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[Schmendrick]

The dungeon maps are randomized, it's just that they aren't randomized very much.
This they must fix if they want players to stick around for awhile.

"Stick around for a while" is already far fetched.
I got bored with the dungeons within half a day. They all play the same with different setdressing (which also have a very limited diversity).
Considering the emblem modified dungeons and helltide areas are the "beef" of the endgame as far as we know atm that doesn`t really look interesting at all.

 

[.Pennywise]

"Beta has become a twisted word": Blizzard responds to Diablo 4 early access feedback​

Queues, balance, the Butcher, couch co-op, dungeon design and more.

https://www.eurogamer.net/beta-has-...rd-responds-to-diablo-4-early-access-feedback

Good read. Adresses some stuff from Beta such as queue times, server management, class balance, backtracking empty dungeons, etc.

 

[Cyberpunkd]

I was shocked how after the first day the queue was eliminated, that must have been first for Blizzard.

 

[Rentahamster]

This video is a month old but it's the first time I'm seeing it.



It sounds pretty complicated. Could be awesome, could be terrible.

 

[Rentahamster]

I was shocked how after the first day the queue was eliminated, that must have been first for Blizzard.

According to the interview, they had enough server capacity, but the queues were a conservative preventative measure to make sure nothing broke too badly. Once they gathered more data that they were good to go, it was simply a matter of reducing the queue threshold bit by bit.

This is a much different situation than them having to put out fires in real time, which is more like what we had in D3.

 

[amigastar]

Some interesting points he make. Long time no see a Kripparian video.


He would give D4 6/10 points on release and after a year of work it could get to 9/10
Also the Barbarian is clearly underpowered since It's a melee character.
Some other things he get into.

 

[Nostalgic Nightmare]

My biggest gripe with the beta may have been around the story. They literally re-used the same daughter/mother plot from D3 with Leah & Adria - talk about lazy ass writing.

 

[Rentahamster]

Some interesting points he make. Long time no see a Kripparian video.

He would give D4 6/10 points on release and after a year of work it could get to 9/10
Also the Barbarian is clearly underpowered since It's a melee character.
Some other things he get into.

I just watched Asmon's reaction to this video. I agree with both of them on 99% of their assessment of the beta.

 

[xrnzaaas]

It's just not a game for me. I don't like the idea of one open world, everything scaling to my level or no randomization on the surface. But most of all I don't want to see other players and this isn't something they're planning to turn off. I know they can't attack me and I don't have to interact with them, but I'd still like the option to explore this world completely solo (not counting the AI companions ofc).

I also think the game needs some serious balancing. I was sweating my ass off playing as the barbarian while the sorcerer can have an easy time.

 

[Rentahamster]

Also the Barbarian is clearly underpowered since It's a melee character.

I agree that in the beta the Barbarian is a little lacking due to several factors.

• One of their class quests is in an inaccessible area, unlike the sorc.
• Melee builds are put in more danger and have less DPS opportunities.
• You can get further with less gear as a ranged DPS than with melee.

However, with a nice set of gear, you can start melting things with barb, even in the beta. The barrier to entry is just a lot harder. Who knows, perhaps barbs and melee in general will get a big power spike. It's currently unknown.

 

[Krappadizzle]

Well, by the time it was all said and done I had a 25 Rogue and 25 Sorc. Very excited to try the Necromancer next. Sorc was vastly more fun to play than Rogue was. My Rogue ended getting a few pieces of gear that was vanish/poison trap based and it took me a while to wrap my head around the new playstyle after the gear dropped. Sorc pretty much stayed the same the whole time with me trying different spells. Ended up with the Hydras,Shock/Blizzard and it was such a fun chaotic and powerful mess. Very fun. Looking forward so much to seeing how differently I can make the same classes now.

 

[Nydius]

From the Eurogamer article:

Rod Fergusson: Yeah. Part of it is the number of players. "Beta" has been a twisted word that has become "marketing beta", which means demo, and for us this was a true beta because we wanted to be able to test that load and what does it mean to get a lot of players in?

