8 Biggest Changes in Diablo 4

ign.com:

Diablo 4 is the next entry in Blizzard’s iconic and highly influential RPG series. While each Diablo game has had its own impact on the industry at large — with Diablo 2 popularizing the genre abroad, and Diablo 3’s real money marketplace not forgotten —Diablo 4 moves towards modernization.

Adopting mechanics found in MMORPGs, the world of Sanctuary has changed in some surprising ways. While Blizzard has shown off World Event Quests and World Bosses that feel oddly similar to Smilegate’s Lost Ark, the developer has gone a step further to change how some pivotal systems in the series work. And some of these quality-of-life improvements have perhaps made the biggest splash in how players can approach their endgame builds.

Here are some of the most significant changes we’ve found in our hands-on experience with the Diablo 4 beta.

No longer do players need to rely on RNG to add sockets to their Rare or Legendary items. Instead, with the right amount of gold and materials, the Occultist can add sockets to your weapons, armor, and accessories.

Before, players would need to re-roll one of the stats on an item for a chance at obtaining another gem socket. Those unfamiliar with the Diablo series may be wondering why this is such a huge quality-of-life improvement, but gems allow players to add a specific increased stat to an item based on the gem they are socketing in. Players can stack these stats through multiple gems put into multiple pieces of gear, which result in min-maxing stats for true endgame builds. Now that this element is no longer entirely random, players can immediately work on crunching those numbers and working towards their endgame build of choice.

This is where the meat of some of Diablo 4’s core systems lie.