LogInThe developer says that although Diablo IV's content may share similarities with MMOs, it will not imitate the genre's relentless power progression and will stay true to the series' action RPG origins.
Blizzard has stated that while Diablo 4's endgame may resemble an MMO to some extent, it will not mimic the genre's ceaseless pursuit of power, nor will it deviate from the series' roots as an action RPG.
In an interview with PC Gamer, the game's director Joe Piepiora shared that during the development, the team constantly questioned themselves whether Diablo IV was an MMO or an action RPG and struggled to define the boundary between the two. However, the director clarified that Diablo IV is primarily an action RPG that involves dungeon crawling, slashing and killing monsters, and collecting loot.
According to him, the open world and the inclusion of other players in world events and boss battles are mostly intended to create a sense of expansiveness in Sanctuary, rather than making it seem like an MMO-style group activity.
"The fantasy of playing a Diablo game, in many cases, is making really overpowered builds and just blowing up screens full of monsters at some point and having that kind of experience," Piepiora said. "We want to make sure that those elements are preserved where we don't have to worry about trying to create a curated set of balances between multiple players in a party that have to work in a very particular way together."
Blizzard has recently released a developer blog where it shared what players should expect after they complete the main campaign. Diablo IV's endgame will offer players various reasons to go back to previously explored areas to acquire better gear. Additionally, players will earn paragon points as they work towards the level 100 cap, allowing them to improve their stats on a giant board.
Although all these elements appear to be similar to those of MMOs and Blizzard doesn't deny that it takes inspiration from the genre, the game still aims to avoid MMOs' endless grind.
"We're not trying to create a situation where players feel that they must play forever. We want players who play Diablo 4 to play and enjoy the experience while they're playing the game," Piepiora said.
"We want you to get to a certain point, once you've reached level 100, where you've got 220 of these paragon points you're playing with, you have all of your skill points that you've already assigned to your character, and you've got your legendary and unique items, and now it's about configuring the board exactly the way that you want."
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