The first beta accessible to all players of Diablo 4 has ended. MeinMMO editor Benedict Grothaus has extensively tested it and is convinced that the action RPG will be a hit. But one thing raises skepticism.
What is this detail? Diablo 4 offers a ton of cosmetics that allow you to personalize and beautify your character. Some of the especially cool items are even available as a reward for the beta itself.
Other items can be obtained through gameplay itself. In the open beta of Diablo 4, some of these cosmetics were already available. Among them are titles that can be unlocked through achievements.
Titles are displayed directly under the hero’s name. This is not a problem in itself, but Diablo 4 handles titles like the MMORPG Lost Ark: you can assemble them from a prefix and a suffix. I love the shared world of Diablo 4, but this combination could prove to be a big mistake.
Diablo 4 offers more opportunities for personal expression than most predecessors. Even character creation is excellent and coherent:
A “lewd brat” doesn’t fit in Diablo 4
Here’s the problem: The idea of creating your own titles is not necessarily bad at first. I myself ran around most of the time as a “Sly Killer,” something that fits the dark tone of Diablo 4 well.
However, the selection options provide significantly more freedom than would be good for the game. For example, it is possible that you encounter a “lewd brat,” a “wicked bitch,” or a “potent bear.”
The community has also already engaged with the feature. One of the players’ favorite titles in English: “Potential Trash”:
Why is this a problem? Diablo 4 wants to be dark and grim. The entire world and every cutscene emphasize that and make clear: I am not a colorful, fun game. It’s about death, decay, and hard survival.
The premise of Diablo 4 is that an angel has nearly exterminated all of humanity and the few survivors must now also fight against monsters and demons. How a “Blue Brewer” fits in, I don’t know.
Even before the beta, there were concerns that Diablo 4 was not dark enough, when a new video surfaced. The concerns were dispelled because it became clear over the weekend while playing that this had apparently been reworked.
Nevertheless, such shenanigans like the titles are not a good idea. If players can mess around with something, they will do it. Because we already know that at least some players couldn’t care less about how dark Diablo is supposed to be – and those players could disrupt the immersion with silly titles:
What all fans love about Diablo 4 is completely irrelevant to the biggest MMORPG streamer on Twitch
