Following the Diablo IV announcement, there were numerous panels and discussions with the dev team that brought some more info to light. However, it’s really hard to tell right now how the game will feel overall because Blizzard has a tough job keeping the newer Diablo 3 fans happy and the diehard Diablo 1 and Diablo 2 fans happy.
How it all comes together will determine if Blizzard has actually managed to take the franchise back to its roots. A lot of what has been discussed sounds like it could change, and as regular readers will know, a lot was yanked out of Diablo 3 during development that may have made it a little more interesting. This extensive list of things that were removed during development shows that a lot can change before now and release.
Quickie Diablo IV Notes
- Five classes are planned. Barbarian Druid and Sorceress already revealed.
- Playing in Campaign mode is private. Described as “dark” and “non-linear”.
- The Shared open world will include five distinct regions.
- Playing in the World with others will focus around Key Dungeons and world bosses. Keys work with specific dungeons. Keys come with affixes that add mechanics to the dungeon. More than 100 is the number that’s being touted.
- Social hubs will include NPCs, and meet other players to form a group or trade. Players will also be notified of World Events which they can rush to undertake.
- Mounts can be customised. Armour, saddle etc. Items on the mount can determine how it performs. Better armor for protection or an increase in speed.
- The game can be completed without having to take part in any social activities. This includes dungeons and formations of private parties.
- The World comes with weather and day and night cycles.
- The Arsenal system has been added and the Barbarian will have four weapon slots and can use one-handed and two-handed weapons in the same build and can equip four legendary weapons at the same time. Items can be assigned to skill slots and the BNarbarian will automatically pull out the weapon and the combat will be seamless.
- Gems can be socketed in Jewelry for buffs such as item find.
- Treasure Goblins will be back
- Runewords return (although they were planned for Diablo 3 when it was announced but were axed. Watch this space). They will be made up of a prefix and suffix to give bonuses.
- Trading is expected to focus around consumables and crafting materials including becoming bound on trade.
- Seasons will be making a return and the metagame will shift as powerful Legendaries change.
- Paragon levels will have the same philosophy as Diablo 3. It won’t be exactly the same and it’s still be worked on.
- Talents can be reset but not skills. These trees provide buffs with a 10-20% max on things such as speed and crit. Expect to see this be iterated on as development continues. Note Talents and skills are two separate things.
- The top tier items are Mythic Items and only one can be equipped with four Legendary powers per item. Legendaries are being designed to offer customised skills beyond the skill system
- There will be a clan bank and social features
- Leaderboards will be back but will focus on specific activities.
- On death, you go back to the checkpoint and will have to retrieve dropped gold.
- Transmog expected to return
- Max level is currently set to 40. Likely to change
- There will be in-game cinematics.
- Hardcore will be in the game
- PvP modes are still being explored.
- Expansions will be Blizzard’s way of monetising the game along with cosmetics.
- No UI addons allowances but elective mode is available for skills.
- The game is being designed with PvP in mind.
- Controller support on PC.
- Blizzard had not launched a Diablo 4 forum but there will be quarterly updates on development progress