Blizzard’s David Kim (Lead System Designer on the Diablo IV team) has taken to the official forums to share more details about the upcoming game. There will be a separate post dedicated to the Itemization in the future.
- Elective Mode – the UI is not final and we will support Elective Mode-style skill selection. Skill selection and assignment will always be completely open for all players.
- Ancient Items – Ancients as they are don’t really serve a clear purpose in Diablo IV. There might be more details in the follow-up itemization update.
- Endgame Progression System – the team hasn’t decided whether the character leveling and experience system should be finite or infinite. The more important question is what experience feels best for players, and we can playtest various approaches to tuning to find the power curve that makes the most sense.
- Sources of Power – in Diablo IV, power doesn’t come mostly from items. The developers want to have a good mix of power sources: characters naturally get stronger as they level up, skills have ranks that increase power, talents provide specific playstyle choices and additional character power, and of course, items grant power and meaningful choices as well.
- Keyed Dungeons – Keyed Dungeons introduce greater challenges as their tiers increase through Dungeon Affixes. The majority of dungeons are real places in the world, and players will know some information about them including what types of monsters, events, and layouts to expect. With this information, as well as the specific Dungeon Affixes being displayed on the key, players will be able to strategize their approach before going into the dungeon.
Check out the blog post for the full text of the message.
