After more than two decades since the inception of the Heaven vs Hell conflict, Blizzard's highly anticipated continuation of the beloved Diablo franchise is finally set to release on June 6th. Players can expect to once again immerse themselves in a dark, gothic world filled with powerful enemies from other realms, as they eagerly await the chance to explore Sanctuary and battle their way to victory. In an exclusive interview with Game Rant, Associate Game Director Joe Piepiora and Dungeons Producer Ash Sweetring Vickey discussed the game's endgame, paragon boards, and design challenges, highlighting Blizzard's commitment to providing players with a wide range of choices and avoiding the pitfalls encountered during the development of Diablo 3.
A: Diablo 4's story elements are unrelentingly brutal, but the design team intentionally drew upon elements from previous games to create a tense atmosphere of isolation and claustrophobia from Diablo 1, build-making from Diablo 2, and action combat from Diablo 3. The team also focused on introducing new players to the world of Diablo through a carefully crafted story that brought returning characters, such as Lilith and Inarious, to the forefront.
When crafting the story for the player's experience, we aimed to keep them at the center of the narrative as the wanderer while also exploring the rise of Lillith and the impact of her return on the world. Despite the darker themes, we strived to avoid creating a constant sense of despair for the player. Our goal was to ensure that the world of Sanctuary remained a place worth fighting for, with its own unique beauty and charm. This principle applies to our story elements as well.
Q: Where there anything specific you knew you didn’t want to take from Diablo 3 going into Diablo 4?
Piepiora: One thing we thought about from Diablo 3 was the nature of rifts and greater rifts.
We took player feedback into consideration and addressed the issue of tedious rifts by introducing Nightmare Dungeons, which allows players to increase their personal player power and cater to their play style. By using affixes and sigils, players can turn a dungeon into a nightmare version for more powerful loot and work with the in-town occultist to imbue their powers. Our goal was to improve an everyday quality of life item that players still enjoyed, but make it better for the long run. Additionally, we focused on capped progression with the paragon board, emphasizing the choices players make and the drops they receive over time invested in their character rather than never-ending power progression.
We aimed to offer players a wide range of choices and customization options once they reach a certain point, which was a significant change we made. However, we didn't want it to become an endless cycle, and we wanted to establish a specific limit where gear no longer becomes more powerful. Instead, the emphasis shifted towards discovering the appropriate affixes on sought-after items, legendary powers, or unique items that players are seeking. This became our primary focus, as we aimed to provide players with a greater set of options and move away from meta builds. The introduction of Paragon boards may assist in achieving this goal.
The paragon feature in Diablo 4 is a crucial tool for allowing players to express themselves through their play style. It is introduced once players have reached level 50 and have a grasp of the basic concepts of their chosen class. The feature is designed to maintain the game's emphasis on player choice, ensuring that no one build or class dominates the meta.
In previous seasons of Diablo 3, some builds became more powerful than others, leading to a lack of creativity and diversity among players. In Diablo 4, the development team is committed to ensuring that no single build or class overshadows the others for too long, thereby promoting a healthy and engaging player environment.
Although it may be challenging to achieve 100% parity across the board given the game's complexity, the team is dedicated to ensuring that players have interesting decisions to make and that the game experience is continually balanced and tweaked. This approach will be a key focus for the development team moving forward.
Vickey emphasizes the importance of the fun factor in playing each class. It's satisfying to discover a class that you genuinely enjoy playing. She also acknowledges the attachment players may have to their characters, even if they aren't currently as strong as they'd like. The development team is considering player feedback and taking steps to cater to all classes moving forward. The Paragon class is designed to provide a long-term solution, allowing players to focus on skill development over time.
We were definitely mindful of decision paralysis when designing the paragon boards. We wanted to make sure that players had meaningful choices to make, but not so many that they were overwhelmed or felt like they couldn't make progress. Ultimately, we found a balance that we think feels good and gives players room to experiment and customize their characters.
At the onset, our focus was on providing players with a starter board that would offer a comprehensive understanding of node functionality and the allocation of points towards the glyph socket. However, the pivotal moment arrives when players are presented with the option to select one of the eight boards during gameplay. Each board features a legendary power node, which serves as an excellent identifier for players seeking clarity on the board's purpose. In addition, players can preview the rare nodes on each board from various angles, providing them with a better understanding of the board's contents. As an example, if I were playing as a lightning sorceress, I would naturally gravitate towards lightning-themed boards, as they cater to my specific needs. Although other boards may contain useful rare nodes, my initial priority would be to explore the lightning boards.
That narrows down the choices since the player has already made quite a few decisions for their character and has an idea of what they want to build. This can help reduce the initial selection from eight options to just two. From there, players can choose to rotate the board and strategize the optimal path to take, whether it's to reach the coveted legendary node or just to progress quickly. These legendary nodes offer clear and impactful bonuses that align with the player's build, while the other nodes may require more research and analysis. Some players may prefer to dive into the intricacies of the board from the start, but the legendary nodes serve as an enticing and accessible feature that showcases the board's potential. In a way, they're like door-busters during a Black Friday sale.
