The beta for d4 items is promising but includes a few glitches and incomplete gameplay features that should be patched or refined before launch.
The open beta for Diablo 4 is finished, and several have gotten the opportunity to experience the gameplay and story from the newest installment within the hack-and-slash ARPG franchise, as incomplete because the beta version was. In general, Diablo 4's beta results in a refined version from the formula established by previous Diablo games, featuring the dark themes of Diablo and Diablo 2, the brand new gameplay mechanics pioneered by Diablo 3, and also the crisp, cinematic cutscenes iconic to many Blizzard games. There are, however, several issues Blizzard developers should correct before releasing Diablo 4 entirely; some of the issues are based on gameplay balance, while some have to do with game performance and fidelity.
Diablo 4 is basically an attempt by Blizzard to revisit the dark, horrific ambiance of Diablo and Diablo 2 while dialing back around the comparatively brighter, more hopeful tones that nearly ruined Diablo 3. The beta of Diablo 4 certainly results in as dark and horrific, featuring an Act 1 plot drenched in corruption and sin, traditionally unholy character classes like Rogues and Necromancers, and armloads of demons to battle. Despite being largely successful, the Diablo 4 beta did have its issues.
Glitch, Performance, & Accessibility Issues In Diablo 4
In the current video game industry, betas are freed to give potential players an idea of a studio's product and catch major gameplay issues based on the comment and feedback of the larger player base. During the beta, many players did indeed discover difficulties with the performance of the game that developers at Blizzard will probably need to patch before Diablo 4's launch day. The following issues particularly were common occurrences throughout the Diablo 4 open beta:
A glitch during in-engine cutscenes where character shadows would shimmer oddly within the daytime.
Performance problems caused the Diablo 4 beta to operate poorly, particularly on older-model computers.
An insufficient non-English text/spoken language options within the beta's settings.
Visual issues where skeleton minions summoned by Necromancers glowed too brightly
There's a particular irony in how Diablo 4, a game title in a franchise famed for the literal and thematic darkness, happens to be suffering from the gameplay the process of objects being too bright. The final version of Diablo 4 will likely fix most of the graphics and gratification issues play-testers spotted throughout the beta, whilst adding more support for non-English speakers and players without quite up-to-date computing devices. The gameplay-focused issues the following, however, are much more subjective and could not be tweaked to everyone's liking.
Diablo 4's Class Skills Need More Balancing
The heart of Diablo 4's hack-and-slash ARPG gameplay (and re-playability) may be the ability of players to produce and customize characters centered around specific classes. After picking one from the five main Diablo 4 classes, all returning from previous games - Barbarian, Rogue, Druid, Sorcerer, or Necromancer - players can fight enemies to level their characters up, then unlock additional skills and talents to be able to gradually create unique, the novel builds. A Diablo 4 Necromancer player character, for example, could be a superlative summoner that drowns enemies in tides of skeletons and flesh golems or perhaps is specialized right into a wielder of blood magic and debilitating curses.
The big challenge when designing character classes and ability customization mechanics in games like Diablo 4 is ensuring every possible character build is viable. This doesn't suggest developers at Blizzard should tweak the strength of character skills until every possible Diablo 4 character build is every bit powerful. They should, however, try their finest to make sure every potential character build is fun to make use of, able to overcome every Diablo 4 combat encounter, and rewards players who master a particular play style. If a particular combination of class skills and talents is vastly stronger than others, players might seem like they're being punished for not creating the meta build.
Compared to previous installments of Diablo, the combat of Diablo 4 puts a larger emphasis on battlefield control à la Final Fantasy XIV, challenging players you may anticipate and evade large enemy attacks whilst using skills with cooldowns at the right moment. Within this gameplay paradigm, the very best Rogue builds within the Diablo 4 beta, crafted towards evasion or ranged attacks, are easier to master than, for example, melee-focused Barbarian or Druid builds that force players to dive into crowds of damaging enemies. Additionally, the minion-summoning Necromancer class, though powerful with a huge bag of tricks, currently doesn't give players a chance to control the tactics of the summons as with Diablo 3.
Diablo 4's Item Drops Need More Balancing (Especially Legendary Items)
If hack-and-slash combat with hordes of enemies great and small is one of the pillars of the Diablo franchise, then plunder and treasure may be the second pillar, as victorious players vacuum up piles of gold and (mostly) random equipment drops within the wake of glorious battles and dungeon crawl. The best and rarest of those drops, the so-called legendary items, have the possibility to transform a player's play style and shore in the weaknesses of certain character classes. The randomness of item drops, if properly implemented, would greatly boost the re-playability of Diablo 4 with the addition of new content and ways to go through the game each playthrough (much like roguelikes for example Hades).
The current difficulties with item drops in d4 items are strongly from the issues of their character class roster. If a character class has certain weaknesses (low health, difficulty regenerating mana, insufficient evasive abilities), the best legendary item can shore up said vulnerability (through effects for example negating damage, increasing chances to dodge, shortening the number of certain debuffs, pushing or pulling attacked enemies, etc.). If the items players receive are extremely random, however, players might have much fewer treatments for how ultimately powerful their Diablo 4 character builds are; alternately, they might focus an excessive amount on grinding for item drops from enemy mobs rather than enjoying the game. While the open beta's performance issues are unsurprising, and can hopefully be rectified prior to the full release, the imbalances in classes and loot have the possibility to affect Diablo 4 in the long run.