Diablo IV | Discovering Rogue and the Open World
But don't forget that Blizzard is working hard on the franchise's most ambitious project: Diablo IV, which aims to be everything that never managed to be the third installment.
After the opening ceremony, we focused on the dedicated panel, where John Mueller, Luis Barriga, Careena Kingdom and Joe Piepiora, told us something more about the new class announced, the Rogue and about some aspects of the game world.
Unfortunately this year, unlike in 2019, we have not had the opportunity to try the progress of the title, but already only from what has been shown to us, we can certainly be satisfied with a development that seems to proceed the best of ways, although far from over.
Rogue, the most frenetic class
It was assumed that after the Enchantress, the Druid and the Barbarian there would come a class predisposed for attacks with the bow and the Rogue was certainly a surprise, although not appreciated by all.The character existed in the lore of the franchise, in fact he was one of the heroes of the first legendary Diablo, too if at the time it was limited only to the use of the bow, while in this case we have completely new features, which mix long-range attack and white weapon.
A fast, versatile and aiming class not to bore, a less careful eye might say that it looks like the Demon Hunter, when in reality it looks more like a hybrid between the Amazon and the Assassin of Diablo II, after all we are talking about a Cutthroat (maybe they could have chosen a better translation).
In the Deep Dive of the panel we witnessed, Mueller and Barriga showed us a lot of interesting things, including first and foremost the completely free creation of the character, which allows us to customize it to our liking with hairstyles , scars, clothes, tattoos and much more.
A hint also to the whole progression system that has remained rather hidden so far or in any case not much talked about in the previous months, even through the classic quarterly updates. The Rogue will have three branches available (Shadow Realm, Combo Points and Exploit Weakness), each with skills that allow us to direct our style of play. From this point of view the structure is much closer to Diablo II than to the rather open one of Diablo III.
One really very interesting thing is how Blizzard has thought about branch specializations, in short each of these will guarantee different missions, which will do nothing but donate completely different equipment according to the region they belong to. In short, painstaking work, embellished with combat synergies: it will be possible to decide to "enchant the weapon" with a skill and exploit it to create negative effects on our enemies, such as poisoning or freezing. The more you attack an enemy with an elemental effect, the more the latter will amplify, reaching the maximum threshold that can lead, for example, from a slight slowdown from freezing to a real block of ice. The synergies will not only be relegated to the skills of our character, but can also be combined with in co-op with another class.
An Open World between PvP and PvE
The subsequent intervention focused on the Open World and on the PvE and PvP components. In the past, we briefly talked about the countless possibilities that the whole world of Sanctuary can give. Recall, that unlike the previous chapters, Diablo IV will have a real explorable map and no longer a subdivision into chapters, getting closer to the idea behind Sacred.Exploring freely Sanctuary has always been a dream and Blizzard knows this well, so much so that it is working hard to be able to give players something really well cared for and above all that can satisfy the needs of all players. Clearly the open world also allows the possibility to meet various players, to be able to create exclusive events and above all to exploit various types of mounts, from horses to unspecified monsters - complete with dedicated customization.
Unlike Sacred, the mount will only be a means of transport, which means that you will not be able to fight in the saddle, but at the most take advantage of some engagement mechanics. We had seen a couple of them in the past, think of the Enchantress or the Barbarian. But even the Rogue can jump from the saddle and hurl a storm of arrows at a group of enemies, slowing them down or even killing them on the spot in a rather spectacular action.
Careena Kingdom and Joe Piepiora, in telling us about Sanctuary, yes they focused on the desire to make the whole exploration component more dynamic and less tedious. The mounts are an example, but the two developers have also promised environmental puzzles, climbing on rocky walls or real ravines where you have to jump with the press of a button. Nothing too original, but essential to vary the game action.
Among the different events - including the World Boss - Blizzard showed the camps, which from the point of view of lore date back to the events of the expansion of Diablo III: Reaper of Souls. Malthael, the Corrupt Archangel, villain of that episode, sent reapers to kill hundreds of people all over the game world, occupying outposts that we will inevitably have to clean up.
These are completely events. random and offering a higher difficulty, but with very interesting rewards. Depending on the outpost released, we will get certain things and face a completely unique quest. In the panel an example was told of a story linked to a village called Qara-Yisu, a village occupied by cannibals who for long years have annoyed the inhabitants of the region, forcing them to request the help of a dangerous demon, putting us in the middle of a rather complicated feud to "quell", but which if successful, guarantees the unlocking of a secret place, with some rewards and additional missions to face.
We now come to PvP, one of the great failings of Diablo III and that fans really believe in. PvP has never been a priority in Diablo, in the second chapter it was simply a fun way to disconnect from the routine and very few built a character dedicated solely to that dynamic. There are those who still love to collect "ears", but we honestly believe that the best thing is to give real rewards, and it is precisely here that the developers have explained to us in more detail how it will work.
In Diablo IV will not be able to fight anywhere, there will be areas called Fields of Hate, areas where the influence of Mephisto - the daddy of Lilith - will make players aggressive, pushing them to eliminate each other. All vaguely reminiscent of the Dark Zone of The Division and in fact the function is similar, since you are not forced to sign another player, but their elimination allows you to obtain Fragments of Hate. These are not like the ears, they have a much greater importance and serve as a currency to buy particular items within the area itself. It should be noted that they can also be obtained by completing specific missions in the Fields of Hate, but you must still be careful, as once dead these are lost, allowing another player to use them.
The everything is perfectly balanced and going back to The Division's discourse, whoever gets smart, perhaps trying to kill a teammate to steal his treasure, will be marked on the map and chased by all the players in that specific area. In short, in short, one more reason to become a completely PvP character and go and slaughter some unsuspecting heroes from the world of Sanctuary. Other than trophy “ears”, which will still be present.
