I spent a good amount of time in Diablo 4’s Sanctuary this weekend, and from the small fortune I amassed solely from dead trees in the wild, I figured it’s either this or the squirrels have some explaining to do.
After smashing things with my Barbarian for twenty levels, I’m even more pumped for release now. Really enjoyed what I’ve seen so far. Hoping to see a bit more eventual variety in dungeon objectives, since dungeons are supposedly a main pillar of the endgame, but the combat felt meaty, and the skill customization was great.
I enjoyed Diablo 3 (not where it started, but where it eventually got to later with the seasons and rifts and stuff), but Diablo 4 definitely feels like a step closer to Diablo 2 in tone, without sacrificing quality of life improvements.
Sadly, I do not concur with Tim’s assessment. While the prologue was everything I could hope for – dark, gritty and highly atmospheric – the illusion was shattered when I arrived in the capital. Not only because a player named “TaylorSwift” appeared right next to me (with even more immersion-breaking names to follow), but also because these other players were everywhere except for the dungeons – even in the seemingly vast and lonely wild. Also, we all shared the same room in the tavern. But what really took away the fun was that after the fifth dungeon I had come… Read more »
To play this weekend I think you had to have pre-ordered the game – right so by “I will not buy on release” you just mean you already did ……?
He could have purchased a KFC Double Down to receive a beta key. No pre-order necessary.
Or he bought a sandwich at KFC…
pre-orders can be canceled though. Common strategy if you want to get into a beta but aren’t convinced by the quality once you’ve played.
Might want to sit down for this mind blowing information: Pre-orders can be canceled.
Wow – I would have expected that Blizzard’s lawyers were better than that – once you receive and use part of a purchase aka the Beta normally you cannot return a product ………..
most if not all purchases can be refunded. most digital sales for games come with a 2 hour soft window where any playtime less than that is an auto refund and over it takes some push but can still be done. thats why many games will bs you for 2-4 hours before revealing they arent worth the money.
I can understand some of your points. But being mad at the game, for the names some people choose for their PC’s? Really? It’s not Blizzard’s fault, that so many people make juvenile jokes through usernames. That’s been a thing in ALL online games, for decades. Also, I think you were expecting Diablo 4 to somehow be fundamentally different from 1, 2 and 3, in how quests and dungeons work… Yes, variety is not Diablo’s strength. Repetition is the name of the game, pretty much. Did you really expect them to change that, considering how well they’ve done with that… Read more »
I only saw, at any given time, maybe 6-10 people on the “local players” list. Rarely ran into anyone in the wild, maybe at an event pillar, world boss, or just crossing paths on the road. Saw more people in town, but that makes sense. Hardly “MMO” levels of other players… though it should be pretty easy for them to add a “turn off player names” option. Problem solved, you don’t see their silly names.
There’s a setting that goes 90% of the way. You can disable people ( not just names ) in the open world. I believe this only leaves other people in town, world bosses, zone events, and maybe regular events. ( world boss and zone event they are basically required to help you. )
I do believe there is also a setting for displaying others names, but not too sure there.
OP: I really recommend sending them your feedback. They do hear it, and with months to release, changes are still possible.
I’ve sunk literal hundreds of hours into D3 and literal thousands into D2 (man I had so much free time as a student). I’ve seen uninvited strangers exactly 4 times, when I needed them for seasonal conquests. Otherwise, I’ve played solo or – in the case of D2 – over LAN with friends. I have absolutely zero – less than zero – interest in seeing rando’s in my game. D4 is shaping up to be an MMO with rando’s all over, all the time. Thanks, but no thanks. To each their own- you’re free to enjoy it – but I’m… Read more »
You CAN play it alone. I did, except when I wanted otherwise. You’re not forced to do multiplayer, just forced to see some of them around right now, and I’m pretty sure you’ll be able to disable that in the future.
It doesn’t bug me, but I do get the appeal of playing solo. I did all of my D2 and D2R, offline. Dunno how many hours, but it was plenty.
Being forced to see them still hurts immersion and thus gameplay enjoyment (for some at least).
I get it, I totally do. I explained so. And I don’t expect anyone to change or whatever, based on how I see it. I just see it as being excessively picky. Something that might make someone miss many good chances for nice gaming, over one detail. And I AM pretty selective, myself. In all things. But I try to recognise it for the limit that it is, as well. I might be missing out on stuff. Who knows. In any case, I sincerely hope they disable it in the future, for the sake of those who don’t wanna feel… Read more »
There’s a setting to not see other people in the open world. I believe also to hide names, but not sure on that one.
Yeaaa, think I will pass on Diablo 4 too as I am not playing it as an always online MMO type of stuff. I have Path of Exile for that and it is for FREE or Lost Ark. If I am gonna pay full price for an ARPG, I don’t want to deal with all this Live-service, pseudo-MMO stuff.
