At Gamescom 2024, Blizzard showcased Diablo IV: Vessel of Hatred, the first of a series of expansions coming to the action RPG with a scheduled annual cadence.
Originally announced during the BlizzCon 2023 Opening Ceremony, Vessel of Hatred is set to add the Spiritborn class, which is brand new to the Diablo franchise. You can check it out in action in our gameplay capture video available below.
During the German convention, I had the chance to interview Game Director Brent Gibson and Systems Designer Aislyn Hall to discuss not only Diablo IV: Vessel of Hatred but also the future of the live service game at length. Here’s the full transcript of our chat. As a reminder, the expansion is out on October 8 on all platforms.
To start off, which feature from Diablo IV: Vessel of Hatred do you think is most important for the future of the game since you plan to support it for years to come?
Brent Gibson: The most important new feature, well, we’re adding new ways to play, we’re adding new forms of power. I think Mercenaries is going to have a really big impact on gameplay. Not only is it going to give players who like to play solo a small taste of playing in a party, where they can take the weaknesses of their class build and supplement it with a follower that comes along, but they can also use this whole new feature that we have called reinforcements.
With this one, you can take a mercenary and slot them into come into the fight for a moment, pull off the power of me. The cool thing about that is that you can actually define the condition, like, my health is getting low, come in and tank some of my damage, for example. It essentially starts to address the feedback that people want more skills and abilities on their bar. Now you can actually use reinforcement as kind of an additional ability that you normally wouldn’t have.
Aislyn Hall: Another feature in Diablo IV: Vessel of Hatred that I think is really important and is going to have an impact further on is the Kurast Undercity. It’s really important in a game like Diablo that there are a lot of different activities that you can participate in, a lot of different activities that are relevant to the endgame. The Kurast Undercity is going to be a time attack mode where you have to go quickly through a dungeon. It also has a tribute system that allows you to search for specific kinds of gear that your character specifically needs right now. So, with those two things combined, I think having just a different way to play, combined with the specific rewards that it gives you, is going to be a really, really important thing.
With the addition of Mercenaries, did you have to balance the whole game a bit differently because people can now have these companions?
Brent Gibson: Yeah, every time we add a new source of power, we have to balance it against everything else. Not only are we adding a new class that has to be balanced against everything, but then we also have the Mercenaries system that has to be balanced in such as well. We’re making a bunch of changes in the game from the progression system that allows us to have a more sustainable way of looking at the balance across the game, and the difficulty across the game, and being able to add new ways to earn new sources of power without breaking everything.
Aislyn Hall: Yeah, there are going to be some major progression updates similar in scope to Season 4 Loot Reborn with how itemization was fundamentally altered there. Russian season 640B is to be really improved upon as well, and so we’re basically using that philosophically as an opportunity to lay the foundations of Diablo IV for years to come to ensure that when we’re adding features like Mercenaries or other sources of power to the game, that the game is going to remain in a healthy state where players can always face a challenge.
Do the Mercenaries only work in the open world?
Brent Gibson: They work in dungeons as well. They’re always with you in some form and you have a lot of control over how they come along with you.
Of course, if you have a full party of players, you can’t use them, right?
Brent Gibson: That’s where the Reinforcement system comes in. If you have a full party, you can still use your Reinforcement. I can set up Raheir, who gives me advantages to taking damage, and then I can also have Varyana, who gives me advantages to attack speed, and I can have that combination. You might be using a fire build, in which case you’ll want to bring Aldkin around because he can do a lot of fire damage if you spec them that way, and so he can actually amplify your fire build. There’s a lot of different ways to mix and match.
Aislyn Hall: The Reinforcements are like a separate concept from the Mercenaries themselves in the sense that you can have your Reinforcement regardless of how many people are in your party, like Brent said. Even if you’re in a full party of players, you’ll still have your reinforcement, and the reinforcement will use an ability based on what you decide when you want them to use it. There are a lot of different triggers that you can set, so it can be whenever you reach low health, then perhaps you can set them to use a defensive ability. Or you could set it so that when you use a big AoE attack, they can use an ability that might pull everyone in, so there are a lot of synergies.
I know that Diablo IV: Vessel of Hatred is also adding a multiplayer dungeon. Did that desire come internally, or was it more community feedback that you got?
