Diablo Fans are waiting with bated breath for the newest installment in the Diablo universe and this week they were rewarded with new information.
We at MGR Gaming have been following the news on this exciting new installment as we are fans of the franchise ourselves and you can see our previous article on the matter here.
The most recent information on the game was disclosed on Monday in Blizzard’s final blog post of the year, which revealed previously unreleased information about the game.
The Diablo series is showing a resurgence with Diablo 2 resurrected being recently released and Diablo Immortal being released in 2022 for Android and iOS devices.
The blog post is a little long and intimidating but we will break it down for you.
Diablo IV Announce Cinematic Trailer:
+Skill Rank affix
First of all, they announced their plans to bring back the +Skill Rank affix which was described as: “a great way to try out new skills before you’re able to invest in them. Getting a lucky drop that nets you a skill you’d like for your build ten levels before you would otherwise have access to it is a huge boost!”
A new NPC ensures you will be able to transfer legendary powers.
This new NPC will be “The Occultist” and will be able to distill Legendary powers into different items.
If you have a Legendary power on a weapon that you don’t wish to use, you can take it to the Occultist and have it broken down into Essence. The Legendary power without the item is known as Essence. You can then use the Essence to upgrade a rare into a Legendary with that specific power by putting it on a new item of that sort.
Specific Monsters will Hoard specific items.
Usually in previous Diablo games loot was a free for all but with this new installment, certain monsters will carry certain items.
Bandits, for example, are known to wield maces, crossbows, and boots. So If you’re looking for a new pair of Legendary pants, for example, you should look for a pack of drowned enemies.
This should make it easier to obtain those specific items you are after and not just blindly hoping that loot will drop when you destroy an enemy.
The Paragon Board.
This feature is all about how your Hero grows and being able to customize this. Blizzard describes this process stating:
“ The Paragon Board unlocks for each class at level 50 and is a distillation of this focus. Your hero begins their journey through the Paragon system at the central starting tile of their class’s intro board, and from there, you make selections radiating outward.
Once your hero reaches a gate tile, you’ll choose which new paragon board you would like to attach to at that location. The desired outcome is a personalized set of bonuses that will empower your hero and honor your dedication to their progression, that will remain fun to tweak and adjust over many playthroughs.”
The Paragon Board is made up of a lot of fixed tiles. Paragon points are earned as the Barbarian gains experience, and they are utilized to unlock a related tile.
The types of tiles are as follows:
Normal Tiles:
These tiles are straightforward and provide a small but significant stat boost. Normal Tiles are connective tissues found all over the board and are common.
Magic Tiles:
Magic Tiles are scattered across the board and deliver a more potent and diverse set of rewards. They are less numerous than Normal Tiles, but they are still abundant.
Rare Tiles:
These tiles will offer a significant power boost. These tiles represent great goals for players to chase especially once you have highly specific goals for your build. Rare Tiles also have additional abilities that activate once the hero has leveled up an attribute to a certain point, requiring you to make some decisions as you plot your way around the board.
Legendary Tiles:
Following the initial Paragon Board, each subsequent board contains a single Legendary Tile in the center. The character that obtains a Legendary Tile gains a new Legendary Power.
Glyphs and Sockets:
A socket is a tile that may contain a glyph. Glyphs are items found all across Sanctuary that, when inserted into a Paragon Board, grant various advantages based on the number of active tiles within their radius. Glyphs can also get levelled up by exploring some of the most dangerous dungeons. The radius of a Glyph’s impact grows as they level up, allowing each one to drain power from or impart power to even more active tiles.
Gate Tiles and Board Selection:
Each edge of the Paragon Board has a single Gate Tile. As you travel through the Paragon Board, you’ll come across a Gate Tile that, if unlocked, allows you to choose a new Paragon Board to attach to your present one. Each of these boards has its own Tile pattern, as well as new Magic and Rare Tiles and a Legendary Tile in the center.
These Gate Tiles add to the length of the Paragon Board. You can place the board down after selecting it from the Paragon Board list and attaching it to the newly unlocked Gate Tile. You can also rotate that newly placed board if you want.
Diablo IV Official Gameplay Trailer:
The Visual Effects:
Diablo IV’s visual effects will be vastly enhanced over its predecessor, with one of the most notable differences being that different classes will have unique enemy annihilation effects.
Unlike in Diablo 3 where enemies pop with electricity or burn with fire spells this feature will be a little more unique in Diablo IV. For instance, Barbarians will be able to slice or crush enemies, while sorceresses may freeze and burn them. Rogues can dump a monster’s guts on the field or poison them, causing their skin to melt away. Druids can utilize stones to crush adversaries, leaving a stain on the ground, or use lightning to force them to explode.
If you are interested in reading through the entire blog post outlining all the new improvements and changes from each head of the respective departments, you can do so here.
Unfortunately, we won’t see the game until 2023 at the earliest, but if all of the information about the upcoming installment is true, it will be a great experience for any lover of the brand.