If it’s anything like previous games in the series, Diablo IV it will only take a few tens of hours to complete the main story. But for many players, this is when the game really kicks in, allowing you to fine-tune your character build and take on increasingly difficult dungeons in pursuit of better and better loot. Diablo IVThe developers seem to want to make sure you can keep progressing no matter how you want to play the game.
A new trailer features brief interviews with Game Director Joe Shelley, Associate Director Joseph Piepiora, Lead Producer Kaylee Calder, and Game Producer Ash Sweetring as they give players a broad overview of what to expect from Diablo IVend of the game. The common theme is that whether you like dungeons, battles with other players or just running around the map, there are ways to keep making your character stronger even after reaching the level cap. While action role-playing games last beta weekends gave players a glimpse into the early game, this latest video previews how they’ll be spending their time for the next hundred hours and all.
The endgame will begin with a Capstone dungeon. Completing this will grant players access to world levels from Adventurer to Veteran to Nightmare and finally Torment, which progressively make the game harder and improve the types of loot that drops. Diablo IV there are over 120 dungeons and the option to keep resetting them. New world levels are the easiest way to keep getting new rewards by playing them again and again.
As for customization, the endgame opens up a whole new skill system called the Paragon Board. At first glance, it looks like a gothic version of a match-three puzzle game, but the idea is that players can continue to increase their character’s strengths and weaknesses even after their basic skill tree points have been distributed. The board can even be rotated to unlock nodes in a different order.
Nightmare Dungeons are the core of Diablo IVend of the game
Codex of Power will be another type of endgame customization that revolves around gear, allowing you to collect aspects that increase weapons and armor by completing dungeons. That’s where Nightmare Dungeons come in, special versions of dungeons that you can modify using found sigils to change how they play. Affixes, meanwhile, add extra challenges like the gates of hell, which can open anywhere during a run and unleash random monsters from other parts of the world.
This type of dungeon grind looks like it will still be the main focus of Diablo IVthe end of the game, but the developers have indicated other activities that will also open up. Helltide areas will occasionally take over certain parts of the map, filling them with more blood and demonic powers than usual. Stronger enemies there will drop special fragments that players can use to unlock unique treasure caches that will appear in Helltide areas.
Read more: Diablo IVThe beta makes us kind of obsessed as hell
The Whispering Tree, meanwhile, is a formidable foe that will give you bonuses that require completing challenges from across the map. The developers gave the example of saving a village from wandering wolves. Nothing too wild, but another reason to keep running around the overworld map. These bounties can then be exchanged for powerful items, potentially giving players who don’t necessarily want to grind Nightmare Dungeons another opportunity to get stronger.
Finally, Fields of Hatred will be player-versus-player zones. If you want to troll strangers online, you can head over to one of them. The main objective is to collect shards from fallen enemies and refine them to trade for better rewards back in town. But players can also kill each other in the Fields of Hate and steal each other’s shards. Sounds a bit like Dark Zones from Division 2, or the extraction modes found in most online shooters these days. I’m intrigued by the possibility of gaining more than bragging rights.
As with any live service loot game, however, the proof will be in the fine details of how all these modes, activities, and progression paths fit together. Even the best-laid plans can be thwarted by poor drop rates or difficulty levels that aren’t properly set. These things will not be locked when Diablo IV arrives June 6, however. The developers are promising a lot of post-launch content and Diablo IIISeasonal updates of also continue. We’ll see if Diablo IV manages to live the same way.