A common criticism these days is that fans just want the same thing. Of course, this is true of games, and Diablo IV is no exception. Blizzard’s action-RPG launched with five classic and classic-inspired classes.
Never really had a chance Every Classes from the series’ history will return or be reborn in some way, but fans know that future expansions will strengthen the roster. However, there is one fighting style that has been lingering on everyone’s mind because it is not present in the current game. That, of course, is the sword-and-shield warrior.
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Now, we are closer than ever to the release of the first expansion pack for Diablo IV, Ships of Hatred. Before we saw the “Elfborn” class that Diablo IV will introduce to the game, Blizzard said that this would not be a reimagining of any existing Diablo class, but an entirely new class for the series.
This assessment ultimately proved to be correct, though the Elves seemed to take some inspiration from various existing classes and mold them into new ones. However, this did not change the fact that Diablo IV still did not have a class suitable for slow players. In Diablo II, this role was filled by the Paladin, and in Diablo III, the Crusader took on this task.
Of course, Blizzard knew that the Elves wouldn’t be able to fill that void, but the developer wanted to attempt a creative challenge for Diablo IV’s first post-launch class.
“When we look back at previous titles, previous releases, we want to make sure we respect the past,” Diablo general manager Rod Fergusson told GamesRadar+. “Because we’ve basically been [Diablo] 3 and 4, we wanted to make sure we had some classic classes.”
“When you think about opening a new course, you also think about [fitting in and making something new]What different play styles do you have that you haven’t mastered yet? For example, if you want some play styles, [in] Different ways, you’ll see, ‘Oh, we might gravitate towards this part of the game style and the way people play,’” he added.
However, there were enough of the old classes in the base game that ultimately prompted Blizzard to pursue something different with Ships of Hatred. Fergusson called the Evilborn “a sign of where we were headed with Nahantu, and we wanted to have a class that was part of that design.”
However, the Diablo boss is clear that while the Eccentric is exciting and new, it simply won’t satisfy anyone expecting a Paladin or Crusader type class. “People tend to be backwards-looking,” he explains.
“They know to ask about something they’ve already seen. They don’t necessarily ask about new things they haven’t seen because they don’t have that frame of reference. So it’s really more like, yeah, we definitely heard the feedback and we know people are excited about Paladins or Sword and Shield games. But we also know that we did a lot of nostalgia stuff with the first five games. [classes] So we felt like, at least for the first one, we had to be able to move beyond nostalgia and start breaking new ground on the course and trying new things.”
Still, Fergusson was keen to point out that satisfying players’ nostalgia with future expansions or classes isn’t entirely out of the question. “So that doesn’t mean we won’t do nostalgia again, or we won’t do new classes again,” the Diablo boss added.
“But you know, like I said, we’re talking about gameplay, so it’s about satisfying different types of needs. So it’s like, ‘Okay, I get the melee satisfaction from the Barbarian, but what can I get from the Elves?'”
The Ship of Hatred and Diablo IV Season 6 will be available on October 8. Due to the recent reveal of the class, fans have speculated that the level cap of Diablo IV is being lowered and the number of players is being reduced.