We wanted to provide players with the option to choose how they wanted to level up their new character, taking inspiration from Diablo 3's Adventure Mode. However, we also recognized the importance of players experiencing the rich and exciting campaign of Diablo 4, which is longer than some of our past campaigns. Therefore, we wanted players to go through the story at least once to fully understand the world, characters, and major parts of the story. However, for those who wanted to skip the content and jump straight into the end-game with access to Whispers of the Dead, their mount, and other items, we wanted to give them that flexibility to do so on subsequent playthroughs.
In order to balance the desire for exploration and non-linear gameplay with the core mechanics of an ARPG, we made a conscious decision early on in the development of Diablo 4 to incorporate aspects of both. This included features such as finding Codex of Power entries and completing side dungeons, which may not be as enjoyable to repeat on subsequent playthroughs. However, we also wanted to ensure that players didn't feel obligated to repeat these activities for the sake of efficiency, which is why we implemented account-wide stat boosts for certain activities like finding Altars of Lillith. Ultimately, our goal is to create a game that is both efficient and enjoyable, striking a balance between the two that allows players to engage with the content in a way that feels rewarding and satisfying.
A: Incorporating large elevation changes within dungeons was a priority from the start, and our dungeon designers and artists took great pleasure in adding those details to enhance the player's immersion. We made sure to include height and elevation differences to allow for more dynamic traversal and to cater to the mobility of certain classes.
The mobility of characters such as sorcerers and rogues allows for exploration beyond the immediate area, even jumping off ledges to reach other locations. This was a key focus for us during development, and our technology allows us to fully realize this feature. By simply passing by a cellar or traversing through a cave mine, players can uncover hidden stories and discover new areas at different elevations or terrains.
Performance and technology are always top priorities for us, especially when it comes to handling the various elements that come with multiplayer gameplay and the complex environment of Diablo 4. Our art and design teams work closely together to ensure that we're pushing the limits of the game engine without sacrificing quality or performance. We've invested in sophisticated tools and technologies that allow us to handle the demands of the game, but we're constantly testing and tweaking to find the right balance. We're pleased to say that we've found a great balance for launch, with smooth performance and no loading between scenes in our dungeons. Of course, getting to this point was not without its challenges, and we had to work through a number of bugs and issues along the way. However, we're confident that our due diligence has paid off and that players will have a fantastic experience with Diablo 4.
In terms of Diablo 4's release, it's worth noting that it will be the first time that the game is launched simultaneously on both PC and consoles. With previous experience in releasing Diablo 3 on multiple platforms, we have gained valuable insights on how to optimize the game's performance for different hardware. Diablo 4's engine shares similarities with Diablo 3's and we have a team of experienced engineers who have worked on both titles, giving us an advantage in utilizing the technology to its fullest potential. Additionally, we have great partnerships with the various platforms we are working with. Optimization is a key consideration from the early stages of development, as we have already tackled many of the challenges in the past. As for world bosses, we are constantly evaluating their balance and ensuring that they do not overshadow other aspects of the game's endgame content.
The server slam was a daunting challenge for players, requiring them to reach level 20 and battle Ashava at her weakest level of 25. This proved to be quite difficult, especially in a beta environment where legendary drops were limited. Grinding for the best equipment just to face Ashava added to the challenge, but ultimately, that was the goal. Moving forward, we anticipate world bosses to offer a more balanced experience for players. With more players available to join the fight and a likelihood of higher-level players participating, we feel optimistic about the launch experience. We will continue to monitor and evaluate the balance of these encounters, using data from live servers to inform any necessary adjustments.
We strive to strike a balance in terms of difficulty and reward. While we want players to be challenged, we don't want to make it impossible for them to progress. As players reach tiers three and four, world bosses become a key source of valuable loot. However, we don't want players to feel obligated to farm bosses constantly in order to progress. That's why we make sure that world bosses only drop major loot once a week, while smaller rewards are available each time the boss is defeated. Our goal is to provide fun encounters for players, but we also want to encourage them to explore other content in the game. By limiting the frequency of major loot drops, we hope to prevent players from focusing solely on world bosses and neglecting other areas of the game. We believe that world bosses offer a great source of entertainment and challenge, and we want players to enjoy them without feeling pressured to farm them excessively.
Q: Were there any specific struggles with making Sanctuary the main area of focus in the game?
In game development, there are always new challenges that arise, and it can be a delicate balance to create a truly immersive experience for the player. We faced a lot of decisions, such as whether an item should be one-handed or two-handed, or which character would prefer a certain approach. However, we were careful not to let our own preferences influence the player's experience.
One of our biggest challenges was staying true to the dark, gothic horror realm we had created and not breaking the player's immersion. We wanted players to feel the emotions of the story, even when it was sad or unsettling. It was a fine line to walk, but we were determined to provide a fully immersive journey through our frightening and detailed environments.
The team is thrilled to release Diablo 4 after a lengthy development process. We understand the weight of responsibility that comes with carrying on the legacy of such a revered series. In order to ensure that the game reaches its full potential, we will be actively seeking feedback from players. As a live service, it is essential that we maintain open lines of communication to continually improve the game.
Vickey: We’re going to get to play so soon, and I’m excited for people to play all the way through! Team Lillith!
Diablo 4 releases on June 6 for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
