Diablo 4 Open Beta this weekend

[Mobius]

if anyone gives a shit looks like you can play this on all consoles/pc this weekend. i'm just downloading it on the ps5 now, might as well give it a go!

[bgmnts]

Is this on mobile LOL

[badaids]

Do report back on what its like. Its hard to see how it can be any different from Diablo III, apart from actually being good and not having that ridiculous shop thing thst they later banned.

[Mobius]

Really long queues (30 mins plus) to get in, and if you get an error or disconnect which I did 10 minutes into playing, you rejoin the queue at the back of the line.

The little bit I did play was quite good though.

[aunt mildred]

It may be a good idea to limit the fps on this as there are reports of it blowing up 3080ti graphics cards.

[Thursday]

Shite game for cunts.

(Never played it)

[oggyraiding]

My friend who is a massive Diablo 2 fan said 4 is bad, because 2 had a gradual ramp up from being weak to being powerful, while 4 you're incredibly powerful within minutes and resource management isn't really a factor. I will probably buy 4 when it's cheap as mindless background gaming to play while listening to a podcast, so I can mindlessly mow down zombies and goblins and shit.

[how do you like apples]

Enjoying this a lot more than Diablo 3, and not just because of lovely Ralph Ineson being the main narrator. Looks amazing even on low settings (don't want it to melt my old graphics card), sound effects and soundtrack are incredible, gameplay is very crisp. Don't like the basic Arial font, or much of the UI, hope they change some of that. The skill trees look fairly simple but I think that's better than the giant spreadsheets other games have, for someone with less time to play games than I used to.

My friend who is a massive Diablo 2 fan said 4 is bad, because 2 had a gradual ramp up from being weak to being powerful, while 4 you're incredibly powerful within minutes and resource management isn't really a factor. I will probably buy 4 when it's cheap as mindless background gaming to play while listening to a podcast, so I can mindlessly mow down zombies and goblins and shit.

They said they tripled the drop rates for the beta just so people could actually get some legendaries in the limited time. The balance of the classes is way off though, I played a Druid and even with a couple of strong legendaries it felt very slow and weak, whereas Necromancer has incredible damage and quality of life from the outset. Maybe by the end game they even up but it was very rough for the Druid at low levels. If you want to have fun in the beta don't play a Druid or a Barbarian.

It definitely doesn't have the sharp ramping up of Diablo 3, where you could get an item that increases your damage by 40,000%.

[Alberon]

Played it a lot over the weekend.

The ranged classes are stronger than the melee ones. The necromancer melted everything until it hit a boss and it was wiped out.

There's a lot of balancing to do and tweaks and improvements but it does feel better than D3 at launch.

Of course this is just Act 1. At the end of the beta we're nowhere close to the endgame which a lot of people consider the real game.

I upgraded to windows 95 for D1 and played D2 for years. With D3 I managed to sell enough gems on the auction house to repay what I spent on the game and expansion. But the game later got good after that was gone. But I never bothered with the seasons later on.

D4 will probably take a year to be properly finished, but I think I'll play it to death in the meantime.

[Alberon]

There's another open beta this weekend if anyone is interested.

I'll probably pass this one as I've played this section before and will be able to start the game properly in a few weeks without my progress being wiped.

[brat-sampson]

Have to say, of alll the weekends to pick...

Not arsed, Bliz. Tot K.

[Mobius]

It's quite fun in a mindless way. They've nerfed all the classes for the stress test though so everyone feels quite weak. I will probably buy it when it comes out. Spamming 1 button and getting loads of shit loot is satisfying to me.

[Alberon]

Problem is, this is just the first 20 levels. So there's little choice of variety there.

The drops are supposed to be at the normal game level. They were heavily boosted in previous beta tests to show the players more.

[Ham Bap]

I've never really played Diablo before, had a go at the last Beta and it seemed good.

Just a question for people who have played Diablo before, is there a level cap (like is there e.g. 100 levels and you just keep replaying the same world regardless?) and is the point of the game to create different builds and have fun with that?
And is it more geared towards multiplayer and teaming up with friends?

[Alberon]

Diablo III had finite levels and then infinite Paragon levels where you could, essentially, minutely increase your power forever.

Diablo IV has a level cap of 100 (which they say will take the average player 150 hours to reach) but there will not be a way to increase power forever. They say at some point you will have maximised levels and gear and then you'll chase 'season challenges and cosmetics'.

