So much blood

Diablo 4 has been announced.  Clearly at this point in the game creation pipeline we have to be careful, as Blizzard likely won't release it until 2021.  Still, the cinematic trailer and gameplay videos are *gorgeous* and I am twitching with anticipation.

I was twitching with anticipation for D3 too though, and that had.... some serious flaws.

I think there is room for optimism though.  D3 had some huge issues that were created by Blizzard trying to solve problems, and they realized that they went too far from their source material.  The Auction House sounded like a good idea to me, because they were trying to eliminate the inconvience, spam, and scamming that were a constant in D2.  A good goal, to be sure, but it ended up a game where the best way to progress a character was to sit on the AH all day farming gold, and then just buy whatever you needed.  That did not work out.

D3 also had the issue of frequency of set and legendary drops.  When it was first released sets were theoretically in the game, but after farming max level content for 100 hours I had found a single set piece.  The timeline to actually assemble a set looked like it would be in the 2,000 hour range, and that is completely absurd.  On the other hand, at this point in D3 you get your sets immediately and in huge quantity and you just farm them over and over looking for ideal stat rolls.  Also those sets increase abilities by 2000%, which throws all game balance completely out the window.  Both extremes are a huge problem.

It seems like Blizzard is aiming for something in between D2 and D3.  They are going back to a skill tree and multiple ranks in skills, which sounds good, but their examples clearly show characters using a variety of abilities while fighting.  D2 had the problem where characters would usually end up just using a single ability, and that gets pretty boring.  D3 had the problem that characters had no permanent attributes, just a level that was shared across the account.  In theory they could combine the best of both of those games and come out with something marvellous.

I know what I would do for D4.  I would have a skill tree like D3, and limited ability to reroll or change point allocations.  I would gate higher level abilities behind total points invested in a particular tree, so that putting points into lower level abilities still makes sense - you have to do that to unlock the higher level ones.  D2's solution to this (passive skill benefits) was extremely limiting on builds, and D3's solution was to get rid of the skill trees completely and I don't like that much.

Between D2 and D3 lies a truly magificent game.  One I would play the hell out of for years and years.

Blizzard can create a great cinematic, and they can make the game look pretty.  By pretty, of course, I mean dark, bloody, brutal, gothic, and terrifying.  But whether or not they can combine the pieces of those two games into something wonderful remains to be seen.

I should be cynical and hesitant by this point.  I have been burned before.  But hope springs eternal.