FatZilla said:

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jr15aggie said:

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Looking likely that the MS acquisition of Activision/Blizzard will happen. Hope to enjoy this via Gamepass at some point in the future.

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Your SOL
https://www.pcgamesn.com/diablo-4/no-game-pass-release

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That's not what it said. It didn't expect an immediate launch on PC Gamepass and I wouldn't expect that either. But it's 100% coming to Xbox Gamepass at some point in the future... I don't expect it right away either, but I bet we see it before the 1 year anniversary.

As soon as there is a lull in new Xbox releases, they will use Diablo to Xbox Gamepass as a nice headline to keep the subscriptions going. So early/spring 2024 probably makes a lot of sense.

PC Gamepass is a different beast in a different market place though... it could definitely lag behind the Xbox Gamepass release. But I still fully expect a PC Gamepass version while the game is still very active and relevant.

I think base game might be but any future classes and expaks likely won't hit gamepass until 6 mo or 1 year post release.


Also the game has a lot to work on.

I just watched a video diving into itemization and an upgraded 725 sacred can have the same rolls as an 825 ancestral.

The fact that things like this made it past the devs is mind boggling. I had no idea any item past the 725 breakpoint has the exact same rolls.the only thing that changes is base stats like armor, weapon dmg, jewelry resist. No wonder itemization feels completely unrewarding past level 80. What a complete failure of rewarding itemization.

Definitely, it will just be the base game when it hits Gamepass. Even current MS Studio games like Forza still make you buy expansions if you want them (and I have done just that on occasion).

They need uniques that are the equivalent of high roll rares, so raees don't become totally worthless/rarely used, but people can play the game and think "I need a Mara's or Highlord's or Arachnid Mesh for this slot, ideally" and make them as rare or marginally more rare than those kinds of drops are in D2.

I want runewords again lol

Just beat campaign. Now to start the game. That was a long 47 level tutorial.

zip04 said:

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Running Sorc for S1.

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Hoping the patch next week shows them a lot of love, or are you a masochist?

BowSowy said:

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zip04 said:

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Running Sorc for S1.

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Hoping the patch next week shows them a lot of love, or are you a masochist?

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A little bit of column A, a little bit of column B....

Feel like the patch notes are likely to be a novel and gonna take a bit to digest. At least I hope so anyways

Several days ago I saw a video by a guy who had three identical pieces of gear, only differing by the required level to equip. I think it was 70, 85, and 92.
Anyway, the difference in stats was so minuscule.
He argued that if you get the gear at a lower level, there's pretty much no incentive to level past 70

You probably will not have even close to best in slot gear and rolls by level 70. There are some problems with end game itemization, but people are blowing it out of proportion.

I'm level 70 and my Rogue is a lot of fun, but I am having a difficult time staying motivated to grind when Season 1 is about to start. However, I did have fun yesterday creating the other classes and playing with each one for a bit. What it showed me is each class is a lot of fun in its own way, something the dev got right.

New article today saying that grinding to 100 will not be a mechanic of the battle passes.

"a few hours of playing per week of the season should be enough to complete the battlepass" is what was quoted from blizzard.

Definitely finding less incentive to play post-70. It's just NM dungeons on repeat until 100 it seems. Just waiting for season 1 to start my rogue.

That is the key. People think they have BIS gear at level 70 but 99% of the time it isn't even close especially when it comes to weapons. That also ignores all of the power increase from paragon points.

I don't get it. Blizzard gives people an opportunity to get the best gear as soon as they hit wt4 and folks complain about it. If i were them i would just lock anything over 700 behind nightmare dungeons. every 10 nmd levels adding 10 points to the itemization with 800+ only being available at 100 nmd. that would seemingly solve you get max gear at 70 complaints but lead to a lot of other problems.

PeekingDuck said:

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You probably will not have even close to best in slot gear and rolls by level 70. There are some problems with end game itemization, but people are blowing it out of proportion.

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Watch that video and you will see how you actually could have most of your best gear by 70. I started wt4 at 62 so had a ton of ancestral gear by 70 and after 80 I don't think I ever really used any upgrades.

The game as a whole should progress with you. Just earning paragon rewards is not enough of a driver to keep playing. 725 items should not be rolling the same stats as 800 items. There needs to be an 800 break point that improves rolls. Sacred items shouldn't be dropping past 70-80. There should be rewarding items dropping throughout the leveling experience.

I even agree with the point made in the video that you don't have to raise the ceiling but the floor on rolls should certainly be increased.

Just having ancestral gear doesn't mean you have the best gear you also need to have the right stats, rolls, and affixes. you are reducing the gear down to one number when every number on it matters.

