When Diablo 4 comes, it turns some of the pillars of the franchise upside down: you should also be able to ride mounts in the Open World, take enemy camps and the like. Blizzard has released a new quarterly update on development that also covers storytelling, multiplayer and design itself.
Diablo 4: New insights into story building, multiplayer, open world & Co
That’s what it’s all about: In the so-called “Quarterly Update“Blizzard always keeps us up to date with the development of Diablo 4. It seems to be progressing well, even if it will take a while before the action RPG appears. Here it is emphasized again and again that nothing is final and above all the look can still change.
In the developer update, these points are in the foreground alongside a few words about playtesting and the creation of an opponent design:
- Storytelling
- Open World
- Multiplayer
- Items & Progression
Storytelling: Blizzard fully relies on real-time cutscenes when there are important story events. So the transition is seamless and we also see our current equipment in the cutscene. That was already to be admired at BlizzCon and can then look like this, for example:
In less important dialogues, the iso perspective remains, but the camera moves closer and there are a lot of animations. Although this is not yet final, it could be much more lively and natural than, for example, in Diablo 3. Like this:
Open World: A lot of time and work goes into developing the more open game world. Blizzard emphasizes that the players have a lot of freedom and can of course think about what they do, how and in what order.
In addition to “World PvP”, events, crafting and side quests, the camps are among the most popular features in the game world of Diablo 4 so far. They are usually populated by opponents, but we can take them. Then, for example, NPCs return there and the camp is available as a waypoint.
Mounts: We can also ride in Diablo 4. This helps in particular in the big open world to get from A to B. Nevertheless, neither fighting nor traveling should be simplified too much by riding. In addition, we can also equip the lovely horses with all sorts of saddles and other stuff, which opens “a new axis of progression”.
Multiplayer: One of the biggest challenges when implementing the Diablo 4 multiplayer is balance. If we encounter too many opponents, the game may lose its Diablo flair and feels more like an MMO.
Dungeons and important story moments generally always remain private. But in cities, for example, we can also meet other players. On the way in the Open World too. The whole thing becomes particularly important, for example, for things like the World Events. They can also be contested alone.
Items & Progression: Of course, Diablo 4 also relies on the well-known loot spiral. For example, this time there are vampire pants, legendary boots and much, much more. In the not too distant future, Blizzard wants to publish its own update, which is only about items and progress.
How does it all sound to you? What do you want most from Diablo 4? What could you do without?
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