Diablo 4 / IV / IIII / Fore / Cope / Seethe

I've been playing the new season as well - it's the best version of Diablo 4 so far, which is damning with faint praise. Thanks to the new rogue-like micro dungeons, it's very easy to level and gear a character once they've hit 50 (provided you have a roughly functional build).

However, the ease of leveling and gearing cemented my long-standing issue with Diablo 4: a lot of the core, fundamental design of the game sucks ass.

I won't belabor the point that it took Blizzard a full year post-launch to refine the systems, loot, progression, and endgame into what should've been there at release. My real problem is that - for me - there are really only 2, maybe 2.5 classes that I even enjoy playing.

Barbarians and Sorcerers are both fun, interesting classes for me - they have multiple powerful, engaging builds that meaningfully change gameplay and mechanics, making them enjoyable to play throughout the game. I've found maybe 2 Necromancer builds I can tolerate, and only 1 Druid build that doesn't make me want to claw my eyes out after a few hours of playtime. I've wholly given up on finding a single Rogue build - there's something about the fiddly, fussy nature of the class design and resource management that I absolutely cannot stand.

Over the last ten years of Diablo 3, I could pick any class at the start of a season and feel confident I would find a build/playstyle that would be fun and interesting from start to whenever I decided to quit. Sure, I liked some classes more than others, but I never felt like there were entire classes that were so awkward to play that they just weren't worth my time. Compared to that, Diablo 4 is basically only half a game.

TheAylix said:

I've been playing the new season as well - it's the best version of Diablo 4 so far, which is damning with faint praise. Thanks to the new rogue-like micro dungeons, it's very easy to level and gear a character once they've hit 50 (provided you have a roughly functional build).

However, the ease of leveling and gearing cemented my long-standing issue with Diablo 4: a lot of the core, fundamental design of the game sucks ass.

I won't belabor the point that it took Blizzard a full year post-launch to refine the systems, loot, progression, and endgame into what should've been there at release. My real problem is that - for me - there are really only 2, maybe 2.5 classes that I even enjoy playing.

Barbarians and Sorcerers are both fun, interesting classes for me - they have multiple powerful, engaging builds that meaningfully change gameplay and mechanics, making them enjoyable to play throughout the game. I've found maybe 2 Necromancer builds I can tolerate, and only 1 Druid build that doesn't make me want to claw my eyes out after a few hours of playtime. I've wholly given up on finding a single Rogue build - there's something about the fiddly, fussy nature of the class design and resource management that I absolutely cannot stand.

Over the last ten years of Diablo 3, I could pick any class at the start of a season and feel confident I would find a build/playstyle that would be fun and interesting from start to whenever I decided to quit. Sure, I liked some classes more than others, but I never felt like there were entire classes that were so awkward to play that they just weren't worth my time. Compared to that, Diablo 4 is basically only half a game.

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Agree with everything except your Rogue take, I really enjoyed the strange opposite approach of attacking one monster, and then dashing through a pack and doing insane damage to them all. Granted, it isnt for everyone, but it was a cool new take on a high mobility class.

That said, the rogue build options were pretty limited and the skill tree is dumbed down for all classes, and I also haven't touched it since Season 2, so things could be different.

Jesus this game

This is modern Blizzard.

Lets make a "Sexy" skin.

Yea lets make a skin that looks like shit on a anorexic body type. Wheres the Tits and Ass. Our salvation is sadly the Asian games it seems.

Palum said:

Jesus this game

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I saw this heffer an hour ago at Kroger when I passed the artisanal cheese section (cause aint no fkn way she was in the vegetable section across from it.) Like for real. Remove that makeup, and its the same fucking lady. Haircut and all.

Aazrael said:

This is modern Blizzard.

Lets make a "Sexy" skin.

Yea lets make a skin that looks like shit on a anorexic body type. Wheres the Tits and Ass. Our salvation is sadly the Asian games it seems.

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"Why won't people buy cosmetics in our gaaaaame!"

Their store is basically the same as some random popular FB game 10 years ago. Coin prices never match to what you can actually buy, you eternally end up with some kinda of extra amount of coin on your balance. What was the Ultimate or battlepass, 666 plat? OMG thats so cute you made it 666 lolol. Can't buy shit. It's scuzzy bottomfeeding shit that you expect from some shitty little Korean MMO, not Blizzard.

Buy a 30$ supporter pack from GGG, you get your cosmetics pack , and the 300 coin you get with it can actually be used to buy shit on their store, actual useful MTX. Sure it's ultimately a waste of money, but at least GGG knows to use little a lube.