AgDev01 said:

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Just having ancestral gear doesn't mean you have the best gear you also need to have the right stats, rolls, and affixes. you are reducing the gear down to one number when every number on it matters.

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That, and there are tons of synergies between aspects, skills and paragon boards that have not all been fleshed out, and likely won't be for some time, especially as new items, glyphs, and boards trickle out.

This is all hypothetical and not in any way how the actual progression goes as you play WT4. If someone is playing a character by themselves or with a same level group, they will not have anywhere near best in slot gear and rolls by level 70. It is a ridiculous notion that just isn't true. That doesn't mean end game itemization can't be improved. Just having ancestral gear by 70 doesn't mean anything. All ancestral gear by 70 is not common. All ancestral gear with high rolls for your build by 70 just doesn't happen. This of course ignores all of the legendary affix rolls you would need to create your build. Which also isn't going to peak out at level 70. I'm honestly not sure if some of the people playing Diablo actually like Diablo.

It would be nice if there was a certain breakpoint for better gear. I think how they have it currently allows you to progress into WT4 comfortably. But for the end game experience it would be nice if there was some "next level" gear that can only be obtained from T100 dungeons.

I think once WT5 starts, the next tier of gear will be at 825+

AFAIK the highest item power gear currently drops from rare elites and can be found up to Item Power 845 (but only has 3 affixes)

Yeah not every piece of gear was BIS but a few of my pieces haven't changed in 20 levels from when they dropped in the 60s.

I just don't think that is rewarding gameplay design.

Yeah I am sure that'll be the case, I think it'll probably be a while before they release a WT5. They could probably fix a lot of this issue by adding a few WTs and making each of them span 20 NM dungeon levels with a little boost in itemization for each progression. I definitely don't have BIS gear at level 77 but I basically trash every piece of gear I find for days in a row before I find something that is even a mild upgrade.

Nightmare Dungeons just suck tbh. Get rid of the stupid ****ing completion conditions, especially kill all mobs. Whatever dev put that in place needs a swift kick to the nuts with steel toe boots. I want to just run and kill **** and farm boss packs and bosses.

Just going to say it, Diablo immortal dungeons were better.

I find it funny that everyone hated the D3 endgame, and now when most describe what they want the D4 endgame to be it's basically D3.

All of the ARPG end games suck if you play them enough. It's a feature, not a bug.

So you just want to kill **** but killing everything is bad? All you have to do is kill all of the elite packs and it will port the rest to you.

I have yet to see that work properly

I will say that the itemization is an issue. Gear is the driving force of these games. You kill harder enemies so you can get better gear so you can kill harder enemies and get better gear. If you're getting the best gear with 30 levels to go then the chase ends, or at the very least it slows down to a hard grind.

I don't think it's a huge problem, because we're still talking about a a lot of RNG. However, this should have been shipped with level 100 only gear and possibly a WT5 already. That gear should also been a noticeable jump from WT4 gear.

Everyone hated the initial D3 endgame, because it was terrible. The existing D3 is nothing like the initial D3.

We are miles ahead of d3 release but I do feel like a decade of improving d3 should still create better end game activities and itemization.

I like the core of the game, they just have a lot of work to do on keeping you engaged to actually care about going to 100 and pushing nm dungeons or whatever end game is.

Fully plan on hitting season 1 hard in a week, but after that I may take a break till they really get things changed around for season 3 or 4.

Madmarttigan said:

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We are miles ahead of d3 release but I do feel like a decade of improving d3 should still create better end game activities and itemization.

I like the core of the game, they just have a lot of work to do on keeping you engaged to actually care about going to 100 and pushing nm dungeons or whatever end game is.

Fully plan on hitting season 1 hard in a week, but after that I may take a break till they really get things changed around for season 3 or 4.

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This right here is my opinion too, although I'm sure I'll still hit every season for a bit.

PeekingDuck said:

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Everyone hated the initial D3 endgame, because it was terrible. The existing D3 is nothing like the initial D3.

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Crazy to think where D3 endgame was just the campaign, compared to where it is now.

I have an almost 70 sorc and cannot get the aspect to make blizzard dmg scale. I'm not sure why a critical aspect for a build isn't available in the codex, I would gladly take a min roll.

AtlAg05 said:

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PeekingDuck said:

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Everyone hated the initial D3 endgame, because it was terrible. The existing D3 is nothing like the initial D3.

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Crazy to think where D3 endgame was just the campaign, compared to where it is now.

I have an almost 70 sorc and cannot get the aspect to make blizzard dmg scale. I'm not sure why a critical aspect for a build isn't available in the codex, I would gladly take a min roll.

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You talking about glacial?? If so, wow. Can't believe you haven't seen it yet.