Diablo 4, anyone playing this weekend?

[BugFreak]

The Diablo 4 closed beta for pre-orders starts today at noon eastern with the open beta next weekend. Is anyone playing? I'll be on if anyone wants to group up.

 

[FoldingAddict]

I wish, but of course all public betas are on the weekend and I always work all weekend. Let us know your thoughts on it.

 

[freakdiablo]

... That's this weekend?

I... Need to make some calls.

 

[WrkBoot]

Where are you playing?

 

[BugFreak]

Not sure how the servers will work but I'll post it when I log in around noon.

 

[WrkBoot]

Ok thanks

 

[BugFreak]

So I logged in played at about 12:30 with no problems. Went in right away with no queue. Unfortunately, I logged off to take care of some things and know I'm in an 87 minute queue.

Earlier I played through the first dungeon quest and messed with the settings some. DLSS was off by default which was odd to me. The game looks and runs amazing though. I love the more dark and gloomy feel this has versus D3 as well. I've purposely avoided all reviews and walk through info so this is all brand new to me and I'm sure glad I did. So far working a barb and it looks like I can assign certain weapons in my bag to certain skills. For example my Fury uses my dual weapons while my Whirlwind uses my single two handed hammer. It did this auto and I haven't figured out how to change it but I'm assuming I can. There is a bunch of skills and tweaks I have yet to figure out so I've got lots to learn. Overall very good so far other than the monsters being a little thinly spaced. I would assume this is a beta and/or normal difficulty thing.

Also haven't figured out how to join active games yet so I've only played solo. Not bad considering I don't want to get ran through or have someone skip a cut scene. That comes later.

 

[Woomack]

Some days ago I bought Steam Deck and one of the ideas was to check Diablo IV when it's released. I forgot that Blizzard works another way (I'm usually not touching their games).
I wanted to pre-order Diablo IV, but when I saw the price then I started to wonder if it's worth it. I will probably get it anyway, but in 3 months. I see no point in buying a game right now to (maybe) play for 2 days and wait 3 months for the official release.
Going back to the Steam Deck idea ... I will probably install Win11 and check how everything works as another problem is that I have 1 game on my Steam account that I wish to play (or is compatible), and installing Win11 is not limiting me so much.

I loved Diablo 1, all others were too colorful. I hope that D4 will be good as the market is flooded by below average games and I really have a hard time to find anything that keeps me playing for more than 2-3h. The new Zelda will be in 2 months and people complain it costs so much ... it costs exactly as much as Diablo IV. These are probably the only 2 games I'm waiting for right now.

 

[BugFreak]

I'm really interested in your results on the Steamdeck if you get D4. Diablo Immortal works great on a phone w/ controller so I can't imagine at least that version not working well on the SD.

The cost was pretty high but it seems most decent games are going that high these days anyways. I'm kind of a Diablo 4 junky so I wasn't waiting anyways. The one big gripe I have about the D4 price is the limited edition box did not come with a game so I would have to buy it separate. That would be $99 for the limited edition then another $60-99 for the game itself. A really stupid idea imo so sadly this will be the only Diablo game I don't have the limited edition in my collection.

After the weekend of playing I was very happy with it overall. Anyone that remembers the D3 beta probably remembers it was very small. The first act and that was it. With D4 it is huge and other than finding the edge of the beta map I still have tons to do next weekend in the open beta. The game plays more like an open world game, a mix of World of Warcraft and Diablo would be the best way to explain it. There is a huge map to be explored with random events, quests and dungeons found all over. The beta was just a small part but the whole thing can be roughly seen. Also little random one room cellars pop up all over. One I found had three treasure goblins in it while others had a random elite mob.

While in town I can see other players running around as well as the NPCs doing their thing. Depending on town I think this will become crowded as more players join. Streets are small and the stash was in a hotel room upstairs in the inn. I can see hundreds packed into that little room down the road. I also ran into players in the wild but each dungeon is private to me or my group. This is very similar to Immortal and WoW and will make PKing an interesting option if done right. I can see PKs just sitting in packs at the event locations which will get old fast.

The graphics are very pretty but can be improved imo. The 3D look that was promised in D3 has made it into D4 which is nice to see if not a little late. Both my 3080 10g and my son's 3070 ran it great at maxed out settings and AA. It used all of my GPU memory almost all the time. I ran around140 fps while he ran slightly less. There was some studder coming out of the portal into a town but that is to be expected while it loads the other players. This may get bad when tons of players are standing around in town. I can see many crashes here when the game first releases. The game has a very grainy texture to it. I prefer sharper less film grain in games so I usually turn that off. There was not an option to turn that off so they may have done that on purpose.

Overall I'm verry happy with the game and can't wait for the release. I'll be on this weekend playing if anyone wants to group up.

