Diablo IV announcement is imminent.

[infinitemeridian]

As someone who only played Diablo 3 a little bit, I'm still not sure what a Diablo 4 would be that wouldn't just be an expansion for Diablo 3. I expect it to be pretty much the same graphically, the same gameplay, etc. Diablo as a franchise just seems creatively out of ideas unless they do a complete 180 like making it a strictly solo-player experience ala Dark Souls or first person or something.

There doesn't seem to be anything there that is worthy of a new entry in the series.

[Kallisto]

Tbh Blizzard themselves drove the hype machine in 2017 for example, then nothing. Now the hype kept building for 2018 and even though they put up a post about that Blizzcon might be a disappointment(IMO they should have just said outright Blizzcon 2018 != D4), but people ignored that as the message was somewhat convoluted and promised something at Blizzcon. Everyone thought it meant D3 getting additional content while we wait.. But it was a mobile game that nobody in their core audience wanted. And their handling of the Q&A dug them even deeper.

They outright said in 2018 no D4 at blizzcon multiple times in the months building up to the event. Anyone who went to last years blizzcon expecting Blizzcon only had themselves to blame.

[Deventh]

What if they said that Diablo 4 was Immortals. That wouldn't very exciting.

Then they would type it as Diablo Immortal and not 4...? It's false advertisement if they typed it as 4 because Immortal is not 4 at all. And this is not some journalist intern typing the article, it's official by Blizzard. I doubt they'd do such a huge typo and publish it.

[Awsumpossum]

You shoved the goalposts so hard, you broke them. Now everything has to appease a micro-community of "purists" for a game to be considered successful? Financial success isn't really success? Really? Remember the pretzel thing I was talking about earlier?

I literally said that it was successful, what are you on about?

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I think Blizzard is totally fine selling 50 million copies of a game while “ostracizing“ 1 million of hardcore Diablo fans.

Diablo 3 was incredibly successful, I think they couldn’t care less about some diehards that didn’t like it. It proved to be very popular even years after release. Was it perfect? No. But it’s a hella good game and if D4 is just half of that it will be another massive feat for them.

I suggested it was successful. Maybe not the Blizzard of today, but I think historically financial success was not the only barometer of "success" blizzard used. If popularity in the form of financial success is the only thing that matters, then, yes, Diablo 3 is one of the best games of all time. I just think that Blizzard, at least historically, has cared about more than just money when it comes to their game. Enthusiasts of the isometric ARPG genre tend not to list Diablo 3 as the pinnacle of what an iso-APRG should be. That's all I was pointing out.

[Moggie]

Diablo 2 purists aren't going to like Diablo 4, I can tell you that already.

They’re not gonna like anything that isn’t reliving D2 era.

Long as they keep Jay away, it’ll be good.

[Wangming]

Then they would type it as Diablo Immortal and not 4...? It's false advertisement if they typed it as 4 because Immortal is not 4 at all. And this is not some journalist intern typing the article, it's official by Blizzard. I doubt they'd do such a huge typo and publish it.

Actually it was some journalist. The art book can be ordered online and the promo text does not include Diablo IV there. The question is: Does Immortal even have enough new art to warrant a place in the art book. So far it does not seem so.

[mvaliz]

They’re not gonna like anything that isn’t reliving D2 era.

Long as they keep Jay away, it’ll be good.

I'd argue further that they'd hate a D2 Remastered if it came out.

As Classic is rapidly proving, it's really about people wanting to relive a time they were happier and had that first discovery experience. Unfortunately they hide facing that reality by deluding themselves to belie it to be "better gameplay design".

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Actually it was some journalist. The art book can be ordered online and the promo text does not include Diablo IV there. The question is: Does Immortal even have enough new art to warrant a place in the art book. So far it does not seem so.

Answer, yes - it does. There's all the CG stuff - that counts as art, and I'm sure there's dozens of concept drawings for levels, bosses and shit. It's a video game... there's going to be concept art to warrant even a couple pages somewhere.

However, I'll have a better question...

Does Diablo IV even have enough new art to warrant a place in the art book, considering it's not even announced yet??? D:I was at least announced last year - I'm sure there's plenty of art from the two dev teams to throw in there. What are we going to have for a D4? 1 or 2 announced class art? A town?

