What does Diablo 4 need?

[Sofo1]

d4 is in need of itemization. Lean back on some of the old concepts from d2 and maybe take a sneak peak on how poe handles it aswell. that would make me play d4 rather than PoE

[Harbour]

[NatePsy]

No, if you want POE then play POE. D4 wont be good if its trying to mimic another game.

It's not about "mimicking", more so taking inspiration from what the current top dog is doing and what they can do to compete against that because it's going to be hard for Blizzard to ride it out on the name of it's franchise alone. PoE is tough competition because it's very in depth gameplay wise.

[Hinastorm]

Diablo 4 just needs to be Path of Exile, but Path of Exile already exists. Blizzard are not going to make a better ARPG than GGG have, so D4 needs to be something different to the traditional isometric grinding game.

PoE has many fatal flaws though, at least for the non-super hardcore types (awful, time consuming trade, hard to access respecs, headache inducing depth)

Bliz could basically clone PoE, but with a trade interface, sane respecs, and non-cosmic brain systems, and be a huge success.

[kail]

No, if you want POE then play POE. D4 wont be good if its trying to mimic another game.

Games adopt great ideas from others all the time for self improvement. It doesn't always go well but one has to think what makes PoE the most popular ARPG today. Having played many leagues extensively (not 36/40 on all but some) one aspect that makes leagues great is the extra progression beyond character growth. Every league adds an extra layer to work on be it Delves, Syndicates, Beasts, etc. Some leagues flopped hard (Synthesis and Beastiary for example) but many we're well received.

In D3 you can start from level one, click the stupid stone and fight the same maps/MOBs over and over again. Sure your character get's stronger, but the content alone is still pretty much the same. D4 needs to evolve from that.

Then there is the shallow character progression, crafting, stats/itemization and personalized drop rates. D3 atm is effectively a smooth playing arcade game.

[Aresk]

D2 Druids 10char

This would absolutely be my first request in a D4 game. I think the skill system in D3 made it a very difficult implementation, but in D4, I would love to see my summoner/werebear return.

[breadisfunny]

if d4 was skyrim but blizzard version, fuk yea that would be dope

that would be terrible.

[letssee]

that would be terrible.

how come , basically a very strong pure RPG but in the diablo universe,

[Coldkil]

-snip-

I don't hate Diablo 3. I have clocked more than 1k hours on it and i had my great share of fun. The point is that the game is plagued by issues and no one wanted Diablo 3 to become an hollow shell of what it should have been.

It's not that it needs to be time consuming. But farming GRs only brings you this far and i don't like the direction they have taken with it - and very likely even Blizzard doesn't like it since basically all support ceased and the game went under the Classic Games team for maintenance.

The good part of Diablo and ARPGs in general is that progression is yours only, meaning that doesn't matter how much you play because you don't have to keep pace with anyone else and still fully enjoy the game. The problem that D3 had was a terrible reward system in Vanilla couple with AH that destroyed gamepley; RoS solved a lot of issues but it became a downhill when power creep went out of control, plus no content and a second expansion scrapped (Necro pack was what remained and the new zones given for free).

PoE isn't at all the game you thing it is. You don't need to do 1000000 things because all give the same rewards - you have options. Yes, after all the leagues and everything the game is kinda "bloated" of systems, but the fact is that you play the season for a while, play at your content and try the new mechanics. Diablo stopped halfway there, not giving players anything anymore after a short while.

The funniest thing is that some time ago before last D3 season Blizzard announced that there will be a new set per class in D3. WHY lol you're going to release a new Diablo, who's gonna play D3 after that. Until the new Diablo is something completely unrelated from the trilogy gameplay structure and it's something more akin a SP game with co-op stuff.

- - - Updated - - -

No, if you want POE then play POE. D4 wont be good if its trying to mimic another game.

Fully agree. I love PoE and it's an awesome game, but Blizzard shouldn't do a clone otherwise it would be just that, a clone. Not saying they can "borrow" a couple systems like the gems/support thing (maybe as small talent trees and not tied to gear), but they need to do their own thing.

[Sting]

The depth of PoE's systems combined with the smooth gameplay of D3 would make for a great D4.

[MrKnubbles]

Everyone keeps asking for Diablo 4 instead of improvements to Diablo 3. I don't even think it will be an ARPG.

[Aphrel]

every spec going for nearly identical gear really hurt the game tbh.
Diffrent builds should want diffrent kinds of stats.

Having a very limited way of customizing the way your abilities worts throu gear needs to be fixed.
Things like Increased area of effect, increased range, cooldown reduction, reduced resoruce cost, additional projectiles, change element of damage. I know some of these were added in the expansion but at that time d3 was already a megaflop tbh.

Setbonuses must never be mandatory. Nothing should ever be a mandatory item to have in a slot. Now we have what? 10 000% increased dmg from 6set? what utter moron decided this was a good idea?

Content: Completely randomly generated content isnt interesting at all. You want places that you recognize on some level. Sure the terrain clutter and art could be randomly generated to a point but at some point the player must also get a sence of recognition. Layouts could be partly randomly generated but with a guided overall layout.
Bosses should never be random, they need to have a name, a recongnizible signatue attack pattern and they need to belong to a location.
A sence of location is important. A worldmap of sorts. I dont think many ppl realize this but if you look at POE... That altlas map does an incredible job. Even if you reach every induvidual place via a portal from the same spot (not ideal) this map still saves it because players feel like they are walking a path trying to reach the middle.

In d3 however you have a randomly generated name of a place you reached with a portal that is containing random mobs put in a random tileset in a randomly generated layout and at the end of the rift get a random boss... Well, at least they gave bosses a name, skin and ability.

[Gjin]

It needs to be on PC and consoles first, let's be real.

