Good Morning Friends! Last night was absolutely a Last Epoch while listening to an audiobook and snuggling with cats type evening. I was not feeling great and I don’t think Josie has been either. She has been glued to me at every possible opportunity and even this morning she is already on the box beside me. As a result of this and the fact that Gracie was telling us it was bedtime at about 8:30 last night… I wound up going to bed significantly earlier than normal. This was probably a good call and other than waking up in the middle of the night to turn off the brightness of the muted television… I think I slept all of the ways through. My major accomplishment for last night is that I dinged 80 on my Necromancer which continues to feel pretty solid.
As far as the audiobook goes, I had originally intended to roll into the next book in the Iron Druid Chronicles series but wound up having the decision made for me. My hold for The Hunger of the Gods the next book in the series that I just finished the first book of came open. So I could either let it pass or roll on into this book knowing that my mind was already keyed up for that particular brand of norse nonsense. At this point, I am around 80% through the novel and should finish it up today… which I guess is a good thing because this morning I woke up to find that my hold for Legends & Lattes has just come open as well and I have three days to claim that. I suppose that my book nonsense is sorted for the next bit then, and that also probably means I am going to be playing a lot more Last Epoch given that ARPGs blend nicely with listening to an audiobook.
At this point, I am working on my fifth monolith. At some point, I should go back to the previous monoliths and unlock those while the experience gained from them would still be reasonable. Essentially when you get the endgame after defeating the boss of the first Monolith you are presented with a choice. Do you go down the level 62 monolith path or down the 66 monolith path? I went down the 66 path and then once I got to the level 75 monolith I was presented with another choice… whether or not to fight and ultimately kill Architect Liath. I did not realize this was making a path choice, because I decided to let her go which led me to the level 80 monolith. Had I chosen to fight and kill her I would have gotten the 85 monolith… but even though I made this decision it seems to have only delayed my progress not changed it significantly as I am now working on the 85 monolith.
Last night I began work on Reign of Dragons which is the level 85 web of echoes and I am nearing the point where I can challenge the boss. Ultimately I have decided that my preferred method for doing a monolith is to fill the bar, and then run through all of the quest’s echoes in order rather than filling to a quest echo and doing it, then filling again and doing the next one. Essentially my general path through an echo is to look for resource nodes, key nodes, and anything that rewards idols or set/unique items. Ultimately you end up having to take some of the crappier gold or rare item nodes in order to connect the dots to some of the nodes you actually want. Ace is already through the first pass of the monoliths and on to Empowered Monoliths so I am trying to play a bit of catch-up.
So I did a thing yesterday that was completely unplanned. I realized I had been talking about what I was not enjoying about Diablo IV Beta, but not really giving many examples of the sorts of things that I do enjoy. As a result, I recorded a quick video of me playing through a Monolith Echo and kind of talking through the process as I did it. It has been a really long time since I last recorded a video, but I think it came together well enough. I will never be a YouTuber in earnest, but I do like occasionally recording videos to share with my friends in order to illustrate a point. Some people write blog posts to back up their videos… and I record videos to back up my blog posts. It wildly has gotten quite a few views over the last twenty-four hours… at least a lot for one of my videos.
Hey Folks! Tonight we are down three folks and contemplated not recording at all… eventually deciding on the recording to save ourselves from a mega show. The original intent was to record a fairly short show, but ultimately we ended up chatting away for the full time regardless. Tonight we talk about Diablo IV again and some of our frustrations. This weekend Grace got to play the game in the Open Beta so we start out with their opinions and devolve from there. After that Tam talks a bit about his experiences with Triangle Strategy. Finally, we talk about Adepticon and all of the news coming out of it for new miniature gaming releases.
Good Morning Friends! First I wanted to start off with a quick notice that if you have the Battle.net client, you can begin preloading the Diablo IV Open Beta now. Technically you could begin preloading yesterday afternoon, but suffice it to say by the time you read this post it will still be available for loading. The Open Beta itself begins tomorrow at 9 am PDT, and I fully expect that the servers are going to be wildly overloaded again. I would not take off work to play in this beta, because more than likely the first 24 hours are going to be unplayable. However, I do suggest that if you have been interested in Diablo and ARPGs in general, you give this game a spin to determine if it works for you personally. I definitely do not hate this game, but when I shared my thoughts earlier this week I largely shared that it just was not the game I was expecting it to be. Since it is a rather expensive purchase and since the refund policy on Battle.net is not as clear and hands-off as it is on Steam, you might as well try it while it is free.
