As a dedicated follower of the Diablo series, I must say that the upcoming expansion, Vessel of Hatred, has truly piqued my interest. The level of complexity and consideration for different player journeys is nothing short of impressive, and it’s clear that the team has put in a lot of hard work to ensure everyone can jump into the action regardless of their current character or progression.
At Gamescom 2024, the Diablo 4: Vessel of Hatred stand situated within the Xbox zone stood out prominently. Its towering and verdant exterior, guarded by Spiritborns, swung open to offer a tantalizing glimpse into what awaits when Diablo 4’s first expansion launches on October 8, 2024. While in the stand, I was able to try out several builds of the new Spiritborn class, but the demo only fueled my desire for more.
During my brief encounter with the breathtaking vistas of Nahantu, the unveiled mercenary system and Dark Citadel, which are part of the expansion, were nowhere to be seen. However, I was fortunate enough to secure a conversation with Rod Fergusson (General Manager of Diablo) and Gavian Whishaw (Executive Producer). We delved into various topics such as Vessel of Hatred, the new Spiritborn class, Mercenaries, and upcoming plans for the franchise. I was curious about the experiences awaiting free players, differences between mercenaries in this version compared to previous ones, and whether future expansions might bring something more drastic like a cataclysmic event. Here’s what I managed to extract from my discussion with Rod and Gavian.
Spiritborn — choose your fighter
At Gamescom 2024, visitors had the opportunity to try out the Spiritborn class in Diablo 4 for the very first time. For a span of 20 minutes, players could select from four unique builds based on the various spirits that can be summoned with this class – Jaguar, Eagle, Gorilla, and Centipede. Personally, I found the most enjoyment with the Centipede, while Phil Spencer seemed to relish the speed of the Jaguar. I was curious to find out which Spiritborn build Gavian Whishaw and Rod Fergusson preferred so far.
Can a jack of all trades be someone’s favorite class?
In discussing The Spiritborn class, I expressed my curiosity to my friends at PureDiablo about whether a class that caters to multiple playstyles could truly become a player’s favorite. As the Spiritborn offers four distinct spirit choices, I pondered if players might experiment with it but eventually revert to their primary classes for a more conventional feel. I inquired from Rod if they anticipated many players adopting The Spiritborn as their main character when Vessel of Hatred is released.
The mercenary interactions will impact what builds come out on top for Spiritborn and other classes
As a researcher studying the upcoming Spiritborn class, I’m curious about which build will prove to be the strongest when the game is released and players can experiment with it. In terms of reaching Pit 150, which Spiritborn do you think will reach that milestone first?
Spiritborn class quest
As a newly initiated Druid player, I was struck by the intricacy and length of their class quest compared to other quick-and-easy dungeon runs for other classes. So, how does the Spiritborn class quest measure up? Well, based on the depth displayed by the Druid’s journey, I would anticipate a richly detailed and immersive experience similar in scope to that of the Sorcerer’s, but potentially not as drawn-out as the Druid’s.
Will the Spiritborn visually outshine other classes?
In terms of visual appeal, the moves in Spiritborn really catch my eye, especially its Ultimate skills, which seem to surpass those of other classes in terms of spectacle. Given that this is a new class for me, I may be biased due to novelty, but even experienced players might find themselves impressed. My question is, will the rework and new abilities being introduced into other classes help to lessen the visual gap between Spiritborn and the existing classes?
Among the exciting features in Season 6, which isn’t directly related to the expansion, is the addition of a fresh skill to each class accompanied by a new passive ability. This means that other classes will also receive unique tasks and visual enhancements.
Rod explained that they devoted significant effort to the visual effects in Spiritborn, specifically linking the Spirit Guardians with their abilities. To achieve this, they designed the Jaguar to evoke a fiery influence, the Eagle for enlightenment, the Gorilla for physicality, and the Centipede for poison. Their aim was to make these connections tangible. As they move forward, they plan to innovate while also optimizing for better performance.
Mercenaries, how tough are these guys? Turns out very.
In Diablo 2, when your Mercenary met its demise, it was a costly affair – you either had to pay a significant amount of gold to bring it back or forfeit the equipment you had bestowed upon it permanently. On the other hand, in Diablo 3, if a ‘Follower’ perished, they would simply resurrect without any repercussions. When we consider the Mercenaries in Diablo 4, there is currently no information available regarding whether or not there will be consequences for their death. Since I haven’t been able to slay one yet, it seems that they are invincible!
You can actually have 1.5 mercenaries on the battlefield…
Can we change the cosmetics on our Mercenaries? How much can we customize them? How does the Merc system work when you’re in a party? Gavian and Rod addressed these questions.
Gavian: No [to the cosmetics question]. Just to reiterate, each Mercenary has their own skill tree that you level up through playing, so you can customize their playstyle and how they interact with you and the enemies while you’re fighting. So that’s where the customization is.
