Diablo IV is the Only Game I’ve Been Playing for the Past Month.

I will be the first to admit it. After playing all the betas, I was highly skeptical about Diablo IV, but now after a month, I still can’t put it down.

Let me first say, I am not a hardcore player; I’m older, have a wife, kids, and job. However, I would not say I fall into the casual category either. I fall somewhere in the middle—a place where time is limited, but still enough to enjoy what the game has to offer above and beyond the story campaign. I’ve spent plenty of time in D2 and D3, PoE, and most recently, Torchlight Infinite. I enjoy grinding for gear, manipulating stats, and putting new ideas to the test when new seasons roll around.

Now, after a month of gameplay, I believe I have found the ARPG that most perfectly fits my “middle of the road” gaming lifestyle, and it’s Diablo IV. The game is simple enough where I can pick up and run a Nightmare Dungeon or Helltide when pressed for time, and complex enough where I can spend hours playing around with builds, crafting, enchanting, etc. when my schedule permits.

Despite my high praise, the game is not without flaws, and while I am enjoying myself now, a couple of things are still concerning.

1) Renown: Grinding for renown is absolutely necessary if you want to max-out your stats. The grind, however, is insanely long and arduous (and I’m someone who likes grinding). I am sure that if the renown system has to be repeated each season and it remains the way it is right now, I won’t be returning after season one.

2) Dungeons: Let’s just say that I’m not a fan of playing “fetch the MacGuffin (or 2 or 3) over and over again. There really needs to be some adjustments made to the variety of dungeon objectives. As it stands, most dungeons follow the same formula of clear enemies, fetch at least 2 MacGuffins to open the sealed door, and fight the boss.

Now while this may not seem too bad, the problem lies in the fact that the MacGuffins are on opposite sides of very large dungeons, so there is quite a bit of unnecessary backtracking. It is tedious for tedium’s sake.

Diablo IV has tons of great things to offer for casual, middle, and hardcore gamers. It might very well be my elusive “forever game,” but only time will tell.