We at MeinMMO got a brief look at the upcoming Diablo Immortal, the new action RPG from Blizzard. What Lead Game Designer Wyatt Cheng and Lead Producer Caleb Arseneaux presented about the new Diablo sounds very much like an MMO and even includes elements you already know from the MMORPG World of Warcraft.
What is Diablo Immortal? The latest installment of the legendary hack’n slash series will be a mobile game for Android and iOS. Although Diablo Immortal was criticized by many fans upon its announcement for being a mobile game, Blizzard is working to make it a top game.
Story-wise, Immortal takes place between Diablo 2: Lords of Destruction and Diablo 3. Gameplay-wise, it’s very much a Diablo – at least according to what we’ve seen so far. Looting and leveling remain the focus, with character progression at the center.
The developers promise that Immortal offers twice as many progression options as other Diablo titles. Additionally, it significantly relies on MMO features.
On MeinMMO, we presented Diablo Immortal as one of the most promising MMOs for 2021. What we have seen now reinforces this.
At the colleagues from GameStar Plus, you will find a detailed demo report on Diablo Immortal: 5 hours played – Is Immortal a “real” Diablo?
So much WoW is in Diablo Immortal
In the presentation of Diablo Immortal, the developers explained the features of the new ARPG. Among them were several that partially sound like familiar content from World of Warcraft or were even directly compared to it.
Servers like in an MMORPG: First and foremost, Diablo Immortal adopts a server model. There are multiple servers with tens of thousands of players, between which you can switch. Here you should encounter other players in the open world and even participate in events together.
On each server, you can create several characters – just like in an MMORPG and as you know it from World of Warcraft. It is mentioned that there will be five characters per server for the upcoming alpha test. Whether the limit will be increased in the future is still unknown.
Dungeons like in an MMORPG: Dungeons in Immortal are a bigger feature than they were in Diablo 3. They serve as the “culmination of the story” and as an endgame feature, where you can obtain some of the best loot.
The most challenging dungeons – difficulty level “Hell” was mentioned – are specifically designed for groups of four players. It almost corresponds to a classic dungeon group. While solo play is possible, it is said that it won’t be as rewarding.
Diablo Immortal focuses on longevity and character progression, as the step to the dungeons demonstrates. You should have as much fun as possible with the content.
More features from World of Warcraft: Diablo Immortal will get some content that conceptually sounds like features already present in World of Warcraft. Some of them are even directly inspired by it:
- Weekly rewards – Depending on your performance in the new “Challenge Rifts”, you will receive a strong reward each week, similar to the great treasury currently in Shadowlands or Mythic+ before.
- The “Charm” – All classes receive an amulet that enhances their abilities and can level up. In WoW, there used to be a glyph system or the heart of Azeroth, which functioned similarly.
- “Time travel” in Diablo – The library of Zoltun Kul is a unique dungeon in which you can relive parts of Diablo’s story, such as the meeting of the prime evil Baal and the Horadrim Tal Rasha. The developers compared this to the Caverns of Time from WoW.
Inspiration from WoW for the future: In the open Q&A session after the presentation, there was also talk of a hardcore mode. In Diablo, this is a popular feature where characters only have one life and must start over after death.
Immortal will not have such a mode directly. However, Wyatt Cheng can imagine that a feature like Torghast from World of Warcraft will come. It would be a “roguelike” dungeon where players become stronger until they ultimately die and then return to the “normal” mode. Cheng said about this: “If we [make a hardcore mode], that would be the approach.”
A real MMO, but also a real Diablo
Despite all these features that Diablo Immortal borrows from World of Warcraft, the developers emphasize that it should also be a real Diablo for on-the-go play. They are relying on familiar features from the series, especially from Diablo 3, but also on some innovations.
So much Diablo is in Immortal
Known features from Diablo: Fundamentally, the core gameplay remains the same in Diablo Immortal. You kill enemies and collect equipment to become stronger. In doing so, Immortal stays true to the series and brings features like:
- Elite enemies with random affixes that provide a greater challenge
- A story campaign that can be played solo or in co-op
- Various difficulty levels, including the famous “Nightmare” and “Hell” grades
- A Paragon system in a slightly modified form – instead of leveling endlessly, you have various trees into which a limited number of points can flow
The popular Nephalem Rifts also return as “Elder Rifts”. These are endlessly repeatable, randomly generated instances in which you must kill enemies to summon a boss. As a reward, there’s loot and experience. The rifts can be enhanced through so-called “Crests” with random effects for even better loot.
The classes are likely familiar to most of you. In the first tests, the Monk, Barbarian, Wizard, and Demon Hunter are playable. The official artwork already shows the Necromancer and the Crusader:
New features in Diablo Immortal: Alongside features that fans of the series already know, there will be new content that distinguishes Immortal from other Diablo titles. These include:
- “Crests” – A new way to enhance the Elder Rifts with random effects
- A battle pass that can be leveled up monthly – with a free and a paid path
- The “Horadric Bestiary” – On your journeys, you collect diary pages with information about the creatures of Sanctuary and become stronger through this
Gems and equipment are slightly adjusted in Immortal. There is primary equipment like weapons and secondary equipment like rings. Regular gems for secondary armor provide a bonus to stats like attack and defense. Legendary gems are used in primary armor and provide special effects like shorter cooldowns or more damage when you hit more targets.
A particularly special new feature is the ultimate abilities. Each character has such a skill, which slowly builds up when attacking enemies. Once the “Ulti-Meter” is full, you can unleash powerful skills that wipe out entire hordes of enemies at once.
So much MMO is still in there
These are the social features: Diablo Immortal also includes social features that you know from other MMOs. The town of Westmarch, for example, serves as a hub where you can meet other players and show off your looted equipment.
