Diablo IV Fan Feedback to Make It into Final Game
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Diablo IV Fan Feedback to Make It into Final Game

Diablo IV Beta Feedback reaches Blizzard. The developers outline some of the burning changes that fans have been requesting be implemented.

Diablo IV Fan Feedback to Make It into Final Game

Hail Lilith, Blessed Mother! The Diablo IV team has heard the cries of the citizens of Sanctuary. They have collected tons of feedback from various social channels during the Early Access Beta on the weekend of March 17th and the Open Beta the weekend after that.

These were the series’ biggest betas ever. During this time, players accumulated over 61 million hours of game time. 29 trillion enemies were slain, and 47 million players met their untimely demises. As expected, the Sorcerer and Necromancer were the most popular classes.

The latest Diablo IV blog post outlined some of the bigger topics that Blizzard wants to tackle before the game goes live this June.

Darkest Dungeon

A lot of players felt that Dungeons in general could be improved in many ways. Specifically, the amount of backtracking involved was a pain point for players. This was an effect of multiple things, such as unlucky enemy spawns, out-of-the-way objectives, or even the area’s layout in general.

As such, dungeons’ layouts will be improved. Specifically, the Fractured Peaks will change the Caldera Gate, Defiled Catacombs, Derelict Lodge, Forbidden City, and more were mentioned. We can assume that other Act’s dungeons will also get the same treatment.

Areas that have a “Kill All Monsters” objective will also be improved by having stragglers actually go toward the player, reducing the time of seeking out that lone missed enemy.

Dungeon Objectives are also being heavily modified. A lot of these are being moved into the main pathways of a dungeon, making them more accessible. Cooldowns and channel times for various interactibles have also been drastically reduced. All of these tweaks in conjunction with each other should make Diablo IV’s dungeon delving much smoother.

Class Dismissed

Just like any patch or update, there will be balancing passes as well. This time we have mentions of all five classes, as well as some general updates. Do note that Blizzard did not specify any hard numbers in the blog post. They’re highly likely to keep this quiet for now as there might still be many iterations between now and the full launch.

In general, Stun and Freeze effects’ durations will be doubled on Elite Monsters before they turn Unstoppable. All of the classes’ skills were reviewed as well to see if they all have access to abilities that remove control-impairing effects. Lastly, Legendary Powers numbers have also been tweaked across the board, but no specifics were mentioned.

The Specifics

Barbarians will get a flat-out 10% damage reduction due to their melee-ness bringing them to the brink of death far too often. This is somewhat in line though much less than the 30% damage reduction in Diablo 3 for melee classes. Their Whirlwind ability will also deal more damage but require more fury.

Druids’ ultimate abilities (CataclysmGrizzly RageLacerate, and Petrify) will have shorter cooldowns. Companions such as the Wolves and Ravens will deal much more damage as well.

The almighty Necromancer’s Skeleton Warriors and Mages will no longer shine bright like a diamond. However, there is a downside, as they will die more often. The Book of the Dead bonuses will be increased to compensate. Lastly, the supreme Corpse Explosion had its damage reduced (sorry Corpse Explosion Necromancer!).

Rogues seemingly have it good, as Subterfuge Skill bonuses were increased, as well as many Passive Skills.

Last is the Sorcerer who gets a massive buff to Charged Bolt‘s damage while also decreasing its mana cost. Chain Lightning is losing effectiveness though, both in terms of raw damage as well as damage to bosses.

Everything Else and the Kitchen Sink

There are also tons of other improvements here and there. For one, the sans serif typeface being used in-game will be replaced. In its place, another serif font will be used, which should be much more in theme with Diablo IV. The Butcher surprise boss will have its difficulty adjusted, and will actually be even stronger in World Tier 3 and 4.

One of the possibly more controversial changes is the Dungeon Reset button will now be disabled. Blizzard does acknowledge that running areas over and over is true to the heart of a Diablo game. They are trying to find a reasonable balance between area replayability and actually moving out elsewhere in the world. More on this will probably be revealed come launch time.

More information will also land on April 20th, at 11 AM Pacific Time. A developer update stream will be held with people from the team. They will also elaborate more on the thought process on the changes mentioned above.

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