Diablo 4 is great.

[Strawberry]

Actually it's fantastic. An evolution in the right direction.
Games like Last Epoch, PoE, Wolcen, while appealing to a lot people are just ARPGs that do nothing new. They stick to the safe formula and give you more of the same.
Diablo 4 is actually World of Diablo. Blizzard is taking a risk that will pay off in the long run. Both for them and for the players. Continous income = more game support.
I'm surprised they even supported Diablo 3 for that long considering the game was basically given out for free to people who subbed to WoW for 12 months.

Blizzard again shows how it's done.

[Tolinn]

What specific things do you really enjoy about it?

Not saying this to be annoying. I like some parts of it and dislike others. I just want to see what things you think are really innovative or interesting.

[Traeliorn]

What specific things do you really enjoy about it?

Not saying this to be annoying. I like some parts of it and dislike others. I just want to see what things you think are really innovative or interesting.

for me i think they have nailed the visceral feel of the combat. attacks (most of them) feel weighty and brutal.
i really enjoy the dark atmosphere, the open world, the dungeons are good, yes i get the repetitive layout but honestly blasting mobs is just good fun.
i didnt enjoy the rubberbanding and not being able to leve town via the north east gate i get this was a bug.

theres not a lot i didn't enjoy. by biggest critique is that its more fun with a party than solo, maybe thats just me and i enjkoy playing with friends.

my only real gripe for longterm is season. as this will be a lve service game, not sure how i feel about investing in a character to only have to restart every 3 months. hopefully these are seperate and new stuff is just added to the normal game and not just here's season xx. go lvl up and do stuff, find all the statues again, do all the collectibles etc again, grind all the legos again.. i can see that getting tiresome as it didn in D3. admittedly i always ended up getting speed ran through by a friend at high lvl.

[Strawberry]

What specific things do you really enjoy about it?

Not saying this to be annoying. I like some parts of it and dislike others. I just want to see what things you think are really innovative or interesting.

The dark atmosphere of Diablo 1/2.
Diablo 3 quality animations and combat.
Open world yet that similar Diablo gameplay.
Top notch visuals and attention to details.
Cosmetic customization (big one).

[Biomega]

I'm always happy when people enjoy something, even if I myself don't.

I find it... okay. Just okay. Which is disappointing to me, but I don't speak for the entirety of gamers out there.

I predicted it would be this kind of ARPG/MMO hybrid years ago (I could probably dig up the posts, they're on here somewhere) but I'm not exactly thrilled with it. Doesn't really add anything to the game for me, but does take things away from the way I enjoy this genre. Ironically, I would have PREFERRED an actual, straightforward and honest "World of Diablo" over this kind of hybrid - like some kind of WoW set in the Diablo world, with a bit faster-paced, streamlined combat? Sign me up. But I'm a purist in many things - I like concerts and I like theater, but I hate opera and musicals. Do one thing. Do another thing. Don't do them both at the same time - that's my preference.

Given how gaming has evolved and the gamer demographic has grown, though, I can see where this has a place in the market. It makes sense as a business decision, even if it alienates some people. To the more casual ARPG enjoyer this is probably the better option than the other extreme, like PoE - which is far too complex and convoluted, and far too inaccessible and cumbersome for a lot of players. D4 is very sleek in that respect, and I can absolutely see people just dropping in without any meta knowledge or experience, and picking things up quite quickly - that's a positive, to be sure.

Now, there's some serious problems as well, of course. Class balance needs work. Endgame is a big question mark, but the silhouette we think we can discern is frightening - whether or not we'll be on the money with our prediction of just-like-low-level-except-with-more-affixes or whether we are getting Guess-that-Pokémon'd here is as yet unknown.

I think a lot of the more glaring issues are actually not that hard to fix:

- Significantly buff Druid base damage, especially at lower level
- Slightly nerf Sorc and Necro, especially at low-intermediate levels
- Fiddle with the level-scaling numbers a bit
- Give us the option to combine force move + interact on the same binding
- Allow us to bind scroll wheel
- Turn the "kill every monster" condition in dungeons into a progress bar instead that fills at ~90% of kills
- Allow us to carry multiple key items in dungeons

That should make everyone happy, casual and hardcore alike. And is just some super simple tweaking, not some sweeping redesign.

[Hellobolis]

sequels that feel exactly like their prequel aren't great, they are average/good at best.

when i play a sequel i want to be impressed, i don't want to have to boot up the old game to make sure it's actually different.

i didn't think "WOW this is the future of diablo" when playing, i thought "yeah ok this is a diablo game".

they are just playing it a bit too safe to be a great game.

Open world yet that similar Diablo gameplay.

that's a good example. that's not great, that is the baseline expectation in 2023.

[Gaidax]

I think it's going to be a damn good ARPG.

I just really hope Blizz won't fudge up endgame like they did with D3 on launch. They somewhat fixed endgame there eventually, but it sure cost it.

