Diablo IV

[FPAlpha]

Friend of mine roped me in with the Preorder and i got Early access and been playing since yesterday.

Blizzard has not reinvented the formula, it is still walk around and slay waves of monsters and that's good. They did a ton of gameplay tweaks and additions that will take a scientific approach to finetune and use but this is the allure of the game - to build your character according to your style and what you think is cool.

Fortunately there are now options to modify equipment to suit this, past games didn't have that and often enough a boss dropped something awesome that you couldn't use in your build or even your class, that was a source of much frustration.

Graphics wise the game looks awesome as expected from an AAA title, the atmosphere is far more grim than in previous games and it suits it.

Difficulty wise the game is all over the place. I'm playing on Veteran which is the second of 4 difficulties ( i don't have the nerve nor the desire to torture myself with Nightmare mode) but the difficulty is spiking in unexpected ways.
I had been stuck on a story mid level boss quite early in the game for hours before i finally made it ( strangely enough when i made it the outcome wasn't even close or nailbiting, go figure) but other dungeon or story bosses were a cakewalk until the game sends you against a brickwall again without warning.

I don't know if i just suck at playing such fast reaction/precise keyboard control usage games ( i am primarily a turn based strategy guy) but this game forces you often enough to take a deep breath and calm yourself down again ( i can't remember the last time i slammed the desk hard a couple of times when i died again so short of succeeding).

 

[jenji120]

Have you ever tried using a controller with your PC? I first started using one because I was limited by space but now I play pretty much all my PC games with an Xbox Elite 2 and absolutely love the experience. It's the best of both worlds, imo. And tbh, games aren't made for KB+Mouse anymore because they aren't made for PC anymore. It's a console world as much as I hate saying that and a lot of games are made to be played with a controller. I forget which youtuber it was but just the other day one had related being sent a review copy of a PC game and a controller. They were like 'wtf' but it's more common than a lot of people think. In my trials guild, a lot of us have confessed to being controller users which really surprised some of the others because we're all on PC.
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As for Diablo IV.... I just purchased for my PS5 last night. I've never played a Diablo game but the story trailer looked great and it's been getting a lot of great reviews so I figured I'd check it out. I prob. won't start it for a few days tho as there's other games I want to finish before I jump in.

 

[FPAlpha]

Have you ever tried using a controller with your PC? I first started using one because I was limited by space but now I play pretty much all my PC games with an Xbox Elite 2 and absolutely love the experience. It's the best of both worlds, imo. And tbh, games aren't made for KB+Mouse anymore because they aren't made for PC anymore. It's a console world as much as I hate saying that and a lot of games are made to be played with a controller. I forget which youtuber it was but just the other day one had related being sent a review copy of a PC game and a controller. They were like 'wtf' but it's more common than a lot of people think. In my trials guild, a lot of us have confessed to being controller users which really surprised some of the others because we're all on PC.
.
As for Diablo IV.... I just purchased for my PS5 last night. I've never played a Diablo game but the story trailer looked great and it's been getting a lot of great reviews so I figured I'd check it out. I prob. won't start it for a few days tho as there's other games I want to finish before I jump in.

I too have an Elite 2 controller and sometimes i use it for some games, most recently Jedi Survivor, but i feel Diablo was meant for PC KB+M and i have been playing it like this since the first game came out so it's kinda tradition. I suck at precise gaming even more with a game controller, expecially back when i was playing First Person shooters, so i only use it when the game was originally designed as a console title like the God of War Series and others, everything else is better with mouse and keyboard for me.

Played some more and got over the hump from a few days ago, now it's more or less smooth sailing as my Barbarian has leveled up some more ( close to the first major goal of level 50) but i still have to finish the story campaign. One thing that has helped improve is to be more patient when fighting big bosses and learn their attack patterns instead of just whacking them first chance i get ( you know.. the Barbarian way ). I just love tearing through big mobs of monsters, unleasing my skills in succession and watching them pop one by one.

 

[jenji120]

I finally started and wound up trying Rogue. I couldn't decide on the class but finally settled on that. I'm near level 20 or so and so far it's been a lot of fun but good lord, I have no idea how to level things or how most stuff works in the game. And on the bosses, I was surprised a bit by the need to actually pay attention to them because the mobs are fun but simple mechanics wise. I'd started out on vet and didn't expect a few of the bosses to be complete pains. I dropped the Sanguine Chapel boss (think that's the name) down to normal after getting rolled a bunch of times only to find I had to redo the dungeon. (If I had known that I would've stuck it out on vet as I was just trying to move on - it didn't seem impossible to do - just challenging).

I can't decide whether I should flip back to vet or just leave it on adventurer because one guide said the extra gold and xp isn't worth the amount of time it takes to kill enemies when you're leveling your character and that does seem to be the case at least somewhat *but* I don't want to get lazy and then get completely wrecked when I switch it back to vet.

