** Diablo 4 Thread **

[Teaf]

That's some copium. D4 isn't going to be as bad as DI with it's MTX.

Rod Ferguson on D4

https://twitter.com/RodFergusson/status/1536068892086243328

He could be talking ***** it's also quite ambiguous but we'll find out in time.

Yeah, it's worded very carefully to not say that there's not pay-to-win elements, i.e., "anchored around" optional cosmetics. Adam Fletcher has done the same in his tweet by saying it's "built around" optional cosmetic items. Neither has unequivocally said "it's purely optional items" or something more concrete to that affect.

I wish they'd just flat out say there's no pay-to-win at all, but they either a) are still debating it, b) it's got pay-to-win in it and they don't want to specifically say it due to the backlash they saw in Diablo Immortal, or c) they haven't fully worked out the model yet. Personally, I'm expecting some pay-to-win in there.

 

[Teaf]

Didn't Cheng also say you wouldn't be able to get gear in DI only for the entire system to be about buying gear basically.

Sort of. He said you can't directly buy gear, and technically he's right - but what he wrote was meticulous. He didn't elaborate too much and left just enough of an implication for people to draw a conclusion that there's no pay-to-win. Instead, even though can't buy gear as he said, you buy items which boost the chances to get gear as the base chance to get said items as a free-to-play player is exceptionally low. It's why I'm taking Rod Fergusson's and Adam Fletcher's tweets with a massive grain of salt as, again, their tweets are also specifically worded in a way to leave an implication of the fact but also enough where it's open to interpretation.

 

[Teaf]

It's free on gamepass so no need to chuck out $60 anyway

It doesn't seem to be on Game Pass unfortunately (see this slide from the event).

 

[Teaf]

Quarterly update for June 2022 is out which mostly all about the Necromancer.

 

[Teaf]

They said something about putting sigils into dungeons to make nightmare dungeons.

Have they said how you get sigils?

Nothing yet that I know of. They did say they come with affixes on the sigils to boost the difficulty and the rewards which sounds a lot like maps in Path of Exile. I'm guessing/hoping they just are random drops, or maybe they are the reward for completing a regular dungeon which would be how rifts work in Diablo 3 (clear a regular fit and get a greater rift key).

 

[Teaf]

I'm hopeful it won't have any pay-to-win due to previous lessons they should have learned, but I'm not holding my breath. I think the only saving graces are that Diablo Immortal is getting a huge backlash due to its predatory pay-to-win model, and also that Diablo 3 had a pay-to-win model (the RMAH) which eventually got removed due to backlash and it caused them to lose their avenue for monetisation and had them go through 2 or 3 game directors.

If they don't get it right from the start then the game will be dead within 6 months.

 

[Teaf]

Diablo IV Beta Early Access For Getting a Tattoo - Diablo Hell's Ink Promotion Tour

Blizzard is handing out Beta Early Access for Diablo IV - but only if you sacrifice a part of your very own flesh by getting a free tattoo during their Diablo Hell's Ink Promotion Tour!

www.wowhead.com

Bit of an odd promotion from Blizzard! One on hand: free tattoo and some are cool. On the other hand: basically selling advertising space on your body.

Just a heads up though in case anyone is interested as they are doing a bunch in London next month.

 

[Teaf]

I can't open the story here, but if it's all Diablo IV related tattoos then yeah, I imagine there could be regret. Especially if the game is of recent Blizzard quality.
It's not like adults never make stupid impulse decisions.

Some of them are decent, and vague enough that most people (unless they knew the franchise) would just see it as a random tattoo. But yeah, some are literally just the "D" logo for D1, D2, D3, D4 and Immortal (who would get a Diablo Immortal tattoo )

Spoiler

Blizzard is handing out Beta Early Access for Diablo IV - but only if you sacrifice a part of your very own flesh! Over the next two months, the "Diablo Hell's Ink" Promotion Tour will visit tattoo shops all over the world handing out free Diablo tattoos - and not only that: Fans who decide to get decorated with one of 26 available tattoo motives will also get Beta Early Access and a digital copy of Diablo IV upon release! You can choose out of a total of 26 tattoos.