Sometimes content lands in your lap. This happened to me last night when my good friend Wininoid asked me why exactly I thought Diablo IV was more of an MMORPG than an ARPG. This caused me to really clarify that stance, and I thought this morning I would share some of those thoughts with you. You can of course just read the short-form response, but you can only cram so much nuance in a 500-word reply.
The Character Creator
A fairly robust character creator
I guess first let’s start with the character creator. This is not exactly something that I associate with an ARPG, though I would dearly love them to offer more options. Please note that none of the things that I am going to highlight in this post are necessarily bad things, just what I would consider trappings of an MMORPG. In MMORPGs, I absolutely expect to have a pretty robust character creator, and the Diablo IV options would align to the bare minimum that I would expect for that sort of game. I created a “beefcake murder hobo” as I called it but one that aligned well enough with my sensibilities. Black hair and a beard, and has some sort of nonsense going on over the left eye… which is effectively the minimum requirement for being a “Belghast”. ARPGs would be so much better if they offered character creation options, but given that most do not… and even more, have gender-locked character classes… I am going to throw this in the bucket for MMORPG traits.
Open World and Passive Player Interaction
Other players in the world with me, with no ability to play solo
Next up we are going to flow into a “twofer” in that this game features an Open World with at least theoretical seamless shifts between towns and the surrounding areas. More than this however when you are out in the open world, you are surrounded by other players who are also taking part in content alongside you. The game features permissive tagging, in that you can help fight creatures and you will both get credit for the kill and your own copies of any rewards that come from those fights. Of note what I mean is that without formal grouping, you can actively participate in content with other players and there is no way to turn this off that I am aware of. You cannot venture forth into the world completely alone and you will always be at least indirectly impacted by the actions of other players and be competing at least passively for kills.
This is not something that I associate with ARPGs. Occasionally there are shared hub environments like the cities in Path of Exile, but once you start venturing forth you are doing so only with your party. Passive interaction with other players is a tenant of the MMORPG genre, so I am throwing this trait in that column both for the big open world with seamless zoning and the forced existence of other players in your world. Of note I consider Lost Ark to be an MMORPG, not an ARPG because it also has all of these traits and there have been folks calling Diablo IV a Lost Ark clone.
Respawning Mobs and Events
An event that respawns on a regular interval
Here come another two traits that are connected. In an ARPG you generally clear maps from one side to the other and the only time you ever see something respawn is when it is directly connected to some sort of a ring event. In Diablo IV while you are venturing into the open world, everything respawns. If you stand still in an area long enough, the same static spawns will keep popping back up. This has led players to just hang out in the location that a named mob spawns, and farm it over and over. This is absolutely a trait that I associate with an MMORPG because traditionally an ARPG is more map-based with its own population of spawns and you can clear from one side to the other without seeing any of it repopulate. Sure there are ways to FORCE a respawn in an ARPG, but these generally are centered around discarding your current map and forcing an entirely new map with all of its spawns to appear, not just single packs.
The other piece of this is that Diablo IV has zone events that happen in fixed locations and on a reoccurring schedule. In the above screenshot, there is an event centered around filling the pillar with blood by killing monsters on top of specific pads. If I roam around that same area long enough, I will keep encountering the same event. Again if there are players in that area you all can participate in that same event or even stand around and farm it over and over. This again is a behavior that I associate with an MMORPG and not an ARPG.
Hub and Spoke Side Quests
A side quest asking me to go to a location and kill something
This one gets a little hazy to be honest because it isn’t like I’ve not encountered this behavior in ARPGs before but it is more the totality of the features rather than a single trait in particular. Diablo IV progresses in a hub and spoke model when it comes to questing. The central quest will lead you to various areas of the map, and once appearing in a town a bunch of blue exclamation marks will show up offering you side quests that continue to force exploration of the surrounding area. These quests align with the central tropes of an MMORPG such as:
Kill X Monsters
Collect X Drops
Go to Location and Kill Specific Monster
Go to Location and Collect Specific Thing
Take Item from Point A to Point B
In truth, MOST quests in any game align with that model, but again it is the totality of traits and not any single trait. The same could be said for The Witcher 3, because its questing also feels very MMORPG at times.
Predictable Equivalent Loot
Loot drops from a named monster, that effectively aligns with the same types of drops every time.
