Diablo 4 is great.

[chiddie]

It's really not thought. Sacred did it decades ago and with a much bigger world map. I'm sure there are others too.

something like “Pong was made of pixels also, so 2023 games aren’t a novelty after all”.

[Gaidax]

It's really not though. Sacred did it decades ago and with a much bigger world map. I'm sure there are others too.

I am sure that everything you can think of, some obscure title nobody cares about did or even did better.

But it's quite different when it's actual mainstream title and a huge one like Diablo.

[Fencers]

It's really not though. Sacred did it decades ago and with a much bigger world map. I'm sure there are others too.

Titan Quest, Grim Dawn, and Torchlight 3 did a contiguous game world as well.

[Delekii]

I don't think you even played Diablo 4 beta lol, considering you're comparing seeing other people in towns in PoE to Diablo 4 open world where you see people all over the place and who interact with your enemies and bosses. Go troll somewhere else.

All over the place? There's a maximum of 8 or 10 people in any given zone, and the only time you will meaningfully interact with them is on world bosses.

Calling that paradigm shifting is absurd.

[Fencers]

All over the place? There's a maximum of 8 or 10 people in any given zone, and the only time you will meaningfully interact with them is on world bosses.

Calling that paradigm shifting is absurd.

To be fair, they show up to events and strongholds a lot too. Event farming was pretty lucrative in the beta. Especially stronghold events like the one with the goat men and the vampires.

Other ARPGs haven't had that level of world participation in the same volume as D4. Immoral and TL: Infinite are the only two that come to mind. Perhaps the guild missions in Inquisitor as well.

[Stickiler]

To be fair, they show up to events and strongholds a lot too. Event farming was pretty lucrative in the beta. Especially stronghold events like the one with the goat men and the vampires.

I feel like I played a different game to everyone else(Maybe timezones? I do live in upsie-downsie land), because I never once saw more than a single other person in the world with me, doing stronghold events etc.

[Strawberry]

I feel like I played a different game to everyone else(Maybe timezones? I do live in upsie-downsie land), because I never once saw more than a single other person in the world with me, doing stronghold events etc.

I saw a ton of people around, both in and outside the cities (EU)

[KrayZ33]

I feel like I played a different game to everyone else(Maybe timezones? I do live in upsie-downsie land), because I never once saw more than a single other person in the world with me, doing stronghold events etc.

Me neither, living in the middle of Europe.
I didn't specifically "farm" events however.
I was doing quests and events when they came up near me. At lvl 25 I ran dungeons before I stopped playing after a while because I was not interested in "maxxing out a lvl 25 character".

I saw 1 player at most when doing events (mostly did them alone), I saw 1-2 people near the town and when an event was nearby.
The rest of the time spent was in dungeons, questing, story questing.

[Boddhi]

Glad that you like it but labelling it "fantastic" you seem to be satisfied veeery easily. In fact Diablo 4 excells at nothing. Visuals, gameplay, character customization / builds, storytelling, UI, tech. Everything has been done better in other games before. In fact, the game is or seems to be just "OK". The formula is dated. It appeals to the same kind of people who still watch the 57th season of Greys Anatomy, because, well, it's Grey's Anatomy and thats their thing.

So there is nothing wrong with something being just "OK", except when you consider who created it and what this who created before and what this who asks to pay for it now.

[Majestic12]

Overall, i had low expectations for the open beta. I watched kripparians video of 6/10. My good friend who doesn't even consider himself a big diablo fan decided to give it a play with me. We both leveled to 25. He tried saying " this is my fix and i wont be playing the real game". That all changed after the open beta. Now he is still texting daily about diablo 4 and how good it is and has preordered. I agree with him. I also played to level 25 and it feels like a very solid game packed with content. I counted over 15 dungeons in act 1 alone. Its diablo, you gotta embrace the grind and love slaughtering evil. I would love to see them add battlegrounds or some type of guild vs guild mechanism like in diablo immortal. Overall, i preordered and am very pleased. Of my 5 friends who played the beta, we all Loved it and preordered. Blizzard is turning the corner. D2 remaster strong, diablo immortal strong, dragonflight strong, overwatch 2 solid although i didnt play it. And now a solid showing for d4 packed with content. Its worth every penny and i cannot wait!

My issue with the dungeons per se is that they have cool names and locations on the map, but once you actually get inside they're almost identical. There aren't that many layouts so it just ends up feeling as a really underwhelmning experience.

[Lordofbelbol]

You can’t compare RE inventory management to an ARPG inventory management. RE inventory management had gameplay implications, you hadn’t an armor, rings and trinkets, you only had weapons, ammunitions, herbs and puzzle items. Save games and save points were limited and managing what you could take with you added another layer of discomfort, that was perfectly fine given the nature of the gameplay.

But ARPGS are a different beast. I’m playing PoE these days and man the inventory is just so bad that it totally kills the immersion. Even leaving on the ground anything below yellow items leads you to port in town every 5 to 10 minutes to identify/sell stuff.

Also, on a side note. I got to level 25 and if I pretend I don’t know anything about PoE endgame, the experience compared to D4 1-25 has been quite miserable. The only thing I liked more is the mob density.

- - - Updated - - -


They can add anything multi, as long as it’s not mandatory to get the best loot. The second it turns out like this, I’m out.

I’ve had enough of multi mandatory stuff in WoW, thanks.

picking up rare items in Poe is not recommended as 90% of them will be bad. but when you are leveling and need upgrades you should only pick up bases that goes well with your build but that needs a little experience in the game

[Zoibert the Bear]

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).