 

[Teaf]

New quarterly update is out.

Really good update. It covers quite a bit including the shop, seasons, the season pass, etc.

Diablo IV will be a full-price game with a Cosmetics Shop and Season Pass—none of which provide any pay-for-power options.

Good to see them say it rather than dancing around it.

 

[Teaf]

All sounds great in theory - expanding on mechanics in D3 and also "borrowing" from POA etc

but

when is it going to release.....

We'll likely find out at the Game Awards. Few rumours are saying that there'll be a new trailer for it, as well as the pre purchase going live.

 

[Teaf]

RIP that guys Battle.net account

 

[Teaf]

speculation is: open beta in jan, and release in april
there's an event 8th dec (iirc) when I expect the above to be announced, and preorders to open.

Aye, should see some announcements at The Game Awards.

 

[Teaf]

Diablo IV Rumored To Release on June 5

Diablo IV is rumored to release on June 5 next year!

www.wowhead.com

June 5th it seems. Apparently the date was data-mined from the Microsoft/Xbox store.

Either way, we will get confirmation tomorrow at The Game Awards.

 

[Teaf]

They are doing a physical collector's edition for £100 but it doesn't include a copy of the game, so you still have to buy the game separately. That's insane.

 

[Teaf]

Open beta is March 17th - 19th if you pre-order, but if you haven't you can play it on March 24th - 26th. You can only level to 25, and play through the prologue and Act 1.

 

[Teaf]

Diablo IV Developer Update Live Stream - February 2023

http://Diablo.comJoin lead world designer Art Peshkov, lead systems designer Meng Song, and game director Joe Shely on the official Diablo Twitch and YouTube...

www.youtube.com

Livestream for the developer interview starts at 7:00 PM tonight (UK) if anyone's interested. If not (or you miss it) then it'll be up to re-watch on YouTube afterwards.

 

[Teaf]

The min/max specs to run the game were better than I expected.
How they described diminishing returns on armour was a bit odd.
I was hoping strongholds would not be permanently "won" and maybe could come under assault, and potentially be lost again, to make the world more dynamic.
Not sure if I like that armour can mitigate spell damage also on top of also having spell resistances.

That cosmetic you get for getting a character to max level in the open beta is SO cute

Yeah I liked it I saw you can get a couple of achievements also for reaching level 20 in the beta.

 

[Teaf]

Diablo and POE are like yin and yang, gotta have a bit of both really. Loving playing diablo 3 S28 just now

Yeah, definitely. Ideally we'd have a lot more ARPG's on the market that are at the quality level of Path of Exile. It would be better for everyone to have more choice and developers pushing each other to produce better quality content due to having competition.

£60? Forget that, not after the Diablo 3 train wreck! i remember I couldn't even login to play the bloody thing when it first came out.

Open beta is available for everyone (without needing to pre-order) from March 24 - 26th. Might be worth a look to see how you find it

Do bear in mind though that those "recommended" specs were only to play the game at 60fps in 1080 with medium settings

Aye. I'd say anyone with a 1080 ti+ on a modern CPU should be comfortable at medium/high at 1440p/60 FPS. People with 2080+ should crush it at 1440p/144 FPS (depending on RT). The game does have DLSS and FSR too.

 

[Teaf]

Think this will be up there as one of the fastest selling games on release.

Is there any news on how extensive the end game will be to start with?

There's some that we know of, such as nightmare dungeons (120~ scalable dungeons, basically the replacement to rifts), helltides (region-wide events), and whispers of the dead (basically world quests from warcraft). There's also the Fields of Hatred if you're into PvP. As MadMossy said though they'll be doing a deep dive on end-game in a few weeks after open beta.

 

[Teaf]

They mentioned during the live stream that you can change LMB so it doesn't have to move you as well as using an attack.