Yeah, okay Rod. It totally wasn't a marketing beta when early access was heavily advertised as part of the preorder bonuses.
The KFC Double Down shit for early beta access? Totally not marketing...

He makes himself look like a clown trying to define "beta". Especially when his definition is a stress test, which also isn't a "beta".

 

[Boneless]

I like how Asmon put it in his review of the Beta:

I want the game to make me feel OP, like I made a build that should not be possible

With the above, he does not mean faceroll like with the sorcerer, it's a tight zone where you feel super powerfull but can still get your ass absolutely kicked. Elden Ring does this super well, and some roguelites have this nailed.
I 100% agree with this being key, but I am not sure D4 has it nailed yet, but it's too early too tell.

Other than that, this OST is beautiful:

 

[Elder Legend]

I agree that in the beta the Barbarian is a little lacking due to several factors.

• One of their class quests is in an inaccessible area, unlike the sorc.
• Melee builds are put in more danger and have less DPS opportunities.
• You can get further with less gear as a ranged DPS than with melee.

However, with a nice set of gear, you can start melting things with barb, even in the beta. The barrier to entry is just a lot harder. Who knows, perhaps barbs and melee in general will get a big power spike. It's currently unknown.

Dunno man, every ARPG game is never supposed to be balanced early game. End-game is where its at. The first 20 or so levels are going to be different for variety of classes. I managed to get a Barbarian on Hardcore to level 15 before the servers shut down and a rogue to 25 also on Hardcore.

It's impossible to balance a loot based and skill-tree game for the first 20 or so levels, it just never works. Diablo 3 is same way. However, when you reached 70/max it all made sense, because everyone had access to their entire kit, and at that point it was a matter of getting the right items and creating a farming build first until you've farmed enough to get a end-game build. Why are people so surprised about the balance here? And yes, I played on World Tier 2 which was max difficulty. I've lost a few barbs and rogues, but I managed to learn the classes, their skills and itemization within the 30 hour or so period of my playtime and had a blast doing it.

Yeah, I'll agree melee characters are always more gear dependent and they are usually forced to take damage when doing damage because they have to be up-close. But I wouldn't say Barbarian is severely underpowered. We won't know until everyone levels toons to the max level which is a 100 in Diablo 4. I can see Barbarians being the weakest once at the start sure, but that doesn't mean they are unbalanced once they're max level, but we can't say that either because we haven't seen end game. Once the game releases, everything will be a lot more accurate.

Out of all the characters that I've played I found Sorceress to be doing the most damage and the easiest to kill with, but that's just naturally cause they are the glass cannon nuker of the game. Rogue, while a lot of fun and good, has severe energy regen issues. The build that I run on my Hardcore Rogue didn't really perform super well until level 20 because that was when I finally got one of the skills that I really needed to complete the build. However, it was a good enough build to get me to 25 and kept me alive even though it was a bit slow, it did its job.

 

[Hot5pur]

I've been reading a lot of feedback from just about everywhere and it seems most problems will affect people who want to play this game forever. I think for someone wanting to put a few 100 hours in and move on, the points raised are mild at best.

Dungeons not randomized enough seems like a concern for many repeats. The randomization will arguably come from the endgame challenge ramp, which is more important gameplay wise.

Characters not being perfectly balanced can make sense if barb gets stronger in later game, which is the case. Just like in fighting games, sometimes the higher learning curve characters are more rewarding in the end (on this case it's a gearing curve).

Enemies scaling to player level, also good with that. Means I can enjoy co-op with my partner and still play by myself without getting too far apart and not being able to play together well again. Also early game content can be replayed more easily. Also I personally like a challenge in my game, so every time I level I have the option of getting much stronger even though I can initially feel immediately weaker.

Skill trees not being a clusterfk of nodes? Good, I don't want to play poe with 10 spreadsheets open and looking up extensive build guides, and make it my second full time job. I'm not even exaggerating.