What about mobile players like me? It's not fair.

[Kapaya]

D4 needs a different company to produce it.

[Vorkreist]

D4 needs a different company to produce it.

Very much this.
Whats left at Blizzard in terms of writers and designers won't be able to do better than even D3. All the talent has left the building and its a dead company when it comes to actual creativity and passion for any franchise.

[Polygons]

I think they should ditch the current art style for a grittier one like Diablo I & II. Also, if they could add a couple more classes at launch that don't suck, and a talent tree system that isn't as insignificant as the paragon system because unlocking talent points is a lot more fun and rewarding than unlocking random abilities. Basically, bring back the RPG elements that made it more like D&D or Oblivion and not an action RPG. Lastly, the story and cinematics in Diablo I & II were way, way more cool and interesting. The story in DIII was so bad.

[Coldkil]

Story in first 2 Diablo wasn't top class either, but the gameplay and generally the capability of keeping people hooked up has been way more significant.

ARPGs are a tricky genre to develop on - especially now that players digest content as fast as possible because "if you're not first it doesn't count" mentality, which a game like D2 could be played at very different paces without anyone fussing about "i have finished all, what do i do now?".

PoE manages to go through it by being F2P, being deliberately slow on some things (which i appreciate) and periodically releasing new mechanics and content, which is a tremendous workload just to stay relevant. At this point the game is solid, but it took quite a bunch of time and effort. PoE manages to give exactly that feel of constant progression - leveling by the passive tree, then crafting for links, then atlas, then Delve, bestiary, they managed to add many parallel progressions other than farming the BiS items so people is costantly experiencing "going ahead".

D3 has fallen short just because of this. GRs are fine, but ONLY GRs is not. But i'm sure a lot of things that could have been were just cut off because of the product not being on par with corporate expectations. Diablo Legacy is also a pretty big reason.

[Nzx]

PoE has many fatal flaws though, at least for the non-super hardcore types (awful, time consuming trade, hard to access respecs, headache inducing depth)

Bliz could basically clone PoE, but with a trade interface, sane respecs, and non-cosmic brain systems, and be a huge success.

I thought the same, and it took me three characters in three different leagues to understand how the game works. Now, I couldn't even consider playing a more "basic" ARPG.

The problem with the genre as a whole is that the actual basic premise is pretty tedious - kill thousands of enemies to get more gear so you can kill thousands of enemies faster. The only way to make that interesting for an extended period of time is to add extreme depth to the systems outside of that core gameplay loop, like synergies and runewords in D2 were, to a lesser extent than PoE's current systems. Sure, Blizzard might make a commercial success out of a basic gameplay loop and some fancy graphics, but they're unlikely to capture any of the people who are still playing the genre right now without at least 70-80% of PoE's depth.

PoE's trade mechanic can suck a dick, though.

[Kokolums]

Story in first 2 Diablo wasn't top class either, but the gameplay and generally the capability of keeping people hooked up has been way more significant.

ARPGs are a tricky genre to develop on - especially now that players digest content as fast as possible because "if you're not first it doesn't count" mentality, which a game like D2 could be played at very different paces without anyone fussing about "i have finished all, what do i do now?".

PoE manages to go through it by being F2P, being deliberately slow on some things (which i appreciate) and periodically releasing new mechanics and content, which is a tremendous workload just to stay relevant. At this point the game is solid, but it took quite a bunch of time and effort. PoE manages to give exactly that feel of constant progression - leveling by the passive tree, then crafting for links, then atlas, then Delve, bestiary, they managed to add many parallel progressions other than farming the BiS items so people is constantly experiencing "going ahead".

D3 has fallen short just because of this. GRs are fine, but ONLY GRs is not. But i'm sure a lot of things that could have been were just cut off because of the product not being on par with corporate expectations. Diablo Legacy is also a pretty big reason.

Its not tricky. When you have a lot of competition in your field, you need a "value add". Blizzard had an incredible value add in battle.net. They made ARPGs a social experience. Everyone else was focused on single player and Blizzard went a different way and captured a market no-one else was trying for. The biggest mistake D3 made was dumping the social aspect. It lost its value add and couldn't compete with other games. For D4 to succeed, it needs to have a value add. That could mean a strong social experience. Or do something else to capture a market that doesn't normally play ARPGs. If they just roll out an ARPG with standard ARPG features and a lot of gloss without a major value add, it'll fail.

Look at Blizzards history:

+ War3, Starcraft, Diablo 2 all succeeded because they were all on bnet which provided a cutting edge social experience as a value add.
+ WoW succeeded because it provided strong social play as a value add with global chat and forcing people to talk and make friends on a single server. PvE Guilds were locked on one small server and raced each other like its a tournament.
+ SC2 failed because they ripped all the social elements out, it almost didn't have chat channels.
+ D3 failed because they ripped all the social elements out, it almost didn't have chat channels. Plus, Rifts were too much of the game which made it repetitive.
+ Hearthstone was a success because it had a value add in the fact that it was the ONLY card game that was pushed BOTH on PC and mobile. All competitors focused on one or the other.
+ Overwatch started strong but its failing as it really has no social elements. If something like Overwatch was released on a social platform like a modernized bnet 1.0, it would have crushed all competition and Forenite or PUBG never challenge them.

[Mehrunes]

More variety in builds. Now, personally I'm perfectly fine with set bonuses in an ARPG even though I've oven heard people complaining about those in regards to D3. But while I'm OK with them, I want sets like the later ones that offer a range of spells that they buff as opposed to Barbarians' Wirlwhind set. On top of that, each set should have a wide plethora of legendaries that work in conjunction with it. As in, multiple items per slot so that you can make a more personalized build. Having a supplementary small set or two for the slots not taken by the primary is also nice.