[klaps_05]

What I like most is that it is a bit like World of Diablocraft. In previous and similar games, you just navigate menus, there is little to no connected world. The D4 world feels huge, alive and exciting to explore.

[Ophenia]

I agree on that. Played a bit / a lot during the open beta weekend, and that's been a long time I didn't immediately miss a game after stopped playing.

Difficult to tell why in details but it was a hella smooth experience. Story was cool (so far), I liked the customization of the character - limited options OK but they're neat. No loading screen in the outworld which makes it one big area. Few NPCs but all seemed relevant (there are some ARPGs with 200 NPCs per city, most of them being useless). Art is on point as usual, sound & music translates the environment you're in extremely well, damn even the loading screen for dungeons is neat. Talent trees, albeit a bit too limited, was more than enough to get me hooked and play around testing different stuff here and there.

The only thing I had more gripe against was the size of the inventory - pretty small and everything takes 2 slots, it was cool in D3 (and probably previous game) with items taking different amount of slots, gems taking 2 is total bullshit. But it's just about taking the habit to teleport to a city and back, or just not loot white/blue stuff if you don't need gold.

For sure it's difficult to say whether all this will still be enjoyable after 2 thousands hours of repeating the activities. But for sure it'll be one hell of an awesome experience until max level at least, no doubt.

[Tolinn]

The dark atmosphere of Diablo 1/2.
Diablo 3 quality animations and combat.
Open world yet that similar Diablo gameplay.
Top notch visuals and attention to details.
Cosmetic customization (big one).

To be honest, I'd agree with all of those, except the combat one. I feel like the combat is really sluggish, but I think D3 was so frenetic that it feels like quite a stark contrast. Even then, the animations are great as well.

[czarek]

The dark atmosphere of Diablo 1/2.
Diablo 3 quality animations and combat.
Open world yet that similar Diablo gameplay.
Top notch visuals and attention to details.
Cosmetic customization (big one).

Diablo 3 quality ? Diablo 3 was pretty much out of quality at its time games were lookin much much better. Diablo 3 was outdated in graphic at realese day one.

I will argue difficulty level. Its just to low. Not only for old diablo fans but in general game is a bit to easy at the bottom start. Huge gap between mobs and bosses, pretty much no gap between standard and veteran. Will se how it will work on higher diff.

Anyway. I do really like it. And had fun on beta testing weekends. Good game. Prob not the greatest of all time but really good so far.

[Biggles Worth]

I could never get into PoE, tried it many times over the years, didn't find it fun.
Wolcen was an insanely buggy mess and haven't touched it since.
I find Last Epoch to be very boring.
D3 is meh.
Torchlight 3. I like the fort building and the idea of a couple of the classes being unique but the rest was designed after after games I don't like so I was done after the story.
TL 1 and TL 2, I did the story once.
Tried Grim Dawn for about 20 hours, couldn't get into it.
Chronicon was alright for a short bit from what I can remember.
Hero Siege was fun for a bit as well but once realizing the how the never ending end game loop scaled, there was just no point.
I was playing Diablo 4 beta and found myself having a great time. We'll see how long that last on release though.

[Tolinn]

I do think it's difficult to judge based on the 25 levels we've had so far.

We all know that the end game of D3 is much different to the levelling process (particularly the OG levelling when you're experiencing the story).

I'm hoping that as time goes on you gain more bits and pieces that make combat feel a bit more fluid. I felt like with the Necro there was no flow of skills, I was just kind of using Bone Spinters and didn't need anything else because everything just fell over from it and my minions.

[NemesisAscendent]

Actual build complexity beyond stacking stupid + and % for damage. Skills are actually unique and original, however what is best part are legendaries and that some effect triggered by legendary can be affected by other legendary in complex manner. That is something no other RPG could do (it's difficult to implement) and for me it's break and make as that opens incredible amount of build options.

Even seemingly simple stat like +% crit damage is actually conditioned and all is tied to vurneability status and lucky shots giving reminder of % way more depth than for example PoE has.

Visuals are simply perfect, there is nothing in aRPG genre that comes even close fidelity wise when having consistent, beautiful atmosphere. Sound design is amazing, customization options in first 25 levels (transmog) are better than what Lost Ark or PoE accumulated in PAY shop over years of their existence.

Story, this is like second time in my life I've actually payed attention to story in aRPG (I do that always in cRPG but in aRPG that's quite rare).

Most important: Combat, you actual combine skills as they have synergy, there wasn't even hint of "hold 1 button for max profit" I've used what I had and most important: I really enjoyed it feeling I have some decision power during combat, which exist a bit in SOME of the combat in LA, is non existing in Last Epoch and PoE.

World exploration was fun and done in meaningful way regarding rewards, not over the top chore as a LA case but it was there, it nicely tied things together and there is obviously way more to come without having 89749 types of collectibles.

