[BlizzCon 2019] Diablo IV: System and Features rundown

Diablo IV had a stream to cover its system and features in a 45 minute block. We’ve previously covered quite a few of these in a previous article, so do check it out!

CLASSES

As you might expect, the Sorceress is mainly a fragile, ranged caster class. The class will be using fire, cold and lightning spells. The Barbarian is the physical warrior, with heavy melee attacks and a master of weapons. They will be able to grant Unstoppable to self and teammates. Druids can shapeshift, switching forms between human, werewolf or werebear. Transformations are instant, with different bonuses in different forms. They will be using earth and storm magic.

SKILL POINT SYSTEMS

Levelling up will grant skill points to rank up or unlock skills. Find skill point tomb items for additional skill points.

TALENT SYSTEM

Talents will make the difference in playstyles. Currently, players will be able to dash, get Unstoppable status and immunity for a few seconds.

WORLD

You can have up to 4 persons in a party. Dungeons will be private. Private spaces can be shared with 3 others, while a shared world will have slightly more players. Naturally, the open world will have far more than a handful.

The overworld is shared. Should you be on a campaign objective, you won’t be seeing other players until that is done. There will be world bosses that you can tackle with more than 4 players.

Two players can couch co-op on a console using one copy of the game.

DUNGEONS

Dungeons will be randomly generated both exterior and interior. Exploration will be seamless, with no loading screens. Random events will no longer be restricted to a specific place in the world. There will be dungeon objectives, and clearing them will give more loot within that dungeon. All of them will have their custom objectives.

Players are promised varied content, with a focus on strategic depth and player agency within the end-game dungeons. Dungeon keys will drop at specific locations and difficulties. These keys can trigger things like double bosses or various events according to the key. You can get specific keys to upgrade specific dungeons. The keys can also be salvaged to craft items.

MONSTERS

You have your usual grunts, skeletons and such. A shield skeleton will be able to stun, Fallen Shamans can revive units. Elite Monsters return, with normal skills enhanced. There’s a “Wall of Bones” boss revealed, which can use a storm of bones to blind players. Likewise, the world boss Ashava is mentioned. For Ashava, there will be a stagger bar that, once filled, will allow you to break parts of the boss.

ITEMS

Rarities go from Normal to Mythic. They go from:

• Normal – Magic – Rare – Legendary – Ancient Legendary – Mythic
• Normal – Magic – Rare – Set – Ancient Set – Mythic

Legendaries are better than Set. There will be items to mod skills on Legendary items. Mythics will have 4 legendary special skills. Runes will have varying effects and are in two flavours so far: condition runes – having a specific condition for activation – and effect runes. Both types can be used in one item.

Legendaries will get a more balanced drop rate. The more powerful the monster, the more powerful loot possible. Upgrading to more challenging dungeons means there’ll be more powerful monsters, with more difficult objectives. Affixes and stats are random.

Trading is in. There are categories of tradable items:

• Items that can only be traded once
• Items that can be traded freely
• The most powerful of items will be untradable

This is subject to player feedback.

You can expect expansions for the base game. Affixes on items will bring about unique, customizable playstyles. Diablo IV will not have offline mode.

PVP

The team assures there will be enough choices in playstyle to differentiate the PvE and PvP experience.

As for post-game support, seasons will be introduced to keep the experience fresh for players. Legendary items will be available for every season, and seasons will have a spotlight item. More will be added on.

Last but not least, Diablo IV will have Hardcore mode.

So, what do you think of these Diablo IV system and features?

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