I'm not so sure and since it's a live service anything can change. Diablo III didn't have the Paragon system at launch for instance.

As to multiplayer it's never been the focus for me but it is there. Everything except some of the optional bosses in the world should be soloable.

[Ham Bap]

Diablo III had finite levels and then infinite Paragon levels where you could, essentially, minutely increase your power forever.

Diablo IV has a level cap of 100 (which they say will take the average player 150 hours to reach) but there will not be a way to increase power forever. They say at some point you will have maximised levels and gear and then you'll chase 'season challenges and cosmetics'.

I'm not so sure and since it's a live service anything can change. Diablo III didn't have the Paragon system at launch for instance.

As to multiplayer it's never been the focus for me but it is there. Everything except some of the optional bosses in the world should be soloable.

Thanks. Might be worth a purchase.

[druss]

They'll add paragon levels.

[Mobius]

Games been out for 20 minutes and you have to queue and when you get to the front of the queue it says invalid license so no one can play the game GOTY

[Alberon]

Hah! They were bragging recently about how they'd have a smooth first day when most are complete shitshows.

[oggyraiding]

Got the early access, very much enjoying the game. I've gone with druid, skill tree is much better than whatever shit they had in D3, feel like I can set up synergies with my skills and traits and stuff. Playing on World Tier 2 which is the equivalent of Normal I think, genuinely challenging at times. In D3, for the entire first act I could stand still and spam my shit and not die as pretty much any class. In D4 the bosses require dodging and reacting to attacks, they're not just DPS races. Servers also seem pretty stable beyond the issues in the first few hours.

[Mobius]

Yeah I am enjoying it, bloody addictive of course

Lots of nice open areas and cities and it's massive. Graphics are nice.

I'm like level 50 or something Sorcerer. Dying a lot suddenly, after a pretty smooth ride so far

[how do you like apples]

Just finished the main campaign, didn't really focus on any side content at all and I got here at around level 43. The story dipped a bit in the middle where it felt like I knew exactly the formula each act was following, but the final act more than made it up for it. The cinematic near the end might be the best one I've ever seen in a game.

Playing a barbarian, took a while to get going but once I'd found the build I wanted to use, one based around Hammer of the Ancients, I started feeling really strong - it's extremely satisfying to leap in and hammersmash demons into paste. Lots of the campaign bosses were still quite difficult on World Tier 2, especially the final one, which is the right balance I feel. If you hadn't got any good legendary powers and didn't know what build to play I can imagine some of the story bosses being impossible on that difficulty.

Looking forward to trying out some harder endgame content now and 100%ing all the zones in completionist fashion.

I love Ralph Ineson

[brat-sampson]

I often find this genre a slightly uncomfortable mix between addictive and boring. Tempted to try it out down the line as I've heard the campaign is good, but things like level scaling, having to worry about the 'meta' and unsatisfying progression put me off. I do think it's a good step for the franchise, but maybe not for me. At least I can wait until after XVI to see how things settle.

[Ham Bap]

Got this yesterday, never played a Diablo game in my life before, apart from some of the Beta for this.

Started on World Tier 2. Really enjoying it so far. Dying a bit but I'm fine with that. I don't want it to be too easy.
Having to do a fair bit of reading around builds and stuff. Haven't even begun to scratch the surface yet.

[Ham Bap]

Started again as a Necromancer and having a lot more fun, great fun having my skeleton army charge into battle for me.

[Cuellar]

Absolutely bummed Diablo 2 when I was younger so I'm ever so tempted with this, but just seeing all the micro(macro)transaction shit they keep pushing...just sick of it all. Spose I could torrent it.

[oggyraiding]

It requires a constant online connection to Blizzard servers so not sure torrenting would work.

[Cuellar]

Fuck this

[Mobius]

Yeah more server issues, fuck sake.

Fucks me off the amount of qol shit missing from d3 too. No gem bag? Come on.

[Alberon]

It's like D3 was at launch - a big bag of arse. The rest will come in time, gem bag and all. That took a long while in D3 IIRC.

The shop this time is just full of ridiculously priced cosmetics, but I'm quite happy with the free options. I did pay for early access which also gives me the premium track on the first season so there will be some flashier cosmetics there.

I spent the first few days pottering around in Act I, but I've now decided to push through the storyline and then explore. Went through Act II in one evening and I'm now getting stuck into III. Going to stay at the second difficulty level rather than just rushing through on the first.