Right now, there is nothing on aRPG market that comes even close to damn 25 levels of beta. Release is going to obliterate lesser rpgs.

Edit: And yes, as long term stalker this finally made me make account here.

[czarek]

I could never get into PoE, tried it many times over the years, didn't find it fun.
.

PoE has really high entrance. Its to complex tbh. I played it years ago and at far level when you catch proper build. It was fun but last to long before i can really take that fun.

[Arikara]

Actually it's fantastic. An evolution in the right direction.
Games like Last Epoch, PoE, Wolcen, while appealing to a lot people are just ARPGs that do nothing new. They stick to the safe formula and give you more of the same.
Diablo 4 is actually World of Diablo. Blizzard is taking a risk that will pay off in the long run. Both for them and for the players. Continous income = more game support.
I'm surprised they even supported Diablo 3 for that long considering the game was basically given out for free to people who subbed to WoW for 12 months.

Blizzard again shows how it's done.

This is satire, right? I hope this is satire. Surely noone is truly so blind.

[Tolinn]

This is satire, right? I hope this is satire. Surely noone is truly so blind.

I mean, at least explain why you think that?

[Strawberry]

Diablo 3 quality ? Diablo 3 was pretty much out of quality at its time games were lookin much much better. Diablo 3 was outdated in graphic at realese day one.

I will argue difficulty level. Its just to low. Not only for old diablo fans but in general game is a bit to easy at the bottom start. Huge gap between mobs and bosses, pretty much no gap between standard and veteran. Will se how it will work on higher diff.

Anyway. I do really like it. And had fun on beta testing weekends. Good game. Prob not the greatest of all time but really good so far.

I mentioned animations and combat, not the overall graphical look of say characters and textures, those I agree looked below average even on the release date.
Diablo 3 combat and animations however felt great compared to everything else back in the day of its release.

[Gaidax]

This is satire, right? I hope this is satire. Surely noone is truly so blind.

I mean I don't know if the OP's intent is honest or not, but off my perch - I do indeed like the fact that it's not PoE and I am sure many others appreciate it too. PoE's initial overcomplication and over-engineering was further exacerbated by the stacking season features to the point where it became a closed sweaty club that's simply inaccessible to newer or even returning players. And IMO, it's a shame that PoE 2 whenever it comes intends to absorb all those years of trash into itself.

And yes, I do find the state of the game world in D4 appealing after trying it out. I do think it's a step up from the usual ARPG setup where world is practically a masked chain of dungeons cosplaying as outside areas. Outside world completely inter-connected without loading screens and without hard act separation is a novelty for the genre.

So for what it's worth on my end, I'm ok with what OP wrote. I do think "Blizzard again shows how it's done" is premature - because I want to see the actual endgame, but D4 has very solid basics and ideas behind it.

[liyroot]

I'm always happy when people enjoy something, even if I myself don't.

I find it... okay. Just okay. Which is disappointing to me, but I don't speak for the entirety of gamers out there.

I predicted it would be this kind of ARPG/MMO hybrid years ago (I could probably dig up the posts, they're on here somewhere) but I'm not exactly thrilled with it. Doesn't really add anything to the game for me, but does take things away from the way I enjoy this genre. Ironically, I would have PREFERRED an actual, straightforward and honest "World of Diablo" over this kind of hybrid - like some kind of WoW set in the Diablo world, with a bit faster-paced, streamlined combat? Sign me up. But I'm a purist in many things - I like concerts and I like theater, but I hate opera and musicals. Do one thing. Do another thing. Don't do them both at the same time - that's my preference.

Given how gaming has evolved and the gamer demographic has grown, though, I can see where this has a place in the market. It makes sense as a business decision, even if it alienates some people. To the more casual ARPG enjoyer this is probably the better option than the other extreme, like PoE - which is far too complex and convoluted, and far too inaccessible and cumbersome for a lot of players. D4 is very sleek in that respect, and I can absolutely see people just dropping in without any meta knowledge or experience, and picking things up quite quickly - that's a positive, to be sure.

Now, there's some serious problems as well, of course. Class balance needs work. Endgame is a big question mark, but the silhouette we think we can discern is frightening - whether or not we'll be on the money with our prediction of just-like-low-level-except-with-more-affixes or whether we are getting Guess-that-Pokémon'd here is as yet unknown.

I think a lot of the more glaring issues are actually not that hard to fix:

- Significantly buff Druid base damage, especially at lower level
- Slightly nerf Sorc and Necro, especially at low-intermediate levels
- Fiddle with the level-scaling numbers a bit
- Give us the option to combine force move + interact on the same binding
- Allow us to bind scroll wheel
- Turn the "kill every monster" condition in dungeons into a progress bar instead that fills at ~90% of kills
- Allow us to carry multiple key items in dungeons

That should make everyone happy, casual and hardcore alike. And is just some super simple tweaking, not some sweeping redesign.

Great writeup