Brent Gibson: The excitement around doing more cooperative gameplay definitely came internally, but we also saw that our player base that likes to play socially has been growing, right? So we want to make sure that when we’re adding new content to the game it is going to really reflect the type of people who are playing our game. We introduced a new cooperative PvE dungeon that has cooperative mechanics built into it, but the core gameplay is still that Diablo combat and it’s just one way to challenge players who’d like to play together in the endgame. It was a little bit of both. We knew that we wanted to grow that player base, and it was actually happening, and so it was worth it.
Aislyn Hall: A big part of the philosophy behind a lot of systems in Vessel of Hatred is that we want to ensure that what we’re creating is really, really fun to do, either by yourself or in a group and doing it cooperatively. That ties into the progression changes that are coming, it ties into the Kurast Citadel, and it really is amplified across the entire game. We want to ensure that Vessel of Hatred is the best time to play Diablo IV.
Personally, I’m a fan of MMOs. I’ve played World of Warcraft for a long time, so multiplayer dungeons are definitely something I’d like to see more. Actually, in a pre-release interview we did remotely, I asked if you would consider more defined player roles, like tank or support. Is that something you’re talking about?
Brent Gibson: We definitely talk a lot about it. World of Warcraft has the Holy Trinity, you know, tank, DPS, and healer. Diablo IV is not quite that type of game. When we look at the when it comes to the rules and a cooperative thing. It’s more about the activity, and so when we talk about cooperative mechanics, anybody can play any role, and the activity is just calling for a different type of interaction from those worlds. You’ve probably seen this in other games, but the focus is on the activity, not necessarily the class.
Aislyn Hall: It is something that I know the team is fully aware of in the sense that we know from previous Diablo had some builds for support focused characters, and more team oriented skills creating opportunities for that is definitely something the team is aware of.
Of course, you’re adding the Spiritborn class. Whenever you add a new class to a game, for example, going back to World of Warcraft, when the Death Knight landed, it was by far the most popular class, and the other players that stick with the old classes feel a bit diminished for a while. So, what are you doing to make the other players using existing classes feel as powerful and cool as the Spiritborn?
Brent Gibson: There’s a couple of things. First off, every single class is going to get some update. They’re going to get new skills, they’re going to get changes to the progression. We will be releasing new items for the classes, so there’s a lot to go on for those players who main a Barbarian, for example. They’ll have changes where they can really dig in and do some really cool stuff. There’s some more conversations that we’ll have in our live stream about some of the upcoming progression changes that will help with that, but it’s such a fundamental change that I think every player is going to have more than enough content to deal with. As for the Spiritborn, it’s brand new and there’s nothing we can do about that.
Actually, we’re very excited about that, but one of the things you’re going to see with the Spiritborn itself is that there are a lot of elements. Each Spirit Guardian that you can spec into has a different fighting style built in. If you’re a Barbarian main, the Jaguar has some things that help you lean in that direction and customize it even beyond that. The hybridization is the thing that I think is really exciting. I think everybody who has a favorite class today will have something to experiment with in that regard, so I’d highly recommend giving it a try.
Speaking of the story content included with Diablo IV: Vessel of Hatred, can you share how many hours of new gameplay players can expect on average?
That is tough because it depends on the type of player. Some people skip all the cutscenes. There’s the player who likes to kill every monster. There’s the player who skips all the encounters to go straight to the bosses. There’s so many different play styles. But this is a rich story, and if you sit down and you really enjoy it… It is a healthy next chapter to the game. Unfortunately, I can’t put a number on it because I don’t know what type of player will be reading in this article.
Aislyn Hall: The story of Vessel of Hatred is a direct continuation of the story from the original game, and I think you can expect the same degree of care and detail that went into the original campaign story.
So, it’s a bit like a new Act.
Brent Gibson: Yeah. It shares a lot of the same philosophies as what you saw in the base game. There’s a certain amount of story that we want to be able to tell because we’re learning about what the fate of the Soulstone is, so there’s a lot of work that has to go into that. We’re super proud of the story.
Are there more itemization layers coming with the expansion?
Brent Gibson: Nothing to announce today, but you’re definitely going to want to stay tuned to our next couple of live streams.
Aislyn Hall: Yeah, we’re going to have a campfire chat on August 29th, and we’ll go over many details about the systemic changes coming.
Okay. Is there any news on Armory or Loadouts?
Brent Gibson: The Armory is at the top of the list of things we’re considering, and we are trying to figure out the best way to bring a feature like that to the table. It’s not at the launch of Diablo IV: Vessel of Hatred, but it is at the top of the list.
