Diablo 4 Final Preview - Will it Deliver?
May. 15, 2023Diablo 4 Final Preview – Will it Deliver?
The Diablo 4 Server Slam final beta took place last week which meant the floodgates were unleashed for all to experience the Action-RPG at its fullest. In this article, we’ll go over our overall impressions of the game during this test period as well as the concerns we have for the final release of the game.
In thisDiablo 4article, I want to share my impressions of the game and the recent server slam event that took place two weeks before the official launch. I’ll touch upon performance, class balancing, legendary drop rates, and concerns about the gameplay experience. Also addressing shortcomings and potential concerns for the official launch of the game.
Firstly, I’d like to address the issue of performance, which was a major sore point of mine during the first and second betas. However, in this beta, the performance was significantly improved. I experienced fewer connection issues, less lag, and minimal rubber banding. It’s possible that the improved performance was due to fewer players participating in the server slam. Although the game isn’t flawless in this regard, the overall improvement gives me hope that the performance will be in better shape compared to a lot of other PC titles’ launches. If those problems had persisted, that would have been a really bad sign. The fact those issues have now been remedied means the game is in much better shape.
During this beta, there were nerfs to theNecromancerandSorceressclasses, while theDruidandBarbarianclasses received buffs. While I felt the impact of the nerfs on the Necromancer and Sorceress, I didn’t notice significant differences in the Druid and Barbarian. However, it’s important to note that these classes had missing components in the beta, which might affect their balance. Balancing in Diablo games typically takes place after launch, so I expect further adjustments to happen in the future. I imagine these classes will be a bit stronger, so it’s not a particular worry of mine.
Other than these changes, I didn’t feel much a of difference I don’t know whether this is good or bad. You’d have to look at how it’s played out historically in Diablo games. Martial classes characters that use weapons are typically great more gear dependent compared to castingClasses. During the beta, I played a lot of melee Druid. However, in previous betas, I didn’t play a lot of casting Druid. We will probably have to see how this pans out as I expect balancing to happen much closer to the launch. While not perfect at the beginning, further tweaks will continue long after the game has been released.
Another topic of discussion is the legendary drop rate, which was changed in this beta to reflect the planned rate at the game’s launch. Going from a happy fountain of loot to something if not exactly similar to the drop rate expected at launch.
Personally, I only obtained onelegendaryitem during my playtime, which lasted around three and a half hours until reaching level 20. Remaining almost non-existent in my experience, gaining only one good legendary item during that time. Although the drop rate wasn’t terrible, I do have concerns about its impact on the game related to previous betas.
The way level scaling works in Diablo 4 is reliant on loot that you gain, in order to make your character stronger. For example say you level up five levels, but you don’t receive any better loot. Your character becomes effectively weaker than you were given levels ago. Maybe the bonuses you gain on yourgeardon’t reflect what you need for your build. If you specifically need overpower damage, or critical damage but end up with damage over time or damage on distance enemies, this will not feel great. The game feels very gear/loot dependent.
This could potentially be disastrous, Diablo 4 relies heavily on loot and gear progression, and if players don’t feel adequately rewarded or don’t see their characters becoming stronger, it could lead to demotivation and burnout. In terms of difficulty, some dungeons felt like a slog, especially after repeated playthroughs. Although this fatigue of doing it over and over again may contribute slightly to my perception of this.
Some players have said “as long as endgame is good, then the game is fine”. I do not agree with this point. The previous betas showed that loot plays a crucial role in making characters feel more powerful, so the scarcity of legendary items raises concerns about the overall gameplay experience. Compared to titles such as Path of Exile, I feel Diablo is a much more casual game. A lot of people are playing for its storytelling and immersion. This means many will play through and then stop. Or play through it to get to the end, then create a new character for another playthrough. They may end up grinding a little at endgame, but I don’t think it’s nearly as many people as there are in say the endgame forPath of Exile.
While fountains of legendary loot doesn’t seem likely for Diablo 4, as it would make legendaries feel less important, I do worry about their scarcity. Playing the game solo means you get them rarely, and the ones you do get don’t feel beneficial to your build. Previous Diablo titles felt you were getting much more powerful. Good RPGs have a decent curve to them, where challenges decrease as characters grow stronger. If players don’t feel that sense of feeling powerful ever during their playthrough it will ultimately hinder the experience which could lead to burnout.
It’s important to note that the server slam event might not have provided an accurate depiction of the game’s difficulty and mechanics. Players will not continually stay in the same areas in the game, they will continue to progress. This means factoring in the level cap of certain areas. Once reaching for example level 30,dungeonsmay stop scaling, whether you will be able to come back and do that.
Another point to keep in mind is that there are lowerTiersthan Tier 2. You can play on Tier 1 to lessen the challenge for a faster clear speed. However, this won’t result in better loot. It may mean a faster approach to gaining Tier 1 loot instead of Tier 2 for example.
We couldn’t beatAshavathis time around; we didn’t even get close. I don’t think we got halfway. It was obvious we were not going to make it from two minutes into the fight, which is weird because we cleared it every time before in the previous betas without difficulty. Well, a couple of times we were close, but we completed it every time before.
I think that came down to a few factors. First, the level cap being 20 instead of 25 definitely played a role. Having fewer legendary drops meant that people were not nearly as geared out as they were before. Lastly, there were just far fewer people playing. We had like eight or nine people in our group, I think half of them weren’t even level 20. Compared to the 20 or so level 25s we had before, or close to 25 levels.
It could be people are more interested in playingZelda: Tears of the Kingdomthis weekend. Or are just not interested in getting burnt out before the game has been officially released. In my opinion, it wasn’t a very accurate depiction of a server slam. I don’t think their servers were really stress-tested that much, except for maybe the first couple of hours.
It’ll be interesting to see how these World bosses play out in the grand scheme of things. Whether the first interpretation we had or the second interpretation is a better representation of how difficult these World Bosses will actually be.
Just to reiterate, I did hear from other people that they were able to clear Tier 2 with their group. However, I also heard from a lot of people that didn’t come close. Even those on Tier 1 didn’t come close as well. So, I think you have to have a very coordinated group for these worldbosses. This may make it very difficult for PUG groups or just random groups on the landscape. Particularly if they’re not geared very well. I could see these World bosses being very difficult, like the first week or two of the game, before people really get a handle on what they need to do in order to complete them.
If you enjoyed our Diablo 4 preview be sure to check out ourbuild guidesincluding our latestBlood Burst Necromancer Build GuideandFrost Sorceress Build Guide.
Castielle
Senior Editor at Fextralife. I enjoy gaming, playing and watching sports, cooking yummy food, watching a good movie and hanging out with Fex.