There are various chats in the game, both via text and voice. The voice chat works traditionally either in direct conversation or via voice message. For example, if someone wants to send a message to their guild – which also exists – they can record a 15-second message and send that message to their group for playback in the chat.
There is also a trading post again, but it works differently than the auction house from Diablo 3. You can buy things like gems or materials. However, you will generally only find armor and weapons yourself and cannot trade them.
The exchange for real money is excluded as well. Prices depend on supply and demand to ensure fairness. Additionally, trading occurs anonymously to prevent exploits and bots.
In the open world, you should encounter other players and may even need them at times. The zones offer special events where bosses may appear that can only be defeated with many players from the entire server.
Can you also play solo? Fundamentally, you can play Diablo Immortal alone or just with two players. However, content like dungeons is explicitly designed for groups.
Whether you can avoid other players in the open world or play in a way that keeps you always alone, we cannot say for sure yet.
Conclusion: Sounds like the Diablo MMO that everyone wishes for
So far, I have only seen gameplay of the new Diablo and heard the developers’ words, but what I know about Immortal sounds to me like an MMO. For years, players have wished for a “World of Diablo” and Immortal could deliver exactly that.
The social features promote collaboration, and the fact that there is content like dungeons for groups is really cool. Maybe we will finally see something like specific builds for the classes to meet the classic roles like tank and healer. More pronounced than it was the case in Diablo 3 and with various builds for each class.
Especially interesting sounds the library of Zoltun Kul. The Caverns of Time in WoW were really cool, and I gladly take the opportunity to immerse myself in the past and story of Diablo.
I only see the implementation of weekly rewards critically. It was mentioned that the ranking position determines the reward. I really hope that personal performance is evaluated more strongly here than a direct comparison to the absolute pros.
And yes, I know: It’s a mobile game. But honestly? If I had only seen the gameplay so far, I wouldn’t have thought it was a mobile game. If the quality remains like this, I would be more than satisfied with Diablo Immortal.
Benedict Grothaus
Freelance author at MeinMMO
Platforms, Payment, and Seasons
When and where will Diablo Immortal come out? A technical alpha will begin shortly, but there are only very limited spots. We do not yet know a specific date for the release.
Diablo Immortal will be available for iOS and Android devices, with system requirements being raised again. Emulators are expected to be allowed in the future but not officially supported.
Will there be controller support? Controller support is also being discussed, but there is still nothing concrete on that.
What will Diablo Immortal cost? The game itself will be free to play with an optional battle pass and a shop. The shop should contain no necessary improvements, only bonuses. The developers mentioned three items as examples:
- The “Crests”
- “Reforge stones”, which can be used to reroll random properties of items. These can also be earned for free. The purchased ones just have a smaller pool of other effects to choose from, making those effects more likely
- A paid path in the battle pass with more rewards than the free one
Will there be seasons? No, not in the form you know. Diablo Immortal is heavily focused on your character’s progression and should focus entirely on that. Creating a new character every season contradicts this philosophy.
Instead, the developers want to work with large content updates, introducing new chapters, areas, dungeons, or even classes. How frequently these will appear is still to be determined.
There are still some open questions about Diablo Immortal. Perhaps these will be answered soon as the new ARPG is certainly one of the topics that will be waiting for you at the free BlizzConline 21.
Whether you can avoid other players in the open world or play in a way that keeps you always alone, we cannot say for sure yet.
Conclusion: Sounds like the Diablo MMO that everyone wishes for
So far, I have only seen gameplay of the new Diablo and heard the developers’ words, but what I know about Immortal sounds to me like an MMO. For years, players have wished for a “World of Diablo” and Immortal could deliver exactly that.
The social features promote collaboration, and the fact that there is content like dungeons for groups is really cool. Maybe we will finally see something like specific builds for the classes to meet the classic roles like tank and healer. More pronounced than it was the case in Diablo 3 and with various builds for each class.
Especially interesting sounds the library of Zoltun Kul. The Caverns of Time in WoW were really cool, and I gladly take the opportunity to immerse myself in the past and story of Diablo.
I only see the implementation of weekly rewards critically. It was mentioned that the ranking position determines the reward. I really hope that personal performance is evaluated more strongly here than a direct comparison to the absolute pros.
And yes, I know: It’s a mobile game. But honestly? If I had only seen the gameplay so far, I wouldn’t have thought it was a mobile game. If the quality remains like this, I would be more than satisfied with Diablo Immortal.
Benedict Grothaus
Freelance author at MeinMMO
Platforms, Payment, and Seasons
When and where will Diablo Immortal come out? A technical alpha will begin shortly, but there are only very limited spots. We do not yet know a specific date for the release.
Diablo Immortal will be available for iOS and Android devices, with system requirements being raised again. Emulators are expected to be allowed in the future but not officially supported.
Will there be controller support? Controller support is also being discussed, but there is still nothing concrete on that.
What will Diablo Immortal cost? The game itself will be free to play with an optional battle pass and a shop. The shop should contain no necessary improvements, only bonuses. The developers mentioned three items as examples:
- The “Crests”
- “Reforge stones”, which can be used to reroll random properties of items. These can also be earned for free. The purchased ones just have a smaller pool of other effects to choose from, making those effects more likely
- A paid path in the battle pass with more rewards than the free one
Will there be seasons? No, not in the form you know. Diablo Immortal is heavily focused on your character’s progression and should focus entirely on that. Creating a new character every season contradicts this philosophy.
Instead, the developers want to work with large content updates, introducing new chapters, areas, dungeons, or even classes. How frequently these will appear is still to be determined.
There are still some open questions about Diablo Immortal. Perhaps these will be answered soon as the new ARPG is certainly one of the topics that will be waiting for you at the free BlizzConline 21.
