It was made clear during this past BlizzCon that the mechanics of creating class Broken Builds in Diablo 4 will be heavily inspired by Diablo 2. This means that there should be a heavy emphasis on skill trees with runes and should focus on making distinct, complex choices matter when constructing a class. The worst thing that Blizzard could do is replicate the simplistic and unpopular skill selection of Diabl

2008 was a different time for Star Wars fans. The Prequel Trilogy had just concluded with Revenge of the Sith , and the canon of the franchise was a little all over the place with books and video games featuring the different eras of Star Wars . 2008 was a different time for Star Wars fans, and not many liked Jar Jar Binks and his cartoonish ant

This writer does not agree or appreciate the notion of any of the above ideas for how to monetize Diablo 4 in the long term, but it is absolutely in line with how Blizzard treats all their games. Seeing how successful Hearthstone, Overwatch, and World of Warcraft are, consumers have clearly accepted this as the status quo.

It is hard to say if the implementation of another Auction House would be a good or a bad thing. At its core the reasons for which the Auction House was implemented were meant to improve upon the player experience and to prevent the need and use of third-party sites to conduct trades in the game. In practice this was a spectacular failure, but perhaps there is merit to revisiting the conc

It may be a matter of opinion for some that say Hearthstone is a friendly game for free-to-play players, but this writer has to agree with James "Firebat" Kostesich, the first World Champion of the game and currently one of the best in the Grandmasters Tour.

We think Cain likes to hear himself talk in the Diablo series. We’re not sure if this Horadric mage could stick to the TikTok video length limits while ranting about the battle between Heaven and H

One of the most addictive experiences in Diablo 2 was running the campaign in co-op mode with a total of eight players. The game ramped up the difficulty to match the fire power of the party and it made for some great mome

The Diablo series in general has done a great job of taking the players to wild locations and chaotic realms. Endless deserts, terrifying jungles, crumbling cathedrals, the depths of hell and the heights of heaven, but there’s so much more that could be explo

Following the disastrous announcement of Diablo: Immortal at BlizzCon 2018, players were somewhat relieved to learn that Diablo 4 is finally in development. Recently here at TheGamer, we discussed how the failure of the Real Money Auction House (RMAH) was a catalyst that shifted how Diablo 3 was developed, and subsequently abandoned long before its original vision was fulfilled. This included the cancellation of a second expansion called The King of the North, and the rumor of a cancelled Druid class.

Usually during TikTok videos, people have something to say. Doom Slayer doesn’t talk at all, ensuring that basically every video he makes could be put on mute. We guess he could take videos of all his batt

Returning to that dark and gritty tone of the first games is probably the biggest wish of the fanbase right now. Many want to feel that their actions matter, the morality of it all is a dark shade of gray, the heroes must make horrific sacrifices simply to delay or contain evil because defeating it is not possible, and maybe even see the player unwittingly carry out the demons’ plans like the first game

Cosmetic items are also an obvious place where Blizzard could be making money. It's honestly rather surprising to see that so much is given away freely in Diablo 3 , including wings, pets, pendants, and more.

Diablo 4 is a natural evolution of the formula, making things bigger and grander than ever before. The game is truly engaging in every way and can entice players to sink hundreds of hours into this experience because of its masterful gameplay loop. Taking out waves of baddies to get rare and powerful loot is a great feeling that remains intact in both the Baldur's Gate and Diablo games, even with the latter taking things up a notch in this departm

Reading the above ideas about Diablo 4 may come off as pessimistic, but again, the point is to consider how a design for the next game would look with a revenue model that would satisfy Blizzard’s expectations, and that of its shareholders. Gone are the days of putting out a game with a single DLC pack and calling it a day. Blizzard, and many others, seek to produce games as a service, and Diablo 3 simply did not cut it. Let us cross our fingers and hope for the best, that Diablo 4 both meets our expectations and Blizzard’s - though it’s hard to imagine such an ideal landing spot for the next game.

While fans of the series are probably happy to hear that the next sequel is in the works, taking a good, hard look at how Blizzard has monetized its games for the long-term leaves little doubt that Diablo 4 will be anything but a constant cash grab. This is not pessimism towards the company or the series, but instead, an objective consideration of Blizzard’s other games, and how their games-as-a-service design manage to pull in revenue in a way that Diablo 3 could not.