[Biomega]

Actually it was some journalist. The art book can be ordered online and the promo text does not include Diablo IV there. The question is: Does Immortal even have enough new art to warrant a place in the art book. So far it does not seem so.

It doesn't. The art is largely reused D3 art, just turned into new assets for the mobile engine.

[mvaliz]

Then they would type it as Diablo Immortal and not 4...? It's false advertisement if they typed it as 4 because Immortal is not 4 at all. And this is not some journalist intern typing the article, it's official by Blizzard. I doubt they'd do such a huge typo and publish it.

Ummmm... journalists don't type ad copy.

Also, there's a fair chance it's not the Blizzard you're thinking of who 'put that out'. Having worked in Graphic design (and even on some Blizz products a while ago) I can tell you the Ad was more than most likely outsourced to a freelance graphic designer and, at best, proofread by a person in the Blizzard Ad department. I doubt even a single artist on that book even saw the ad, possibly even never knowing of the ad's existence.

And, yes, having a "typo" like that happens more often than you think! I worked in publishing for decades, specificially in the VG market, and it's amazing how much crap gets through via miscommunication. That's why Blizz's Wrath-Box advertising Arial Combat is there! ;P

Now, before you get all huffity-puffity angry at me - to argue the flipside, one thing I also noticed is that Blizzard hasn't attempted to quash or respond to this ad/post at all. If it wasn't D4, you'd think Blizz would want to try to stop the rumor from getting out of hand and ruining people's expectations again...

...but, on the flipside again, maybe they're liking the positive press for once that covers over the Hearthstone debackle. ;P

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It doesn't. The art is largely reused D3 art, just turned into new assets for the mobile engine.

The playable character art is reused... not the creatures, the levels, other new story NPCs, ect...

...off the top of my head I sure as hell don't remember any giant floating-raft level in D3 at all! :P

[Strawberry]

Imagine thousands of players getting excited over a typo

[Kathranis]

Actually it was some journalist.

No, it was a copy writer. This is an advertisement on page 27 of the November issue of German gaming magazine GameStar, which was delivered early to subscribers and kiosks. GameStar reported on the ad on their own website.

[Xjev]

I'd argue further that they'd hate a D2 Remastered if it came out.

As Classic is rapidly proving, it's really about people wanting to relive a time they were happier and had that first discovery experience. Unfortunately they hide facing that reality by deluding themselves to belie it to be "better gameplay design".

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Well in this case its easy to claim D2 had better "game play design" than D3, just because D3 gameplay design was a disaster.

[Belloc]

What? Were you not around for launch week of D3? People were definitely waiting for D3 when it finally launched, so many people were attempting to play that it took Blizzard over a week to get the servers somewhat stable.

Now D3 was pretty awful at launch thanks to the loot system being designed around the RMAH, but that doesn't change that there was a massive amount of hype around the game.

Okay, I guess I should've said that none of us were waiting for it when it was announced, not when it launched. I, too, played at launch. Indeed, RMAH aside, the launch version of Diablo 3 was my favorite because it was an actual challenge.

[Varitok]

Why would it be Diablo Immortal? It's literally recycled D3 assets on a cheap chinese shovelware game.

[Wildmoon]

Make D2:R to satisfy people who prefer traditional format. Take D4 in a different and new direction. D4 is dead before it's released if it continues the ded gaem format of traditional ARPG. Look at PoE. The most popular iteration of the traditional format. Yet, it's so small in the bigger picture of the industry. This is Blizzard we are talking about. They always aim at the mass. If D4 is going to be D2 with better graphic then don't even bother.

[Coldkil]

I think Blizzard is totally fine selling 50 million copies of a game while “ostracizing“ 1 million of hardcore Diablo fans.

Diablo 3 was incredibly successful, I think they couldn’t care less about some diehards that didn’t like it. It proved to be very popular even years after release. Was it perfect? No. But it’s a hella good game and if D4 is just half of that it will be another massive feat for them.

First, here's the actual numbers which are pretty far from the 50 millions mark:
- the first week it sold 6.3 million copies, 1.2 from the annual pass (so people actually bought the game, not the usual "NUMBERS BLOATED!" crap many people bring out)
- by 2012 it reached 12 millions copies sold
- as by August 2015, it has gone over the 30 millions mark.
Yes, it's one of the most selling games of all time, but many people bought multiple copies of it (annual pass+CE, or for different platforms). Anyway, you stand right in saying that they manage to rake decent money from it.

