Diablo IV: Vessel of Hatred Review | MMORPG.com

System · October 4

Diablo IV: Vessel of Hatred Review | MMORPG.com

Diablo IV hit the ground running last year with its incredible campaign storyline, and Vessel of Hatred picks it up and runs full-speed ahead. Check out our review of the ARPG's first expansion.

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Terazon · October 4

Awesome! Very excited for the release

Pher0cious · October 4

I'll wait for this to be on sale $9.99 or something and just play the campaign. Seasons just sucks ass with a tube.

Chaserz · October 4

Pher0cious said:

I'll wait for this to be on sale $9.99 or something and just play the campaign. Seasons just sucks ass with a tube.

It's not a "Season". It's a full expansion.

Arlee · October 4

Pher0cious said:

I'll wait for this to be on sale $9.99 or something and just play the campaign. Seasons just sucks ass with a tube.

As Chaserz said, this is not a season this is an expansion with new story. If you don't want to have any interaction with the seasons you just play on the Eternal Realm rather than the Seasonal one.

Angrakhan · October 4

Dangit now I'm considering buying this when I was going to be stubborn and wait for a Paladin or Crusader class.

uriel_mafess · October 4

"One thing I found very interesting is that the people in Nahantu have a service-based view of tradition. I often heard the refrain that if aid is asked for, it is given. This fascinates me because they are very much a people on the brink."

Now I'm sold.

Jokes aside (reviews must be filled with not so important tidbits) mercenaries are a great addition (a little classic RPG team party feel). Not so fond of the D3 difficulty level style. Didn't like tiered system but the torment levels are a joke. Before the end of 2025 you will end playing torment XXCLVX.

Not being able of having a restrain in powercreep has been a huge issue in all Diablos since Diablo 2.

Not having any meaningful rework/overhaul over the base game mechanics and loot system means they just keep adding new shiny things over a flawed base.

They will only be able to take the game as far as that flawed base allows it. As they did with D3. By the "late stages" it was fun but still pretty mediocre.

Arlee · October 4

They actually overhauled loot in Season 4 and it's a much better system now. Still has its flaws of course, but it is way better than what it was at launch.

https://www.mmorpg.com/news/diablo-4-season-4-loot-reborn-is-now-live-2000131525

ValdemarJ · October 4

Terazon said:

Awesome! Very excited for the release

Agree. The changes coming with the expansion are most welcome. However, the changes from the last couple of seasons have already made the game play a much better experience to me personally. I've been playing the last couple of weeks and it feels a lot better than it has in previous seasons. I'm excited to play the new class.

It felt good enough that I preordered the expac, since it was also 20% off for me with GamePass and comes with a month of Ultimate. I cashed in some Bing Bucks and it was only about $15 out of pocket.

Belgaraath · October 4

Never played this and I focus mostly on PC gaming, but I'm considering getting Diablo 4 and the expansion simply for the couch coop on my PS5. I hear it's one of the better couch coop games, so hopefully that is true.

Angrakhan · October 4

Couch coop games? I used to play those with my girlfriend. Now she's my wife.

KnightFalz · October 5

Pher0cious said:

I'll wait for this to be on sale $9.99 or something and just play the campaign. Seasons just sucks ass with a tube.

Then don't play on Seasonal severs. It is an entirely optional aspect of the game.

KnightFalz · October 5

Angrakhan said:

Dangit now I'm considering buying this when I was going to be stubborn and wait for a Paladin or Crusader class.

I had thought they would restore previous classes before adding new ones so people could have access to their existing favourites. Hopefully the Spiritborn will at least appeal.

Neoyoshi · October 5

It'll be interesting to see what the post-release user scores look like; as these are pre-release reviews... so please keep that in mind people.

KnightFalz · October 5

Neoyoshi said:

It'll be interesting to see what the post-release user scores look like; as these are pre-release reviews... so please keep that in mind people.

Will it? Not to me. I know how I view the current game and this simply expands on what I am already quite satisfied with. How others feel about it isn't really a factor.

FrodoFragins · October 5

KnightFalz said:

Neoyoshi said:

It'll be interesting to see what the post-release user scores look like; as these are pre-release reviews... so please keep that in mind people.

Will it? Not to me. I know how I view the current game and this simply expands on what I am already quite satisfied with. How others feel about it isn't really a factor.

Yeah I don't think many will buy it if they don't even like the current state of the game. I'm definitely curious what the sales numbers will be but it seems like they are releasing it at a very good time to get some extra sales.

elric_of_melnibone · October 5

Don't know much about the game. Do mercenaries take the place of something you'd otherwise party up with others to do (as MMORPGs have been doing in recent years) or does the game not work like that?

Gorwe · October 5

Neoyoshi said:

It'll be interesting to see what the post-release user scores look like; as these are pre-release reviews... so please keep that in mind people.

