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Diablo 4 - Everything you need to know
Our resident Diablo expert, Kosta "Toadovsky" Andreadis, was recently out at Anaheim to get the surprise (not really surprise) drop on Diablo IV. Here's everything he gathered from BlizzCon!
By Kosta Andreadis
10 min readPublished on
After years of rumours and speculation Blizzard finally lifted the veil on Diablo IV at BlizzCon 2019. The long-awaited reveal was as stunning as it was downright intense. If you haven’t had the chance to watch the ‘By Three They Come’ cinematic that sets the scene, tone, and the main antagonist in daughter of hatred Lilith -- be sure to do just that. We’ll wait.
Well, not really because there’s a lot to get through. Described as a ‘Return to Darkness’ for the long-running action-RPG franchise – Blizzard also had a playable demo on hand for those in attendance at BlizzCon. Where people had the chance to go hands-on with the new look Barbarian, Sorceress, or Druid and see the new open-world Sanctuary for themselves.
And being there we did just that, several times. And took in the various panels and interviews. A massively multiplayer online game like World of Warcraft, Diablo IV is not. After spending close to two hours as a Barbarian, Sorceress, and Druid roaming the plains and what lies beneath of Sanctuary, it’s safe to say that in its current state Diablo IV looks and plays exactly how you would want a Diablo IV to look and play.
The action -- a tasty blend of Diablo II and Diablo III -- mixed with the smooth, fluid, skill-based combat of the latter only now with a slower and more tactical pace built off of the former. Visually it looks stunning, too. Sporting exceptional art direction that more than lives up to the promise of darkness. But we’re getting besides ourselves. There’s a lot to get through. So sit back, open a bag of popcorn, as we go through 61 (that's right, sixty-freaking-one) things you need to know about Diablo IV.
Being co-developed across all major systems will only help the end-user
Being co-developed across all major systems will only help the end-user© Blizzard
  • "The Return to Darkness" tagline for Diablo IV is in reference to both the narrative and the art direction that will focus on horror, the occult and the Gothic roots of the franchise.
  • Diablo IV’s action will be bloody, gory and full of horrific and demonic imagery.
  • The narrative and individual stories will be more grounded, dealing with villagers and their plight, versus the comings and goings of angels and demons.
  • The viewpoint follows the familiar isometric look and feel of Diablo and other action-RPGs.
  • Sanctuary is a large open and seamless world to explore. You can run from the tip of Scosglen right down through to the Frozen Peaks without ever encountering a load screen.
  • The large seamless world to explore required the creation of a new physically-based rendering system and engine. In other words, brand-new tech and not an extension of the stuff seen in Diablo III.
  • Sanctuary will support dynamic weather and a day-night system, with Blizzard noting that this will visually affect combat and your character’s movement.
  • The five connected regions that will launch with the game include Scosglen (to the North), the Dry Steppes (a war-ravaged desert), the Fractured Peaks (the snowy mountainous region in the middle), Hawezar (swamp lands located to the South), and Kehjistan (the last bastion of the Zakarum and the home to the ancient city of Caldeum).
  • The main threat in Diablo IV will be Lilith, daughter of hatred and the mother of Sanctuary. As Mephisto’s little angel she hooked up with Inarius (an actual Angel) to create humanity.
  • The story takes place 30 years after the events of Diablo III: Reaper of Souls.
  • Sanctuary will be full of enemy camps, dungeons and small villages to discover. Blizzard says that there will be hundreds of each, and each one of those will look and feel unique.
  • In addition to returning enemies and monsters a new threat in the form of The Drowned will play a major role. They’ve emerged from the coastlines and waters surrounding Sanctuary after being absent for years. And they’re wet, and evil.
  • One of the bosses found in Scosglen and seen in the demo is called The Drowned Witch. Apparently, she enslaves villager’s children in return for bountiful crops. Whether they ask for it or not.
  • Although not in the demo Duriel, Lord of Pain is another confirmed boss.
  • At some point in the game players will venture into the depths of Hell in what Blizzard is describing as a “dark, gothic, and medieval version” of The Bad Place.
  • Due to the large size of Sanctuary players will be able to call upon mounts – which will come in the form of horses. And yes, there will be horse armour.
  • Each of the classes will come equipped with a special dismount attack or ability that will allow players to seamlessly go from horseback and straight into demon-slaying action.
  • Sanctuary will be full of collectibles in form of lore books and secret caches and artefacts to find.
  • Sanctuary will also feature dedicated PvP zones where players can do battle and fight each other for rewards and glory.
Hell hath no fury, like a Lilith scorned - Dr. Frasier Crane
Hell hath no fury, like a Lilith scorned - Dr. Frasier Crane© Blizzard
  • PvP will not feature separate balancing and will be like how it worked in Diablo II. Though Blizzard notes that it will be looking at certain PvP builds and taking those into account to ensure a level playing field.
  • Item Trading between players will return. But at this stage will come in three flavours: items that can always be traded (like crafting materials), items that can only be traded once (where they become bound to players once traded), and items that can never be traded (the rarest items and loot, bound on pick-up).
  • There will be five classes at launch with the first three announced being – Barbarian, Sorceress, and Druid.