Shared open world? It has its downsides in that it's immersion breaking, but in return it makes the world boss structure make more sense, and the other random events a bit more interesting. Also seamless pvp. This was a worthwhile compromise.

I think this game will be a banger for the casual/semi serious crowd. Not sure it will have legs for the die hards, but I'm glad the priority was on the "average" person.

 

[Rentahamster]

Dunno man, every ARPG game is never supposed to be balanced early game. End-game is where its at. The first 20 or so levels are going to be different for variety of classes. I managed to get a Barbarian on Hardcore to level 15 before the servers shut down and a rogue to 25 also on Hardcore.

It's impossible to balance a loot based and skill-tree game for the first 20 or so levels, it just never works. Diablo 3 is same way. However, when you reached 70/max it all made sense, because everyone had access to their entire kit, and at that point it was a matter of getting the right items and creating a farming build first until you've farmed enough to get a end-game build. Why are people so surprised about the balance here? And yes, I played on World Tier 2 which was max difficulty. I've lost a few barbs and rogues, but I managed to learn the classes, their skills and itemization within the 30 hour or so period of my playtime and had a blast doing it.

Yeah, I'll agree melee characters are always more gear dependent and they are usually forced to take damage when doing damage because they have to be up-close. But I wouldn't say Barbarian is severely underpowered. We won't know until everyone levels toons to the max level which is a 100 in Diablo 4. I can see Barbarians being the weakest once at the start sure, but that doesn't mean they are unbalanced once they're max level, but we can't say that either because we haven't seen end game. Once the game releases, everything will be a lot more accurate.

Out of all the characters that I've played I found Sorceress to be doing the most damage and the easiest to kill with, but that's just naturally cause they are the glass cannon nuker of the game. Rogue, while a lot of fun and good, has severe energy regen issues. The build that I run on my Hardcore Rogue didn't really perform super well until level 20 because that was when I finally got one of the skills that I really needed to complete the build. However, it was a good enough build to get me to 25 and kept me alive even though it was a bit slow, it did its job.

I don't necessarily disagree with anything you said. I did leave a caveat at the end of my assessment that it's possible that Barbarian gets a big power spike later in the game when that class can incorporate more tools into its build.

Personally, my barb was pretty strong at the end of the beta, but that was because I farmed a lot of gear from that level 35 boss.

 

[Bitmap Frogs]

I agree that in the beta the Barbarian is a little lacking due to several factors.

• One of their class quests is in an inaccessible area, unlike the sorc.
• Melee builds are put in more danger and have less DPS opportunities.
• You can get further with less gear as a ranged DPS than with melee.

However, with a nice set of gear, you can start melting things with barb, even in the beta. The barrier to entry is just a lot harder. Who knows, perhaps barbs and melee in general will get a big power spike. It's currently unknown.

There was some video leak from the closed beta and in the leak there's a barbarian player going against the closed beta final boss (a placeholder literally called closed_beta_final_boss) and he melts it in seconds.

Judging this game at level 25 with most of its systems unavailable is weird, but hey streamers gotta stream you know?

If someone who was in closed beta said that, well it would carry a different weight.

just IMHO

 

[.Pennywise]

I like how Asmon put it in his review of the Beta:

I want the game to make me feel OP, like I made a build that should not be possible

With the above, he does not mean faceroll like with the sorcerer, it's a tight zone where you feel super powerfull but can still get your ass absolutely kicked. Elden Ring does this super well, and some roguelites have this nailed.
I 100% agree with this being key, but I am not sure D4 has it nailed yet, but it's too early too tell.

Other than that, this OST is beautiful:

I'm very conflicted respecting OST.

And that's because I found the OST in the beta to be superb. It really, really fits the world they're presenting before you. But in the other hand, I don't like how it doesn't stand out in any major way, like they went 100% the safe route.