Second, this is only half of the truth.

Financially, the game has been good. However the game shortcomings and awful decisions in terms of core system (terrible itemization, AH, etc) had a so huge backlash that the game was quickly abandoned by most players. Then over a couple years RoS came, and it was a 180° turn which is universally recognized as a good move.

The expansion sold well, but nowhere near the D3 release, meaning most player were lost forever. Developers left, the game got its second expansion scrapped (Necro pack was what was left of it) and the game went very very fast in maintenance mode. The changes to the game had a nasty side offect of speeding up everything so much the whole thing became a two-day rush and forget, which is absolutely pathetic for an ARPG.

Diablo 3 has quite a bunch of things done well, first of all playstyle/combat flow which is the most important thing in an ARPG. It's definitely the best around nowadays.

The point is just this: D3 is a nice game takes itself. Not the best, not the worst. But it's a Diablo game. The bar was set really high both from its legacy and unjustified hype. Blizzard didn't manage to reach the bar and the damage to the franchise has been huge.

Doesn't matter how a game is if you kill the brand, because people isn't going to buy anything brand related because of the bad repo built up. "purists" VS "innovators" is as useless as it can be. Blizzard needs to nail the game given the record of bad shots so far.

Given what we've seen so far, D4 should be pretty different from the previous games, and makes sense since they want to detach the brand from said bad repo. HOwever they cannot be too far from it or the people won't see it as a Diablo game - i expect stuff like isometric pov and endless grind to still be there, but also completely new ways of building a character and personal progression. Maybe different kind of content like actual dungeons and boss fights other than the "zerg hordes".

Lastly, don't dismiss the hardcore Diablo fans this easily. While Blizzard could ignore them and still be going ahead, they contribute a lot to the "perception" of a game. If you have your most vocal part of players just shit all over the product, it'ìs not going to work well. Just look at what happened with Immortal, which i think it's a fine thing by itself but was presented the wrong way at the wrong people.

[Miracle Mira]

Just look at what happened with Immortal, which i think it's a fine thing by itself but was presented the wrong way at the wrong people.

The mistake was to only announce that. If they indeed are working on Diablo 4, they should have announced Diablo 4 and then announced Diablo:Immortal too and go in the meantime until Diablo 4 is released we are also working on this game for phones, check it out.

[Pandragon]

Eh, is any of you still excited about it? I mean after last year, I am not even waiting for it. Even if we get an announcement, it will probably be a very early one with little to show.

They have been working on D4 for a while. They declared D3 a failure and moved a lot of their team to work on D4.

[Coldkil]

The mistake was to only announce that. If they indeed are working on Diablo 4, they should have announced Diablo 4 and then announced Diablo:Immortal too and go in the meantime until Diablo 4 is released we are also working on this game for phones, check it out.

Yeah, that's the most accepted theory/scenario. We know (don't remember now if it was officially confirmed or not - too many sources checked) that they had something about D4 ready for last year but they pulled it away at the last minute, which kinda explains why the Immortal announcement took a so relevant place in the event.

The more i look at last year Blizzcon with the new informations gathered through the year, the more i think they literally had no idea what to do at the time. Not only in (not) managing the backlash, but actually they had something planned that simply wasn't ready and the only thing left was Immortal. So they tried the way of "make it as big as you can" to fiill up space, but it ended like we all know.

While i agree that Blizzard in the last years didn't do a good communication job with players, i find kinda hard for them to run around like headless chickens doing random stuff in the hope something works. My idea is that something in the development pipeline just went the wrongest way possible at the worst moment, and they had to deal with it.

I'm kinda sure Immortal was actually never meant to be a major announcement but as you said something meant to fill the void between D3 and the next game.

[Deventh]

Diablo 3 sold millions of copies each year after its release, I don’t know what you’re even about. The game was not only successful because of the D2 epicness. D3 is a fantastic game by itself and there’s a reason why it sold what, 40 or 50 million copies as of now.

Pretty sure Diablo 3 still holds the record for the fastest selling PC game EVER.