The AggroCast crew is gearing up for the full release of Diablo IV. Hades had a chance to experience the Closed Beta and Server Slam and Raymond has a long history with the title. Listen in as they talk about their hopes, dreams, fears, and theories on what could be coming in the final version of Diablo IV. TRANSCRIPTION It's alive… It's alive… It's alive… It's alive… It's alive…! AggroCast RESURRECTED!!! Raymond Bruels: Hi! Welcome to the AggroCast. This is Ray Bruels with David Hades Becker. Today we are talking about Diablo IV. So David, I know you got to play some of the beta for Diablo IV. David Hades Becker: Yes, I got it. I got into the beta back when I think it was around St. Patrick's Day. They opened up a few like they opened up a few channels where people could play three of the classes and then, like, the next weekend, you're able to play all five of the classes. And then there was the server slam that they did, which was like a server stress test to make sure that when the game actually launches in June, it just doesn't crash as every other Blizzard game generally does on launch day. But yeah, that was, I got to experience many different levels of Diablo IV. RB: I haven't really looked at any of the Diablo IV. I played one, two, and three, played the shit out of three. And then for a brief moment, I downloaded Diablo Immortal and then quickly deleted that off my phone just because I was like, no, I don't need microtransactions. And as much as I love the franchise and the IP, I just cannot bring myself to do it. What classes are you getting to play in Diablo for? DHB: Well, I mean, as of right now, I think the five core classes, they have the Rogue, Sorcerer, Barbarian, Necromancer, and Druid. I think those are the only ones they've announced so far. RB: So kind of a smattering of classes from the other games in the franchise. DHB: Yeah. Somewhat. Like I think a couple of them haven't shown up in other games and then some of them like not brand new, but like they're being more focused on instead of being like a DLC or something like that. It's interesting that they chose these five. RB: Yeah. DHB: I have a feeling there's going to be more that come down the line given that it's Blizzard and how they normally do like microtransactions or not even microtransactions like DLC or like, oh, yeah, spend another $10 here. Get the season pass and you can get this next character. It's like randomly the fighter or, you know, bring the wizard back. RB: Yeah, kind of like what they did in three with the crusader and the necromancer. DHB: I think it was the demon hunter. RB: Demon hunter. OK. Yeah. And we haven't seen the rogue class since Diablo one. DHB: Yeah. RB: So that's interesting that they brought them back. DHB: And I haven't had a chance to play or play the Rogue, even though Rogue is my general go to when I play like these kind of games, like in D and D or anything like that. I'm like, I'm going to play the Rogue. But of course, necromancer, they brought necromancer and I'm a necromancer through and through. RB: I love the necromancer. Necromancer and barbarian used to be my two, mostly because I loved squishing the corpses and getting potions as the barbarian or leaping across the map to attack things. But necromancer, I always loved. And of course the aesthetic for necromancer was always cool. Cause you had the bone armor and the bone shards and you do the different summons. DHB: You know and I know that's all back at least in the beta I played for Diablo IV is they have the necromancer and that was the one that I mained for the entire time he was you know like I said necromancer and he has has all the fun stuff I think at one point I equipped the scythe to him just because I was like I gotta have a necromancer with a scythe. And then there was all the extra summons even though at the early levels it was just mainly skeletons and zombies I can raise, but I didn't see a need to raise anything else is the weird thing when I was playing the beta. RB: Yeah. Well, and I always found with the Diablo games, Summons really, I'm not going to say they were OP, but they certainly stacked things in your favor. DHB: Well, they definitely do that in this one. I don't think at any point I felt like I was in danger with my Necromancer. And that's from level one all the way up to, I think I got to level 13 or 14 before the beta ended. RB: Yeah. DHB: And I never died once with my Necromancer. RB: Damn. DHB: I also don't think any of my undead died unless it was like a scripted scene where they had to die because I had to go into a town or something happened and everything on the screen died except for my character. And it feels like it was one of the weird balancing issues that I'm kind of hoping they fixed because I felt like I walked through the entire beta with almost zero issues whatsoever. RB: Yeah and you definitely want a challenge with these games. You don't want it to be