Diablo 4 after 30 hours of testing: purists will hate it because it’s too much of an MMO

The time has finally come: MeinMMO editor Benedict Grothaus was able to do the long-awaited diablo 4 play and finally report how it was. How much MMO is in it? How hard is it really? And what’s in the controversial shop?

TL;DR: Click here for the rating

I was able to play for 10 days and I have to wait just as long after the end of the pre-launch of Diablo 4 before I can play again. A very long time after the experience, because I really want more.

After the two beta tests and the fairly positive server slam, Blizzard invited MeinMMO to play Diablo 4 before the release to give my opinion on it. For the first time I was able to test the entire game, to the full extent.

Overall, I put about 30 to 40 hours into the test. I don’t know exactly how much it was, because every now and then… the sense of time got a little lost. Just do the dungeon there, the side quest here looks interesting too. And can’t I touch up my gear a bit?

During that time, however, I noticed one thing again and again: I know many features from MMOs, I’ve already seen them in World of Warcraft, for example. And together Diablo 4 is much more fun. Just how much is it really?

We’ve played a later version than the testing one, but not the release version yet. Some adjustments such as balance and Co. can still change before the release. You can find it in the report no spoilers for the story.

Not an MMO, but…

After the big rumblings that Diablo 4 should be an MMO, the devs clarified in 2020: “This is more of a philosophy” and pretty much this attitude runs through the entire game.

I played alone most of the time. Even in the controversial shared world because there weren’t that many other testers. But that’s where I noticed how much Diablo 4 relies on MMO.

I was only able to “master” about half of the events solo, i.e. complete additional goals. You simply can’t do it alone, because you would have to split up to defeat opponents in different positions. Special endgame content like the infernal floods and invasions didn’t work at all. These are particularly tough areas in the endgame: during the infernal tide, monsters in an area are strengthened and drop a new currency that can be used to open chests. If you die, you lose half of the collected crystals. Invasions are large, phased events that announce themselves on the map worldwide.

In addition, as a druid, I may have played what used to be the worst class, but it feels a lot better in the new version. But even colleague Maik Schneider had problems with his admittedly weaker Necromancer. But even with the sorceress, who otherwise easily slaughters everything, I didn’t manage the events later.

Solo, the bosses wipe the floor with me

This MMO feeling was most evident when jumping from world tier 2 to world tier 3 – i.e. “veteran” to “nightmare”. For this, a special dungeon on Tier 2 must be completed, which I do not want to go into further detail for spoiler reasons.

The dungeon itself was tough, but doable. The final boss then showed me the door again and several times. After about an hour I gave up and asked my colleagues from GameStar and GamePro, who were also busy with their reviews for the last few days, for help.

At least GamePro colleague Kevin Itzinger had the same problems with his huntress. We teamed up, packed another tester (which was significantly better equipped) and mastered the dungeon. Well…let’s go through it like MMO noobs do.

Shortly thereafter, the colleague even dragged us through “nightmare dungeons”, the hardest endame content of the game. The many dungeons get new mechanics, the mobs get new abilities and get harder and harder over several levels – up to level 100. We were on level 4.

“Drawn” because he really did all the work. We mostly lay dead next to them and watched. At least I did, colleague Kevin was more careful. But I know exactly such scenes from WoW when you do your friends a favor.

Would all of this have worked on its own? Certainly. But that would have taken a lot of time, a lot of grind and preparation. The purists mentioned in the title are into something like that. I only conditionally. If I’m gritting my teeth too often, I’ll get help, and Diablo 4 is great for that.

Now tell me: is it Pay2Win?

The question still worries many fans: is the monetization of Diablo 4 actually fair? As far as I know, I can say: No, it’s not Pay2Win.

The shop was not implemented in our test version. However, we got some screenshots from Blizzard with the promise that this is the content that can be bought in the shop. Only cosmetics can be seen there, no boosts, no items.

Everything is, according to my current information, purely optional. If you pay 70 euros for the game, you get all the content except for the Battle Pass. But if you want to pay more, you can expect steep prices:

For skin fetishists like me, that’s going to be expensive. So far I haven’t actually found anything in the shop that would look better than the transmogs available in game. I especially like the Scosglen and Fractured Peaks sets.

Transmog is easy in Diablo 4:

Conclusion: Diablo 4 is an MMO, but still a Diablo

Where I liked to play Diablo 2 and Diablo 3 alone, in Diablo 4 I would always go with a group. Not only because it will be easier then, but also because of the class mechanics themselves.

Especially as a druid I have the opportunity to support my allies. I remember Maik’s surprised exclamation: “Oh, you make the opponents vulnerable?” Thanks to our synergy, we were both able to draw on more resources and had more fun in the classes. That brings an interpersonal level into play.

For some content, players cannot even be ruled out. World bosses, for example, you will only rarely see them alone. In dungeons you are always alone or in a group, but if you know Diablo as a “I play alone in my world by my rules” experience, you will not find this in Diablo 4.

What particularly surprised me was the German voice output. The mood in the cutscenes and the game is also excellently translated into German, only now and then you see inappropriate mouth movements. But the choice of voice actors was definitely a great success:

As for the endgame, I’ve only just scratched the surface. I wasn’t able to do too much of the endgame on my own, but the nightmare dungeons are quite challenging, even at the lowest tier. Not quite balanced yet, but definitely something that can keep you busy for a long time if you push them to the top.

The Whisper of the Dead is surprisingly interesting. The mechanic really just replaces what bounties were in previous installments, but with targeted rewards and more quests to choose from. If you’re going to grind anyway, that’s ideal.

At least Peter’s impression was that the MMO features weren’t all that dominant. Maybe that will change when more people are out and about in the shared world. Personally, I found the features very present, which may well be due to the different perspectives. With regard to the GameStar rating, however, solo fans will certainly also get their money’s worth.

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At the end of my test I am convinced that Diablo 4 will be worth at least 70 or 80 euros per hour. I finished the campaign in about 20-25 hours, most of the side quests were still open. So there’s a lot more story content in there.

After the last tests, my biggest concern was that Diablo 4 could be destroyed by a shop that was too greedy, like Diablo Immortal was back then. From what I know now, the worries are less, but not completely gone. I remain somewhat skeptical, but optimistic.

I would have liked more time for the test. Simply to be able to gamble more. But since the progress is not adopted anyway, it was perhaps even better that way.

Diablo 4 costs €70 – is it worth the game for me? The short check