Diablo IV Beta Impressions

 

     I enjoyed my time in the Diablo IV beta but it also left me worried. I'm sure I'll enjoy the game at launch but the recycled map design and lack of variety in skill builds was not a good impression.

Pros:

• Awesome Shrine buffs (no specifics, they were just cool)
• The Interface is real nice 
• Able to mark items as junk with a one sell button
• Gorgeous graphics
• Great music

Cons:

     There are still only two camera options, zoomed in or out with no real customization for the distance. I know this was something player's complained about in Diablo 3 and I really can't believe they didn't fix this for Diablo IV. There are a lot of really cool indie isometric ARPGs out there that have far superior camera options than these Diablo games and I really think the developers should be ashamed of this. Also, the zoomed in camera is way too close to be played normally in. It's pure nonsense.

     The skill tree in Diablo IV is a step down from Diablo 3. Instead of requiring a level reached to unlock a new skill, you're required to spend points in previous "talents" before you can unlock new ones. So, now there's two different requirements to unlock new abilities. It just doesn't make sense as Diablo 3's skill trees were really nice. It was perfect as it allowed different builds to be chosen on the fly at any time at all as long as you were outside of combat.

     On top of that, now you have to pay currency to reset your skills in Diablo IV. I can't believe stupid changes like this were allowed to go through. The updates to the skill tree make no sense. There are new passive talents that were previously "Runes" and overall I just can't understand why they made the skill tree worse. Probably because it looks like there are options when it doesn't really have any.

     I mostly played as the Sorcerer in the beta. It had real cool skills that I liked but as I was unlocking them and viewing the skill tree, I noticed that there's really not a lot of variety in the way you can build your character, not in comparison to Diablo 3's anyways.

     The skill tree interface is nice but there needs to be an option to zoom it out more. I will never understand why they insisted on the look and changes of it when Diablo 3's was so much better. Here's a clip (lots of profanity):

     The worst part of the Diablo IV beta that stood out the most as far as any of the cons go was the recycled map design. I had noticed it early on but I wasn't sure. The longer I played, the more I noticed it until I finally took a look at one of the maps and really saw the copy/paste of the map design everywhere. It was literally the same in every single dungeon in the beta. Once I realized I was right about it, I noticed it everywhere. Here's a clip (more profanity):

     I can only hope that this would be a Beta only thing but let's be real, I highly doubt it was a Beta only thing. It's a massive disgrace and yet another thing the developers should be ashamed of. It was impossible not to notice long before I started looking out for it.

Features I'd like to see:

• More character customization that isn't "realistic"
• Options to disable "no mana" errors and all message errors in general from screen and voice
• Option to remove mini-map or the HUD entirely
• Options to change the opacity on each HUD effect
• More camera angles (seriously wtf)

* A bug I noticed: I had disabled enemy health bars and they still showed up anyways while hovering. There's a separate option that allowed to show while hovering and I had that disabled and they still showed up.

     I still look forward to Diablo IV's launch but a bit less than I did before. I'm sure I'm going to have fun with it but some of this stuff was really damn stupid and shameful.

Thanks for reading. Game on.

Trust your instincts. Expertise is an opinion. Professionalism is inhumane. Authority is the enemy.