Ten years ago, The reaping of souls the expansion has been completely reimagined and brought to life Diablo III. He overhauled huge areas of the game, significantly strengthening its foundation D3 It was still a fun time even though it was way past its expiration date.
Diablo IV progressed at a different pace. It made it through release without the technical glitches that plagued its predecessor, but it was still a game that didn’t reach its full potential upon arrival. Ours I felt it and I felt it in my game. After finishing the campaign and starting the grind loop, I quickly got bored and abandoned my character.
But before its first major expansion, Ship of Hate, Diablo IV not like in the beginning. I spent some time with the new content Ship of Hate and I will cover what the Nahantu region brings to the table, while also taking this opportunity to take a broader look at the state of the country. Diablo IV.
Hate Ship adds companionship and customization
Ship of Hate introduces a new region, Nahantu, and a new class, Spiritborn. Nahantu is a jungle biome, with lush greenery in some places and complete desolation in others. Basically, this is your default Diablo IV place. There are also a few points of interest for lore nerds.
The Spiritborn is a brand new class in the Diablo universe, and it’s a great addition. It’s a melee fighter with skills inspired by the four Spirit Guardians: the gorilla’s skills focus on defense and heavy hitting, the jaguar makes speed-controlled fire attacks, the eagle shoots lightning through its feathers, and the centipede is all about venomous powers. Yes, centipede. It doesn’t sound like a scary creature, but trust me, those poison attacks are rad. The biggest thrill comes from the ultimate abilities, where a true Spirit Guardian appears to be fighting on your behalf. Having a spectral gorilla and crushing enemies is deeply satisfying in a way I didn’t know I needed.
On my run D4I spent the most hours playing Necromancer and Sorcerer. They’re both a lot of fun, but feel most powerful when focused entirely on one item or damage type. I don’t have to completely redo my talent tree and sample boards every time I encounter a unique item, so I appreciate that a Spiritborn can actually pick and choose skills from four Guardians. This is Blizzard developers on class design live, and I’m happy to report that the class-specific Soul Hall makes it easy to take advantage of legendary and unique item powers without overhauling your entire rotation. That’s not to say optimal builds won’t emerge over time, but flexibility is a real win in the Spiritborn kit.
My other favorite addition Ship of Hate Den is a quartet of mercenaries who can join you on your quest. For solo players, they act as companions Diablo III — you can choose one to follow you and join your battles. Each has a miniature skill tree that you can customize to fit your playstyle. A secondary mechanic, Booster, allows you to gain follower abilities even if you don’t have supplies or can’t. Empowering allows you to choose a single ability from a single merc and set when you want to use them. Their abilities can adapt to when you’re using your powers directly, or to more combat-specific situations like when your character is injured or under crowd control. My favorite combo started with me casting an eagle spell to turn the enemies into a mob, then my archer friend appeared and threw an incendiary grenade to burn them all down. But the combinations are pretty endless and easy to change on a whim.
The Den isn’t a deep game system, and heavy players probably won’t take long to max out all four companions. However, it does present another opportunity to customize your game, and I think that’s where Diablo shines. Although I used the default Spiritborn model, I named him Test, and while I’ve never really dabbled with gear, it didn’t take long for me to start feeling attached to the character. That was it my spiritual born, my journey to save the world with my a set of allies.
The sanctuary is a dark place. Even when I play D4 in relation to other people, the depressing annoyance of circumstances and situations creates an “us against the world” feeling. Maybe a few NPCs will be helpful from time to time, but most of them will either betray us, lie to us, or die on us. But once faced with even the most invincible of foes, Ship of Hate made me feel is connected. The premise of the expansion is that Neyrelle has chosen to take on an impossible burden for you and is going to do whatever it takes to survive and succeed. This is in the presence of Dan, who always has someone’s back in Battle. It’s in your guide’s refrain, Eru: Help is needed, so help is offered. It’s in the new Dark Citadel endgame dungeon that you can’t complete without at least one other person. Even if you play Ship of Hate solo, you never feel alone.
There are other notable features coming as well Ship of Hateand if you’ve been keeping up with the game for the past year, you’ll notice the stat crunch and the new difficulty system. Runewords are back Diablo IIand of course there is a more powerful mechanism for hunting. But I see these updates as the culmination of a year of fixes and tweaks to Sanctuary.
A review Diablo IVfirst year
For better or worse, Blizzard is a game studio that responds to the demands of its audience. “We heard your opinion” may be the most frequently heard phrase at company events. I think there’s a balance to be struck in giving the community such a loud voice in the direction of the game, but in this case Diablo IV, generally worked well. When a lot of people flood the forums and say that the system is unpleasant, chances are good that it will be reworked. And there were certainly some unpleasant moments Diablo IV.
The item system underwent a comprehensive and beneficial overhaul in Season 4. Activities such as Helltide and Nightmare dungeons are no longer allowed at the highest difficulty levels. Even simple tweaks have done a lot to improve quality of life: At one point, vendors were repositioned so that the Blacksmith, Jeweler, and Occultist are now right next to each other, meaning you’re not going out to walk around town just to change a gear item. Almost every update aims to give players more agency and more power.
The seasonal model also helps here, introducing new game ideas every few months that developers can learn from and perhaps turn into constant updates. For example, Ship of Hate It begins with the start of a new season that adds Realmwalker monsters to chase across Sanctuary. Not every season revolutionizes the core game – sometimes it’s just a look at a faction with a short story theme – but these themed gameplay additions can be reason enough to keep playing.
So is it worth returning to Sanctuary?
For those who want to live the story, Ship of Hate is a valuable and natural continuation of the abyss from the main game. For the Über-fans out there, I’m assuming you live on the PTR and already have your thoughts on what’s coming (and will be playing for hours no matter what).
I’m mostly talking to the group in the middle, the ones who have been engaged from time to time or never re-entered after the big Lilith battle. For these players, now is a good time to return Diablo IV. Explore a new story, try Spiritborn; you’ll probably find a lot to enjoy.
A live game usually takes a while to find its footing or prove it has the power after the first fifteen minutes of glory. Ship of Hate It’s the latest example of how Blizzard is committed to change, improve and create Diablo IV hell of a good time.
