New trailer for "Diablo IV" - what to expect in the endgame
Blizzard presents a new trailer for "Diablo IV". It's all about the question: What do you do in the game once you've played through the campaign? The answer is pleasingly varied.
Two weeks after the public beta of "Diablo IV", Blizzard is offering a look at the game's endgame. You apparently have several options for what you want to do after the campaign. The endgame content shown so far can be divided into three categories: Nightmare Dungeons, Open World Events and Player vs Player (PvP). There is also new information on the paragon system, in which you spend your skill points after level 50.
As it stands at the moment, you can choose between the "Adventure" and "Veteran" difficulty levels during the campaign. After the campaign, you have to prove yourself in a so-called capstone dungeon. If you complete this, you will unlock the next world level: "Nightmare". It is not yet clear whether the procedure will be repeated for the fourth and final difficulty level "Torment".
Nightmare dungeons
You unlock nightmare dungeons with the seals you find. These modified versions of familiar dungeons are harder and more intense. The interesting new concept here is that the seals also provide dungeons with different affixes. The trailer shows, for example, how hell portals randomly open in a nightmare dungeon. Of course, additional monsters emerge from these and want to get at you.
Source: Blizzard
The Nightmare Dungeons are probably the closest to the endgame content from Diablo III. There is little to do there after reaching the maximum level, apart from farming "Great Nephalem Portals" - in difficulty levels 1 to 150. Apart from the strength of the monsters, nothing changes, which is why the endgame in "Diablo III" feels very repetitive. Hopefully, the nightmare dungeons in "Diablo IV" will offer more variety.
Open world events
According to the trailer, you can also hunt for experience points and big endgame loot in the open world. Events such as "Hell's Flood" change entire regions. Suddenly it rains meteorites, blood flows through the streams and the sky darkens. And, of course, the monsters get stronger. You collect "fragments" with which you can open crates containing valuable items.
This all sounds like a detailed version of the world bosses. One of them called "Ashava" was already featured in the beta: Eight players engaged in epic battles in which Ashava had to be defeated in a certain amount of time. This was great fun and whets the appetite for the larger open-world events.
PvP - Fields of Hate
After its complete absence in "Diablo III", "Diablo IV" finally has a PvP mode where you can give other players a hard time. And: it should even be worth it. Not only do you fight for fame and honour, but also for a special currency that you can use to buy items and cosmetic upgrades.
The PvP zone is called "Fields of Hate". There you will encounter monsters on the one hand and human opponents on the other. Both drop some kind of fragments. However, in order to be able to do anything with them, you first have to cleanse the fragments at an altar - which in turn is noticed by the other players in the zone. You must therefore be prepared to be attacked at the altar. If you die, you will drop the fragments you have collected. It will be exciting to see how you can form groups in the Fields of Hate.
You can buy two things from your own merchant with successfully cleared fragments: Either cosmetic sets to make you look cooler. Or you can use the shards in a game of chance and perhaps get powerful new equipment - similar to gambles with the "Whispering Oboluses" at the curiosity dealer.
Paragon system
From level 50, you no longer receive normal skill points when you level up. Instead, you receive four Paragon points. So at the maximum level of 100, you have 200 such points that you can award - or probably a few more that you can earn by progressing through the world. According to Blizzard, you'll need to invest around 150 hours to get to this point.
You can use the Paragon points on a board that looks pretty complex. Depending on how you rotate the board, you start at a different entry point. From there, you use the points to make your way through the various character upgrades. It is not yet known exactly what these are. The trailer shows both simple examples such as "+5 strength" and more complex upgrades of individual skills. The whole system looks like it has depth. It obviously leaves plenty of scope for customised builds.
There's more to come
The endgame in the trailer is just the beginning. Blizzard promises that new content will be added over the months and years. We can only hope that it will not be possible to buy in-game advantages with real money in the future either. After the "Diablo Immortal" pay-to-win fiasco, this remains one of the Community's biggest concerns. Blizzard continues to vow that there will only be cosmetic upgrades for money in "Diablo IV". Fortunately, the development studio seems to be sticking to this so far.
"Diablo IV" will be released on 6 June 2023 for PC, Playstation and Xbox.
Cover image: Blizzard
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