn class features, this feels like just the start and there’s plenty more to come.  The new Spiritborn class is a wait and see on whether I’ll dabble with it or not as I still have yet to play a Sorcerer in Diablo 4 other than some time pre-launch.

I am super excited for the addition of mercenaries.  If they’re done correctly, such as how they were revamped in D2R, they add a great dynamic to each player.  I wish they should have been there right at the start of Diablo 4, but as the saying goes, “better late than never.”

I also want a true multiplayer experience where I queue up for some “area” and run it with a group.  I don’t honestly care how they do it, but I want it to be no different than D2/D3 in this regard, as the current game is a solo person’s game as the east of accessing multiplayer is not there with a click of a button. Perhaps we’ll hear more about grouping features soon.

Runewords

I hope Runewords find a way into the game soon.  We didn’t get them in Diablo 3, and we have nothing yet in Diablo 4.  Gems are not enough “variety” for my taste.  If we could at least get Jewels and Rare Jewels, that would be a plus.

Charms

Diablo 4 needs charms as they are one of those things that made Diablo 2 so amazing.  I hope they find a way to implement them with a smaller separate inventory space devoted to it.  I want to play Tetris charms in Diablo 4 as I’m sure most of you do too.

Diablo 4 will hopefully occupy a bit more of my gaming time as Blizzard fleshes out the features and the recently introduced changes are more akin to my gaming style.