BlizzCon 2021: Diablo 4 Press Q&A Roundup

Several gaming sites and fansites were invited to a private Zoom call with two Diablo 4 developers to discuss details of the new Rogue class. Below you can read through some of the non-verbatim highlights of the Q&A.

Developers: Careena Kingdom (lead animator) and Joseph Piepiora (lead systems designer).

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BlizzCon 2021: Diablo 4 Press Q&A Roundup

PvP

• Open world PvP zones in Diablo IV are known as Fields of Hatred, and they are marked on the map.
• In addition to other players, you will find these in PvP Zones: monster events, treasure chests, rare elites and more.
• The land has been infected by Lilith’s evil. Thus, players will loot “Shards of Hatred” from enemies you kill, from completed event rewards, and from treasure chests. Shard of Hatred can be used as a PvP currency. You bring those to purification ritual areas throughout the Fields of Hatred to spend elsewhere.
• You can participate in events with other players in the Fields of Hatred (PvP zone) or decide to be hostile to each other.
• When a player dies in the Fields of Hatred, all the unpurified Shards of Hatred carried will drop to the ground as loot.
• You can complete events in the Fields of Hatred without participating in PvP.
• When you toggle to become Hostile, other Hostile players will be able to see you as Hostile and viceversa.
• Hostile groups can gang up on other hostile players without attacking members of their group.
• PvP in Diablo 4 isn’t designed to be fair. A player might be half health while engaging a rare elite, and suddenly be attacked by another hostile player or by a gang of hostile players.
• It was hinted that sometimes you might be able to overcome other players in specific environmental situations that might or not be there next time you visit the Fields of Hatred zone; and you might feel at a disadvantage in other environmental situations.
• You can loot ears from players like you did in Diablo II, but you can’t sell them in Diablo 4. These are meant as a trophy collection, and they list the name of the PvP player you defeated.
• There is no team-based match PvP in Diablo 4 at the moment or plans for it. Only Open World PvP in Fields of Hatred zones. You can join groups of players, but there is no team vs team matches.
• If you decide to flag for PvP inside the Fields of Hatred, then decide to unflag, you can only toggle PvP off at the Fields of Hatred town.
• PvP currency (Shards of Hatred) will play no role in progression. You can only purchase cosmetic items and trophy-style rewards. That means you won’t find better gear in PvP than what you get from PvE experiences.
• There is no way for a hostile PvP player to force a PvE player into combat in the Fields of Hatred, or viceversa; or to accidentally cast a ranged AOE at the exact time a PvP player pops into view in the affected area.
• Rogue traps: They are difficult to spot in grass and foliage. Traps will eventually fade out after a period of time. Enemies might trigger them far from your Rogue.

ROGUE

• The Rogue is a highly mobile and agile hybrid between melee and range who imbues poisons and other things into her weapons, and drops traps — she borrows elements from the Diablo I rogue; the Diablo II assassin; throwing weapons from the Amazon; and the Diablo III demon hunter.
• Rogue can switch between melee and range seemlessly without delay.
• Rogue can drop Caltrops to damage opponents that walk into them.
• Rogue can lace her weapons with cursed shadow to explode enemies which damage nearby targets; frost to slow and chill enemies; toxins to poison her enemies (this can spread to other mobs); or acid to melt her enemies.
• Rogue can imbue daggers or arrows with any of those substances.
• Rogue has an ability known as Dash to charge through enemies.
• Rogue’s cold imbued attacks trigger chill quicker when synergized with friendly Sorceress’s cold attacks.
• The Rogue can equip one-hand daggers and one-hand swords for slashing and stabbing; and also bows and crossbows for ranged attacks.
• Primary Stats: Dexterity. However, as the iteration and balance process evolves throughout development things might change. Currently, Dexterity provides extra skill damage and evade chance. Strength increases resource regeneration. Intelligence increases her crit.
• The Rogue will encounter other Rogue quests out there where she will assist other rogue guild factions to access specialized training that enhances her playstyle.

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MISC

• The developers don’t know yet how Seasons will look like, but plan to bring Seasons to Diablo 4 in some form, but different to what we find in Diablo 3.
• Diablo 4 is currently developed for PC, PS4 and Xbox One. No announcements on PS5 or Xbox Series X right now.
• The developers want you to take your progression with you to whatever platform you want to play. This confirms cross-save.
• No announcements at the moment on end-game, or greater rifts, but it will be announced in a future Diablo 4 Quarterly blog.
• There will be opportunities in end-game to have a variety of things to do in open world and “elsewhere.”
• When you are solo in the open world — particularly story-based — you won’t see players all the time; but if you are in a team, you all can see and experience the same content.
• You might encounter Camps in the open world during these story-based quests. As you claim those camp areas, you unlock a different phase of that camp area that is now open to NPC denizens of Sanctuary, you might start to see players roam that camp, and you might find new quests, or new dungeon entrances in that area.
• Diablo IV Quarterly Update blogs will continue as usual.
• There are specific high-end items that will be allowed to be traded among players. For example: you loot a legendary item that’s not for your class, you can trade it in person with other clanmates or friends.
• Some top-tier items won’t be tradeable.
• The developers don’t want to make certain abilities to interact with the weather environment so that players don’t only focus on playing in a specific zone and only there. For example, a swampland where naturally all monsters might be wet, the developers don’t want to make lightning abilities to do extra damage to them.
• Character customization includes: Tattoos, eye color, hair, skin color, and jewelry.

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