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Diablo IV Interview with Zizaran - Hardcore Mode, Trading in D4, Class Design
Diablo IV
Publié
17/04/2023 à 11:03
par
Wowhead
We sat down with Zizaran, Hardcore Mode and ARPG veteran, to talk about the Diablo IV Open Beta and his thoughts on the future of Diablo IV!
Zizaran's Diablo IV Beta - First Impressions
Zizaran's YouTube ChannelZizaran's Twitch Channel
Disclaimer: This one-on-one spoken interview was lightly edited and condensed for the purpose of clarity.
Wowhead: In your initial gameplay review video, you mentioned a host of what you thought were good features in Diablo IV. Which feature surprised you the most?
Zizaran:
I think the fact that the world felt and looked so good was the most surprising to me. The game’s visuals really are a masterpiece, which is great because for some people this may be one of the most important things while playing Diablo IV. Another highlight for me was character creation. I was very surprised to read about comparisons between Diablo III and Diablo IV where people claimed both games would look the same, especially in terms of character looks, and I was like: Okay, maybe in
their
heads?!” But that happened with the release of D2:R as well: people just didn’t see the massive difference between the original and the remastered version - but Diablo IV is definitely an upgrade.
I do want to add something that I was a little bit disappointed in Diablo IV with - I don’t really feel like there was any innovation in Diablo IV. I don’t necessarily think it’s a bad thing to reuse concepts, but seeing incredibly dated features like the Den of Evil style objectives in dungeons, where you have to kill every single monster instead of, let’s say, 90% of monsters, felt like a very 2003-era mechanic. These are endgame dungeons that you’ll be doing for hours and hours, not the first quest in the game - so I hope Diablo IV does a bit more innovating before release.
WH: Regardless of particular class design issues, what was your biggest pain point during Diablo IV's Beta, especially coming from a game like Path of Exile?
Ziz:
It’s obviously hard to not compare Diablo IV with other ARPG titles. I tried to take a neutral stance because it’s very unfair to look at games that are at very different points of development. Path of Exile had such a crazy release schedule for over a decade now, especially when it comes to endgame content. It’s honestly frustrating to hear members of the community demand Diablo IV to become more like Path of Exile. Why don’t you just continue playing Path of Exile then?
When I started playing the Beta, I tried to compare Diablo IV with Diablo III, which is a game I don’t like nowadays. I loved the game after launch, but couldn’t really get into it over the last few years. I love figuring a game out and having a lot of build choices, and I felt like I didn’t have any of that in Diablo III. For example, set items in Diablo III really dictate not only which build, but which particular
skill
you need to play, leaving no room for experimentation and optimization.
That is why I went into Diablo IV with low expectations. I also wanted to try and see if I’m having fun playing the game - and I was having a lot of fun overall! Coming back to your question though, I think that build viability might become an issue in Diablo IV. It’s important to not mix build viability up with build diversity, something that not a single game will have except in the very early stages after launch. This is in part the fault of content creators because they showcase things that are working, and players like feeling powerful. A lot of builds may work, but even if another build is like 0.5% stronger, both creator and player communities will gravitate toward it and decrease build diversity. High build viability, though, is something that Path of Exile had during quite a lot of leagues over the last few years, and I hope that it will be the same with Diablo IV because it is such a core part of ARPGs.
WH: Talking about Diablo IV and comparisons to other ARPG titles, the vocal part of the community seems pretty torn - which also plays into the issue of game tribalism. Do you think we as a community should try to solve this tribalism issue in the ARPG space, or more broadly, in the gaming community as a whole?
Ziz:
I’m starting to wonder if it’s fixable. Over the last few years, more and more gamers have started to min-max the fun out of games. Another issue is that people love to over-compare games in a very angry way. I once read a negative game review on Steam where the reviewer had 1,500 hours of playtime. They were commenting that the first 1,000 hours were a lot of fun, but over the last 500 hours, the game felt stale and lacked replayability so they couldn’t recommend playing the game. These sorts of unrealistic expectations also play their part, and there’s not really much we can do about it. The way I see it is that I want to get one hour of good gameplay per dollar I’ve spent on the game. That is why, by default, ARPGs are almost always worth it and of insane value to me because they’re such a huge part of my life.
WH: In your Druid review video, you describe Resource Generation as one of the core issues around Barbarian and Druid early game. Do you think that resources like Fury and Spirit, which need to be filled up manually compared to auto-regenerating resources like Sorceress' Mana, still have a place in modern-day ARPGs?
Ziz:
I think it is a little bit dated, yes. Scaling-wise, Barbarians look very strong with the Armory system and the different weapons they’ll be able to use in the later stages of the game. But, based on the early game experience, Druid felt a lot weaker compared to all other classes. The Beta gave us a very early impression, so I’m hoping for Blizzard to fix the issues around Barbarians and Druids because the other three remaining classes were a lot of fun to play from the very start! On the other hand, skills like Chain Lightning may need some balancing as well because it was such a powerful clearing and single-target skill that it pretty much left no choice compared to other skills on the tree.
WH: You're a veteran of the Hardcore difficulty in ARPG spaces - a great Hardcore moment from you happened during the first Hardcore Ashava world boss attempts during Early Access Weekend, which was hilarious, albeit unfortunate, end for your Rogue (and your party!). How does the Hardcore experience in Diablo IV feel compared to other ARPGs like Path of Exile? Do you think World Bosses as a whole have a place in Hardcore mode, or are they too risky for too little reward?
Ziz:
People are always surprised by this, but I think that World Bosses in ARPGs are pretty cool! I actually hoped for Diablo IV to become World of Diablo, including raids and other MMO features. Having those in the Diablo world would’ve been absolutely awesome. The one MMO feature I wouldn’t like in Diablo IV is a weekly timer or lockout on things like World Bosses. This would make the game feel more like a chore and destroy the purpose of ARPG players having a choice of what they want to do to increase their character’s power.
