Diablo IV

[Count Nerfedalot]

Well, I died 24 times on my first attempt, but I later realized I had forgotten to set my difficulty level back to T1 so that one was at T2, and during the very first spawn of this beta so folks were even worse equipped and more clueless than later spawns.  Also I suck at trying to move and pop corpses.  The last one I did quite well by completely ignoring the corpses and sticking to Bone Shards(?), and Bone Spear.

[Fraeg]

In 2 years this will be a great game. 

Lots of QOL tweeks that would help.

At lvl 41 finishing the final boss fight wrapping up Act 2 and getting one, read, one, loot drop that was 16 levels lower with a negative 100 gear score was

Dynamic scaling is annoying me.  I feel like GW2 pulled it off much better.

[Rendakor]

The real question is, why are you in Act 2 at level 41? Not all leveling content needs to scale equally, the game begins at endgame and no one is ever going to play story a second time.

[Fraeg]

If they can apply dynamic scaling to the mobs in that quest i think they could manage to scale the loot as well. If they cared to.

Open world, side quests, helping friends, exploring, xp boosts, group xp boost. Thats how i ended up in that boat.

[Samwise]

The real question is, why are you in Act 2 at level 41? Not all leveling content needs to scale equally, the game begins at endgame and no one is ever going to play story a second time.

I dropped out of Diablo about ten levels into D1 and the unironic assertion that the main game can be bad because it’s just what you grind through to get to the “real” game reminded me why.   

[Threash]

I am rubber banding like a motherfucker, it wasn't this bad in beta.

[Setanta]

The real question is, why are you in Act 2 at level 41? Not all leveling content needs to scale equally, the game begins at endgame and no one is ever going to play story a second time.

I'm going to hang my head in shame, I'm a level 43 necromancer and only just started act 2.  I'm just enjoying running all the dungeons, completing side quests etc, instead of smashing through the story for once.

[01101010]

The real question is, why are you in Act 2 at level 41? Not all leveling content needs to scale equally, the game begins at endgame and no one is ever going to play story a second time.

I'm going to hang my head in shame, I'm a level 43 necromancer and only just started act 2.  I'm just enjoying running all the dungeons, completing side quests etc, instead of smashing through the story for once.

I am trying to mix in the story with exploring and getting the statues of lilith done. Wanted to wait till I got a mount to really do the statue chasing, but the boost to stats is too good to pass up and killing everything along the way with a cheap elixir for the xp boost is fun

[dusematic]

I'm having fun with it, although I dislike level scaling and the skill trees seem kind of lame.

[Threash]

I don't think I've found any statues of lilith besides the very first one.

[SurfD]

https://mapgenie.io/diablo-4/maps/sanctuary

filter out everything except the statues and go wild.

[Rendakor]

The real question is, why are you in Act 2 at level 41? Not all leveling content needs to scale equally, the game begins at endgame and no one is ever going to play story a second time.

I dropped out of Diablo about ten levels into D1 and the unironic assertion that the main game can be bad because it’s just what you grind through to get to the “real” game reminded me why.   

It's not so much that the story is "bad" (though I wouldn't know, because I skipped all the cutscenes and dialog), it's that a lot of content and progression is gated behind it. No mount until Act 4, can't move on to WT3 until you finish Act 6, etc. The "main game" in an ARPG is to kill mobs and get better loot. In my opinion, long story quests with lots of walking, dialog, walking, cutscenes, etc. gets in the way of the fun. I want to be killing monsters or tinkering with my gear, nothing else in between.

My biggest complaint about Path of Exile lately has been that every 3 months you have to replay the story for each new league. The best selling point about Diablo 4 is that you don't; you beat the story once, and then don't have to play it again on your alt(s). You can, I guess, but it's entirely optional.

Anyone who's running around doing side content prior to completing the story is kind of doing it wrong, particularly if you intend to play endgame. You're going to need to do all that stuff anyway, so why not do it when it's worth actual loot? Dungeons in particular are a HUGE trap while leveling up, as they're one of the primary endgame focuses (both via Sigils and the Tree). Act 4 and Act 6 are both fairly quick, with only Act 5 being kind of long; it's really best to just power through it, clear the Capstone and move on to WT3.

