Diablo 4 is officially announced as of Friday morning's BlizzCon 2019 Opening Ceremony. The ARPG was revealed with a staggering Blizzard-quality cinematic which concluded with the rebirth of demoness Lilith. Three Diablo 4 classes, the Druid, Sorceress, and Barbarian, were revealed and two more confirmed for later. But Diablo fans are certain to be hungering for more specific details about one aspect of Diablo 4 gameplay in particular. Namely, the loot.
Blizzard will likely share more information about Diablo 4 over the coming year and beyond as development of the ARPG progresses, but it did have some earl loot details to share as part of its Diablo 4 Unveiled panel. Consider the loot system an evolution of both the Diablo 2 and Diablo 3 systems, with both serving as a foundation to build on going forward. In so many words, players will kill enemies, pick up armor, rings, and various gear of increasing rarities. Diablo 4 loot consistent with past games in all but very specific ways.
For instance, Blizzard has already confirmed that both Legendary items and Set items will be returning in Diablo 4. Blizzard even says that there will be more Legendary items than ever before in Diablo 4. Set items, which have long been an equipment staple in past Diablo games, are planned to be designed in a way where they're less dominant. Diablo 3 builds all but required full Sets to perform in endgame. Blizzard clearly wants Diablo 4 to escape that trap and instead allow for wildly diverse build options.
Also confirmed for Diablo 4 are prefixes and affixes on gear, as well as runes and runeword combinations embeddable in gear, reminiscent of mechanics in Diablo 2. For example, a rare chest piece named the Insulating Highland Vestment of Fortifying could have both a Vex and a Dol rune embedded in it. The Insulating prefix grants +12% Cold Resistance, the Fortifying affix provides 6.5% reduced damage, and then the Vex-Dol runeword grants 50% bonus critical chance after drinking a health potion. And yes, health potions are once again lootable in Diablo 4.
Diablo 4 is the same kind of loot-centric ARPG that its predecessors were prior, as BlizzCon 2019 has made clear. Players will hunt for the same kind of loot that they have in prior games. Gear slots include helmet, chest, gloves, legs, and feet, as well as a necklace and two rings. Then players will have two slots for weapons as well, a slot for each hand. It's a simple gear system that allows the loot system to show its depth. Now all potential Diablo 4 players have to do is wait.
Diablo 4 is coming to PC, PS4 and Xbox One, and has no currently confirmed release window.