And yeah, controller vs KB+M is def. a preference and some games are more suited than others. Diablo IV feels like a love letter to the days when you only really found good RPGs on PC so I can see why you'd want to stick with it. Do you use an MMO mouse or just regular KB+M?

 

[FPAlpha]

I don't even know what an MMO mouse is (first time hearing that something like this exists but it's not surprising). Standard 4 Button mouse is more than enough for me.

I buckled down and finished the story, i was a bit overleveled ( Lv. 51 i think when i took on Lilith) so the boss fights were not that tense or dangerous, i just died once against Lilith when she dropped part of the arena away and i stood on the part that dropped - Instadeath

After that i did a special dungeon called Capstone after which i was able to upgrade the game to Tier 3 and boy am i sweating now! Feels like the start of the game again when i died so much - priority now is to upgrade my gear so i am more resilient and do more damage because if i encounter Champion and Elite Boss mobs i go through health potions like cold drinks on a very hot day

Still a casual player and i don't think i'll ever reach Lvl 100 with my Barbarian but it's fun to occasionally raid a dungeon and do post story content - they really have thought it through how to keep players playing after they are done with the story, there is so much to unlock and so many goodies to collect/fight over. It's a really well designed game.

My next character will probably be a Necromancer - send my Minions to fight for me while i chill in the back, drink some cocktails and watch the spectacle

I finally started and wound up trying Rogue. I couldn't decide on the class but finally settled on that. I'm near level 20 or so and so far it's been a lot of fun but good lord, I have no idea how to level things or how most stuff works in the game. And on the bosses, I was surprised a bit by the need to actually pay attention to them because the mobs are fun but simple mechanics wise. I'd started out on vet and didn't expect a few of the bosses to be complete pains. I dropped the Sanguine Chapel boss (think that's the name) down to normal after getting rolled a bunch of times only to find I had to redo the dungeon. (If I had known that I would've stuck it out on vet as I was just trying to move on - it didn't seem impossible to do - just challenging).

I get you - i'm a veteran player and was still overwhelmed at first by the new stuff and elements they put in. It's good that you gradually unlock all the options as you level up so you can check them out one by one.

At your level don't sweat it - just keep going, do some dungeons ( preferably those that unlock aspects for your class or generic ones that are useful), do side quests and then the main story again. For the first 30-40 levels sell your loot and have it broken down for raw materials at the blacksmith in alternating order, you will need a good stock of materials to upgrade gear at the blacksmith and jeweler until you hit a cap because you need materials that you only get by breaking down legendary items or even in Tier 3 ( for which you need to complete the story first to advance) and it takes a while until you at a point that you don't need particular legendary elements because your gear is good enough.

Also don't fall into the trap of overstressing about your skill points and what to take - some people make a science out of it on the Internet and Youtube. This only comes into play at high levels and you can always respec for very cheap in the beginning if you feel you want to try out another build.

 

[jenji120]

Oops. I'm def. gonna be overleveled then. I'm nearing the end of the campaign and haven't done a ton of quests or anything but I tend to do whatever world event is near me and for a long time I was doing that on vet with the extra xp. I'm in the 40s now. And I'm rocking all legendary gear (I wish rng was this good to me in ESO). One pair of pants is 100 armor/power less than another legendary piece but it makes me nearly invincible because it gives me health back. It's so good with this character that it feels like a cheat code lol. I definitely missed the perk as soon as I swapped it out so immediately put it back on. It will be a trait I carry over to other gear when it finally does get too weak.

As for the skill points... one person said just pick one from each tree and see if you like it. So I'm trying to stick with that and make changes as I judge the skills. One thing I don't quite understand about Rogue is that it uses imbuements. Fine - I get charging your weapon with an element but which one is best? I picked shadow but I kinda think I might need to switch to poison just by seeing the gear that benefits from poison.

And I've never used an MMO mouse but they look interesting - complicated but interesting. I kinda wish I'd bought the game on PC instead tho but my PC is hot as hell and the room it's in is hot as hell even when it's off so I felt like with it being June, if I really wanted to play and not roast while I did it then I should get it on PS5. I don't regret the play or performance but I think maybe the social aspects er mmo-lite aspects would be better on PC (easier to type and easier to read chatbox stuff and later to do group stuff - though I guess I could bother setting up my PS5's discord, I just can't really use voice chat a lot but I can listen) but I didn't really know anything about the game ahead of time. I just got it because I knew it was one of those iconic games that I'd missed but wanted to check out this time around.

So once the campaign is completed... then what? You just level up and run dungeons? I hear people talk about endgame and the only thing I know about endgame is that in my MMO that means trials/raids (which is about all I do in my mmo anyway). I'm ok at the pvp that I've tried but it's usually something I have to be drug into. I'd rather work with people than against them. While it's always fun to put down pvpers in games where they're ganking noobs or to fight group vs group, I don't like the toxic environment that a lot of pvp stuff can become.

