The expectation of a Diablo title is one of longevity. Long after the game’s narrative has wrapped, most players are only just beginning their journey – with their sights set on a sliding scale of difficult and a hunger to meet that challenge. Diablo IV obviously has to wrest away the grip of many players who are happily at home in Diablo III – so what is on offer?
To answer this question, a handful of passionate people working on the game have offered a statement in the form of a video:
The video speaks to a number of talented individuals on the Diablo team, such as game director Joe Shely, lead producer Kayleigh Calder, associate director Joseph Piepiora and game producer Ash Sweetring – all at home in a gothic set that further solidifies that these people really embody the dark spirit of the Diablo franchise. And the news they offer is good – because beyond the familiar sliding difficulties of Diablo’s past, there are many systems and some neat new ways to slay and grow your character.
Endgame begins with a special dungeon, known as a “Capstone Dungeon”. Drag your character of choice through this challenge, and you are rewarded with an upgrade to your World Tier – the Diablo difficulty slider that players know and love. Bump that bad boy up, and the bloodshed becomes a great deal more gruelling as enemies become more powerful and start to have more tricks up their sleeve. The reward? More experience and loot to fuel your own quest for power – it’s all swings and blood drenched roundabouts.
Then, there is the Paragon Board – Diablo IV’s remixed version of paragon levelling from past entries. Initially it comes across as a giant plot of upgrades, but you realise that it can actually be rotated to change what path you are heading down – shifting the entire path in a different direction. The voice over makes mention of chasing desirable nodes for your upgrades – however the video example does show many nodes just offering a bonus to your stats, so here’s hoping the exciting stuff is proper neato.
With over 120 dungeons within Diablo IV, the developers also make mention at how the sliding difficulty scale can also influence how they work – incorporating affixes to increase the challenge and the eventual reward. Nightmare Dungeons are special versions of these existing dungeons, and can be tweaked using sigils the player has found to change their effects.
These dungeon grinds definitely look to be a familiar experience for those that enjoyed blasting their way through the rifts found in Diablo III, so the real question on my lips is whether specific dungeons may offer specific loot – or can we blast whatever dungeon we want? Time will of course tell.
And for players hungry for more… familiar blood, there are sections of the game dedicated to player versus player – the Fields of Hatred. These open areas are teeming with enemies to slay, and battling your way through them will reward you with currency that must first be purified before you can trade them for goodies – so beware of other players who are hungry to reap your well-earned cashola.
It’s a good spread of options, and looks very promising from a general standpoint. Like most things, it will really come down to how the whole experience coalesces – but it’s heartening to see such a spread of options to appeal to every kind of Diablo player.
Bring on June 6, where we can experience the full nightmarish enchilada for ourselves!
Do these endgame systems excite you? What class are you hoping to drag through Torment IV? Let us know in the comments of on social media.