 

[Woomack]

I didn't like D3. It felt like a 10-year-old game. I mean the engine, graphics, and some more. I passed it once and sold the game. There is nothing good I can say about WoW or other Blizzard games from the last ~15 years. WoW was literally like a copy of all successful MMORPGs ( most Asian, less popular in the US/EU), but with worse graphics. Even in-game events were copied from other games (at least for the first years). It was pathetic, considering their budget. I only hope they didn't fail D4.
I see how SD handles other games, and titles like Cyberpunk are fully supported, so D4 should run without issues. Blizzard typically cuts down graphics and uses simple engines to sell more games. I just don't think it will be really demanding looking at the first videos and screenshots. I'm not saying it will look bad, just some things can be simple. Personally, I loved hand-painted backgrounds in some games. Look great and are easy for the hardware.

Btw. Win11 installation on SD takes ~10mins (M.2 SSD). It automatically discovers WiFi, but have to install some other drivers manually ... I'm somewhere in the middle of cumulative updates, so it will take some time.

 

[Woomack]

I don't want to start another thread, so here it is ... I was playing D4 yesterday for maybe 5-6h. There were no issues, and everything was stable without even a single problem, but many things somehow felt disappointing. I wasn't checking beta or youtube videos before, but I was expecting it would be this way.

Here are some of my thoughts, and of course, no one has to agree with everything:
- The game feels like it had 10 years+. I liked D1, but I didn't like D2/3 so much. D4 feels like a D3 update, while after all these years, I expect something more.
- Cutscenes are lagging like all were running at 20FPS and look worse than some modern mmo gameplay. It was hard to watch, considering it's a new and highly overpriced game. The same at default/medium details and max.
- Graphics looks like in older games. I don't know how they could spend so much time and still make it mediocre when they have so high budget. Small studios do a much better job nowadays. Everything from character models to movement is like in 7-10 year old games. Skill effects maybe look good, but the background and characters are nothing special.
- I still enjoy brainless running in dungeons and killing all the things on the way. It's just getting boring much faster than it used to. Maybe I'm getting older, or I just expect something more after all these years.
- Recently, I was comparing the price to the expected experience with the latest Zelda as both games cost about as much (base version at least). I can only confirm that Zelda feels like someone was working hard to polish everything so it works great on such weak specs as Nintendo Switch has. Diablo 4 looks and feels below average for 2023 at max details on PC.
- The D4 map is huge compared to the previous parts. It at least promises much longer gameplay than it was in D3 (for those who want to play solo and only explore the map and make quests).
- I like how everything is dark but could be less colorful. Dungeons are something that is missing in many new games.
- The game requires ~85GB on SSD/HDD and uses ~10GB RAM. With some other stuff in the background and minimized another game, everything was using ~25GB RAM. I was playing on Ryzen 7600 (non-X), and the CPU was loaded in 50-80% with 2 games, a web browser, and other things in the background. I still have to check it on Steam Deck, as I was mainly curious about possible mobile gaming.

In general, it's not a bad game, and I will probably spend some time playing it, but I have mixed feelings about the used engine and graphics. In short, Diablo 4 feels like a recycled game focused on making money. Pretty much the same as every Blizzard game in the past ~20 years.

Edit:
I'm checking it on Steam Deck right now. At max details 1280x800, it works fine in town, but outside I saw some "rubberbanding". At medium details, it works without problems. It also looks about the same at medium and max details at this low display resolution.
It's possible to use the touch screen for pretty much everything or map keys.
As long as on PC it looks pretty average, then on this small screen, it's not so bad. The same effect as with Nintendo Switch games.
Btw. I had no space on SSD, and I was running D4 from an SD card. Maybe this is why there were problems with max graphics details.

 

[BugFreak]

Interesting you are having the laggy cut scenes. My son is having the same problem but I am not. We are both on pretty new Intel computers, mine with a 3080 and his with a 3070. The game itself runs fine but he gets choppy cut scenes like you get. What GPU are you running? Hopefully they get this worked out because the cut scenes are really great and I'm glad to see the movie style inserts back like D2 had.

I bought the Ultimate edition so I've been playing for about a week now and I feel its more of an update to D2 personally. I played a ton of D3 at first but lost interest as they patch it over and over and in my opinion ruined it. D4 feels closer to D2 to me for some reason and I played a ton of that and played the Resurrected version as well. Not sure if its the cut scenes or the darker theme but I like it.

I agree about the map. Its so big it feels like an open world MMORPG to me and I really enjoy the random dungeons and cellars that pop up. Having to clear "Strongholds" before accessing them is a really neat idea too. I'm not sure what level your toon is but I found it really opened up and became more fun once I reached level 30. That's also when the drops get much better. I'm a Fury/Berserker barb so the item quality is playing a huge part in my survivability while my son is playing a Rogue and seems to have a much easier time running the dungeons and killing mobs. Together we destroy just about everything we encounter so far though. I feel they did a really good job of making group members compliment each other well. He crowd controls while I beat on whatever is needed.

Funny how you compared it to Zelda. that is my son's other new game right now and he basically gave it up for D4. I'm sure that will change soon enough though.

