With the fourth main installment to Blizzard Entertainment’s long-runningDiabloseries hopefully releasing next year, many players are excited to see whatDiablo 4might bring to the table. Over the course of the series' run so far, each installment has offered something a little different, from new villains and different playable classes to mechanical tweaks and gameplay upgrades.Diablo 4is Blizzard’s chance to take the franchise in some intriguing new directions and really push the boundaries for what it means to be aDiablogame. Glimpses given of the game so far may look promising, but there are a few things Blizzard should steer clear of.
Developers are never going to please everyone, and even the most highly-rated and enthusiastically reviewed games of all time have their naysayers. That being said, the gaming community can have its share of valid criticisms of new titles, and developers need to verify they’re shipping games in the best possible shape they can be or risk the ire of players. With some rocky starts andcontroversial elements to the most recentDiablogames,Diablo ImmortalandDiablo 2: Resurrected, Blizzard should make sure it learns from its mistakes to setDiablo 4apart from some of its predecessors.
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The Controversies Surrounding Diablo Immortal
Pay-to-win formats have always faced a heavy amount of criticism from players, and for good reason. While including purchasable items like cosmetics, weapons, and loot boxes has started to become much more common and is largely an accepted practice in games likeOverwatchandFortnite, the ability to buy OP advantages rather than earn them has never really sat right with the majority of gamers. Even if a title is free-to-play, gamers shouldn’t be expected to shell out thousands in order to level up characters and explore all that a game has to offer.Diablo Immortal, thefree-to-play MMORPG of theDiablofranchise, has faced a lot of backlash for its microtransactions, with reports claiming that players need to spend around $500,000 to max out their character.
Diablo Immortaldidn’t get off to the best of starts, either, as its announcement in 2018 was met with disappointment from fans who wanted a PC-focused installment instead of a mobile one.Diablo Immortaldid eventually come to PC, but its release still garnered a fairly mixed response from the player base. Elements like combat and graphics were praised, but these couldn’t overcome the negative reactions to the unfair progression system and the controversy of the game’s microtransactions.Diablo Immortalstill has its fans, but the hidden aspects of some features, the randomization and cost of progression, and the limits on non-fee paying players have culminated in a fairly poor reception.
The Restrictions Of Diablo 2: Resurrected
Diablo 2: Resurrectedwasn’t the subject of quite so much controversy, but it didn’t have the smoothest of starts either thanks to some server problems. Theremaster ofDiablo 2and its DLC launched with its own issues, and several months after its September 2021 release, some of them still weren’t fixed. However, many agree thatDiablo 2: Resurrectedwas a surprising but worthy remaster of the original game, and it’s had a positive critical response overall. Blizzard was committed to maintaining the integrity of the original game and barely made any changes to the gameplay or mechanics, simply opting for a cosmetic upgrade.
This decision has pleased legacy players and gamers that might find the old-fashioned gameplay refreshing compared to more modern titles, but there’s no denying thatDiablo 2: Resurrectedcan feel a little dated. It’s definitely not a recommended entry point to theDiablofranchise for new players, and even though its retro game design can be a nostalgic contrast to other ARPGs of recent years, it does feel a little clunky and awkward in comparison.Diablo 2: Resurrectedis undoubtedly a more niche titlefor die-hardDiablofans, and while it’s been received positively, it doesn’t necessarily have a wide appeal.
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Diablo 4’s Chance To Break Away
Diablo Immortalisn’t the only controversy that Blizzard has faced recently, withOverwatch 2proving to be pretty divisivealongside reports and allegations of harassment and a toxic work culture within its offices. While Blizzard is by no means the only major developer to be hit by such allegations in recent years, this has nevertheless combined with the microtransactions controversy to make players not particularly well-disposed toward Blizzard at the moment. Because of all the backlash, Blizzard has had to come out and assure players that the upcomingDiablo 4won’t be anything likeDiablo Immortal. That may be true, but the inclusion of cosmetic microtransactions in the nextDiabloinstallment does mean players are a little wary.
The launch ofDiablo Immortalis still recent, andDiablo 4is at least several months away, so the criticism and skepticism feel very fresh.Diablo 2: Resurrectedmay have been largely able to overcome its less than ideal launch, but Blizzard hasn’t really been in gamers' good books lately.Diablo 4is already a completely different beastfrom the ill-fatedDiablo Immortal, as it’s a full-priced game designed solely for PC and consoles. There will be multiplayer elements and PvP encounters, and althoughDiablo 4will have a large open world for players to explore, it is not an MMO.
These aspects alone should distance it enough fromDiablo Immortal, but players do sometimes have long memories for developer mistakes. As long as Blizzard is more transparent with features and any paid elements than it was withDiablo Immortal, it should be able to win players back to some extent.Diablo 2: Resurrectedisn’t as reviled asDiablo Immortal, but it didn’t really represent a step forward for the franchise. It was a fun hit of nostalgia for long-time players, but it didn’t necessarily entice new ones. Games are at their best when they have an active, engaged, and expanding player base, andDiablo 4is Blizzard’s chance to continue to build one. There are lots ofnew directions theDiablofranchise could go in, but emulating older games or including excessive microtransactions is definitely not the way forward.
Diablo 4will launch in 2023 for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