Rod: They also each have a different inventory of things they can trade with you. So as you build up rapport with them, you get a sort of a Mercenary currency that you can go to the Pale Hand hideout, where the four mercenaries are hanging out and you can get into a trade agreement with them. And so you can trade the currency with whichever Merc has the thing that you want to get access to, in terms of what’s available. So there’s different ways to play it.
In simpler terms, you’re essentially given the choice of taking one Mercedes car with you and having another one as backup or reinforcement.
In simpler terms, the Reinforcement system allows you to call upon your Mercenaries for assistance only when you are playing solo. When in a party, like if Gavian and I were together, we wouldn’t have Mercs with us physically. However, we can still utilize the Reinforcement feature by setting conditions such as low health or using a basic skill, which then summons the Mercenary of our choice to aid us. Essentially, you could consider it having one and a half Mercs, because you can choose one to accompany you on your journey and another to reinforce you when needed. Moreover, I inquired about the need to rebuild our rapport with the mercenaries each season or if it works more like Renown, where once fully unlocked, the rewards no longer require repetition. The team will get back to me with an answer, and I’ll update this article accordingly.
No you can’t run The Dark Citadel solo, even with a merc — but that’s why we have a Party Finder
One notable aspect of Party Finder is its integration into the entire game experience, not merely limited to an expansion.
You can be very specific; I’m going after one of the Wings in the Citadel. What I love is the fact that the Party Finder actually now shows up on your map. So when you go to do a Nightmare Dungeon, you can actually advertise this as a Party, and then people can join you to go into the Nightmare Dungeon. So it’s a great way, for example, if I’m trying to improve my Glyph XP, somebody’s doing an 80 Nightmare Dungeon, I can join them.
I followed up with some clarification on whether the difficulty level of The Dark Citadel scales depending on the number of players participating.
Rod: Yeah it will scale. So one of the things we’re doing with Season 6, is what we did for Season 4 for loot. For Season 6 we’re doing that for progression. We’re doing a stream on August 29 that’s going to go into all the stuff that we’re doing for progression and you’re going to hear changes to Paragon, difficulty levels, experience, how you level up. So the question around difficulty levels and Dark Citadel will be kind of answered in that stream because basically, there’ll be new ways to play Dark Citadel based on the changes we’re doing to progression
So, Season 6 will also be the Season of Progression Reborn?
Brace yourselves, Diablo guide creators! August 29 is set to unveil a torrent of updates on Season 6 and the Vessel of Hatred expansion. In addition to a fresh campaign quest, new class, map area, Mercenaries, and PvE activities, we’re in for a major revamp of Diablo 4 with Patch 2.0. To make sure everything runs smoothly, they plan on running a Public Test Realm (PTR) before the Season begins to test these changes.
As an observer, I noted Rod discussing the intricacy of the Paragon system, which he finds challenging. The leveling mechanism has been updated, allowing characters to gain skill points from 50 to 51, accruing Paragon points along the way. He pondered over the distinction between leveling and skills in relation to leveling and Paragon points. These are the aspects they aim to clarify during the stream.
The Dark Citadel harks back to Season of the Construct (but in the best way)
I asked some further questions about The Dark Citadel. Can this be done without voice chat for our more reserved Diablo players? This led to some interesting perspectives on Season of the Construct and how the team had learned from its unpopular, but fixed fast, trap mechanics.
Rod: Yes, there’s, there’s a system there where we’re putting markers in so you can communicate through the emote wheel. But [in Dark Citadel] there’s a lot of visual cues in that. The biggest communication is really like, who’s going up, who’s going down, or who’s going left, who’s going right, that kind of stuff. And so if you take the cue, oh, that person took off left, I’m gonna go right. Then the way that you communicate an event is about to happen, the game kind of visually does that for you. You will definitely benefit from having the ability to chat, but we’re trying to find ways to shortcut that on the emote wheel.
Gavian: I think that game mode, more so than any other for group play, has really interesting strategic choices that you have the opportunity to make. When we played it, there were several times where we, you know, sort of stopped and it’s like, okay, what are we doing here? Let’s strategize. Let’s get on the same page.
Rod: There are things that are, like, ad clearing moments, and there are boss moments. And so if you’re like, just an ad clear build, you’re gonna struggle in the boss clear. And if you’re just, like, a single point damage, you can struggle in the ad clear moments. And so the types of variety of combat, and that’s something we really learned from Season 3 [the Construct], and we tried to introduce the traps. We got a lot of feedback around, “Hey, see what you’re going for here, but you’re really slowing down the combat by making me stop to wait for things to rotate” So we took that information when we designed Dark Citadel, and said ok, how do we create mechanics that actually kind of reinforce and enhance the combat, instead of making people stop and wait and slow down? It keeps you fighting, you want to be constantly moving through any activity.
Will we ever get leaderboards outside of The Gauntlet?
In simpler terms, Rod mentioned that while they are considering adding more leaderboards for activities in Diablo 4 beyond The Gauntlet (such as a race to complete the Dark Citadel or being the first to defeat Uber Lilith), they don’t want to encourage competition as the primary focus of the game. Instead, they aim to create a cooperative experience that allows players to learn from each other and improve their builds together. He also emphasized that player feedback will play a significant role in determining what features are added or changed in the future.