[Velorath]

Given that Sam's flex there was that he's only ever put 10 minutes in with any Diablo game, and it was the first and roughest one that came 26 years ago, I'm going to assume that he's not actually interested in learning about Diablo IV.

[Threash]

I liked the story...

[Setanta]

I prefer the story to Diablo 3, but holy fuck, do they not understand mob density and the fact that the game is about killing shit, not wandering through exposition, cut scenes and no fucking mobs. All they had to do is look at Diablo 2 and why it was so fun - mobs everywhere throughout the story. I can barely remember the key NPC names or the storyline after a session, it's that underwhelming. I can remember the key players in Diablo 3's shithouse storyline, but don't ask me what the hell the story is in Diablo 4. Better story, but badly told.

I haven't played PoE for a bit, but I think I want to go back and play it for a bit as a comparison.

[01101010]

The real question is, why are you in Act 2 at level 41? Not all leveling content needs to scale equally, the game begins at endgame and no one is ever going to play story a second time.

I dropped out of Diablo about ten levels into D1 and the unironic assertion that the main game can be bad because it’s just what you grind through to get to the “real” game reminded me why.   

It's not so much that the story is "bad" (though I wouldn't know, because I skipped all the cutscenes and dialog), it's that a lot of content and progression is gated behind it. No mount until Act 4, can't move on to WT3 until you finish Act 6, etc. The "main game" in an ARPG is to kill mobs and get better loot. In my opinion, long story quests with lots of walking, dialog, walking, cutscenes, etc. gets in the way of the fun. I want to be killing monsters or tinkering with my gear, nothing else in between.

My biggest complaint about Path of Exile lately has been that every 3 months you have to replay the story for each new league. The best selling point about Diablo 4 is that you don't; you beat the story once, and then don't have to play it again on your alt(s). You can, I guess, but it's entirely optional.

Anyone who's running around doing side content prior to completing the story is kind of doing it wrong, particularly if you intend to play endgame. You're going to need to do all that stuff anyway, so why not do it when it's worth actual loot? Dungeons in particular are a HUGE trap while leveling up, as they're one of the primary endgame focuses (both via Sigils and the Tree). Act 4 and Act 6 are both fairly quick, with only Act 5 being kind of long; it's really best to just power through it, clear the Capstone and move on to WT3.

Can't really disagree with anything you said, but it all fits under the "have end game in mind" which I don't - at least not right now. Maybe once I get bored and refocus, but I figure take the time now to enjoy just wandering about. As long as you are enjoying the game, YMMV...

[Threash]

Speaking of story, there is a surprising lack of Diablo in this Diablo game. As far as I can tell he doesn't even get a name drop.

[Falconeer]

No, he does.

[Falconeer]

[Rendakor]

Can't really disagree with anything you said, but it all fits under the "have end game in mind" which I don't - at least not right now. Maybe once I get bored and refocus, but I figure take the time now to enjoy just wandering about. As long as you are enjoying the game, YMMV...

The broader point is that endgame is just wandering about and having fun; you're going to be doing the same stuff, but getting actual rewards that matter.

[Rake]

Al'Diabolocks was the phone game one right?[

[rattran]

Just call him Al from now on.

[Johny Cee]

Just call him Al from now on.

Chevy Chase is Diablo, confirmed.

[Hawkbit]

Trying to figure out what I did wrong here.

I finished a malignant tunnel and there are two tumors: Wrathful and Devious. I have neither invoker for them. I then hearth back and craft the random invoker and actually craft the low-ish drop rate Wrathful invoker. I pick it up and head back to the tunnel. I click the Wrathful tumor and it says I don't have the required item. Sure enough, the Wrathful malignant invoker I made is not in my inventory.

Is this a bug or some mechanic I don't understand?

[Rendakor]

Never happened to me, but I've only managed to make and use a Wrathful invoker once so I don't have a ton of experience. I had made it well before the dungeon though.

[Count Nerfedalot]

A Diablo 4 player's journal.

