Diablo 5

M Power · 2026-09-15T17:39:55-0400

jayrebb said:
cliffs from the private panels

core gameplay

- No towns or city hubs
- set 100 years after D4 and 7 years into the fall of Sanctuary
- caravan traveling style existence for player
- story emphasis on desolate isolated experience
- MMO multiplayer aspects removed from gameplay
- caters to solo gameplay
- more heroes and classes than in Diablo franchise history
- demon hunter and monk confirmed legacy classes
- total classes will be between 10-20 classes

itemization

- D2 itemization is a stated design goal
- uninspired currently, but could improve with community feedback
- affixes are very basic
- affixes are similar to D4 at the moment
- lack of stat breakpoints or any D2 gear planning
- no comparison to D1/D2 itemization in the current design
- D3 had 36 pieces of gear upgraded in 2 hours, D4 had 56 pieces of gear upgraded in 2 hours, D5 is on track to continue this trend
- tetris inventory management is back

combat

- D3 combat is the stated goal
- developers said D3 is the pinnacle of ARPG combat
- very fast paced
- D1/D2 strategy using geometry/doors/map is not in the game
- no collision system

fundamental design

- Blizzard wants community-driven design for D5
- creator feedback development process
- no "Vision(tm)"
- same engine as D4 is confirmed, with slight upgrades
- fork of D4 engine
- D5 started as an expansion to add Diablo to D4
- D4 final expansion was spun off into it's own game
- direction of D5 was deemed too much of a paradigm shift story-wise/design-wise to add to D4 as an expansion
- D4 2.0 fair comparison at present

If they can do D3 combat with D2 skill point system then that'd be cool.

Caeden · 2026-09-15T17:56:10-0400

Deathwing said:
"weaponized autism" and "parachuting" seem at odds with each other. If the former was true, wouldn't I be much more vociferous and persistent?

People are more than welcome to join the PoE thread and discuss the game's flaws. I play a lot of the game but I would say I'm one of the game's biggest critics within the confines of that thread. I'm certainly not a fanboy, especially within the context of PoE2. I haven't given GGG any money since 2023 because I cannot be certain it won't go to PoE2.

All of those are fair points, I agree with pretty much all of them, but I'm not sure why they're relevant. My decision to not play D4 nor give Blizzard any more money since....I think the first month of WoW Classic?...has nothing to do with PoE. Let me put it this way: D4 was fiscally the correct choice while being regressive and damaging to the genre and gaming as a whole. D5 and their whole "idk, you tell us what to make" only reaffirms that.

D4 base was bad and I guess regressive. D4 current case is not, in my mind, regressive. It’s a darker and more fleshed out D3 combat with reasonable depth for any “class locked” skill game, imo. But I didn’t pay for d4 until the $70 pack that included base game and both expansions. Corrected for inflation, that’s a pretty damn good price. I think their MtX are amazing looking but also extremely predatory. Similar to PoE. I’d have to add up again the “must buy” tabs and shit to make a decision on $70 vs PoE costs. Buti tossed $99 at the LE kickstarter and I wished I had that money back to spend on D4 MTX if that tells you what I thought of the final product.

I guess my point is that Poe has been equally bad for the genre in many respects. They have depth. Yes. But they have sacrificed the non-streamer player to chase streamer clout. While they claim to have…can’t think of the word…but I’ll say “fair” MTX, the fiscal reality is they’re just like blizzard and gaming the whales.

I disagree it’s rat meat in D4. It’s a cheap burger. I think the current game director has done about as good as he can given the bullshit he got handed and the political climate of his employer.

jayrebb · 2026-09-15T18:00:07-0400

M Power said:
If they can do D3 combat with D2 skill point system then that'd be cool.

Relieved the MMO open world group game was axed. That was one of D4's biggest mistakes at launch. Pseudo-MMO was better done in Diablo Immortal, and somehow D4 failed to have the same basic features a mobile game had. It was so half-ass tacked on feature.

Their head seems in the right place overall. Biggest concerns from Diablo experts is that nothing shown so far indicates they can achieve their stated itemization goal. But at least inventory management is back.

And I agree with the developers that D3 combat is an improvement on D4.

D3 being the design goal is fine by me.

The overwhelming amount of classes will at least be interesting, along with the solo journey narrative being "the most heroes in any Diablo game to date". It will be interesting to see what narrative they have to include all of that. Claiming the biggest amount of heroes in franchise history while set during a desolate journey is quite a boast.

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Diablo 5

M Power

Potato del Grande

Caeden

Golden Baronet of the Realm

jayrebb

Ssraeszha Raider