Similar to previous entries in Blizzard's action RPG series, Diablo 4 will let players interact with a variety of Artisans like the blacksmith, jeweler, and alchemist to refine their equipment with crafting materials. Diablo 4 differs in a major way, however, by foregoing the idea of outright manufacturing new gear for the player.
In a group interview with Diablo 4 Lead Class Designer Adam Jackson and Lead Game Producer Melissa Corning, Game ZXC asked about how strong of a role crafting will have when it comes to players' character builds, and how the experience of crafting has changed since Diablo 3. Jackson says that the team decided to shelve the concept of crafting equipment at the blacksmith in favor of an item improvement system and that this is intended to shift the focus back to killing and looting.
Diablo 4 Tried Gear Crafting Before Moving to the New System
Earlier Diablo games had crafting systems that allowed players to create gear using materials and blueprints, and this system was initially going to be how Diablo 4's crafting worked. After some experimentation, Jackson says the team decided to shift toward a system that focused on improving gear in Diablo 4, rather than creating new pieces. Other systems, like Enchantments to reroll stat affixes and the Aspects system tied to the Codex of Power, give players numerous ways to fine-tune their equipment.
We've had a few different iterations of it. One of the big pivots we've made is that you don't craft gear at the blacksmith, which we did have for a long time in Diablo 4 when we were playing around with ideas like "you can make a chest piece, you can make a helm" or whatever. We moved more toward item modification and item upgrading.
The idea is that you fine-tune something that's close to your perfect item, and then you can make it even closer or make it your perfect item. Or you find an item or find one you want to use for a really long time, then you make it more powerful by upgrading it.
This alleviates some of the frustration of Diablo 3's crafting system, where crafted gear would have somewhat randomized stats. Instead of relying heavily on mass-producing armor or weapons while hoping for an item with a desirable stat distribution, Diablo 4 players will get to be far more selective during the crafting process. The Diablo team found that a system with less RNG and more player agency was a better direction to take the new crafting system.
Crafting Gear Was Missing The Point of Diablo Games
Jackson pointed out that being able to create gear at the blacksmith interfered with the whole point of action RPGs like Diablo: killing monsters and acquiring loot. If players can create gear at the blacksmith, they end up spending too much time in town fighting RNG instead of hordes of demons. Although it was convenient to craft a particular item if the player was in need of an upgrade, Jackson says it's better to go with a system that brings the focus back to the act of looting. That convenience still exists in a way, since players can simply upgrade their existing equipment to keep it up to date.
We thought that that was a little more interesting, because we still want you to go out and be killing monsters and finding loot, which is what Diablo is. That's at the core of everything that you're chasing. We don't want to subvert that by making the blacksmith create everything you want, because then you're not getting excited about the loot that drops from monsters. So we motivate you to do that, and then the crafting system in Diablo 4 is meant to enhance that or mitigate the RNG a little bit. That way you still feel like you have some agency, you can chase the stats you want, and you can make your gear more powerful to make the perfect version of your character.
But crafting doesn't do everything for you, and that's the fine line in Diablo 4. We feel like we still have a lot of things we can do down the road to make this an even better experience for players, so we're definitely not done with it at launch, but that is our foundation we're creating for crafting in Diablo 4.
Like Diablo 4's Paragon system and other progression systems, emphasis has been placed on player agency and letting players freely pursue the "perfect version" of their character build. This approach facilitates more creative expression from players who won't be as bogged down by RNG, and the shift from gear crafting to gear upgrading keeps players engaged in the gameplay rather than stuck in town. It'll be interesting to see how the Diablo 4 team plans to iterate on the crafting system post-release, and how closely they plan to stick to the idea of finding rather than creating gear.
Diablo 4 is out June 6 for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
