Diablo 4 needs to be genre-defining - not just a sidestep from Diablo 3
's early access beta has been broadly positive, and I can understand why. With its darker atmosphere, visual polish and enormous world, it makes a striking first impression. But the more I got into the real meat of the game—the combat—the more I felt like Blizzard hasn't learned anything about action-RPG design in the 11 years since Diablo 3 came out.
Switching over to Sorcerer, the experience was completely the opposite. Bouncing lightning spells made short work of anything that dared to get within a mile of me, and it was trivial to stay out of damage range. Spells that work as well for single target damage as crowd control ensured I never had to engage my brain.. People have said playing these two classes is like playing two completely different games, and to a large extent that's true.
Those long cooldowns and tight constraints on what generates and what spends resources all discourage experimentation or unusual combinations. The result is it doesn't feel like you're creating a build, it feels like you're scanning through the skills trying to find the builds Blizzard wants you to use. Playing a Barbarian with the bleed attack as your basic skill? Well then you're going to want to take all the subsequent skills that mention bleed.
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