For a game we didn’t know about until a couple of weeks ago, we already have a lot of information about Diablo IV. And more information is coming in. In a blog post, game director Luis Barriga responded to the community after the unveiling of Diablo IV at BlizzCon, notably mentioning itemization toward the end.
Community feedback and Diablo IV
After the divisive Diablo III, fans should be heartened that Blizzard is sticking to the original tone of the game. One of Diablo III‘s biggest criticisms was that it discarded the dark, Gothic tone of the originals. Instead, it had bright colors and a cartoonish art style. It’s been over seven years since the release of Diablo III, and Blizzard seems to have a few takeaways from the experience. Barriga seems to have fans’ interests at heart. He stated: “The stories you shared with us about Diablo and what this series means to you moved us and inspire us to do our best.”
Hot topic of the day: itemization
In the blog, Barriga honed in on one issue in particular: items and stats. The Blizzard forums have been abuzz with conversations on the issue, and Blizzard seems intent on listening to community feedback. We already know that there is a new item tier (Mythic) and that legendary and set items will be balanced to avoid the set-dominated meta of Diablo III. In a few weeks, lead system designer David Kim will post on the blog to clarify itemization and address some of Diablo IV‘s fans’ open questions. Hopefully, we can look forward to more information and examples of Mythic gear and how itemization will affect player builds.
Also, Barriga stated that a developer update will be released in February 2020. It will be the first of a series of quarterly updates.
I was pretty let down by Diablo III, but Blizzard seems to be placing a high value on community feedback during IV‘s development. In a time when the relationship between developers and players is increasingly interconnected, that’s a good thing.
If you are curious about Diablo IV, check out everything we know about the game so far.
