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Quote from Enkeria»

Thanks for the translation.

I think I heard they said 'more classes will / might come in expansions".

If this is even mentioned it's either in rhykkers video at blizzcon or (most probably) Quint69. Or maybe I misunderstood. If not then during q&a at the panel. Can't seach for it now.

They don’t deny it in this interview. It was more in a sense : they didn’t say anything so we don’t know what they might be, how many there will be, often they will be released. I’m pretty sure I also read or heard somewhere that there will be new classes.

At last, i'm back home ! (I had the opportunity to leave early today )

This post is a direct translation of the judgehype interview, with the same structure and all.

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I had the opportunity to interview Game Director Luis Barriga and Art Director John Mueller. They talked about many things, including lore and storytelling, multiplayer, leveling and gameplay.

Lore

• Blizzard is keeping the story a secret by choice. Diablo IV is the beginning of a chain of events that will take place in a longer story.
• The main story will be told through all of the game's content. Some members of the Diablo IV team worked on open worlds (WoW for example) and Blizzard believes the community will bring a nice gameplay experience around the main story. However, random generated content (translator's note : it feels like they're talking about random events like quests, more than random maps for dungeons) are going to be a challenge to implement.
• Blizzard wants to eliminate what they call "Monster's social network" : the fact monsters tell the players what they are going to do right before they do it (think Asmodan). And no, you won't find important people's books everywhere on the floor. Developers believe it is very important for the story/lore to be mysterious, and they want to do everything they can to do that in Diablo IV.

Open world / Multiplayer

• The number of players playing together at any time will vary depending on areas and what the players are doing. However Luis doesn't want Diablo IV to turn into an mmo because the game would lose it's core/style/essence.
• Trade between player is supported : some items can be traded, other can't, and some can only be traded once (or more, not sure yet).
• There will be 5 regions. You can visit them in any order and at your pace. However, some select parts of those regions will have differents level requirements. It won't be possible to do everything at lvl 1. Each region will have its own story, told by the environment the player is moving through. (tn : the last part of the sentence is accentuating the fact that stories will be told in different ways like quests in town, random encounters and such).
• The regions won't be random, but the dungeons will 100% be.
• Players will be able to teleport between waypoints in Diablo IV, just like in Diablo II and III.
• The game will reward exploration in different ways : hidden treasures for example. Many developpers worked on AAA open worlds and they bring their experience to the game. They love exploration and really want to make it exciting. For example : the Blizzcon demo is limited to 15 minutes of playtime, but there is 2 hours worth of content available.

Community

• Luis Barriga didn't feel as much social interaction in Diablo III as in other Diablo games. There will be more interactions in Diablo IV due to the open world, even if dungeons are limited to the party doing them. However, players will be able to freely choose if they want to take part in the multiplayer aspect of the game or not.

PvP

• PvP is a major aspect of Blizzard's vision for Diablo IV (tn : vision as goal and not some divine or mystic stuff. Or is it?)

Gameplay

• Blizzard wants to avoid having a different experience fighting a boss in different difficulty levels (Master). Boss will mostly be balanced around a level bracket, but if a player is skilled, he/she can fight them earlier.
• Does that mean there will be different difficulty levels in Diablo IV? Not confirmed but it seems like it (and we should expect it). Luis clearly said "Master" during the interview (tn : if that is not clear, this bit is the writer talking to us readers)

• The game will feel different from Diablo III. Game devs don't want to make the same game with a different skin.
• Gameplay will also feel different. For example, the difference between left and right click attacks is increased. They don't want the game to be a constant firework while exploring Sanctuary.
• Class balance won't be "nerf everything" or "buff everything". It will be more nuanced. This way doesn't yield good long term results.

Progress/leveling

• There will be 5 classes. No mention of other classes being added later on.
• Blizzard has some ideas for lategame content, but doesn't have anything to annonce yet. They don't want to use the word "raid" because the word has meanings that wouldn't suit Diablo.
• Some example of ingame events : an important (tn : lorewise or big? can't tell, but the french word used here -important- mostly mean lorewise) monster appears in the open world and players can participate in killing it in multiplayer. the player meets an npc that needs his help right here. Those are only two example, there are many more. Devs are working on a way to add bounties in Diablo IV.

Other

• There will be no announcement regarding pets or compagnons (tn : french word can mean both, so I can't really tell if they are talking about cute zombie goat following you or a templar-like npc).
• There will be expansions after the game's release
• Blizzard is very (VERY, emphasis by the game director) excited about crossplay (between pc, playstation and xbox), but can't confirm anything for now.
• Internet connexion is required to play. Luis feels like this was not used enough in Diablo III : an average gameplay session contains 1.1 player. They are convinced it will be higher in Diablo IV due to the open world, pvp and trading.

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End of the translation : if something isn't clear, feel free to ask

Edit after some thoughts : about the companion part, it most likely means templar-like npcs. I think they actually use a different word for the goats and other small pets. (yes I like the goat)

I can do a summary of the french one when i come back from work in a few hours.

Edit : I just read it quickly with my phone. There are some interesting informations about difficulty, the open world, the lore and community aspect of the game. I’ll probably do a full translation. Should I put it in the comments or create a new post?