I'd burned out on Diablo in D3, and ARPGs really aren't my cup of tea to start with, but friends and family convinced me to give D4 a shot and I did so for sentimental reasons mostly. Pre-pre-season/early access was a blast. But they horribly overnerfed almost everything the day before release but even then I was able to engineer my own build which was fun and sufficient to get me through the end with a feeling of satisfaction.

Release and the official pre-season was a lot of fun, except they continued trying to nerf the fun out of it.  Also there were some seriously glaring omissions and QOL issues that became painfully evident.  And then a week before Season 1 released they basically broke the game. 

Season 1 sucked. The neverending stream of nerfs and "balance fixes" since pre-release had leached all the fun out of the game. A couple of trivial improvements to minor QOL issues were way too little too late.  The Season 1 special mechanics were intriguing at first but rapidly became dull and tedious.  The nerfing continued until mid-season, at least.  The whole game was dull and repetitive. All the thrills and excitement and fun was gone and it was just a mind-numbing grind.  Redoing the renown slog was one of the worst gaming experiences I've had in years and I quit before completing it. I have no clue what happened from then to the end of the season, I bailed with a bad taste in my mouth and no intention of ever going back.

Season 2. I wasn't interested in playing season 2.  I wasn't interested in ever playing any Diablo ever again.  I finally got dragged back in, kicking and screaming, by friends and family and some really glowing reports from reviewers and youtubers I'd found whose impressions of the previous history closely matched mine, so I tentatively decided to give it a try a couple weeks late.  And I've been having a blast.  Everyone is overpowered now, especially my class, and it's still fun because you can still quite easily find all the challenge you can handle and more.  They've made some major QOL fixes, though they still balk at a couple that are REALLY needed, like inventory space for alts and saving skill tree and paragon templates.  But it's fun. You start off feeling pretty strong and as you get better you feel stronger and stronger.  And stronger and stronger.  And stronger and stronger.  It's a grind/progression/treadmill but it doesn't FEEL like one because the dopamine hits from feeling stronger keep on coming at a steady pace.  The season mechanics are fun and mostly integrate with your class mechanics to supercharge them, rather than feeling like awkwardly bolted-on afterthoughts that don't really fit.  The newly added post-60 content is (mostly) fun and challenging, though it can be a grind to get the parts to access the highest tiers.  Blood Harvests are even better than Helltides were. Sadly, Helltides are less rewarding/fun than they used to be but are now required to get the mats needed to fine-tune your gear.  Open world bosses are kind of a joke now, so could use a little buffing, but with a feather touch which Blizzard seems to lack. But overall, I'm level 88 now, and may even make it all the way to 100 which is unheard of for me.

Side notes:
  It is completely soloable and fun. Playing with one to three others is even more fun.  Playing with more than three others is annoying as you can't all be in the same group and there is no way keep two groups in the same instance all the time even.
  Their post-box monetization scheme is insane.  I have not spent a penny on any of the season stuff and felt zero inclination to do so.  I haven't even used the "free" season booster I got with my initial deluxe  package. And the prices for the appearance-only vanity outfits are ridiculous.  $25 bucks to dress your character different, and it's barely an inch tall on your monitor?  You can buy whole games for that on a sale.
  I had great fun with my minion Necro in pre-release until they nerfed the hell out of it.
  For pre-season I switched to Scorcerer. I was mostly using meta builds that got nerfed every week, only to be replaced by an even more powerful version. It was never a top-tier class but it was fun and serviceable though the joke was if you wanted to play a ranged caster in D4 you should have been a (Bone Spear) Necro as they buffed them back up again. Sorc just got nerf after nerf after nerf.
  I tried a Rogue in Season 1 as that is usually my favorite class.  But I didn't like it at all. I'm not sure how much of that is because of Season 1 sucking or because I prefer ranged dps over melee dps and no ranged dps builds are fun in D4.  But I'm having a blast with my melee dps sorc so I don't know.  I did switch back to Sorc but the renown grind and dull grind killed me before I got very far at all.
  I've stuck with Sorc for Season 2 and feel like a god. LOL