I have this feeling that some of these guys are going to find their life savings somewhat TRUNKated.
Wood you hate me if I Blocked you for that pun?
That’d be a Hollow victory.
Don’t TREEt your equal so cruely. (that’s all I got sadly).
That is too bad, I was really rooting for you. I’ll leaf now.
Two in one? You deserve to walk the PLANK.
no need to bark at him
tree puns are over, you need to start branching out
Do that and you’ll just end up out on a limb.
I’m going to go against the grain and knot reply with a pun.
Oh leaf the guy alone. Not everyone can branch out from puns.
Maybe BRANCH out into other areas of comedy. Your tree based humour comes across a little WOODEN. 🙂
I’m loving it so far. The combat feels much more in line with D2, where you need to work a bit to kill the enemies. D3 was a bit of a meat grinder, where you were just chewing through hundreds of enemies and killing them instantly. This weekend when I was playing, it actually felt like I was playing together with my friends and we were working together. My only regret is that now I have to wait until June to play the full game after getting a taste.
sounds more like you are descibing D3 Reaper of Souls.
D3 in it self was utterly unplayable past act 3 unless you played a demon hunter.
The RMAH was what made people play it and if not for an invulnerable tyrael, many classes could not progress past the first area in act 3.
That gameplay was utterly broken and definately not playtested.
Reaper of Souls was for D3 that Lord of Destruction was for D2, a game changer.
I played D3 on launch and didn’t experience any issues blocking progression until Inferno act II, which was completely unplayable. Was that an issue solo players experienced?
For me, right when hlthe game came out, Inferno was the bar to try and climb. I kinda liked that though, because managing to do it felt like such an achievement.
While I did like what Reaper of Souls added, it also felt like it dialed the difficulty down a bit.
ya i played a demon hunter and every act was an ouch. the jump in levels and power of the enemies took me for a loop. i went from casually killing everything to getting taken down in two hits while taking 5 minutes to kill one of the swarm after me. literally circled the main field in act 3 about 10 times just trying to kill one mid grade enemy that spawned. i know i wasnt that good and my gear was crap, but since that was the drops i got and the game didnt have anything suggesting i should… Read more »
The beta was great, game looks good, plays good. But honestly i find it almost impossible for them to mess up the early game. Its easy to keep players engaged while leveling, constantly gaining new skills and gear. Lets hope they learned from D3 1.0 and have an actual endgame planned for release. As much as i hate season passes there is at least one good thing about them: if they expect to milk the players every few months they need to keep churning out content because if theres nothing to do then there will be nobody to buy that… Read more »
Apart from the dreadful performance of the game, not the FPS drops, but microlags, stutter, network issues whenever i meet another player. The game feels like Diablo Online. I like the story, i like the cutscenes, i like the gameplay for the most part. I am not good friends with the skill tree yet or the crafting system, but i can see what they are trying to do. I would appreciate an option where i can turn off online play. Where it is just me and my buddies that play together. Someone mentioned repeated dungeons and objectives. This is the… Read more »
I like thinking it could be VERY industrious ravens
I enjoyed it, but I didn’t love it. The skills need serious rebalancing. The fire sorcerer skills felt incredibly weak. I was all in on fire until I got a piece of gear that granted a single level of ice shards. That one point skill way outperformed my 5 point laser beam. The burning needs to either be stackable, or be over a significantly shorter period. Right now I think it queues burns one after another? Felt really off. And this is definitely a game that didn’t need to go open world. Open worlds are almost always detrimental to action… Read more »
I didn’t mind the open worlds. The inability to play offline is what I missed most.
The lag when encountering other players was off putting. Lag in dungeons were minor, but expected (it’s still a Beta).
Played a somewhere between 8 and 10 hours. Didn’t even explore all the parts that were available. Can’t wait for next weekend to give the Necro a shot. And I do hope we get to keep what we farmed this weekend.
You keep until the beta is over (so both weekends). Then everything is reset at launch.
I can’t bring myself to play Diablo 4 or support Blizzard. I’m sure I’ll be downvoted for this, but the sexual harassment that was rampant in the company and the lack of response or accountability just makes me hesitant to give them my money and I’m just saddened so many gamers look at that behavior, shrug, and say “who cares about a little rape, when they make a video game I like to play.” There’s no shortage of other games out there and companies I can give money to. The most recent lawsuit isn’t even half a year old… And… Read more »
Yeah I agree. Then again, the sad reality is that almost anything we can purchase nowadays has some scummy shit behind it in some way. What I essentially do is this – I sort stuff into mental shelves. The ‘need to have’ shelf, the ‘really want to have’ shelf’ and the ‘would like to have’ shelf. Then I look how fucked up the background of a product is and see where the scales land. (also if there are any alternatives if sth is too gross) The world we live in pretty much doesn’t allow or us to make only perfectly… Read more »
Unfortunately you may be hurting the people you are wanting to support. Many of the victims still work for Activision Blizzard, have made changes, and are continuing to work at making it better. Because some of them, and their friends, still work there they have asked not to boycott the company as that is where they get their pay. Do continue to speak up, don’t forget what happened, and continue to reevaluate as time goes on. Boycotting the game though, and especially all game companies with similar problems, could result in more of the victims and their friends no longer… Read more »
Thank you for the chuckle as always. ♥
Feels like a fun dig at the SVB situation. Anyone know how far out Tim makes these comics?