dick-punchy, but you definitely want that challenge. DHB: Yeah. No, I mean, at one point I walked into a dungeon that was rated as a very, very like, I think it was like two levels higher than me, but because of the, I had five zombies or whatever, skeletons or whatever running around, I didn't have to use a single potion for myself. I didn't have to use almost any other items. I was just like, yeah, go kill it. Go kill it. Or even the, I didn't even have to dictate sometimes the AI just did that. It walked forward and was like, OK, we're going to kill this boss. And I'm like, well, I took zero damage. But that was also the beta. So that could also have changed by the time the game launches here. RB: Yeah. When when you were playing the beta, did they have any of the crafting system that Diablo is known for? DHB: I'm pretty sure it was in there, but I don't remember that being any focus that we were that they had out there for it. RB: OK. Yeah, because I'm sure they probably had specific things they were asking folks to test. DHB: Yeah. Well, to my knowledge, it was like, let's let's make sure everything's balanced between these character classes. They did two different betas, where I think the first one they did, they only released the Rogue, Sorcerer, and Barbarian, I think it was, or maybe it was the Druid. And then the second one they did, they added in the other two characters. And then when they did the server slam, they're like, okay, f**k it, go with everything. We have all five characters out there. You can go to, I think it was like level 20, level 25, before you hit the end game for the beta. RB: That's awesome. And were you able to play through some of the actual story line? DHB: Yeah. They, so the story starts off right from the beginning where you're pretty much just abandoned out in the middle of winter scape, where you're just pretty much fighting your set, fighting your way through to get to the first town and then the first town takes you in and then you build from there and you continue the story going along. I don't think it delves deep into the overall story to keep that kind of obfuscated from the general populace, but you definitely got some of those story beats leading up to it. I almost feel like I spoiled the first at least hour of the game because that's where the the main mission. Like it felt like you were playing main mission kind of content at that point. RB: Yeah, cuz I think one point I read something that Lilith was the primary antagonist behind this the game And that it was actually kind of a flash forward like 50 years from the events of Diablo 3. So it should be interesting to see what they actually do with a Storyline and the world building because that was always a thing for me. I love world building of Diablo and you've got the angels and the demons and all of these forces that were at work and then the Nephalem and I guess they're going to dive into a little bit of that because of Lilith. So that's pretty cool. DHB: Well, from what I've seen so far, it looks like they might be playing with, at least further down the line, where you might get to choose a side because there's an I want to say, I almost want to say it's the Crusader that they had in the past is coming back and it looks like he's more of an angel type character. And the way they're leading that side of humanity, it feels more like a cult, where Lilith is doing the same thing, and it feels like she has her own cult your clashing. So I don't know if maybe at some point you get to choose which side you're on, because they both, at least in some of the story failures that they put out there, it feels like they're like, you get to decide, is maybe the Agents of Heaven the right side or is the Agents of Hell the right side? RB: Yeah, that would be really interesting to actually have to pick one side over the other and actually put you in a conflict, especially if they do any kind of open play where people can play against each other. DHB: Well, I mean, I know they do have the multiplayer in their last beta as I played, it was all co-op. So I don't remember there being any PVP when I was playing, but that might've changed in some of the, obviously some of the other stuff. And yeah, with June 6th coming up here quickly, they might've been like, okay, we're keeping this hidden from that, from everybody. This is going to be the surprise to where now you've chosen your side. And while you're in these missions, somebody might randomly drop into your game and be like, okay, well screw you. You're on Lillith's side. I'm going to kill you or vice versa. RB: Well, I also, I wonder because they, they tried to launch that Diablo Immortal cell phone game, which was chocked full of microtransactions. I wonder how much content is, is being drawn from that into Diablo IV, because I don't remember a lot of people, at least in my circle of people, that played Diablo Immortal at all. DHB: Yeah, I don't