This one is probably a little esoteric but hopefully, you can follow me. When you kill named monsters and open chests in Diablo IV, you seem to get roughly the same loot quantity every single time. For example, every time I killed this monster I got an amount of coin, two yellows, two blues, two whites, and the potential for a single legendary item. Chests similarly drop roughly the same items every time and the only real difference is based on what type of chest you are looting. Fixed loot tables and the regularity of loot drops absolutely tick the MMORPG checkbox for me.
A sequence of lucky drops in Path of Exile
In a traditional ARPG, it is a complete crapshoot that you are going to get on any given map. The potential for drops is more tied to a specific zone and less to specific encounters… apart from intended zone bosses. Drops are very feast or famine and you live for those big loot explosions. I’m sharing an example of a very lucky explosion of loot from Path of Exile for reference, but I saw something like this maybe once in every ten maps… rather than something that was predictable on every single outing. Sure it is mostly just a difference in methodology because it isn’t like I am getting MORE loot… I am just getting it all at once rather than rationed out in equidistant drops. I definitely associate predictable loot as an MMORPG trait.
No Map Overlay
Map Overlay Shown in Last Epoch
Now this one is more of something that it is lacking and less something that it features. I have come to associate ARPGs with playing with my map up at all times so that I know where I am going. This is more a case that the individual combat interactions are less important than the totality of clearing a map or finding a specific exit. When I am playing Path of Exile, Last Epoch, or Diablo II… I am essentially playing with the map overlay at all times. My eyes are sort of fuzzed out a bit watching what is happening with the actual encounters but also the lay of the land at the same time.
A More Hand Drawn an Immersive RPG style map in Diablo IV
This is not something that you can do with Diablo IV. When you bring up the map you get the traditional MMORPG opaque “hand-drawn” feeling map with fog of war for areas that you have not discovered yet similar to World of Warcraft. This sort of map is absolutely something that I associate with MMORPGs because while helpful, it is nowhere near as mechanically functional as the overlay. ARPGs tend to be more about mechanics and combat interactions than immersion and roleplaying… and Diablo IV absolutely seems to be trying to focus on immersion and story over raw mechanics. Again these are things that I chiefly associate with the MMORPG more than I do with the ARPG.
Factions Grind and Alternative Currency
The Purveyor of Curiosities Vendor allows you to spend “Obols” gained through events and quests.
Every region of the game has a faction associated with it. Completing quests and events in the area rewards you with a currency called Obols and standing with that faction. Over time you gain benefits by raising your ranks with that faction at specific predetermined break points. The currency is used to buy items from a gambling merchant located in each area called the “Purveyor of Curiosities”. While this maps pretty closely to Kadala and Blood Shards from Diablo III, the gaining of factions with groups of NPCs and the collection of alternate currencies are absolutely things that I primarily associate with MMORPGs. Faction grinds in general… are not something that I generally see in ARPGs. Instead, I am more used to trying to keep doing harder and harder content for better rewards, rather than accumulating an amount of renown to unlock something.
None of this is Necessarily Bad
Completing a Stronghold with Other Players
Again I am not necessarily saying any of this is a bad thing. However, these are the reasons why I have said this is more akin to an MMORPG like World of Warcraft than an ARPG like Path of Exile. We also have no clue at this point what the end game for Diablo IV is going to look like. I am not thinking it will really scratch the itch for the folks who live by the schedule of the Diablo II Ladders, Diablo III Seasons, Path of Exile leagues, and eventually Last Epoch Cycles. I might be completely wrong however and there may be systems within systems that we have yet to see. What I see is an MMORPG masquerading as an ARPG, just like Lost Ark is doing the same thing. I’ve often wondered what it would be like to have World of Warcraft redone in the Diablo universe… and in truth, I guess we now have that answer. To be fair Diablo Immortal did most of these things so I legitimately should have set my expectations accordingly.
Completing some of the story content in Diablo IV
I don’t even think that Diablo IV is a bad game. There were absolutely some parts of it that I really enjoyed. However as I said at the start of this post, sometimes content falls in your lap. After getting the question from my friend I decided to further expand upon why I think Diablo IV is an MMORPG, and I think at this point I have done so. I would have liked to have seen something that more directly continued the lineage of Diablo and created a product that could compete with the current king of ARPGs… Path of Exile. Ultimately I am getting that in the form of Last Epoch, but I wanted to see what Blizzard had to offer in that genre as well.
