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News video games 30 March 2023, 13:54

author: Jacob Blazewicz

Diablo 4 Dev Confirms: Dynamic Ability Effects are Still in the Game

Blizzard Entertainment's Daniel Briggs has allayed concerns about the dynamic visual effects in Diablo IV, which players were unable to see during beta testing.

Diablo IV beta has stirred up quite a few emotions - both positive and negative. Even though it was known that the tests would show only a fraction of the game's content, already during early access the Internet was flooded with questions about allegedly unfinished or missing elements.

One of the more frequently raised issues concerns the intensity of ability visual effects, which we will see in its full glory only after the full release of Diablo 4. This was confirmed by designer Daniel Briggs in response to questions from Twitter users, who had trouble seeing the mechanics work in practice.

The system was revealed in late 2021, along with a lot of other information about the fourth Diablo.

  1. According to assurances at the time the effects accompanying the use of the characters' abilities were to become larger and more spectacular with the "accumulation of upgrades and items" increasing their power and duration ..
  2. It wasn't also only a matter of mechanically "cranking up" the graphics settings - each such enhancement was to be "handcrafted" to fit the atmosphere of Sanctuary.
  3. However, after the start of beta, players were somehow unable to see this solution working in practice (via Reddit).
  4. Some people even began to suspect that the system had been abandoned.

Briggs addressed these theories.

  1. The creator stressed that the level of of dynamic visual effects of abilities depends on several factors, including skill points, bonuses for them and their categories, legendary items, legendary master levels and glyphs.
  2. The developer also mentioned a "censored" and "very rare" modifier, which will also affect the presentation of "skills."

At the same time, although the intensity does not increase strictly gradually, the changes can be seen most when comparing the basic version with what we will see at the maximum character level. Meanwhile, Diablo 4 beta limited character progression to level 25, out of 100. So it's hardly surprising that the progression of this mechanic - even if it was possible during testing - didn't particularly catch the eye of players.

Briggs also mentioned that there will be a lot of additional (i.e. not shown) content in the game, especially in the higher levels of the world. We hold him to his word.

Diablo IV will debut on June 6. The game is headed for PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S.

Jacob Blazewicz

Jacob Blazewicz

Graduated with a master's degree in Polish Studies from the University of Warsaw with a thesis dedicated to this very subject. Started his adventure with GRYOnline.pl in 2015, writing in the Newsroom and later also in the film and technology sections (also contributed to the Encyclopedia). Interested in video games (and not only video games) for years. He began with platform games and, to this day, remains a big fan of them (including Metroidvania). Also shows interest in card games (including paper), fighting games, soulslikes, and basically everything about games as such. Marvels at pixelated characters from games dating back to the time of the Game Boy (if not older).

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