Having spent thousands of hours traversing Sanctuary in Diablo 2 & Diablo 3, there were a number of things I learned to love and hate about each particular game in the franchise. While none of them have been perfect, I felt Diablo 4 missed big in a few areas that it could have borrowed from its predecessors. These range from how items are handled to the level designs themselves. Here are five things Diablo 4 should have incorporated from the previous games in the series.
Set Items and Runewords
While we haven’t seen the inclusion of Runes and Runewords since Diablo 2, set items were an important facet for endgame activities in Diablo 3. Set items are similar to Unique items in that they usually have certain attributes and a limited option of affixes, but they grow in power based on the number of items in a particular set you happen to be wearing. This makes hunting down full sets an activity on its own, and later mixing and matching to find the strongest or most interesting combinations is a fun way to experiment in the game.
Unfortunately, Diablo 4 seems to play it safe with a handful of special affixes attached to Legendary and Unique items that modify gameplay slightly but don’t significantly change it. So far, I haven’t found any particularly interesting, which is unfortunate because farming powerful items has always been a big draw for Diablo's endgame.
Diablo 2 introduced 33 unique runes that could be slotted into gear and provided unique effects such as a chance to freeze targets, ignore defense or even make an item indestructible. Initially, this provided a way to prevent powerful ethereal weapons from breaking or create items with tons of magic find, but later powerful Runeword combinations were introduced that completely shifted the balance of the game. Items like Enigma could let any class teleport, and Call to Arms granted access to powerful buffs.
Even without allowing full Runewords in Diablo 4, having more options than what the gems and skulls currently provide would be sorely welcome.
Multi-Level Dungeons
It used to be that players had to traverse multiple levels of maze-structured dungeons to reach that final act boss, who usually had a good loot drop or two. Additionally, at least one waypoint was usually hidden to allow quick navigation to the aforementioned boss.
Unfortunately, long gone are the days of using waypoints at Durance of Hate Level 2 or the Halls of Agony Level 3 to farm Mephisto or the Butcher. Instead, in Diablo 4, the dungeons have essentially been replaced with lengthy instanced levels that need to be completed in entirety to get to the boss. Sure, some still have waypoints, but there isn’t the same feeling of crawling down lower and darker dungeons to the culminating boss fight.
Satisfying Boss Fights
In the same vein as the removal of multi-level dungeons, the boss fights in Diablo 4 don’t feel nearly as epic as in previous games. The fact that the game is less linear than the previous games could have something to do with it but the only monster that really felt like a ‘big bad’ was Lilith.
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Many times throughout my first playthrough I asked myself, “was that supposed to be the act boss or just another mini-boss”? The only other main boss I can even name off the top of my head is Elias and he was more annoying than interesting. To add insult to injury, they even pulled act bosses from Diablo 2 and just randomly stuck them in with barely any context. They certainly felt more like filler than fearsome lesser evils.
Despite the things Diablo 3 might have done wrong, it did a great job leading to the final boss of each act. While the Skeleton King felt thematically more like the Act 1 boss, the Butcher was absolutely terrifying my first playthrough while Belial and Azmodan were the entire focus of their respective chapters, taunting you the whole way through.
Stronger Supporting Cast
“Stay awhile and listen…” In Diablo 2, Deckard Cain managed to steal the spotlight with his lengthy stories and of course the ability to identify items free of charge. The old geezer earned a place in our hearts even with limited disc space and rudimentary cutscene technology.
Of course, that place was wrenched from our chests a little too early in Diablo 3, only to be filled by another strong cast of supporting characters. Throughout the later acts of Diablo 3, we had no less than a vessel for a prime evil and a fallen angel at our disposal.
While some argue Leah’s character was a bit lacking, there was nothing quite like fighting beside Tyrael wielding El-druin; I truly felt invincible with him at my side during Act 3. Even the occasional appearance of Imperius and the rest of the Angiris Council felt more cinematic than anything we got in Diablo 4.
For comparison…we get two broken Horadrim and a child that happens to pick up dark magic on the fly in Diablo 4. Now, I don’t have anything against Ralph Ineson, as he does an excellent job with Lorath. It’s just that Lorath, Donan, and Neyrelle are boring. They spend most of the game fumbling to put together a single soulstone and generally create more problems than they solve. And spoilers for those not there yet, but even Inarius manages to be a worse version of Imperius, and despite being talked about the entire game, most of his screen time is spent in a single cutscene.
I’d personally rather have an old man who knows everything and an angel who actually listens, but given the choice, I think I’d even pick Zoltun Kulle over the lot in Diablo 4.
Player-Driven Economy
I miss the days of Diablo 2 where I could stash a horde of Stone of Jordan Rings to later trade for some powerful weapon or piece of armor. Having some form of valuable, tradeable currency was one of the key components to Diablo 2’s success, and half the lobby rooms were dedicated to buying, selling, or trading items. While this was an acceptable way to trade at the time, even most MMOs back then required player-to-player trading, a real marketplace should have been the next evolution.
That’s just what we got in Diablo 3, but only for a short time. For whatever reason, Blizzard decided that allowing players to buy items and gold directly through the game with real money was a good idea. After a ton of backlash, the gold exchange came down, and unfortunately, so did the regular marketplace. Mass trading was essentially gone from Diablo 3 at that point, but at least players within a group could trade with each other. This was important because items for other classes are often dropped, and your stash only has so much space.
Despite being an online-only game with somewhat forced multiplayer, Diablo 4 managed to take a step back in the trading department. Currently, you can trade up to Rare quality items, gold, and gems, but you can’t trade Legendary / Unique items or most special currency. This means that if you’re playing with a friend and a legendary item drops for their class, well, too bad, I guess.
While I’m enjoying my time with Diablo 4, it seems like they’ve streamlined a lot of content to deliver a more multiplayer-centric experience. Overall, I don’t find the items, characters, enemies, or level design as interesting as previous titles in the franchise. However, the new skill system and improved visuals are hard to complain about.
If there’s anything you’re really liking or disliking about Diablo 4, let us know in the comments!
While you're here...
Here are 5 things Diablo 4 didn't need