I highly suggest that you don’t take my word for any sense of finality. This weekend you have your chance to get into the game free and try it out. Maybe it clicks in ways that I did not expound upon, and I would love to hear your thoughts after having played it yourself. I am likely going to be playing some more of it myself. I suggest you save the rush and preload it today. I think I am probably in the minority with the amount of side-eye I am throwing at the game, because for the most part everyone seems to be enjoying it.
Good Morning Friends! Last night other than my habitual Tequatl was pretty much a night devoted to Last Epoch. While I have run up a Paladin to 68, there is some stuff about the build that I am not really feeling. So much of it depends on Shield Charge and right now with the movement abilities and rubberbanding… it just sort of feels janky. I think once Shield Charge is as smooth in this game as it is in Path of Exile, I will probably return to the build and enjoy it quite a bit. For now, I have shifted focus back to the class that I played during the test builds, the Acolyte turned Necromancer. Last night I finished the story that exists currently and began working on the Monolith in earnest.
I’ve been mostly following this Fire Necromancer build which I believe originally came from Aaron of the Action RPG channel on YouTube. Ultimately it shifts your Skeletal Mages, Bone Golem, and Exploding Zombies into fire damage and then buffs everything with Dread Shade and gives you permanent Wraiths. Aaron has a unique in the game now that is designed to go with this sort of build, and when you find it you can shift up a little bit and go into a build that can give you up to 4 full-size Bone Golems. I think that is my ultimate hope to find Aaron’s Will and shift into that sort of a setup.
At the moment I am just not really feeling Dread Shade. Like I get that this is probably the superior choice for the build because its aura buffs everything… including me. The problem is… I just can’t afford to stand anywhere near my pack of horrible children. This means that the Dread Shade isn’t of much actual benefit to my survival. I also keep forgetting to resummon it, because it disappears periodically when whatever it was attached to dies or when I shift zones. Since I don’t get an actual minion icon for it in the same row as the rest of my minions… I keep forgetting about it meaning that I am getting zero benefits from it most of the time.
Instead, I have decided to shift things up a bit and drop Dread Shade and pick back up Skeletons. I ran a Monolith this morning and managed to get enough points to make them useful. Essentially I am bouncing around to pick up all of the bonus skeletons, and then Dread Phalanx which makes them stronger but cuts the number I can summon in half, and Shambling Steel which makes them all melee. Combined this gives me four beefy melee characters that are pretty freaking fast… not as fast as my exploding zombies but still able to soak up any threats that are headed directly at me. This is ultimately what I did on the test realm and after switching it up, the build already feels comfier.
So at any given time, I have nineteen horrible children following me around. The full list includes:
1 – Bone Golem
3 – Skeletal Mage Pyromancers
4 – Skeletal Dread Phalanx
2 – Perm Wraiths
6 – Exploding Zombies (this is my spam ability)
3 – Skeleton Vanguard
This will in theory go up significantly when I pick up Aaron’s Will and can start fielding multiple bone golems on the field at once. In testing, I took the trait line that split my golem in half and gave me two less effective ones, and I did not go down that direction because when I did get multiple golems… I want them all to be the big tanky boys that I have currently.
What I need to work on more desperately now is my survivability. I am exceptionally squishy and failed a monolith echo last night for the first time in a while. Essentially if you look at my resists… they are pretty pathetic and the total lack of any physical resist and poison resist means that when one of those hits me… it effectively one-shots me. Having more bodies on the field to soak up more hate definitely helps, but I still keep to chain potions during dicey situations to keep standing which is not a position I want to be in long term. Part of the problem is I am still wearing some items from around level 6… so I hope as I dive further into the monolith I will start finally finding some reasonable upgrades.
I’ve realized that I am apparently in the minority in my feelings regarding Diablo IV. This is honestly probably a good thing because I want that game to be something that most people are going to enjoy. Personally, I think Last Epoch is more my speed. I do plan on giving it another shot over the weekend when the open beta happens and maybe trying a slightly different Barbarian build. I do want to try playing with some friends to see how the D4 group game feels. However, for me, the mix of Last Epoch and Guild Wars 2 seems to work extremely well. I still need to try some of the dungeons in Last Epoch. I’ve been stockpiling keys for a theoretical future date when I grab a friend and do them. Since they are a limited resource, it feels like I almost need to save them like I would a puzzle ring from Diablo III. Additionally the later I wait to run them, the better the rewards will likely be.