 

[pleaseinsertdisctwo]

I want Lilith to give me a manicure

 

[DavidGzz]

Well, by the time it was all said and done I had a 25 Rogue and 25 Sorc. Very excited to try the Necromancer next. Sorc was vastly more fun to play than Rogue was. My Rogue ended getting a few pieces of gear that was vanish/poison trap based and it took me a while to wrap my head around the new playstyle after the gear dropped. Sorc pretty much stayed the same the whole time with me trying different spells. Ended up with the Hydras,Shock/Blizzard and it was such a fun chaotic and powerful mess. Very fun. Looking forward so much to seeing how differently I can make the same classes now.

This goes to show why it's a great thing to have multiple classes because I'm quite the opposite, Rogue was like peanut butter and jelly, sorcerer was fun but I don't think I've had as much fun playing any kind of Diablo like until D4 Rogue. In the end most classes will be pretty balanced out like they are in Diablo 3.

 

[DavidGzz]

As far as the balance goes yeah it's pretty laughable to base it on the beta. Right now in Diablo 3 a necromancer is the easiest to level by far, but in the end game a necromancer is probably in third or fourth place.

 

[Neofire]

Took some snap shots of my gear before the beta ended....

 

[Laieon]

I was shocked how after the first day the queue was eliminated, that must have been first for Blizzard.

That's pretty on-par with the last few WoW expansions, at least from what I've experienced.

 

[Elder Legend]

I don't necessarily disagree with anything you said. I did leave a caveat at the end of my assessment that it's possible that Barbarian gets a big power spike later in the game when that class can incorporate more tools into its build.

Personally, my barb was pretty strong at the end of the beta, but that was because I farmed a lot of gear from that level 35 boss.

What build did you run during leveling process?

I went with Lunging Strike and for my spender it was the one where you use a 2 handed weapon and swipe the floor with. It would 1 shot enemies from full hp, even with World Tier 2. I wasn't super lucky with gear either. It's the 2 skills I've used to get to a level 15 Barbarian on Hardcore. I also killed the boss in Light's Watch (Den Mother) who's notorious for slaying many HC characters (he killed my previous Barbarian).

Bosses in this game seem more mechanic heavy which I like, and with them scaling its very important you know the mechanics and know when to attack and when to dodge especially as melee. And yes I only play Solo.

 

[Rentahamster]

There was some video leak from the closed beta and in the leak there's a barbarian player going against the closed beta final boss (a placeholder literally called closed_beta_final_boss) and he melts it in seconds.

Judging this game at level 25 with most of its systems unavailable is weird, but hey streamers gotta stream you know?

If someone who was in closed beta said that, well it would carry a different weight.

just IMHO

I think we all realize what we know and also realize what we don't know. We know we only got up to level 25, and that there is a lot more out there. There are still a lot of unknowns out there, and most assessments I've seen (even mine) are open to revision once the full game is explored.

For me, this goes back to my first post in this thread.

Hmm, do I give Blizzard a second third fourth chance? Have I learned my lesson?

I know what I played in the beta was limited. I know perhaps it's only representative of the state of the game from way back and that it's much different now. But if the level 1-25 experience in the beta is close to the release version of the game, then that means the release version of the game will have a sub-par level 1-25 experience. That's not exactly great accolades.

Again, I want to make it clear that I know there's still a lot left to be discovered. I'm not catastrophizing this entire game. In fact, I'm excited to play again next weekend. But I know what I experienced last weekend. And I also know what Blizzard's track record is. They're going to throw a whole bunch of crap at the wall and see what sticks without hardly testing anything. I don't really expect their approach to game development to have changed drastically for Diablo 4, but I could be wrong.

 

[sendit]

They should move the launch up a month early. June is a long wait. What happens if all the banks tumble and go bankrupt within the next month. All because Blizzard decided to launch in June.

 

[Macattk15]

This video is a month old but it's the first time I'm seeing it.



It sounds pretty complicated. Could be awesome, could be terrible.

Not complicated. Completely boring passive stat boosts.

