Diablo IV: AusGamers Interview with Game Director Luis Barriga and Art Director John Mueller

Diablo IV Posted 2019/11/26 at 9:27 PM by Serrinn

published an interview

Diablo IV is like the first chapter of a book,” John adds. “We want to tell a big story and we want to tell it, hopefully, for a very long time. Treating this like the first chapter of a book and Lilith as a key character in this story, it feels great knowing that there are still all these other characters that could come back in the future. Or, new characters that we haven’t seen before.

So, it’s also, what if we don't bring him back right away? And instead, take the time to explore some of these other characters first.

We have those moments where we play with the perspective a little bit to either show you a landmark or a vista and stuff like that,” Luis Barriga, Game Director on Diablo IV at Blizzard tells me. “And then when it comes to a World Boss, we zoom out the camera out quite a distance to put you in the same space with 12 other players. That will be rare in the live game, but we included it in the demo to ensure everyone got to see it.

We want to avoid what we've seen in other games, including my experiences sometimes in Diablo II,” Luis continues. “Depending on how you play or what luck you have, sometimes you might be wearing head to toe gear that never dropped for you, it was all fully bartered for. We want to make sure that we are in control of those knobs. I feel pretty good that our balance team can adjust those knobs accordingly too, but it's still early days so I can't tell you which items go in which bucket.

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Comment by greeneggI don't get it, what's the issue with players trading to get gear? it's not like the stuff is appearing out of nowhere, you still have to farm for the stuff to trade for, and someone had to earn the gear you're trying to get.

if i've been playing for a few months and want to give a friend that just started a helping hand, what's wrong with me giving him gear?Comment by ChunkyCoffeeI don't get it, what's the issue with players trading to get gear? it's not like the stuff is appearing out of nowhere, you still have to farm for the stuff to trade for, and someone had to earn the gear you're trying to get.

if i've been playing for a few months and want to give a friend that just started a helping hand, what's wrong with me giving him gear?Comment by Trang0ulAlso, trading opens the opportunity of real money being involved (with legal means or not), turning the gameplay into "pay to win". Excluding best gear from trading will trim it down, at least partially.Comment by sociald1077Also, trading opens the opportunity of real money being involved (with legal means or not), turning the gameplay into "pay to win". Excluding best gear from trading will trim it down, at least partially.Comment by ColdleoThey sure do talk to a loooooooooooooooooooooooot of people, it will be fun to play D4 in 2025 with everyone.Comment by TrailsThe trading thing I will never understand. PoE and D2 let you trade anything and literally no one is complaining you could equip your entire character with this gear. Some of their design decisions just boggle my mindComment by KulrulkTrading is needed , if you want to address the amount of possible items in game then add bind on equip features, but trading should be in game. I find nothing wrong with the way D2 did it myself but one of my biggest issue with d3 is no trading. It limits interaction. In loot based game finding something thats not good for you but is for another player opens up so many more possibilities.

I get it you want to rein in real money transactions its why you made the real money auction house D3, Removing trading is worse than having a small % players buy pixels, its always going to happen.Comment by Trang0ulThe trading thing I will never understand. PoE and D2 let you trade anything and literally no one is complaining you could equip your entire character with this gear. Some of their design decisions just boggle my mindone of my biggest issue with d3 is no trading (...) Removing trading is worse than having a small % players buy pixels, its always going to happen.Comment by KulrulkNot really gold was utterly useless after a month, unless you wanted to sell it. The RMAH was a disgrace, but they did it to curb people buying crap with real money ( i mean why not get a slice of that cake if you can)

Bartering system was way better imo , items for items. Thats not to say gold could not work in D4 , it just didnt work in D3.

Botters are in every game , doesn't mean they should be allowed, its just something that will happen and blizzard will have to deal with it, hopefully very harshly ie perma bans. D2 problem was making runes so hard to find, it needed better drop rates (at least up to IST / GUL lvl )and maybe people wouldnt look else where so much , cause lets face it, 99% of runes people traded for were duped.

Ive found more perfect 40/15 jewels and 15/15 jewels than i ever did high runes.