Recently, several journalists had the opportunity to chat about Diablo 4 with Associate Game Director Joe Piepiora, Game Producer Ash Sweetring, and Lead Class Designer Adam Jackson. A number of interesting topics emerged.
Recently, several journalists had the chance to chat about Diablo 4 with Blizzard’s Associate Game Director Joe Piepiora, Game Producer Ash Sweetring, and Lead Class Designer Adam Jackson. It was about playing time, class balance, strongholds and much more. In the following, we have summarized the most important results for you (via WoWHead).
Game time, class and PvP balance, strongholds
- Liberating a stronghold from the forces of Hell will pacify the associated area and unlock access to dungeons, quest vendors, and more. The difficulty of a stronghold is relative to your character strength. In the last preview, the monsters in the fortress were two levels above the character level. However, in the live version of the game, these level differences will vary depending on the Stronghold.
- There are some developers on the Diablo 4 team who have had a lot of experience balancing classes in a number of Blizzard games. A goal is that you can master a large part of the content with any possible build. The second goal: All classes should have a relatively large number of playable builds. However, developers expect that there will be some inconsistencies at the top level. Diablo 4’s class balance is intended to be maintained over a very long period of time.
- For launch, the developers want to focus on creating a good balance for the PvE area. The PvP meta will crystallize over time, and then the developers will make adjustments based on player feedback.
- According to the developers, you will need around 35 to 45 hours to play through the campaign. To reach the maximum level 100 you should plan 150 to 180 hours.
Dungeons, procedural content, companions and bosses
- The dungeons should feel fun and special, which the developers also want to achieve by designing different dungeon objectives that are based on the backstory of the dungeon.
- Many parts of the vast, otherworldly game world were procedurally generated, as were the dungeons, which should also feel new on the third or fourth visit. At the same time, all areas must have their own identity and personality.
- While there are some familiar characters in the game world to help you on your adventure, there is currently no confirmation of hired mercenaries. Perhaps the future will bring something along these lines.
- All classes receive Diablo 4 (buy now €79.99 ) a dodge button so they can avoid an attack even if their build doesn’t rely on mobility or immunity. In turn, the very existence of this skill allows designers to create more dangerous boss encounters and mechanics. There will also be some ways for players to change Dodge.
- A character’s healing potions no longer work via a cooldown like they did in Diablo 3, but via charges. To get more charges, damage or kill enemies. Aggressive play is therefore rewarded.
Paragonboard, reskilling, scaling in groups and movies
- After learning about the class through the skill tree, there are two other primary methods you can use to customize and further improve your grades. First, legendary and unique items will bend and sometimes even break the rules set by the skill tree. Additionally, you can use the Paragon Board to manipulate your character’s stats, and it all adds up to creating a uniquely customized character.
- Another tier that will help players further improve their build is the Codex of Power, which grants legendary powers to craft legendary items.
- A goal for the developers is that players can create and live out their own builds and power fantasy.
- Up to level 40 it should be fairly easy to recreate the character. From then up to level 100, it becomes progressively more expensive to change the specs. But retraining should be possible at any time if you can afford it.
- Monster level scales dynamically depending on your character strength, even if you’re in a group. The different zones have a certain level range. For example, if a zone is blessed with at least level 25 monsters, level 10 characters will fight level 25 monsters. A level 40 hero will then fight a level 40 monster.
- Diablo 4 will feature most of the movie in-game from the Diablo series.
- Grouping with other players gives you a small XP bonus (it was 3 percent in the preview). But you shouldn’t feel compelled to team up with other players.