 

[Kacho]

Three more days brehs

 

[Rentahamster]

Not complicated. Completely boring passive stat boosts.

How do you know? We don't know what all the tiles represent yet.

 

[Beastclaw Raider]

That photo array certainly explains why I found myself getting bored as fuck with dungeons after the first few hours. If all the dungeons are like this when it launches, I can’t imagine I’ll want to grind all of them on one character, let alone multiple times, and for end game.

I don't get this, it was sure fun as hell to farm in D2 while following a certain side of the wall until you found the stairs for the next level

 

[Rentahamster]

I don't get this, it was sure fun as hell to farm in D2 while following a certain side of the wall until you found the stairs for the next level

It's a similar concept, but the execution is different. Yes, D2's dungeon layout algorithm can be figured out, but D4's layout is toddler-level basic by comparison.

 

[Beastclaw Raider]

It's a similar concept, but the execution is different. Yes, D2's dungeon layout algorithm can be figured out, but D4's layout is toddler-level basic by comparison.

It is but it's a minor annoyance for me at most, I just clear the whole thing anyhow. It'll be helpful for farming though

 

[Rentahamster]

What build did you run during leveling process?

I went with Lunging Strike and for my spender it was the one where you use a 2 handed weapon and swipe the floor with. It would 1 shot enemies from full hp, even with World Tier 2. I wasn't super lucky with gear either. It's the 2 skills I've used to get to a level 15 Barbarian on Hardcore. I also killed the boss in Light's Watch (Den Mother) who's notorious for slaying many HC characters (he killed my previous Barbarian).

Bosses in this game seem more mechanic heavy which I like, and with them scaling its very important you know the mechanics and know when to attack and when to dodge especially as melee. And yes I only play Solo.

I was playing around with a bunch of different builds the entire time. Depending on what I was doing, I would spec for either DPS or defense. I used Upheaval quite a lot too. It was especially useful with the "stronger after 10 uses of a different skill" variety, as well as the legendary "fury gained above max adds damage to your next core skill" aspect. My defense build with Frenzy, Upheaval, Call of the Ancients, War Cry, Iron Skin, and Kick/Ground Stomp/Charge worked very well and I could solo tank any boss, even the level 35 Osgar elite.

During the end of the beta, I wanted to see if I could recreate my Whirlwind barb build that I made from the early days of Diablo III. My build got nerfed to hell the second month after release, but while it was attainable, I had a lot of fun with it. It was a build that effectively granted me unlimited uptime on Wrath of the Barbarian as well as unlimited fury. Here's a video I made of it 10 years ago. Ahh the memories.



Anyway, I was trying to gather as much Whirlwind and Fury gear that I could, and I was about halfway there. I think there's enough Legendary aspects available in the beta to get a pretty viable Whirlwind barb going. I just needed more time to farm stuff.

 

[Macattk15]

How do you know? We don't know what all the tiles represent yet.

Closed beta has been going on for quite some time now.

 

[Elder Legend]

Closed beta has been going on for quite some time now.

What closed beta? The preview press event in December was very limited. Did they have access to paragon?

No one has any secret access to the rest of the game my friend as far as I am aware. We have barely scratched the surface.

 

[Macattk15]

What closed beta? The preview press event in December was very limited. Did they have access to paragon?

No one has any secret access to the rest of the game my friend as far as I am aware. We have barely scratched the surface.

You really don't think a closed beta has been occurring and they are just jumping straight into open betas 3 months away from launch?

 

[Elder Legend]

You really don't think a closed beta has been occurring and they are just jumping straight into open betas 3 months away from launch?

I don't have to think. I know. Sure there is an internal beta/testing that's been going on for months for employees and all that.

However, the actual Closed beta was in Novemeber, then the embargo lifted for that in December. Go do a Google search on "Diablo 4 closed beta" and you'll have your answer.

I also I know people who were in it. They no longer have access to anything since then, until last week which was a public early access if you pre ordered the game or got invited. This week is open to everyone at 0 cost.

