Diablo 4: the necromancer and the news on the endgame of the awaited Blizzard title

Diablo 4

We are aware of it, the current state of Blizzard makes it extremely difficult to indulge in the hype for the productions of the historic American house. The mistakes made in recent years by this legendary team have been many, too many ... and the internal situation certainly does not seem to have been particularly regenerated by the disaster outlined by the investigations of some time ago. To aggravate things we then thought of the predatory monetization of Diablo Immortal, and the not exactly brilliant figure of the Overwatch 2 beta, especially in a period when there was certainly no need for further negative publicity.

A large slice of fans, however, always hopes for the "rebirth", in the demonstration that, despite the management delusions and scandals now reported almost everywhere, in some of the Blizzard teams that spark of genius that has distinguished most of their past productions. And the team on which most people seem to bet, not too curiously, seems to be that of Diablo IV.

The reason is obvious: this chapter of Diablo cannot and must not fail. It is at the same time one of the most anticipated games by the historical fanbase and the one that has received the most feedback ever after the missteps made (and only subsequently largely corrected) with the third chapter. Getting it wrong would not represent a new demonstration of inability, but also the definitive proof of wanting to ignore one's community entirely, which would lead to the complete dispersion of any remaining trust in the software house.

Optimistic or pessimistic whether you are, anyway, during the Microsoft Showcase Blizzard reappeared, and it did so by presenting the latest Diablo 4 class: the necromancer, with a well-packaged video as usual. The information on the game, however, did not stop at the capabilities of the undead lord and hinted at a title that could actually be the best candidate for a straightening of the course. Today we analyze them in this special.

The Necronomicon and other splendid audiobooks

Diablo IV: say hello to the necromancer and his very fashionable hairstyle Let's start with the Necromancer, because despite the limited gameplay made public of the class it is already possible to get a concrete idea of ​​its capabilities thanks to the many declarations of the developers about it. To the eye this "veteran" of the old Diablo still has mostly on his side the ability to summon undead, accompanied by scythe blows from a genuinely much higher radius than we expected and some healthy offensive spells.

The evocations of the necromancer however this time seem to be divided into three main types, and are nothing short of customizable thanks to a unique mechanic called "book of the dead". In a nutshell, your pale alter ego can summon skeletal wizards, skeletal warriors or golems, and for each of these he has the opportunity to select three unique subtypes, each upgradeable in two different ways. Useful for varying a lot the builds built around this mechanic, only at the same time the necromancer can choose to sacrifice these specific summons to get permanent passive bonuses. Losing flexibility in summonable undead, therefore, corresponds to significant advantages that can be used in more defensive specializations (sacrificing a certain type of golem offers 10% more life points, for example) or closely related to magic. In theory, it is also possible to abandon summons altogether to dedicate yourself to a necromancer with extraordinarily enhanced spells, however at the moment it is difficult to assess how effective such an experiment is.

Diablo IV: the look of the game is significantly darker , there is no denying Whatever your choice, the intent is clear: Diablo IV is all about customization. Not only can the characters this time be modified in aesthetics, resulting much closer to the ideals of those who use them, but it seems that each class has a dedicated mechanic similar to the book of the dead just described and that there are systems designed to greatly facilitate the change. build for gamers. During the progression, for example, it will be possible to take legendary powers from objects and conveniently transfer them to rarer and more powerful weapons or armor once found. The developers explained that the choice was made in order not to have to abandon certain passive skills that are particularly useful for your build, while maintaining a competitive level of equipment as you advance.

To all this tasty complexity is also added an overall rehash of the Paragon system, which allows you to upgrade beyond the maximum level (should be 100). It is no longer just statistics, but a real skill table that offers passive bonuses or unique additional skills. Even the abilities obtained with this development can be modified with glyphs to be enhanced by facing the endgame: it is clear how the basic systems of Diablo III at launch have been completely abandoned in favor of a return to origins.

Endgame is good game

Diablo IV: Necromancer has various summons at his disposal, including large, very tough golems Diablo IV's campaign is predictably long-lived, but once completed it should leave the player roughly around the level 45. After that, the focus changes completely and passes precisely to the endgame contents, which seem to be multiple since Diablo IV is clearly designed to be an ever-expanding live service with a myriad of activities.

So outside of the main adventure - which is non-linear differently from the past - this time the players will have to deal with a shared open world, full of dungeons (more than 150), world bosses and all a number of other extras not yet announced.

World bosses are interesting, as they are battles against huge monstrosities reminiscent of the most classic MMO raids, where several players must work together to survive and area attacks are wasted. The real gem, however, should be the dungeons, because these are not only explored normally, but once the necessary level is reached, "nightmare dungeons" are unlocked with difficulty modifiers that can be activated thanks to specific seals.

Diablo IV : a completely magic-oriented necromancer seems like a concrete possibility thanks to the book of the dead This choice opens up a long series of possibilities: find the right seals and you can unlock rewards that are very suitable for your classes, as long as you face more aggressive enemies and with modifiers unexpected. The fact that the dungeons are partially randomized (they follow specific canons, modifying the enemies encountered, the elites, the champions, their abilities, as well as part of the layout), should offer a constant variety, conceived as an evolution of the Diablo III rifts . Not enough, each dungeon has a specific objective, also random, to make the experience more fun, Blizzard has promised "seasons" that are conceptually different from the past and more content-oriented, and it is possible to raise the tier of the world to get rewards. more valuable, as long as you also find increasingly angry enemies. If you add to this the confirmation of the PVP zones, there really seems to be a lot of meat on paper.

The problem is always one: trust. Structural game management and adding content online will be an important litmus test for Blizzard, and elaborate systems like the ones described aren't exactly a walk in the park. We can only hope that all goes well, and Diablo fans finally have a game worthy of the name it brings in 2023.

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