Bigger stash?
Brent Gibson: Everybody loves to talk about the stash! Actually, I don’t believe we have anything to announce today on the stash. Sorry.
You’re adding a Party Finder with the update, correct?
Brent Gibson: Yes. Party Finder is a huge addition that we really feel is important to have for something like the Dark Citadel, because it’s cooperative. I play with my friends, but sometimes they can’t be online, so we need to have that. But it is something that applies to all activities in the game, and it is going to be available to everybody, regardless of Vessel of Hatred.
Do you have any other social features coming with the expansion?
Brent Gibson: I think the biggest new social feature is our Party Finder.
A lot of players ask about adding an Auction House.
Brent Gibson: The great debate. There’s no plan for an Auction House at this time.
What will happen to our level 100 characters in the Eternal Realm, in case the cap is 60?
Brent Gibson: I would stay tuned for the progression discussion on August 29, but we’re taking into account everybody coming in at every single level coming into Vessel of Hatred. The user experience is definitely going to be custom-tailored to make sure that everybody feels great.
On a personal note, I wanted to add that I’m not a big fan of creating new characters every season. Especially early on, right after the game was released, it kind of felt like the Eternal Realm was a bit left behind.
Brent Gibson: I’ve heard that feedback a lot. One of the things that you notice more often is our seasonal content is going to Eternal. We want to make sure that the Eternal players and the seasonal players are getting the same amount of fun. Now, we have a huge seasonal community that absolutely loves renewing, and we have a huge Eternal community, so we’re going to continue to look at how we bring those two communities together.
You’ll see that in seasons, obviously, and then there’s other things like the progression changes that we’re talking about. Everybody’s going to get that. So if you are an Eternal player, you’re going to get an extension of the campaign, you’re going to get a new area to explore and unlock content, there’s new dungeons, there’s new gameplay modes, all that stuff is coming for the Eternal characters.
Aislyn Hall: Out of all the updates that have come to Diablo IV so far, Vessel of Hatred is going to be the one with the most amount of new things that are coming to the Eternal Realm. As Brent said, we’re going to continue to do our best to include as much as possible in seasons to the Eternal Realm.
Are you looking into tweaking the difficulty curve early on? Some players say it’s a bit too easy while you’re leveling up until endgame.
Brent Gibson: When we talk about fundamental changes to the progression system, we want the difficulty to feel smoother, and we’ll want more player agency there, so it’s definitely something we’ve been investing into.
Aislyn Hall: Yeah, we have a philosophy that we have been utilizing with these major progression things that are coming, where we want to ensure that it’s in the player’s hands what kind of challenge they want to face and ensuring that you could tune the game’s experience in any content, from the early game all the way to the very late game. That’s a big guiding North Star for us with these changes coming in season 6.
Brent Gibson: And a good example, you’ve talked about this in the past, is all the feedback we’ve been getting from the Profane Mindcage. We know that players are trying to use something like the Profane Mindcage to influence the difficulty, and we don’t want a consumable to play that role, so we are looking to make some changes.
What’s your number one favorite feature in Diablo IV: Vessel of Hatred?
Aislyn Hall: I really like the Dark Citadel. I ran through it a few weeks ago and it was just so exciting to go through and basically figure out the mechanics and have that feeling of overcoming a significant challenge with my friends. I really love that and we also get some pretty juicy rewards from it that we can cash every week. So, doing it every week once Vessel of Hatred launches is definitely going to be something fun.
Brent Gibson: I’m gonna talk about the Spiritborn class. The playstyle, the rhythm, and the flow of this class really speak to my playstyle, so I’d have to say I’m really excited about the class.
Earlier, you said there is a big Eternal community and a big seasonal community. Talking about the size of the Diablo IV community, is it healthy, especially after the Game Pass launch?
Brent Gibson:Â Yeah, you know. Being on Game Pass is one of those things that we looked forward to the most, with the idea that we get out to as many players as possible. Diablo is a community that has a lot of folks that have been around since the first one, but something like Game Pass is also introducing the franchise to a bunch of newcomers. So, it is extremely healthy right now. I actually think our interaction with the media, the content creators, with our fans, we’ve been pouring a ton of energy into reaching out and getting the feedback and listening. The state of Diablo is the healthiest I think it’s been since launch, and I’m super proud of it.
Thank you for your time.
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