Diablo 4 might not release on PlayStation, Xbox and PC until June 6, 2023, but players have already gotten a taste of what hellish delights await in the franchise’s first true live-service game effort thanks to the two recent open beta periods. Featuring the full Fractured Peaks zone to explore and access to all five launch classes up until level 25, it was a great way to get a sense of Diablo 4’s opening hours. One aspect it was impossible for either beta to hint at, however, was the endgame.
The team over at Activision Blizzard clearly recognised this, recently releasing a video highlighting certain elements of the Diablo 4 endgame – and each is designed to keep you endlessly playing. From customisable Paragon skills, to incredibly risky PvP, it would appear that no class will be at a loss for things to do after maxing out at level 100. If anything, endgame is where the game fully opens up and the true Diablo 4 experience begins to reveal itself.
To learn more about what the most dedicated four players have to look forward to once credits roll, and talk all things Diablo 4 endgame, we sat down with associate game director Joseph Piepiora and lead game producer Kayleigh Calder.
The Devil inside
“It’s not designed to be fair,” says Piepiora. He’s talking specifically about Diablo 4’s Fields of Hatred – areas located throughout the world of Sanctuary where the evil villain Lilith’s mere presence has caused all types of nightmarish terrors to seep through. Unlike usual world events, though, players won’t stumble upon the Fields, and instead have the choice to visit these regions willingly in order to win class-altering shards. Trying to obtain one is one thing, but getting a shard back to a town for it to be purified? Well, dozens of other in-game players might have something to say about that.
“This is not a duelling system,” Piepiora continues, with regards to how PvP is handled in Diablo 4. “That's not what Fields of Hatred are. [They’re] like murder grounds; this is not a place for honour”. But it is an opportunity for players to outwit other classes using a smart build to go in prepared so as to not immediately get annihilated. “There are situations where one class might dominate over another class. If you're going to be fighting a cold Sorceress as a Barbarian then you make sure that you take shots that make you unstoppable, so you can break out of those snares.” The best way for classes to survive, then? “It's about making the right choices for a PvP build.”
The development team isn’t being totally cruel, mind you, taking a page out of other live-service efforts like Destiny 2 to place you in servers with players of a similar level. After all, it wouldn’t be fun for players to be absolutely wiped out of health after just one hit, so rest assured that – despite the purposely designed challenge – more often than not, you’ll stand a fighting chance in the Fields of Hatred.
“We don’t have matchmaking that you queue into,” says Calder. “But we do have…the backend systems in place to make sure there is not a huge delta in difference in level or even item power between the people you're encountering in the PvP zone. There will be some variation and some differences, but we have built this in a way to try and avoid a situation where you've got a level five character just being mercilessly hunted down by a group of level 20s”.
To battle
Old-school Diablo 3 players will remember the dark days of the Auction House, where players could trade, bid on, and buy items for each other. In theory it was a great way for players to exchange goods they would otherwise grind items for, but the real-money aspect justifiably meant that it ended up being removed. There are opportunities for players to spend real money in Diablo 4 via the completely optional Battle Pass – which is primarily cosmetics based so as not to affect gameplay and entirely separate from how Diablo 4 trading will work – which at launch will only be available on Rare items and not a loot tier higher.
For Piepiora, it was important that the Diablo 4 Battle Pass not be used as a way to punish players who don’t want to spend real money in-game. “The Battle Pass is not used to gate any content,” he says. “[It] provides cosmetic rewards for players to engage with.” There are some things locked behind player progression for those without the Battle Pass, but they're all in the free track and don’t require purchase. “Those rewards also have a minimum level requirement for that to unlock for your character. For example, there's a monster kill XP bonus you can get in the free track, but that requires escalating player level in order for it to be unlocked for your character.”
Non cosmetic content, such as any new quest lines, new systems, and rewards are all free as part of the season journey and seasonal update, which is planned to refresh quarterly throughout the year. “The season journey is separate from the Battle Pass,” Piepiora continues. “When you complete steps of it, it will give you fuel for the Battle Pass, and will help you progress more quickly. But the season journey is free for all players and has objectives, and things in there might be more similar to the seniority experience we had in Diablo 3.”
Underworld, overground
When combined with World Bosses, a rotatable Paragon board that lets you chart a path through your own endgame skill tree, Nightmare Dungeons that feature unpredictable twists for you to contend with, and the Tree of Whispers (acting as a bounty board of sorts designed to have players explore areas they otherwise mightn’t have) the Diablo 4 endgame is primed to keep players engaged for months on end.
Rounding out the interview, Piepiora admits it would take a single player “somewhere between hundreds and thousands of hours” to achieve a fully optimised build applied with the very best rolls. That’s obviously an extreme example, but Activision Blizzard has been sure to provide a wide range of tasks to give even the most diehard players plenty of reasons to keep fighting. The recently released video teased that “Play your way” was a key mantra for Diablo 4’s development team, and following our conversation about all things endgame it’s a promise they seem intent on keeping.
