Developer David Kim talked about the endgame of the upcoming action RPG Diablo 4. But Blizzard wants to include player feedback to meaningfully shape thousands of hours of endgame content.
What does the endgame of Diablo 4 currently look like? The hunt for better items also plays a major role in Diablo 4. In addition, there is the leveling of the character and the increasing power that comes with it.
In the endgame of Diablo 4, you will continue to improve your hero and look for new items.
David Kim is asking for player advice to fill thousands of hours of endgame meaningfully. What could a leveling system look like for this?
An Endgame with Open Questions
What are the plans for items in the endgame? Blizzard wants to provide more opportunities for you to customize your items while giving more value to your decisions. This means you need to think more about how you improve an item and what exactly that improvement means.
Additionally, Ancient Items are coming to Diablo 4. Their role is still somewhat unclear. They are supposed to be extremely powerful objects. However, David Kim explains that players were somewhat confused when Ancient Items were announced.
Blizzard now needs to consider what role these items will actually play and then communicate that accordingly.
What about leveling your hero? Blizzard is currently considering whether there should be a fixed level cap or if you should be able to develop your hero infinitely. Both systems have pros and cons. Kim is asking how a leveling system should look if you play for thousands of hours:
- A fixed level cap means a goal that players can achieve. It also provides a sense of accomplishment and power. But what happens when the level cap is reached? Do you just raise it with an update?
- An infinite level-up offers players constant motivation to keep playing. But how powerful will the player become? How powerful will items and other sources from which the character derives power remain? Will items eventually become irrelevant because the player has already become too powerful through leveling up?
Your Feedback is Important
Here’s how you can help: Blizzard states that both systems have their appeal and that you can incorporate things to prevent making players too powerful through endless leveling. A system like this should not fail for that reason.
According to David Kim, Blizzard does not want to make this decision alone, and therefore asks the community for advice on the endgame of Diablo 4. The community is already actively discussing this.
What are players saying right now? There’s a heated discussion taking place. The majority currently seems to lean towards having a level cap. However, there are supporters on both sides.
- Weaslelord writes on Reddit: “A finite, logarithmic power scaling is the way to go. Make sure the game has enough interesting aspects so that players have enough goals. Infinite leveling systems are a boring reward/progression system.”
- jy3 counters: “Infinite XP that does NOT grant power seems to be the perfect solution to make everyone happy. David and his team have succeeded.”
What do you think? Would you like to level up forever in Diablo 4, or should there be a level cap?