There are multiple hotspots that could cause a review bomb for Vessel. Things like: stat overhaul and its impact on already existing items, their handling of Eternal Realm(=non season), monetization in general, group activities in otherwise solo game.

D4 is very mindless and if a person is ok with that, it is actually quite fun. But the base is very flawed, it can't really be fixed. Fun, but flawed.

KnightFalz · October 5

elric_of_melnibone said:

Don't know much about the game. Do mercenaries take the place of something you'd otherwise party up with others to do (as MMORPGs have been doing in recent years) or does the game not work like that?

The negatives listed in the review says mercenaries don't mesh well with party play, so it appears best not to mix the two at least for now.

KnightFalz · October 5

Gorwe said:

Neoyoshi said:

It'll be interesting to see what the post-release user scores look like; as these are pre-release reviews... so please keep that in mind people.

There are multiple hotspots that could cause a review bomb for Vessel. Things like: stat overhaul and its impact on already existing items, their handling of Eternal Realm(=non season), monetization in general, group activities in otherwise solo game.

D4 is very mindless and if a person is ok with that, it is actually quite fun. But the base is very flawed, it can't really be fixed. Fun, but flawed.

What base flaws are you speaking of?

KnightFalz · October 5

FrodoFragins said:

KnightFalz said:

Neoyoshi said:

It'll be interesting to see what the post-release user scores look like; as these are pre-release reviews... so please keep that in mind people.

Will it? Not to me. I know how I view the current game and this simply expands on what I am already quite satisfied with. How others feel about it isn't really a factor.

Yeah I don't think many will buy it if they don't even like the current state of the game. I'm definitely curious what the sales numbers will be but it seems like they are releasing it at a very good time to get some extra sales.

I think the demand will be high as it has value to even those that do not participate in the seasonal aspect of the game. It could be used as a measure to see how well the popularity of the game has held by comparing the total sales for the game and expansion which I'm sure would be interesting to some.

GoldenTuatara · October 5

"Diablo IV hit the ground running last year with an incredible campaign storyline, "

Well, that's certainly an opinion.

Gorwe · October 5

KnightFalz said:

Gorwe said:

Neoyoshi said:

It'll be interesting to see what the post-release user scores look like; as these are pre-release reviews... so please keep that in mind people.

There are multiple hotspots that could cause a review bomb for Vessel. Things like: stat overhaul and its impact on already existing items, their handling of Eternal Realm(=non season), monetization in general, group activities in otherwise solo game.

D4 is very mindless and if a person is ok with that, it is actually quite fun. But the base is very flawed, it can't really be fixed. Fun, but flawed.

What base flaws are you speaking of?

The entire idea of stacking multipliers which leads to such cases where you break the int32. Kinda problematic, I think.

Tempering, which makes you feel bad as opposed to feeling good.

There is more such bright ideas in there. Statues of Lilith? Aspect leveling(should just be a static unlock via dungeons).

Scot · October 5

So is this the first expansion? It has been out 15 months, so that's quite decent but I think seasons has turned of as many players as it has made others happy. Personally I take a stance against seasons as we have seen them be an excuse for content in other games, but if they carry on knocking out one proper expansion a year they could turn the game round or indeed have already done so?

KnightFalz · October 5

Gorwe said:

KnightFalz said:

Gorwe said:

Neoyoshi said:

It'll be interesting to see what the post-release user scores look like; as these are pre-release reviews... so please keep that in mind people.

There are multiple hotspots that could cause a review bomb for Vessel. Things like: stat overhaul and its impact on already existing items, their handling of Eternal Realm(=non season), monetization in general, group activities in otherwise solo game.

D4 is very mindless and if a person is ok with that, it is actually quite fun. But the base is very flawed, it can't really be fixed. Fun, but flawed.

What base flaws are you speaking of?

The entire idea of stacking multipliers which leads to such cases where you break the int32. Kinda problematic, I think.

Tempering, which makes you feel bad as opposed to feeling good.

There is more such bright ideas in there. Statues of Lilith? Aspect leveling(should just be a static unlock via dungeons).

We have different views as to what counts as a flaw but I appreciate the thoughtfulness your specificity suggests.

KnightFalz · October 5

Scot said:

So is this the first expansion? It has been out 15 months, so that's quite decent but I think seasons has turned of as many players as it has made others happy. Personally I take a stance against seasons as we have seen them be an excuse for content in other games, but if they carry on knocking out one proper expansion a year they could turn the game round or indeed have already done so?

Yes, it is the first actual expansion. I believe with Diablo IV the intent is to put out more than the typical single expansion games of this series have gotten.

Seasons are a type of temporary content, but they can be entirely avoided by those that don't favour them by playing solely on the Eternal server.

The game was significantly improved with Loot Reborn, which while technically a season was mostly about improvements to the base game experience so the changes impacted Eternal as well. That put the game on a much more solid foundation than it launched with so that work is already done. The expansion will build on that rather than needing to establish an entirely new foundation itself.

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