Diablo 4 Open Beta weekend finally came! I've been looking forward to it for quite a while. I've played all the Diablo games sinking 1000s of hours over the course of my life I'm sure. It's the premiere ARPG title, and if you enjoy ARPGs, you'll be wanting to play this one.

Quick note: if you are close to level 20, make sure to get that final ding for the limited cosmetic item when D4 releases!

Gameplay/Video

The game is fun. A lot of fun, actually. I didn't want to spoil any of the main story, so the video shows two different world events and one small cellar. The events reset and are basically standalone super quests. Cellars are...cellars. Go in, clear out a room, get the loot.

I really enjoyed playing this game on an xbox controller. Just a more relaxed posture, more comfortable hand position, etc. D4 also doesn't allow you to load up 20 skills at once, and the controller handles all the skills you can use nicely. In the video, you'll see me running:

1. Basic attack (Spark)
2. Chain Lightning
3. Frost Nova
4. Teleport
5. Hydra
6. Lightning Spear

I never felt like a one-click build. I rolled through all of them to get the most damage output and felt rewarded for it.

Story (no spoilers)

So far, the story (and cutscenes) are great. That's what I expect from a Blizzard title, and I was not disappointed. (I can still hear "East. Always East" in my head from D2.) The villain has a bit more depth than the usual, which is interesting. I've been fine in the past with "He's the devil. Kill him." Put the extra depth doesn't hurt.

Side Quests

Side quests were decent. I think I only ran across two "collect X drops" quests. Most had associated dungeons, minor events, or minor bosses to defeat.

Skills

I liked the skill system. It's nowhere near as overwhelming as Path of Exile, and it also lets you add/remove skill points with ease. This let me try out different skills and also maximize current damage without worrying about wrecking my final build (like in D2).

The system does borrow a bit from POE (as many other games have done). The skills branch off and allow for the customization of effects. As you spend skill points, you can unlock the next tier of skills.

Loot

The loot was a bit 'meh,' but I largely chalk this up to being level capped at 25. Even at this stage, I found some unique items that gave special effects. One of them creates a shield around you once you become 'unhealthy' (fall below ~80% health I think).

You can also extract the aspects from unique items and put them on other items. Pretty much exactly the same as Diablo Immortal.

Conclusion

If you like Diablo games or just ARPG in general, I highly recommend picking this up when it comes out. At $70, it's pretty steep, but I know for certainl that I'll be getting a lot more than $70 worth of joy from it. I'm really looking forward to the June 6th release to try out the bigger skills, more classes, and finish the story. Not to mention seeing what higher difficulty levels have in store.