Today, the Diablo 4 developers did a deep dive about the Warlock class with regards to the design and skills. A few YouTube videos popped up along with a glance at the new skill tree, which in addition previews what the other skills ought to be shaped as for the expansion. In addition, more season 12 information was provided in terms of the full patch notes. I already went over the notes from the PTR but there were some new developments that are noteworthy. This blog will go over the high level aspects but not talk directly about the Killstreak and other features released on the PTR from before.
Warlock Impressions
First, it’s important to talk about the design of the Warlock. This class will resemble effectively the stereotypical Satan worshiper type if we want to be brutally honest in the general flavor where the class balances between an evil being that borders on the tip of control in terms of what the person must sacrifice to gain his or her powers. At the same time, it’s different from what was presented in the Diablo 2: Resurrection Warlock class. As I mentioned before, the Diablo 4 Warlock seems more like the World of Warcraft incarnation where you have fire, shadow (affliction) and demons as the primary themes centered around the class powers. Their specialization will also involve Soul Shards but not be the exact same mechanic found in World of Warcraft (especially for Affliction)
As for as the play style, it combines summoned minions, Hellfire and dark arts. It really does not play like a ranged character but something between a melee spell caster. At the same time, the way one does things are through combos of skills where one impacts another. It does not appear to be a fast moving class though so I can’t tell if the game play will slow down as a result in general for the game. Since Killstreaks are being introduced as part of the upcoming S12 theme, I have my doubts.
But in checking out the new skill tree, the main thing to realize is that the old passives boosting damage, etc. are completely gone. Instead, skills are modified by nodes where you choose between 1-2 or 1-3 from a series of “flavor” nodes. The remaining points are dumped into the skill itself or distributed elsewhere on the tree. The main skills have up to 16 skill ranks (at least according to the planner I saw) and the nodes only allow for a single point. And as I mentioned in previous blogs, the majority of your scaling will come through Paragon points, gear and I’m assuming Glyphs (which again is actually a great thing since the Paragon system itself needed to be made more meaningful and distinct from the skill tree)
Mathil1 mentioned that these smaller “flavor” nodes are going to function similarly to the skill runes on the Diablo 3 skill “tree”. The main difference is that instead of picking a single flavor node, you can have multiple. Based on what the developers have described, this new skill tree will allow for more flexibility in the future, which I’m guessing means expanding those node choices and/or adding additional flavor nodes for future expansions. What is good though about this adjustment is that the skill tree choices will end up being clearer in terms of what one chooses since you no longer need to pull out some odd calculator to figure out what nodes to pick or using some strange interaction like giving yourself a barrier through some damage mechanic etc.
During the Q&A portion, the developers did talk about how all classes received a top down review along with every unique/item (and possibly Aspect). So it sounds like there’s going to be a massive overhaul for all classes that will alter their existing trees to resemble the one we saw for the Warlock. At the same time, I’m thinking stuff like Talisman/Charms/Seals/Sets are going to add more flavor in addition to these skills and the normal Paragon and gear scaling.
Other notes were how the Warlock will, indeed, be another Willpower class. I suppose that makes sense considering the issue is binding the demon to gain power. Also, the Warlock page shows a few sample uniques which shows how they are more build enabling.
At any rate, I think the Warlock will provide a great deal of interesting play with their new toys. Also, it’s clear that all previous existing builds will be null and void with gear most likely seeing a revamp on top of ones base skills. I do think that this separation will allow the game to have better updates just because things will have better boundaries than the messier “Damage ’til Tuesday” design that it started with.
Season 12 Butcher
So the Diablo 4 team were teasing a later announcement after the PTR was finished. I’m guessing that this Butcher feature was the thing. Effectively, you get to become the Butcher by getting “Meaty Offerings” (Ugh….don’t get me started on this naming). These can be used at a Shrine of Slaughter in Helltides which attract opponents (and help with your killstreaks) as you play the Butcher. PVP in the Fields of Hatred get replaced by a Ceremony of Slaughter. Once you dominant, an idol comes about to grab that turns you into a Butcher and lets you go on a further rampage. There’s also something called a Slaughterhouse but it wasn’t linked or well explained. I can’t tell if these are the same as Bloodied Sigils or if Slaughterhouses are just dedicated areas for killing things.
So I think this event is a novel thing that might be fun to try. If anything, I think just doing a single character for the experience of playing the Butcher might be novel. But the PVP aspect isn’t my cup of tea. I suppose that’s really just for kicks to see if PVP will interest anyone. But I’m guessing that part of the season journey might try to encourage people to move in that direction despite how all evidence points to otherwise. Maybe for a single season, this would be fun for an hour just to have Butcher vs Butcher type of battles. Again nothing I’d personally do.
Either way, becoming the Butcher replaces your standard UI with a special board of abilities like turning into an Archon from Diablo 3. I’m not a fan of situations that completely change your UI because it’s highly disorienting due to how ones fingers are mapped from muscle memorization. I wouldn’t mind trying this just for the novelty but the season in general appears very light. There are additional balance updates for classes especially the Paladin. Without the ultra powerful Auradin build though, I don’t look forward to facing a T4 Lilith for the season rewards. Also, the boss staggering mechanics are changing again which is going to be really annoying for builds that lack single target damage. I think without Sanctification and just having the Bloodied affixes, you’re going to lose a lot in these fights.
Honestly, looking at the patch notes didn’t appear all that enticing. The only things that actually looked somewhat decent were the changes to doors in Nightmare Dungeons where they pretty much will open up automatically and how channeling effects like Teleport will be faster as well as requiring higher damage to disrupt. I’m guessing someone has been reading my blog because those two things were high on my list for QoL updates. But the boss part and lack of interesting gear and new builds beyond becoming the Butcher itself doesn’t entice me. Killstreaks would mean more if they put the feature into the core of the game while Bloodied affixes and the new Uniques seem more like temporary filler.
We will be getting the Butcher as a new lair boss which is the main thing going into core. But it does make me realize just how slow they’re porting over a lot of things like this. I’m glad for getting a new lair boss to do but generally speaking in the way loots has been redistributed, I don’t see how this new lair boss will make the game more interesting on its own. In general, we just don’t get enough permanent content updates quick enough. And I still don’t understand why Killstreaks by themselves aren’t going to appear in core (beyond that one Merc’s ability). It seems like a no brainer just to add more flavor to the game even if it’s blatantly ripping off something in Diablo 3.
At this stage, the jury still is out for me about playing this season when everything is going to be overhauled with the expansion. I think I would have been a lot more excited for this coming season if Chaos Armor, Perks and Sanctification returned just for the additional content hunts. But I’m kinda done with repeating Helltides over and over. Since I don’t do PVP, that whole section of content will be void for me. So I might just wait until Season 13/LoH being released unless people say that the new season is a hit. I wouldn’t mind trying the Butcher part but I don’t like the idea of going through the whole season and the Capstone Dungeons, etc. just to try the Butcher out.
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