 

[FPAlpha]

So once the campaign is completed... then what? You just level up and run dungeons? I hear people talk about endgame and the only thing I know about endgame is that in my MMO that means trials/raids (which is about all I do in my mmo anyway). I'm ok at the pvp that I've tried but it's usually something I have to be drug into. I'd rather work with people than against them. While it's always fun to put down pvpers in games where they're ganking noobs or to fight group vs group, I don't like the toxic environment that a lot of pvp stuff can become.

Late in the story you will meet the Tree of Whispers - once you complete the story it will unlock special dungeons you can raid and upon completion gain so called Favors. Collect enough and you can turn them in for legendary gear.

There's Helltide events that pop up randomly in a region - slay monsters there and you can collect special points with which you can unlock special chests found in the region for special gear.

Biggest addition from level 50 onwards are Paragon points - after level 50 you don't get skill points anymore but collect Paragon points you can spend to obtain small and large stat bonuses on a special board besides the skill tree.

After completing the story and a special dungeon called a Capstone dungeon ( found in the Cathedral of Light in Kyovashad) you can also upgrade the difficulty level to 3, making the monsters more dangerous but also providing far more experience points and better gear.

In the end it's all about that - better stats, better gear so you can take on ever bigger monsters, boss mobs and world bosses.

 

[jenji120]

Late in the story you will meet the Tree of Whispers - once you complete the story it will unlock special dungeons you can raid and upon completion gain so called Favors. Collect enough and you can turn them in for legendary gear.

There's Helltide events that pop up randomly in a region - slay monsters there and you can collect special points with which you can unlock special chests found in the region for special gear.

Biggest addition from level 50 onwards are Paragon points - after level 50 you don't get skill points anymore but collect Paragon points you can spend to obtain small and large stat bonuses on a special board besides the skill tree.

After completing the story and a special dungeon called a Capstone dungeon ( found in the Cathedral of Light in Kyovashad) you can also upgrade the difficulty level to 3, making the monsters more dangerous but also providing far more experience points and better gear.

In the end it's all about that - better stats, better gear so you can take on ever bigger monsters, boss mobs and world bosses.

Awesome - ESO works similarly. Once you hit 50 you get what they call champion points but they are different from regular skill points. You're leveled up once you hit 50 although champion points still matter a whole lot. The gear is tied to level 50 there so at that point you don't have to grind nearly as much except for new sets that you want for builds.

Do you know how their season pass/dungeon pass stuff works? I bought the standard edition because not only did I not know whether I'd like the game but I also didn't really know what they meant with their marketing. Is it story DLC? Dungeon DLC? Both? Something different?

 

[FPAlpha]

Awesome - ESO works similarly. Once you hit 50 you get what they call champion points but they are different from regular skill points. You're leveled up once you hit 50 although champion points still matter a whole lot. The gear is tied to level 50 there so at that point you don't have to grind nearly as much except for new sets that you want for builds.

Do you know how their season pass/dungeon pass stuff works? I bought the standard edition because not only did I not know whether I'd like the game but I also didn't really know what they meant with their marketing. Is it story DLC? Dungeon DLC? Both? Something different?

This explains it better than i could:

https://www.polygon.com/23719534/diablo-4-battle-pass-seasons-explained

 

[jenji120]

Uh yeah that bit about murdering my character? Not gonna pay extra for that. Damn. Why the fuck would they do that?! Encourage me to do it sure. But force me to create new toons? Oh hell no.

ETA: Comment section tells me that it's always been that way for Diablo. That really blows. I doubt I will invest much time post-campaign if this is the way they do things. Needless grind is why ESO is the only mmo I play (I've been using the same character and sets for years now with tweaks here or there - kinda funny that it's more mmo-lite as an actual mmo than Diablo). I have really enjoyed the campaign in Diablo tho.

 

[ichab]

One thing that should be mentioned is Diablo is an ARPG, not an MMORPG. There is no auction house, no player economy and the game is not designed to have hundreds of people in the same instance like ESO or WOW. They have added World Bosses and legion events which sort of blur the two genres a bit. But thankfully no other player is need for best gear like in an MMO.

I've had a lot of fun, but I agree with jenji on not liking the way seasons are handled. I know rolling new characters for the new season is how ARPGs like Diablo and Path of Exile operate, but it's not fun for someone who is use to MMOs where you have a main that you can use for every expansion. They really ought to look into changing that, which I have posted many times on their official forum.

 

[SPCTRE]

I've had a lot of fun, but I agree with jenji on not liking the way seasons are handled. I know rolling new characters for the new season is how ARPGs like Diablo and Path of Exile operate, but it's not fun for someone who is use to MMOs where you have a main that you can use for every expansion. They really ought to look into changing that, which I have posted many times on their official forum.

I can see that. In their defense, the seasons - in a manner of speaking - have a long-standing tradition with Diablo going back to Diablo 2 (back then called "ladder resets").

I'm just glad they kept the ingame microtransactions contained to the cosmetics shop (although the notifications in the ingame menus still annoy me a bit, even though they're relatively tame, visually speaking).