In terms of Hardcore viability, my first Diablo IV Hardcore experience was a hard one, but that is almost always how it goes when playing a game for the first time. Not having Poison Resist against Ashava’s abilities was deadly for the majority of my group! Apart from that, things like poorly telegraphed melee attacks and the game’s approach to heavy crowd control don’t help the average Hardcore player. Getting stunned almost felt like a cinematic in Diablo IV, it was very weird. What I’d like to see is the ability to get out of crowd controls like stuns with your Evade button - this would help Hardcore players a lot. It was very frustrating.
WH: I do have to swing back a bit and pick your brain about something you said - World of Diablo. I think a lot of us would love to see an MMO set in Sanctuary, this beautiful, rich, vibrant dark world, but clearly Diablo IV isn’t that game, even though it has some MMO aspects. If you had to add in MMO aspects to move Diablo IV a bit closer to that World of Diablo idea - without bringing on the negative side of MMO mechanics, such as weekly Ashava lockouts - what would you add?
Ziz:
I think the coolest thing that they could add that wouldn’t change the entire game would be to group players into factions that they choose, between Lilith and Inarius. My favorite gaming experience of all time was the opening of the Gates of Ahn’Quiraj in World of Warcraft. Even if it was a giant lag fest, I loved the fact that everyone on the servers came together, gathering resources, and seeing that giant event happen as a community. Similar to that, I’d love to see Lilith versus Inarius: PVP-based objectives - as a possible alternative form of an endgame event - where the world could visually reflect on which faction was “winning” the most. For example, if Lilith is winning, Sanctuary becomes a bit more dark and twisted. I think that would be really cool - that would be a dream.
WH: If there was a bit more of an MMO aspect to the dungeons in particular, do you think that would innovate the dungeons a bit more?
Ziz:
I don’t know - it’s hard to tell. I was thinking more like whole new game systems, and that may be coming with seasons, to be fair. Blizzard said the seasons will be really beefy, and I know some fans are a bit skeptical of that, but I think that’s a weird stance to take. Blizzard has a huge stake in this game, so I feel like they will stick to their word. They have a big incentive to keep people coming back, so I’m expecting big updates in the seasons.
Blizzard has a lot to prove right now. They got a lot of backlash on Warcraft III: Reforged and Overwatch 2, and they want to win back community favor, so if I was Blizzard I’d come out of the gate slamming on the first few seasons to make people say
“Blizzard is BACK.”
WH: So - are you Team Inarius, or Team Lilith?
Ziz:
Team Lilith, for sure. Like, she clearly loves her son and her children, she’s coming from a good place, whereas Inarius is like “You mortals are weak and pathetic.” He’s just a little lame.
WH: When Diablo IV launches, you created this explosive mist necromancer build - are we going to see you using it in the race for World First level 100 Hardcore character?
Ziz:
Hopefully, me,
Steelmage
,
Carn
, and
Nugi
- who all live close by me, which is great because if we disconnect, all of us will disconnect - we’ll end up going for First Boss Kills and First Highest Levels in the various classes.
I do feel that races like this have been tainted by streamers, though - it becomes a bit of a popularity contest. For example, in Diablo II, streamers would have people with bosses ready to kill for them, so you’d just come in, kill a boss, and get super high XP. It ruins it for me a bit as a gamer, but realistically, let’s say I didn’t do that - no one’s going to say “Zizaran was the first that didn’t get handouts.”
I’m a huge fan of Solo modes because of that - no one else can affect anything competitive. I have so much fun competing at that level when I can do solo self found mechanics - and I’d love to see that in Diablo IV. It could be like a separate ladder, nothing would really need to change, and it could even be different shards. I’m not surprised that people dislike streamers in these races, with the way that their influence has changed the gaming environment.
WH: Speaking of trading, that’s a big topic of discussion for Diablo IV - obviously there’s no RMAH like Diablo III had, but what are your thoughts about the Diablo IV trading system?
Ziz:
I’m a big fan of trading - specifically Bind On Trade mechanics. It solves a lot of real money issues, it solves a lot of flipping issues where people do it just to make money, that type of thing isn’t contributing to the game - it’s a net negative, even if it’s a playstyle a lot of people enjoy. I think Diablo IV would benefit a lot from having good trading systems, but it’s so hard to balance because you get just an insane amount of power creep.
I think it’s a large part of the game for a lot of people, and it’s something that I’m worried we’re not going to have in Diablo IV at all because of smart loot. If I’m playing a Necromancer, I’m going to find 99% of gear drops are specific to my class - I played somewhere between 50 and 60 hours between both beta weekends and found less than 8 gear pieces for a class that I wasn’t currently playing. Zero of those pieces were Legendaries. I’m really worried Diablo IV isn’t going to have that ARPG element of finding a really cool piece of gear and wanting to try a new build or class because of it.
WH: I do have one more question for you - put on your best tinfoil hat. You’ve been deep into Diablo lore for quite a long time, and you’re very familiar with Sanctuary and its inhabitants, so if you had to guess: who, or what, do you think the mysterious Bloodied Wolf we encountered is?
Ziz:
I think it would be absolutely hilarious if it was just a random wolf, and Blizzard is just sitting there thinking “Man it’s just a random wolf, should we have made this someone special?” That would probably be the funniest outcome - but it will be really interesting to see if it is someone special. I’ve heard a few people say the wolf may be Mephisto, but I don’t think that really fits the lore. Maybe the wolf is our character from Diablo III - we’ve seen it happen before, from Diablo to Diablo II, where the three player characters from the first game become enemies in the second. I think that would be really cool.
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