I am also a member of the press and have been given access last weekend with a press key On the PS5 per by my request.

I however, wasn't invited to the one in December, only a few select people were.

Blizzard has also confirmed they will be talking about end game systems and doing a deep dive shortly after the weekend beta ends, basically sometime in April, we will see more of the end game.

 

[Comandr]

blah blah blah

Man is it the video or did you actually play this game at 5FPS? Also, wow, seeing it here after playing the beta, we really have come a long way graphically. Still, had some really good times with D3 and really looking forward to fighting hooooaaarrds of enemies like in your video.

 

[Cyberpunkd]

Are the player titles shared across all characters?

 

[Nobody_Important]

Wanted to give it a couple of days to simmer before I gave my feedback, but to be honest nothing's really changed. I feel just as good about the game now as I did when I was logging off Sunday night. Unless something horrible happens this weekend whenever I go to try the Druid or The necromancer it's going to be a day one buy for me.

- I played the sorcerer first because wizard was always my favorite in Diablo 3 and it was really fun despite a little bit of a struggle there in the middle. But it felt good at the start and it felt good by the time I was at level 18 or 19. The ultimates in particular were absolutely fantastic. After the veritable light show that all the other skills were I was expecting the ultimates to be very flashy and they most definitely were. Especially loved the animation on the serpent ultimate. It constantly coiling back and forth as I am just annihilating the area with flames just makes you feel very powerful. Also was a massive fan of the handful of armors that we got to see. They seemed to go mostly towards your typical sorcerer fare, but a few of them felt almost tribal in the way that they were mostly just leather and bone. Which is really cool because since we don't have a witch doctor class this time around it's kind of cool to be able to make your magic guy not look like he just graduated from Hogwarts and instead learned his magic out in the wilds.


- Barbarian felt a lot better than what I was thinking it would after playing the sorcerer. I was afraid after seeing all of the puddles on the ground and the very little reaction time on some of the melee hits that the barbarian was just going to get demolished in close range. Which to be fair kind of felt like it was the case for the first few levels, but once I started getting some of the survival nodes filled in I started to feel better and by the time I made it to level 20 I felt like a freaking tank. There was one dungeon I was able to just stand in all the boss's stuff and just repeatedly take it on the chin because I was able to heal myself through bleed damage and my potions. Only dipping out to pick up the potions that were dropping on the ground. Sadly the beta ended just before I got the barbarian ultimate but my buddy got his 25 and he said they all felt great except for the combo one which he felt just was a bit weird as he put it. As far as the armor and everything goes it was absolutely amazing how good you could make your barbarian look. You can make him go full caveman with the furs all over. You can make him go full Conan the Barbarian with his exposed chest and leather loincloth. Or you can even take a more modern look to him and make him look like he's straight out of the gladiator pits. Easily the best transmog options out of the three in my opinion.


- Rogue is where my satisfaction level dipped immensely. The bow did not feel very satisfying to use there wasn't as much "oompf" to it as there was on the sorcerer spells and the Barbarian swings. It just didn't feel like I was hitting as hard even though my damage was decent. There's just something about the way they do the effects that makes it feel like you're doing less. So then I switched to melee with the swords and daggers and that felt better as far as the satisfaction level, but I was getting hosed in group fights and boss fights because I had to get his clothes as I did with the barbarian, but I had none of the extra armor or health to give me the survival that I needed to do it. So I found myself constantly having to kind of run in poke poke poke and run out heal and then run in again poke poke poke and then run out again. Which to be fair is maybe what they're going for since it is a rogue maybe they are trying to get you to do more hit and run tactics than the Barbarian, but it just did not feel like a fun gameplay loop. The ultimates were also kind of so-so on the rogue because after seeing the ultimates on the sorcerer be so flashy the rogue once again felt pretty plain. Which once again might just be a style choice because it is a rogue so maybe they are wanting the road to be purposely more subtle than the other two. Which makes sense from a flavor perspective as well as a lore one, but as a player it doesn't feel very good to be the least flashy person in the group. I will say though that Demon Hunter was also my least favorite class in Diablo 3 so this might just be a me thing? As for their transmog it was also in third place for me. Don't get me wrong it didn't look bad, but compared to the options that you got on the Barbarian or the Sorcerer you just looked pretty plain. Might just be another design choice though. But I assume even the rogue will have some pretty outrageous looking outfits by the end game.



