In my opinion, the biggest problem Diablo IV has is very similar to the problem Diablo III faced: A large majority of the offensive and Defensive power for your character comes from items.
In Diablo II this wasn’t nearly the case. Offensive power came mostly from skills and Defensive power came mostly from items. This isn’t to say that all offensive or defensive power came from just those sources, because DII did a really good job of mixing and matching, but mostly they pushed the user through a series of progression. For example:
Normal mode: the user is free to acquire as much offensive from skills and defensive from items as they want to play and beat the game
End of Normal, early Nightmare mode: the user is pushed towards prioritizing defensive (resistances) power from items, but once the user has achieved defensive (resistance) equilibrium, they again free to acquire as much offensive from skills and defensive from items as they can
End of Nightmare, early Hell mode: the user is pushed towards prioritizing defensive (resistances) power from items, but once the user has achieved defensive (resistance) equilibrium, they are once again free to acquire as much offensive from skills and defensive from items
As I said, not all offensive or defensive powers came from their singular respective sources. Many items in the end-game provided both, but it wasn’t a 100% dependency on items like DIII and DIV. Both DIII and DIV divide out some of the power towards the later stages with paragon and other systems, but ultimately it is all sitting and focused on items…
You simply aren’t going to progress in DIV unless to swap out your gear for higher item power and in Diablo III you have to focus on weapon damage upgrades mostly.
They’ve tried implementing Smart loot, which helps to a degree, but in the end, smart loot can’t fully overcome the overbearing dependency that was created and it promotes
In my opinion, the biggest problem Diablo IV has is very similar to the problem Diablo III faced: A large majority of the offensive and Defensive power for your character comes from items.
In Diablo II this wasn’t nearly the case. Offensive power came mostly from skills and Defensive power came mostly from items. This isn’t to say that all offensive or defensive power came from just those sources, because DII did a really good job of mixing and matching, but mostly they pushed the user through a series of progression. For example:
As I said, not all offensive or defensive powers came from their singular respective sources. Many items in the end-game provided both, but it wasn’t a 100% dependency on items like DIII and DIV. Both DIII and DIV divide out some of the power towards the later stages with paragon and other systems, but ultimately it is all sitting and focused on items…
You simply aren’t going to progress in DIV unless to swap out your gear for higher item power and in Diablo III you have to focus on weapon damage upgrades mostly.
They’ve tried implementing Smart loot, which helps to a degree, but in the end, smart loot can’t fully overcome the overbearing dependency that was created and it promotes