Glyph XP… outside of Nightmare dungeons?
Rod: We have plenty more to discuss about that topic. Expect glyphs to be incorporated into the flow next week. And rest assured, I’m constantly pushing for improvements on Glyph XP in other areas.
The Scroll of Retempering
In the fourth season, a new crafting mechanic called Tempering was introduced, which unfortunately gave players another reason to voice their discontent – the issue of bricking items. An item can be ‘bricked’ if you exceed the maximum number of temper attempts without achieving your desired roll, rendering it essentially useless and in need of replacement. Although Season 5 somewhat alleviated this problem by providing additional temper rolls for Greater Affix items, there is still a chance of experiencing terrible RNG. I understand that bricking an otherwise ideal item can be disappointing, but I also don’t think we should receive everything effortlessly just because the community is vocal. Annoying moments like these are necessary to make achieving our perfect items and rolls more rewarding.
What’s next for Diablo 4?
Rod hinted that Diablo 4 development doesn’t stop with the current release. While they don’t want to set strict rules for future expansions, they are already working on the next one even as they manage ongoing content like seasons and DLCs. The team is open to player feedback and will consider it heavily when planning the next expansion’s features, taking into account responses from the Vessel of Hatred release in particular. This suggests a flexible approach to Diablo 4 expansions, with each one potentially offering unique elements tailored to player preferences.
Live, Shop, and Battle Pass, along with Season Odds, Season Even, and Expansions. It’s essential for us to always be preparing the next project while we’re working on the current one.
Essentially, our first step is releasing the Vessel of Hatred, gathering feedback from players regarding their reactions, and then adjusting accordingly. We’ve been diligent in listening to the community since Diablo 4 launched, and I’m thrilled about applying that approach to the Vessel of Hatred.
Rod: I believe introducing a new class will offer an interesting prospect. This is because playing through the content again in a fresh way appeals to me, especially since you can replay the main campaign as the Spiritborn character. This is possible because we recorded all the dialogue for the story using Spiritborn characters.
It’s great that you have the option to replay the main campaign as a Spiritborn, since we took care to record all the dialogue from the story with those characters.
When we make significant content updates, it’s thrilling to think about introducing a fresh class into the game. This is why we’re eager to use this occasion to try something innovative and refreshing. Of course, we understand there’s a high demand for classic characters as well, and we’ll have chances to cater to that desire in the future.
What happens in Nahantu stays in Nahantu, but none-DLC players will also have things to look forward to
For those who haven’t yet purchased the expansion, here’s what they can expect from Diablo 4: The game will essentially split at Nahantu, with all events and locations within Nahantu, such as Kurast Undercity, Dark Citadel, and Spiritborn, being part of the expansion. However, there are still plenty of updates coming for non-DLC players, including new skills for classes, progression changes for Season 6, and a unique event or quest line for this season. The Season 6 experience will remain as you’re accustomed to, even without the Vessel of Hatred DLC. Additionally, if you decide to purchase the expansion later, you won’t have to play through the main campaign to access the Vessel of Hatred content. Instead, a recap video will be provided to bring you up to speed on the events leading up to the DLC. So, even if you take your time before diving into the expansion, you can still join your friends in their Diablo 4 adventures. Furthermore, there’s a lot more exciting content coming outside of the Vessel of Hatred for those who don’t purchase the DLC.
I’m genuinely pleased with how intricate our game design is, as it caters to numerous player scenarios. I believe we’ve excelled in this aspect. Tune into the live stream, and you’ll notice that beyond the Vessel of Hatred, there’s a wealth of fascinating elements to discover.
Rod emphasized that when incorporating the expansion, it’s crucial to consider various player experiences as they approach it. This could range from a fresh Spiritborn at level 1 embarking on the Vessel of Hatred, to an experienced Eternal player with a level 100 Druid, or even a seasonal character at level 50 with similar aspirations. Consequently, the campaign’s narrative and encounter designs must cater to these diverse player journeys. This complexity has increased testing requirements, but they ensured that players could start the Vessel [DLC] whenever they chose.
Tune in to the Campfire Chat for more on the 2.0 PTR
From my chat with Rod and Gavian, I’ve picked up a lot about the upcoming events in October, especially with the Vessel of Hatred dropping on October 8. It’s obvious they’ve held back some details before their upcoming livestream, which is understandable. This week, we can expect more information about a significant character progression update that comes with Patch 2.0, as well as insights into The Dark Citadel, and the Public Test Realm (PTR) dates for testing out new features. You can tune in to find out more on Thursday, August 29 at 11 a.m PDT / 2 p.m EDT / 7 p.m BST on YouTube, Twitch, and X. I’ll be here at Windows Central to recap for those who can’t watch the stream. What excites me most is that it appears that whether you purchase the DLC or not, there will be major game world changes for everyone to experience, and I can hardly wait until Thursday!
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2024-08-26 21:40