With all that being said I am very much looking forward to the Druid and The Necromancer this weekend. Particularly the Druid because I always love Druid type classes when it comes to RPGs. And I am really hoping that they have a leaned in hard to the transforming aspect of the class. There is something just really cool about BEING the weapon rather than wielding one.

 

[Rentahamster]

Man is it the video or did you actually play this game at 5FPS? Also, wow, seeing it here after playing the beta, we really have come a long way graphically. Still, had some really good times with D3 and really looking forward to fighting hooooaaarrds of enemies like in your video.

It was a combination of the game lagging from so many enemies, and the limitations of capture technology accessible to me at the time.

 

[DavidGzz]

Are the player titles shared across all characters?

They were in the beta.

 

[Cyberpunkd]

- Barbarian felt a lot better than what I was thinking it would after playing the sorcerer. I was afraid after seeing all of the puddles on the ground and the very little reaction time on some of the melee hits that the barbarian was just going to get demolished in close range. Which to be fair kind of felt like it was the case for the first few levels, but once I started getting some of the survival nodes filled in I started to feel better and by the time I made it to level 20 I felt like a freaking tank. There was one dungeon I was able to just stand in all the boss's stuff and just repeatedly take it on the chin because I was able to heal myself through bleed damage and my potions. Only dipping out to pick up the potions that were dropping on the ground. Sadly the beta ended just before I got the barbarian ultimate but my buddy got his 25 and he said they all felt great except for the combo one which he felt just was a bit weird as he put it. As far as the armor and everything goes it was absolutely amazing how good you could make your barbarian look. You can make him go full caveman with the furs all over. You can make him go full Conan the Barbarian with his exposed chest and leather loincloth. Or you can even take a more modern look to him and make him look like he's straight out of the gladiator pits. Easily the best transmog options out of the three in my opinion.

With all that being said I am very much looking forward to the Druid and The Necromancer this weekend. Particularly the Druid because I always love Druid type classes when it comes to RPGs. And I am really hoping that they have a leaned in hard to the transforming aspect of the class. There is something just really cool about BEING the weapon rather than wielding one.

Exactly my thoughts using Barbarian as well - weak at the beginning, but once I invested into Iron Skin you just stand there, laugh at getting hit and demolish them. WW with fury buildup on hit is as funny as it was in D2, meaning I can do it all day long.

Need to push this weekend one of them to lvl20 for the rewards, I will also briefly check Necro and Druid, really want to make a chill minion build.

 

[Boneless]

Exactly my thoughts using Barbarian as well - weak at the beginning, but once I invested into Iron Skin you just stand there, laugh at getting hit and demolish them. WW with fury buildup on hit is as funny as it was in D2, meaning I can do it all day long.

I played a barb, but always wondered what is fun about permanently being in whirlwind?

I do not find the whirlwind animation that satisfying either.

 

[Little Mac]

Excited to play the Druid but it sucks that his class specialization won't be in the beta.

 

[Rentahamster]

I played a barb, but always wondered what is fun about permanently being in whirlwind?

I do not find the whirlwind animation that satisfying either.

See my earlier post. Perma whirlwind is entertaining AF.

I was playing around with a bunch of different builds the entire time. Depending on what I was doing, I would spec for either DPS or defense. I used Upheaval quite a lot too. It was especially useful with the "stronger after 10 uses of a different skill" variety, as well as the legendary "fury gained above max adds damage to your next core skill" aspect. My defense build with Frenzy, Upheaval, Call of the Ancients, War Cry, Iron Skin, and Kick/Ground Stomp/Charge worked very well and I could solo tank any boss, even the level 35 Osgar elite.

