Diablo IV Classes Won’t Always Feel Balanced, Blizzard Says

Although the Diablo IV Early Access beta ended on March 20, another one will run from March 24-26. This window gives you access to the five classes, two of which, the Druid and the Necromancer, were initially unavailable. Although neither has anything in common, other than their propensity to kill evil shit, one thing you might have noticed if you jumped into Sanctuary last weekend is how unbalanced they were. According to Blizzard, that’s quite the point.

Learn more: Diablo IV is the perfect empty head, shitty game

Diablo IV is the fourth entry in Blizzard’s long-running isometric action-RPG. Following the events of Diablo III, this new game puts you in control of a baby angel-demon bent on putting a lid on the flaming bottle of Hell. He’s not totally reinventing the wheel. Instead, it’s the perfect podcast game, something you can skim through with your brain at the end of a long day. I enjoyed the handful of hours I put into the early access beta, and I’m thrilled with the progress I’ve made with what I’ve dubbed my Shadow Rogue to carry over to the open beta this weekend. But maybe the reason I had so much fun with Diablo IV was because of my class choice, and Blizzard seems to reaffirm that.

All that muscle and yet no power

In an interview with the British culture and entertainment site NME, Diablo General Manager Rod Fergusson said that not all classes in the game should be equal in power at the same time. Some are better than others, but not forever.

“There’s a lot of balance there, but the thing about balance is that it’s a balance in time, not a balance in the moment,” Fergusson said. “Not all level five classes should have the same power. Due to the enchantment specialization, wizards will have the most skills of all classes because [with] Barbarians having four weapons, they will have the most legendary slots of all classes. When you take this for each of them, there will be different moments in time [where] a barbarian is in some ways a bit underpowered compared to some of the other classes in, say, the first 10-20 levels. Phew. Ouch, even.

However, Fergusson’s comment makes some sense – “some” being the operative word here. There’s no reason for a wizard to feel as strong as, say, a druid in the early levels of the game. departure. Still, that the Barbarian is an idiot at the start of Diablo IV is a bummer, especially considering that the course starts with the strongest.

Muscles will get a buff, however

The community also seems to feel this, essentially noting that Barbs muscles are all for show. On the game subreddit there were people saying the barbarians for to feel weak, have trouble beating bossesAnd lack of mobility. Twitter gamers echoed the same sentiment, saying the class is “grossly malnourished.” It will not always be so. Fergusson clarified that when the Barbs reach the middle and end of the game, especially with the number of legendary weapons they can hold, the tanky class can begin to embody demons and fiends.

“But when you get to level 30-40 and legendaries drop a lot, barbarians can be super strong,” Fergusson said. “Then there are things around the skills gap, which I think are built into it. I think the agility and mobility of a rogue is harder to play than a necromancer who has 12 skeletons fighting alongside him that he can just dispatch and fight.

Learn more: Report: Diablo IV devs say June release date will lead to more crunch

And talk to GamesRadar+, game director Joe Shely reiterated Fergusson’s point, saying Barbs players will see a few tweaks that should make mid-to-late play less frustrating and more satisfying in the long run. Bless.

“We don’t want a player creating a Barbarian to feel weak at low levels,” Shely said. “So we have to balance the class so that their strength at the end of the game is realized in that they are powerful, but not make the game unfair at low levels. Of course, with a game like Diablo IV, the classes aren’t balanced so everyone has exactly the same power level 35, 36, 37 and beyond. Their set [power] need to be balanced against each other, and they need to be balanced, especially late game, midgame in general, and early game.

Learn more: Let’s talk about Diablo IV’s most controversial change

Kotaku has contacted Blizzard for comment.

There’s comfort in knowing that the class known for its strength should see some tweaking to prove that muscle doesn’t make up for something. Still, it sucks to know that players who opt for the Swole class will struggle in the early levels of Diablo IV. Sorry to all the Barbs out there.