[GameSpot] - Diablo 4's Dungeons Are Becoming Less Repetitive And Tedious Thanks To Beta Feedback

[343iBot]

Diablo IV's dungeons will be undergoing some big changes in the final version of the game to be less tedious and repetitive, thanks to player feedback.

In a new blog post, Blizzard dives into all the major changes the team is implementing based on feedback from the game's record-breaking open beta. One of the most common complaints, Blizzard notes, was about how Diablo IV's dungeons frequently required backtracking in order to complete objectives as well as how similar the layout of many dungeons felt.

That will be changing in the full version of Diablo IV, with Blizzard having since "optimized" multiple dungeons across all of the game's zones in order to "minimize the need for backtracking."

Instead of many dungeons requiring players to travel down hallways to reach a side room, activate an objective, and retread the same path to return to the critical path, Blizzard writes that many objectives have now been repositioned along main dungeon pathways. Some objectives required players to interact with various objects or carry an object to a specific location. All those kinds of interactions have now been sped up, with players now moving faster when carrying objective objects and it taking less time to activate objectives. In addition, the "kill all monsters" objective will now have the last few monsters remaining seek out players, which should dramatically improve dungeon clear times. Events are now much more likely to happen in dungeons as well, with Blizzard increasing the event chance from 10% in the beta up to 60% in the full release.

"While our dungeons offer a variety of objectives to complete, player feedback stated that the action of completing each objective felt tedious," Blizzard writes. "We hope that providing bonuses, such as the increase to mobility while carrying certain objective items, will streamline and vary the experience of completing objectives. This adjustment is merely a starting point, and we intend to extend this philosophy to keys in a future update."

Major class changes are coming as a result of feedback too. Players in the beta complained that the Barbarian felt underpowered at early levels, while the Necromancer and their minions felt overpowered. Blizzard agrees. In the full game, the Barbarian will sport a flat 10% damage reduction buff, and improvements to skills like Whirlwind and Double Swing should make the class feel better to play. On the flip side, Necromancers have had their minions downgraded, with summoned minions now dying more often. The damage dealt by Corpse Explosion has been reduced, and the brightness of skeletal minions (something fans complained didn't mesh well with the game's dark tone) have also been reduced.

Each class has been adjusted in some way. Druids have had their ultimate skill cooldowns reduced and the damage on their companions increased, while numerous Rogue skills have had their bonuses increased. Sorcerer has seen changes too, like decreased damage for Chain Lightning and Firewalls now spawning underneath enemies more frequently when using its Enchantment bonus.

Blizzard writes that the goal of the class changes are to make it so skills feel impactful and powerful while still having them be interesting and "interactive in terms of itemization and combat feel." Blizzard agreed with players that some skills felt too powerful, and so so it opted to make changes.

"Launch is just the first step of our class balance journey, and you can expect further updates that iterate on this pillar of Diablo IV," Blizzard writes.

Other improvements made coming out of the beta include an upgrade to cellars so that they are more likely to include events and will now always reward a chest upon completion, as well as the the replacement of a sans-serif font featured heavily on item descriptions with a new serif font. Players quickly found a great way to level quickly was to kill batches of elites early on in a dungeon, leave, and then reset the dungeon in order to do it all over again, and it seems Blizzard isn't a fan of the particular grinding method. Blizzard notes that the ability to reset dungeons has now been disabled, which presumably means players will be required to complete a dungeon before being able to attempt it again. Be sure to read the blog for the full list of changes.

Blizzard will be diving into more details in regards to feedback received from Diablo IV's beta and how its endgame will work on April 20. Recent interviews have revealed that Diablo IV will receive new story content tied to new seasonal mechanics every three months, and that the game's seasonal battle passes will take roughly 80 hours to complete. Diablo IV releases on June 6.

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