EDIT: I was just rereading your post and noticed your ram comments. I run 32g and my son runs 16g. I wonder if that is playing a role in his stutter too.

 

[Trap05]

I was playing Saturday and last night. Game generally runs fine but occasional lag. Was kicked to charchater select screen at one point last night after some error. Couple other players told me they were murdered by lag issues.

 

[dfonda]

I still have never recovered from the 10 plus play through's in D2...

 

[summerz]

I just want to start playing...

 

[EarthDog]

I just want to start playing...

OK...what's holding you back?

Seriously @summerz........

 

[Kenrou]

Between patches in WoW so was considering it, but I think I'm going to wait a tad more for reactions (especially for max level content), there's been quite a few mixed ones so far. Besides, I've never liked this “always online” garbage, especially since I would only play for the story, not the social side

 

[Woomack]

Interesting you are having the laggy cut scenes. My son is having the same problem but I am not. We are both on pretty new Intel computers, mine with a 3080 and his with a 3070. The game itself runs fine but he gets choppy cut scenes like you get. What GPU are you running? Hopefully they get this worked out because the cut scenes are really great and I'm glad to see the movie style inserts back like D2 had.

There is an option to limit cut scenes to 30FPS. It works the same for me regardless if I use it or not. 30FPS should still be good without any hiccups, but it feels like it was 15-20FPS max. I play on Ryzen [email protected] and RTX3070. The same is on Steam Deck, with much lower specs but also a lower display resolution. On a smaller display, it's not so visible.

I bought the Ultimate edition so I've been playing for about a week now and I feel its more of an update to D2 personally. I played a ton of D3 at first but lost interest as they patch it over and over and in my opinion ruined it. D4 feels closer to D2 to me for some reason and I played a ton of that and played the Resurrected version as well. Not sure if its the cut scenes or the darker theme but I like it.

I agree about the map. Its so big it feels like an open world MMORPG to me and I really enjoy the random dungeons and cellars that pop up. Having to clear "Strongholds" before accessing them is a really neat idea too. I'm not sure what level your toon is but I found it really opened up and became more fun once I reached level 30. That's also when the drops get much better. I'm a Fury/Berserker barb so the item quality is playing a huge part in my survivability while my son is playing a Rogue and seems to have a much easier time running the dungeons and killing mobs. Together we destroy just about everything we encounter so far though. I feel they did a really good job of making group members compliment each other well. He crowd controls while I beat on whatever is needed.

I'm playing necro. It's class that was missing in my last MMO, so I wanted to play it for a change.
I had D3 on Switch, and I made my brother play with me. We passed the story, and I sold the game as I felt there was nothing else to do. For sure it's more fun to play with someone, and D4 guarantees more hours of fun only because of a much larger map.

Funny how you compared it to Zelda. that is my son's other new game right now and he basically gave it up for D4. I'm sure that will change soon enough though.

EDIT: I was just rereading your post and noticed your ram comments. I run 32g and my son runs 16g. I wonder if that is playing a role in his stutter too.

Diablo 4 uses about 10GB, so 16GB should be enough if there is not much more in the background. I'm running Black Desert Online in the background just because there are things that characters can perform when you are away. So it uses about 8-9GB. When we add OS and web browser, then it's about 25GB.

Between patches in WoW so was considering it, but I think I'm going to wait a tad more for reactions (especially for max level content), there's been quite a few mixed ones so far. Besides, I've never liked this “always online” garbage, especially since I would only play for the story, not the social side

I barely see any other players. Usually, they're afk standing in town, and I saw maybe 5-6 only. Once I saw someone outside. I play it like an offline game, and I don't care about any online/social side of it. It's also not designed well for these things.

Actually, I wasn't playing since my last post. If it were so great, then I would probably play all the time. As I said, it's not a bad game, but there is too much hype around it, and everything feels like I have seen it already. If it was released in 2010, then we could say it's great, but now it's just fine. On the other hand, I guess it's still better than most games released in the last few years. I almost only play Black Desert Online, just because every other game seems boring, I pass it in 3-5h, or it is a remake of an older game. The only exception is Nintendo Switch with some of its exclusives.

 

[BugFreak]

My son usually has some random crap running in the background like Roblox or something so I'll probably up him to 32g based on what you're seeing. If that doesn't fix it I will try upping his GPU.

I also barely see players out in the world. The auto party thing is nice but it seems no one uses it like Blizzard thought people would by sticking together. I'm already starting to see farmers around the repeat event locations though which is sad. Someone will be sitting just in range of the event so when it starts they get whatever drops when they come back. I usually drag a mob over to kill them but I'd imagine most people don't care so the farmer gets something out of it. I hate to see that in a new game.

I didn't play last night which is odd for me and a new game I like so I get what you're saying. It was primarily due to the login issues they were having. That type of thing usually bothers me but last night I just went back to my normal World of Warships and didn't think twice. When I do play I get sucked in for hours though.

 

[Kenrou]

Good review, but (to me) the interesting bit starts @14m20s