During the end of the beta, I wanted to see if I could recreate my Whirlwind barb build that I made from the early days of Diablo III. My build got nerfed to hell the second month after release, but while it was attainable, I had a lot of fun with it. It was a build that effectively granted me unlimited uptime on Wrath of the Barbarian as well as unlimited fury. Here's a video I made of it 10 years ago. Ahh the memories.



Anyway, I was trying to gather as much Whirlwind and Fury gear that I could, and I was about halfway there. I think there's enough Legendary aspects available in the beta to get a pretty viable Whirlwind barb going. I just needed more time to farm stuff.

 

[Bitmap Frogs]

I don't have to think. I know. Sure there is an internal beta/testing that's been going on for months for employees and all that.

However, the actual Closed beta was in Novemeber, then the embargo lifted for that in December. Go do a Google search on "Diablo 4 closed beta" and you'll have your answer.

I also I know people who were in it. They no longer have access to anything since then, until last week which was a public early access if you pre ordered the game or got invited. This week is open to everyone at 0 cost.

I am also a member of the press and have been given access last weekend with a press key On the PS5 per by my request.

I however, wasn't invited to the one in December, only a few select people were.

Blizzard has also confirmed they will be talking about end game systems and doing a deep dive shortly after the weekend beta ends, basically sometime in April, we will see more of the end game.

I have to say that while I was trying to glitch past the control they put to keep the general populace contained within act 5 I saw a couple of people moving through on their horses, wether that was closed beta testers, journos or blizzard employees I don’t know.

 

[Elder Legend]

I have to say that while I was trying to glitch past the control they put to keep the general populace contained within act 5 I saw a couple of people moving through on their horses, wether that was closed beta testers, journos or blizzard employees I don’t know.

Those are NPCs my friend. I seen a few too in Act 1 running from areas that were inaccessible, more specifically from the far west side of town. They had no names over their heads and they were also on horses. The horses are locked in the beta, if you try to go to the stable it tells you to complete a certain campaign quest, but that campaign quest is further in the game. This is a very specific version of the client/server with limited access. It would be not possible to have players on horses as they are simply not able to go to those areas where you complete the campaign quest to unlock the mounts in the first place.

Yes there is a build/server of the game that contains all the content, but that is only internally at the company for the employees. But not the current public beta.

Also, here is the Blizzard CEO - Mike Ybarra stream of him playing Diablo IV beta from 5 days ago on same servers as the players. No crazy stuff here.

 

[amigastar]

I just found out that rewards for completing a Dungeon is the Codex of Powers system. You basically unlock an aspect (special passive attacks) by completing each dungeon. I like that. It's a nice motivation to actually finish a dungeon.
Anyways the graphics in Diablo 4 are just something else especially compared to D3.

 

[Elder Legend]

I just found out that rewards for completing a Dungeon is the Codex of Powers system. You basically unlock an aspect (special passive attacks) by completing each dungeon. I like that. It's a nice motivation to actually finish a dungeon.
Anyways the graphics in Diablo 4 are just something else especially compared to D3.

D3 was more cartoony snd it also came out over 11 years ago. At the time, the visuals were somewhat acceptable.

But yes, massive difference. To be honest I don't understand what they were thinking about that art style in the first place. The first 2 diablo games were dark Gothic horror. It's almost like they just flipped a switch and said "hey, let's just fuck around and see how much we can piss off our fanbase and make the game look like a cartoon!"

Whoever greenlit that art style is a fucking idiot. Don't get me wrong. Diablo 3 was an excellent game after the expansion came out and they made all the quality of life changes, but my god was the launch awful.

The new Diablo 4 team reminds me of old Blizzard back when game were very good and highly polished. This is how I feel about Diablo 4 right now. I hope endgame doesn't disappoint, that's the biggest question left.