During BlizzCon, we learned even more about one of the upcoming Blizzard titles, Diablo IV.

„The developers on the team enjoy Diablo 2 the most and what resonates with us is that dark element, the dark factor. We consider it the true Diablo, and we want to hit those tones again,” lead artist Matt McDaid explained. „Junji Ito and some of the elements he brings in, kind of taking mundane things and twisting them, creating horror elements within that – then there’s the Cthulhu mythos and some of the horror elements there, especially the fear of the unknown,” lead quest designer Jason Roberts added. This comment revealed that Diablo IV is inspired by a Japanese manga artist named Junji Ito (Uzumaki, Gyo, Tomie…).

Now, for some bad news: Diablo IV will not have an online mode either. Just like how Diablo 3 had none on PC (while the console owners got lucky on this aspect – the reason here seems obvious: cutting back piracy on PC…).

„We are not going to support an offline mode, but as I said before, nothing in Diablo IV is going to require partying up. You can play solo and dungeons are private. Campaign quest areas will [also] remain private,” lead designer Angela Del Priore said. So this time, the PlayStation 4 and the Xbox One (and let’s be honest, the PlayStation 5 and the Xbox Project Scarlett as well, even if they didn’t announce the game for these platforms… yet) will also get an always-online version of the game.

In Diablo IV, the Druid class is making a return, capable of transforming into several animals, such as the bear that can deal massive physical damage with some limitations (because let’s face it, a bear has a bigger body, and thus, somewhat slower speed). In the BlizzCon demo, the transformation didn’t happen for a long period, plus it had a cooldown, meaning you cannot immediately transform back – you must wait. „Currently within the design, it is a rapid shapeshift, so you stay in that for a time, you go back, and then you can turn into another shape. We’re kind of playing with different options, but within the demo, it’s on a timer,” Roberts added.

In Diablo IV, we will likely not see the auction house where you could trade items for real money – we read on Polygon that it’s a function for Blizzard that they do not want to go back to. „There are a lot of great elements to trade if it’s done in a contained way. We’ve got some pretty solid ideas on how to make trade viable without letting it disrupt the game,” Allen Adham, the game’s executive producer said. Currently, it seems players will trade with others while in town, or through loot distribution from a guild leader. So there will be no farming here, which was a case before with World of Warcraft in China for the most part.

Diablo IV (and Overwatch 2) has no release date announced, but why is that? „I know it’s a lame answer, I’m super sorry, and it’s not like this top-secret thing that the last thing we want to tell players. It’s just that we don’t know. What’s important to us at Blizzard, on all our games, is that the game is awesome and the players are like ‘Yes, this is ready and now’s the time.’ I don’t have a date, It’s not this year, that’s a pretty safe answer. I have a feeling we’ll be talking about Overwatch 2 again next year at BlizzCon. If that helps,” Jeff Kaplan, the director of the Overwatch games said.

Diablo IV is announced for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One, but we suspect a next-gen version, and this is the reason why they don’t know when this game (plus Overwatch 2) will launch…

Source: VG247

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