Cynical said:

Their store is basically the same as some random popular FB game 10 years ago. Coin prices never match to what you can actually buy, you eternally end up with some kinda of extra amount of coin on your balance. What was the Ultimate or battlepass, 666 plat? OMG thats so cute you made it 666 lolol. Can't buy shit. It's scuzzy bottomfeeding shit that you expect from some shitty little Korean MMO, not Blizzard.

Buy a 30$ supporter pack from GGG, you get your cosmetics pack , and the 300 coin you get with it can actually be used to buy shit on their store, actual useful MTX. Sure it's ultimately a waste of money, but at least GGG knows to use little a lube.

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Its fucking crazy to me how Grinding Gear Games and Digital Extremes have turned out to be at least.. genuine, in their approach to over priced cosmetics.

Daidraco said:

Its fucking crazy to me how Grinding Gear Games and Digital Extremes have turned out to be at least.. genuine, in their approach to over priced cosmetics.

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Like I said, i admit it's a waste of money too, but 25$ can give you a lot of shit with PoE, and those cosmetics can be used on any class.

D4: 25$ for a single cosmetic set for one class and nothing else? Gotta feel bad.

Cynical said:

Buy a 30$ supporter pack from GGG, you get your cosmetics pack , and the 300 coin you get with it can actually be used to buy shit on their store, actual useful MTX. Sure it's ultimately a waste of money, but at least GGG knows to use little a lube.

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IMO if the game is free, they can do whatever the fuck they want.

I'm not going to play a pay to win game, but otherwise I will buy microtransactions equivalent to the value I got out of the game. I've bought stash tabs in PoE and they've had less money than what I spent on D3+D4.

D4 I paid box price for, so microtransactions need to be tied to some pretty substantial new content. So far it's just been them fixing the game.

Chris said:

IMO if the game is free, they can do whatever the fuck they want.

I'm not going to play a pay to win game, but otherwise I will buy microtransactions equivalent to the value I got out of the game. I've bought stash tabs in PoE and they've had less money than what I spent on D3+D4.

D4 I paid box price for, so microtransactions need to be tied to some pretty substantial new content. So far it's just been them fixing the game.

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Strange decision they cut and paste the cosmetic shop from Immortal a FTP title into a paid AAA game. No modifications just a direct rip. Good will went out the window a long time ago I guess.

Microsoft takes official leadership and makes executive transition complete sometime around early 2025. We'll see what they do to existing product offerings then.

How do you get Glyph exp in Infernal Horde? Some youtuber mentioned it was an alternative to NM dungeons.

jayrebb said:

Strange decision they cut and paste the cosmetic shop from Immortal a FTP title into a paid AAA game. No modifications just a direct rip. Good will went out the window a long time ago I guess.

Microsoft takes official leadership and makes executive transition complete sometime around early 2025. We'll see what they do to existing product offerings then.

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You know there is some jack-ass in leadership that is like "We need to capitalize on the brand name and make some real GD money!"

Until the US goes through a major depression, I just dont think shit is going to change anytime soon. Likely, it will get way worse right before the whole show crashes.

Nearly at 100 with Barrage Ice Rogue. Loving the build.

Skyhunter bow and Precision ultimate passive means you don't need to build Crit %. Cowl of the Nameless means you can run a Lucky Hit build without much Lucky Hit.

Two mechanics I didn't know:
1) You can temper +imbue use onto jewelery, so you have 8 uses of Cold Imbue instead of 2. Makes the skill go from useless to always on.

2) Boss stagger is increased by applying crowd control effects to it, I assumed it was just a flat damage thing. So temper stun/freeze chance onto all of your armor, with the different freeze from Azurewrath, and the boss is staggered in seconds just from spamming Puncture with high Attack Speed.

Popping Duriel by staggering him and avoiding all phases is great.

Not sure how to evaluate proc damage from Azurewrath, I assume it's good and increased by your passives etc, since Puncture is lv1 and is one-two shotting trash. Wondering if Frostburn is worth it too.

Can they duplicate the fun of playing a previous iteration of Diablo?

jayrebb said:

Can they duplicate the fun of playing a previous iteration of Diablo?

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It's better than Diablo 3 now I think. Class design is slightly worse, endgame systems and gear are a lot better.

They really need a fluid combat class like Monk and a cooldown based class like Crusader.

Bam!

Enjoying the masterwork grind, slowly improving the gear and feeling the benefits in the new game mode.

Just hit Tier 6 out of 8 but takes too much time to kill the bosses right now.