Diablo 4’s Skill Tree Isn’t That Old Sick Hell Tree No Longer

Diablo 4The skill tree, through which players allocate skill points to learn new talents and abilities, was once a totally sick, evil-looking, gnarled, and blackened tree with, like, hellfire. inside, and veins and blood flowing from the bottom. It looked badass. While playing the game’s beta over the weekend, I was deeply confused to discover that the game’s skill tree is no longer that literal sick tree.

In place, Diablo 4 players can expect a more traditional video game menu interface when the action-RPG launches next year. The skill tree is now a figurative tree, with nodes, straight connector lines, and branches overflowing with skills and modifiers. It now looks like a pattern carved in stone. Players will navigate the large skill board with a mouse or analog stick, spending skill points earned as they progress.

Here is a preview of the current look of Diablo 4The skill tree for the Barbarian class:

Image: Blizzard Entertainment

The shift from the old sick hell tree to lines and icons is completely acceptable. The previous incarnation of the skill tree, unveiled in a quarterly update in September 2020, looked extremely sick, but didn’t feel that practical. The tree presented two years ago was clearly described as “pre-alpha”, “content under development” and “NOT FINAL”.

It was also at least the second version of the skill tree designed for Diablo 4; Blizzard showed an earlier incarnation in 2019, when the game was revealed at BlizzCon.

Image: Blizzard Entertainment

Despite the aesthetic change, a more easily readable skill tree is what a game looks like Diablo 4 Needs. There are a huge number of skills and abilities that players can acquire during the first 50 levels, all of which players can try out – either by acquiring the skill itself and respecing it, or by acquiring a piece of gear endowed with competence. attached to it.

Blizzard’s approach to specifying your character in Diablo 4 is a blend of the studio’s approach to Diablo 2 and Diablo 3. As Rod Fergusson, executive producer and head of the Diablo franchise, said, “Diablo 2 felt like you were locking yourself up; you had the option to respec once per difficulty. But with D3 you kind of changed your build like changing your clothes. Everything was gear-based rather than skill-based.

Fergusson added: “I think the fact that we have skills on equipment [in Diablo 4] is really nice for experimentation – as a witch I [might] get Blizzard [on a pair of boots] three levels before I should and I can try Blizzard to see if I really want it.

Game director Joe Shely told Polygon in a panel interview that “having your character feel like a compilation of choices you’ve made leads to some really interesting decisions, at least some interesting opportunities.” .

Image: Blizzard Entertainment

Shely said the Diablo team is aware that players, especially at first, won’t have a full understanding of each class’s skill set. Players will want to experiment.

“When you look at our respec systems,” Shely said, “which applies to both the skill tree and Paragon for later levels, which is our endgame progression system, we really tried to approach it in a way that feels like making a choice is important, and that your character isn’t the same as everyone else’s, but you have a lot of flexibility to try things.

“You have the ability to re-specialize point by point. […] You can just click to unspend a point and spend it on something else, but as you enter levels the cost increases to make those choices. [feel] a little more thoughtful. Of course, you can also respec your entire tree at once if you want to rebuild from scratch.

Fergusson noted that as players get deeper into their character, “the in-game currency cost to meet gets higher and higher – eventually you’ll get to the point where you have a level 90 barbarian and instead to completely change my build, it’s better to just run a new barbarian and start over.