Diablo 4 is next in line in the Diablo series and development so far seems to be going smoothly. With each quarterly blog update, Blizzard sheds more light on Diablo 4's development with the last quarterly update focused on its art direction, which revealed the ability to create the look of a player's class, a first for the series. Fans of the Diablo series holds Diablo 2 in high regard as the peak standard for ARPG quality, which some fans feel was lost in Diablo 3. With the art direction, itemization, and PVP seemingly closer in design and feel to Diablo 2 than its immediate predecessor Diablo 3, fans have high hopes for this sequel.
Diablo 3 came out in 2012 to mixed reception with new players appreciating the smooth quality of gameplay, and old players lambasting questionable features such as the real money auction house and the regular auction house. To many, they felt as though Blizzard missed the mark with Diablo 3, though Blizzard has continued to improve the game since its launch, many fans won't touch the game anymore and simply stick with Diablo 2 to get their loot fix. Thankfully, Diablo 2: Resurrected seems to be the remaster fans have always wanted, so even if Diablo 4 doesn't learn from Diablo 3's mistakes, Diablo 2 will be more accessible now than ever before.
How Fans are Shaping Diablo's Future
It has been almost 10 years at this point since Diablo 3 has come out, and though it wasn't received very well from fans of the long-spanning series, Diablo 3 still has a lot to offer. Namely, the mistakes and concerns that players have voiced over the years since its release will be something that Blizzard will look to discern so as to create a more successful entry. This is evident in the Diablo 4 quarterly blog updates as fans of the series have voiced their concerns over potential game mechanics, and systems that were in place initially have been reworked or simply removed. This means that Blizzard is listening to its fans and hopefully a compromise between the game's direction and what fans want will be met.
While fans might think they know what they want or what might be good for Diablo, Blizzard has to be careful that it doesn't create an imbalance of game systems that don't work together that later end up needing to be patched or fixed. Thankfully the fanbase for the Diablo series is pretty vocal and unified when it comes to what makes a good Diablo game. Diablo at its core is about the gameplay loop of killing monsters, acquiring loot, and making a character stronger to take on stronger monsters to find better loot, Diablo 3 made a few mistakes that were counterintuitive to this gameplay loop and it suffered as a result.
During Diablo 3's early days, it launched with both an item auction house, similar in scope to World of Warcraft's auction house, and a real-money auction house where players could spend real money for items. This was immediately met with scrutiny, as the game became more about watching for perfect items on the auction house than actually playing the game. Many builds needed specific pieces of gear to be viable in later stages of the game that instead of farming for it, players would simply browse the auction house and flip items or even spend real money to get what they needed. This took the gameplay out of the game, and eventually, Blizzard realized this was a mistake, and removed both auction houses before its first expansion.
Diablo 3's Fundamental Issues
When Diablo 3's Reaper of Souls expansion was released, many systems in place were overhauled and reworked to create a better more unified experience for players. This ended up with the Diablo 3 that players are familiar with today, with minor additions or tweaks to Diablo 3's systems coming in periodically such as the Follower rework and the addition of Ethereal items. Though many fans would agree that Diablo 3 is in a better state now than it was before, for many fans Diablo 3 doesn't have the same satisfying staying power that Diablo 2 has, and fans are hoping Diablo 4 will fix this.
One major problem for Diablo 3 is the lack of interesting items for players to find. If a player wants to use a build that is viable in any end-game content, they will need to more likely equip a Set of gear. The rarities in Diablo 3 go from Common, Magic, Rare, Legendary, Set, and most recently Ethereal. Very quickly a character will begin equipping Rare and Legendary items but it is the Set items that will allow a player's abilities to go beyond what is normally possible. Instead of a player deciding how they want to play their character, and then finding gear to facilitate that, they are instead forced to play a certain way due to the limited viability of the available gear. This is a problem that Diablo 2 didn't have and Diablo 4 looks to solve by introducing compromises for each rarity of items so that players don't simply flock to the highest tier of equipment.
This goes back to the gameplay loop that fans of the Diablo series crave, that games like Path of Exile and Grim Dawn do so well. Diablo 3 players will quickly find all the gear they need for a build they decide to play, and the only gear that they find which will be an upgrade is the same gear with better-rolled stats. Another aspect of Diablo 3 is the lack of player choice in the form of their character progression. A player can look on the in-game leaderboard for their class, and swap their skills and runes and gear to match that of the best players with little trouble. With the ability to quickly swap skills and runes, there is no incentive for a player to create a second Barbarian or Wizard in Diablo 3.
Diablo 4 does away with this by allowing players to once again allocate stat points, which not only affect each class differently but comes with secondary attributes as well. A class's skills might change in characteristics if certain stat thresholds are reached, which is huge for build diversity. Diablo 3 made the mistake of making each weapon and element no different from each other, basically a stat stick with no limitations on a character's ability to use a skill or not. If a character equips daggers, it can still use a ground slamming ability despite not really making much sense. Diablo 4 does away with this oversimplification of weapons by reintroducing weapon types that certain skills will require if they are to be used.
Diablo 3 had many minor issues that culminated into a vastly different game than Diablo 2 was, not to mention its more colorful art style. While Diablo 3 is by no means a weak game on the whole, for a Diablo game for many fans it falls short of the goalpost. Diablo 3 can be considered an Arcade RPG as it is more focused on the gameplay, though with a lack of the RPG substance that the series is known for. According to the Diablo 4 quarterly blog updates, fans should be excited for Diablo 4 as it looks to improve upon what Diablo 3 introduced while also keeping in line with what made Diablo 2 so cherished by fans.
Diablo 4 is in development, with PC, PS4, and Xbox One as confirmed platforms.