  • Talent trees (ie branching abilities you can put points into) make a return in Diablo IV.
  • The skill and ability system will be familiar to those who played Diablo II or III but this time individual abilities like the Barbarian’s Whirlwind attack can be upgraded over time. And levelled up.
  • The Barbarian is a physical, heavy melee character that is a master of weapons. Literally. Barbarians will be able to wield four weapons, two two-handers and two one-handers, and switch between them depending on the skill used.
  • With four weapons the Barbarian will also be the class with the most stat bonuses effects and affixes from being able to equip up to four Legendary weapons.
When creating your character, you will be able to customise their look, from hair, facial details, skin colour, scars, and more...
  • The Sorceress is a classic magic and ranged caster as seen in Diablo II that can call upon the elements of fire, ice, and lightning to do damage.
  • One of the talents and skill tree paths for the Sorceress will allow for Glass Cannon-like builds.
  • The Druid is a melee character with the ability to shapeshift into a Bear or Wolf and call upon various other forms of earth and storm-based magic.
  • One of the Druids ultimate abilities, and seen in the BlizzCon demo, calls down a mess of tornadoes and lightning strikes to do massive amounts of AoE (area-of-effect) damage.
  • When creating your character, you will be able to customise their look, from hair, facial details, skin colour, scars, and more.
  • This is because the game will feature several real-time cinematics where you’ll see your character up close and personal.
  • The game is always online but can be played solo.
Blue is pretty, let monster play with it!
Blue is pretty, let monster play with it!© Blizzard
  • Players will be able to experience the story alone, and not run into other players, for that first playthrough if they choose to.
  • Diablo IV will support party sizes of up to four players, but public events and towns will be populated by more.
  • Dungeons will be instanced for parties only.
  • Clan support will be there at launch alongside things like clan and party chat. A Clan Banking system is also on the cards.
  • Console version will support couch co-op ala the Diablo III port. But, in a welcome move the PC version will also support controllers for input. And couch co-op. Or desk chair co-op.
  • Dungeon layouts will be randomly generated much like Rifts from Diablo III, but the look, feel and enemies you encounter will remain the same.
  • Once you’re in a dungeon there will be no loading screens when delving deeper. Going from outdoor to indoor and then to Cave Level 1 to 2 and so forth will be seamless.
  • Dungeons will have unique objectives and stories to tell.
  • Random events can appear anywhere and not just in set locations.
  • Elite monsters and demons will return but their design is being treated to feel more organic. For example, an Elite Skeleton Archer will be able to fire-off multi-shot arrows as opposed to suddenly becoming a master of arcane magic.
Fitting a saddle to this might be a bit of an ask, even for a Barbarian
Fitting a saddle to this might be a bit of an ask, even for a Barbarian© Blizzard
The new evade ability will be key to Diablo IV’s tactical combat and was added based on the popularity of the dodge roll ability found in the console release of Diablo III...
  • Bosses will now feature a stagger and stun meter that once maxed out puts them in an ‘easy-to-attack’ state that lasts a few seconds. This is tied directly to class abilities and skills relating to stagger and stun.
  • The new evade ability will be key to Diablo IV’s tactical combat and was added based on the popularity of the dodge roll ability found in the console release of Diablo III.
  • Items will come in the usual coloured flavours. Normal (White), Magic (Blue), Rare (Yellow), Legendary (Brown), and Mythic (Red).
  • Mythic items will be the most powerful in the game and will roll with four Legendary affixes. Players will only be able to equip one Mythic item at a time.
  • Green Set Items will return but Legendary Items will be more powerful this time around.
  • Itemisation and how Legendary effect will integrate with skills will be more fluid between classes, with the focus not being on straight damage buffs. Bonuses are being designed to offer variety and opportunity.
  • Blizzard is planning to include hundreds of unique build-defining Legendary Items at launch.
  • Tracking stats and understanding what an item might do for you will be simplified down to two main stats - ‘Attack’ and ‘Defence’ ratings.
  • Runes return and will socket into items. Runewords will be formed when you combine a condition and effect Rune. For example, the condition may be after you use a potion with the effect being some sort of bonus applied to the next five hits.
  • End game is a major focus of current Diablo IV development. And with a large open-world players can expect varied content in addition to special dungeons that require special keys to open.
The tonal and artistic shift back to dark gothic-horror has been successful
The tonal and artistic shift back to dark gothic-horror has been successful© Blizzard
  • Diablo IV will have themed Seasons, where new items will be introduced and the meta will change or certain builds will be highlighted.
  • Blizzard plans to release multiple full-sized expansions for the game.
  • Blizzard will not sell power in Diablo IV; demon hunting will be the only way to grow more powerful. Monetisation may arrive in the form of cosmetics for the classes.
  • Hardcore mode is returning. This is the tense Diablo experience where if you die, that’s it. Your character’s story is over.
  • For inspiration, the development team has also looked at classic pen and paper role-playing games, comics, books, horror films, and heavy metal music.
  • There is no current release date or release window for Diablo IV but it has been confirmed for PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4.
  • That said, the development team has said that Diablo IV is not coming soon or even ‘Blizzard Soon’.
  • There is no Cow Level. Even if there is.
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