I thought that too. It seems too well-timed to be a coincidence, but I thought he might mention it in the blog post.
D3’s endgame killed it for me. What is wrong with end boss runs? I don’t want garbage like Rifts, and dungeons where pallete swapped mobs with different colored names are used to obfuscate the shallowness of the system.
The moment they back ported these types of mechanics into D2R, I knew this franchise was dead to me. Now all it does is hug low hanging fruit, promoting sound and fury signifying nothing over actual quality content. Random events are fine, but story absolutely trumps it. And escort quests? Who ever thought Diablo needed that?
Randomized dungeons to grind is “shallow,” but teleporting in to kill Baal over and over and over again to gear farm is somehow your shining example of a robust and exciting endgame?
Weird take.
they use bots for that Tim…. to this day… they use bots for that.
Playing a game in order to not play it. Now that is exciting gameplay!
I am what I am. I will take Baal runs over Rifts every day of the week, and enjoy it. I still remember my Assassin tanking chevrons while taking no damage fondly.
Personally end game content isn’t what I look for in a game. I’ve owned and played every prior Diablo game (except Immortal) and did so because I enjoyed the story and lore. I’ve played through each of the games a few times, but never really spent significant time trying to grind end game gear, primarily because of time constraints. The game play has always been repetitive, with a lot of pallet swapping to obfuscate the shallowness of the system. It’s a hack and slash, you can’t really get much shallower. But that’s also what made the games so fun, they… Read more »
Diablo is what got me into PC games. Diablo 4 just makes me sad over how awful it is.
(To the tune of Itchy & Scratchy)
You hack, and slash!
And hack and hack and slash!
Hack hack hack, slash slash slash,
That’s how you play Diablooooooooooo!
Hope you’re having fun with it. Diablo is just not for me.
I kept being surprised by the QOL stuff, like I was sitting there wondering if I wanted to permanently sacrifice gems by putting them in before realizing of course I can get them back it’s not the 90’s
Knot a reliable banking branch. Better to store it inside a chest. Especially ones with fancy labels like pay to win or microtransaction. Those ones always have a high rate of
retconreturn. Almost an Immortally guranteed investementAh, yes. The classic. Not to mention, how a tiny bat or ghostly swordsman can carry 40 pieces of gold or a chest armor xD
I remember reading the official lore on Diablo 1, back when it was new. I think it was this booklet that came with the game.
There, they tried to explain why monsters carried magical items. It said they were drawn to the mystical energies they emanated.
That’s more than most games ever bothered with, for justification *shrugs*
I liked it. I’ve been 99% absent from most gaming since the original D2 days, and last year with D2R. So, the improvements on graphics also felt nice for me. There are MANY things I still haven’t figured out, so I’m quite unsure about making the right choices with the skills and gear. That clashes with my rather meticulous gameplay style. But hey, the chance of pace is nice. – Not needing to identify items, or stockpile on town portals. – Plenty of “backpack” room. – Tons of options for customising your gear. – Skill point refund awesome. I know… Read more »
You get more potion slots by raising reputation in the different areas. Sidequests, discovering areas, lore, etc. The beta doesn’t include enough content to do it to any real extent, I believe, but the game does have a path for raising the potion limit. Also upgrading the potions to be stronger as you level…
Yeah, I know. But thanks for the tips. I’m looking forward to advancing that. It still remains more restrictive than just buying all the potions you need. But again, I get why they do it.
Feels weird to be this challenged, so early into the game. I guess it shows how unfamiliar the new system is to me.
On D2R, I didn’t feel challenged until like some final stages of Nightmare. And I did solo with players8 difficulty, and no OP build. Just a Zealot Paladin.
Before that, only leech-immune monsters gave me any pause.
A hollow tree trunk sound safer then putting your money in the banks lately
Is this the model SVB followed?
i honestly decided not to buy the game based on the fact that 1`i dont trust blizzard to make quality anymore
and 2 its 80 bucks and thats ridiculus
HOLY CRAP! I have just binged over 20 years worth of comics to get to this most recent comic. This has certainly gone places and tickled the amateur gamer in me.
Continue to be awesome!
On Console, I missed playing D4, so I booted up my copy of D3 and boy does it suck in comparison. Can’t wait for D4 to release. Already took the week off to play