The team from Diablo 4 is not sure whether there should be an “end” or if players should just keep playing. In the community, there is a clear answer to this question.
What is the endgame in Diablo 4? The developers at Blizzard openly discuss the development of Diablo 4 with fans. They have now reached out to potential players and asked them, whether the character level and experience points system should be finite or infinite.
Blizzard is still not sure about this.
What problems does Blizzard see? A progression system without a clear end raises concerns because it would overshadow the power of other factors through the new power gain. However, developers could control and regulate how much power such a system would give to players, they write in the blog.
How is it currently? In Diablo 3, it is currently the case that you play your class to the maximum level of 70 and then continue to collect experience points for a Paragon system that strengthens the character. This increases values like critical hit chance, attack speed, or even the toughness of the character. However, many players do not want to see such a system that continuously makes the character stronger in Diablo 4.
Players want a clear “end”
The search for feedback is gladly taken up by players, and they express their opinions on how they think the end of Diablo 4 should look and what speaks for an “finite” game design.
On Reddit , user Ulmaguest writes:
Regarding finite vs. infinite progression: Paragon is a garbage design. +5 on the main stat is uninteresting and flimsy. And +.0001% crit per level or attack speed would be equally flimsy if that were the new idea. Worse still, it eventually outshines all items you find because it scales indefinitely and provides both toughness and damage… forever.
They say they can control how much power something gives, and that’s good. But an infinite system simply screams of a tedious obligation and takes focus away from the best part of a Diablo game: the hunt for loot.
Diablo 1 and 2 had NO infinite progression. Stats on gear had limits. Diablo 3 changed this with Paragon and is all the worse for it.
Ulmaguest on Reddit
Another user writes on Reddit that he hopes for a finite progression system and that Blizzard would not bring back the Paragon system. “Personally, I like the feeling of having ‘completed’ a character and then switching to a new class or build,” writes Jointed_Snake on Reddit.
What speaks against infinite progression? Players are clearly opposed to a progression that never ends. They do not want something like that at the release of Diablo 4 .
“A race without a finish line, a mountain without a peak. These things become boring and meaningless after a certain point. There needs to be an end that people can have as a goal, even if it comes long after most have reached. The pursuit and achievement of such goals feels better and is more memorable,” writes DegenBaka in his thread on Reddit.
In response, another player states that a finite progression system is best because once the end is reached, you are almost on par with the players who reached it long before you. Additionally, balancing is easier when designed around such a system.
Discussion about the system is also taking place on our site MeinMMO. Our reader Luriup suggests pushing the max level far into the distance, similar to how it was in Diablo 2 Classic. “Lord of Destruction went by too quickly.”
What do you wish for the endgame and progression system in Diablo 4? Should there be an achievable “end” or should it run infinitely, like the Paragon system in Diablo 3?
A Twitter user feels similarly. He writes that there should not be a second level system. Instead, there should be a max level that is not a “must.”
Tronic48 writes on our site MeinMMO: “I am for a system like GW2 has. A level cap, for example, at 100 and then specializations. Scaling it up further, the more players there are, the stronger the enemy.”
One alternative for a Paragon system: A Twitter user suggests that the Paragon system could be repurposed, but it should not strengthen the character. Instead, it could unlock cosmetic items like wings or portraits.
What do you wish for the endgame and progression system in Diablo 4? Should there be an achievable “end” or should it run infinitely, like the Paragon system in Diablo 3?