Reads like an ad

[Fencers]

I feel like I played a different game to everyone else(Maybe timezones? I do live in upsie-downsie land), because I never once saw more than a single other person in the world with me, doing stronghold events etc.

Maybe. I played on US east from open to close of beta. It was busy, busy, busy.

[LordVargK]

I am sure that everything you can think of, some obscure title nobody cares about did or even did better.

But it's quite different when it's actual mainstream title and a huge one like Diablo.

Well, Germans cared. Sacred 2 had huge potential and bad support, which is why it was never that well known outside of germany.

I'd argue that makes Diablo stand out from other games is NOT the open world. I love Sacred (and Sacred 2). The theme, the lore, the attention to detail, the humor, the setting, everything ist great. Diablo (including D4) has nothing on that. And the D4 open world feels empty and meaningless compared to Sacred's. So I don't believe an open world is a big selling point for the game, given the audience has other expectations. And it's questionable if those expectations are met.

Diablo's strength lies within it's gameplay. The builds, the itemization, the fluidity on inputs, the overall combat feel. And lategame replayability. Namely Rifts. D4's open world is nothing new and nothing to brag with. I don't even feel the difference between it and D3. Well, I do: It lags horribly sometimes, but I hope that will change a few months after release. Because you can bet, that the game will lag the first weeks.

[KrayZ33]

Diablo's strength lies within it's gameplay. The builds, the itemization, the fluidity on inputs, the overall combat feel. And lategame replayability. Namely Rifts. D4's open world is nothing new and nothing to brag with. I don't even feel the difference between it and D3. Well, I do: It lags horribly sometimes, but I hope that will change a few months after release. Because you can bet, that the game will lag the first weeks.

Well... the open world/MMO features weren't really in the beta.
I'm not saying I love them or whatever...

but if you like that kind of thing, the option to PvP and to "hunt" roaming bounties and such and to compete for them, might just be the kinda thing they like.
I think in PvP it can be quite thrilling knowing that, but I myself ain't that kinda guy.

Never enjoyed Sacred btw - the game did absolutely nothing for me, even though I played through it once. Only played the first one though - not sure why the heck anyone would hold that game in high regard though. Especially when you have Diablo 4 right next to it like you are doing it there.... which has much better - everything - especially regarding gameplay and the pace it has. Back then? Maybe... but in today's era? nah, it's trash.

[Azmoden]

Could anyone explain to me the hypocrisy of some people here? On the other thread, Diablo 4 is bad, there are some people who say that we can't judge the game yet because we've only seen a very small portion of the game, and yet in this thread some of these same people are saying that the game is awesome?

I don't know about you, but if I have to reserve judgement on weither the game is bad or not becuase I haven't seen most of it, shouldn't that same logic apply to this thread, and saying too early that the game is good?

It goes both ways, ya know...

[sunxsera]

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.

I don't know ... i saw no "world of diablo" and i also didn't see something fabulous & new. I've seen everything in d4 in other ARPGs allready. I just don't think its something special atm - but i only played beta and never saw endgame.

[infinitemeridian]

Do we know how seasons are going to work and when the first season starts? Since this game is marketed as an MMO, I wonder if they're going to go the typical route of resetting characters every season, which I would imagine is a big turn off for a lot of people (me included). Hopefully they don't, otherwise, what's the point in even playing at launch if you need to redo everything a month later?

[LordVargK]

Never enjoyed Sacred btw - the game did absolutely nothing for me, even though I played through it once. Only played the first one though - not sure why the heck anyone would hold that game in high regard though. Especially when you have Diablo 4 right next to it like you are doing it there.... which has much better - everything - especially regarding gameplay and the pace it has. Back then? Maybe... but in today's era? nah, it's trash.

I was mostly referring to Sacred 2. And I would agree, that most of the game would be outdated by today's standards. But the open world is and was miles betten than what I've seen in the D4 beta. As is the soundtrack and detail packed into the game. D4 is just empty. Its open world feels like Rifts without the convenience or challenge of rifts. Silent enemies. Empty towns. For example: In Sacred 2 you could enter EVERY house that was in the game. Every house had a unique decor, inhabitants, lootables, etc. The people wandered around and talked with each other. There were bards singing in town squares.
In D4 you got your vendors and a lot of fassades. Also the main "city" is tiny. It's a giant cathedral with a few houses around it. Like honestly, who builds a cathedral in the middle of nowhere?

In Sacred character commented on your actions, whether you slayed a specific monster, entered a village or completed a quest. Monsters taunted you. Main Quests where fully voiced without triggering a cutscene every time you accepted one. Eastereggs everywhere. Ingame concert...
Diablo has nothing in that regard. It feels extremely streamlined. It's a product, not really a game. I have never once in my hours of beta thought that a human made this game for others to enjoy. Which is fine, D3 was not something to enjoy: It was a game where the numbers got higher and higher and you've got better and better loot. And D4 is D3 with an open world, but nothing what makes an open world great. Zero immersion. I'll repeat myself:
In terms of open world I felt no difference to D3.

I will not say D4 is a bad game. But the open world is not a selling point and is not an improvement over D3. Might be in the final release. We'll see. But as of now, purely from a design perspective the open world does nothing for me and will be ignored once rifts are runnable. Like in D3.

[Mamut]

Glad that you like it but labelling it "fantastic" you seem to be satisfied veeery easily. In fact Diablo 4 excells at nothing. Visuals, gameplay, character customization / builds, storytelling, UI, tech. Everything has been done better in other games before.

I don't agree on the visuals part, I think they nailed it pretty well. Not to flashy, well toned character armors, everything fits thematically. I like the visuals in Diablo 4 alot more than in PoE.