Diablo IV Vessel of Hatred review. A new beginning that disappointed

Diablo IV Vessel of Hatred should open a new breath for the game and continue the story of Mephisto’s fall or rise. We will tell you whether the developers managed to enrich the game with new content and continue the story of the original game in an interesting way in the review of the Vessel of Hatred expansion for Diablo 4.

Just the beginning

Diablo IV Vessel of Hatred brought too many changes, so to avoid turning this review into a patch notes retelling, I’ll only go into detail about the main points, which turned out to be quite a few. I’m sure many people are interested in the continuation of the storyline, so I’ll start with it.It’s impossible to describe the expansion’s plot without giving away minor spoilers, so be warned. But I won’t tell you more than the developers themselves.

After defeating Lilith, Nirelle and Mephisto set off with the soul stone, Mephisto wanting to free himself, and Nirelle wanting to destroy the Primary Evil. The problem is that this particular soul stone, in which Mephisto is hidden, is not intended for the Primary Evil. Therefore, its filth partially penetrates our world, causing harm to the surrounding fauna, flora, and the population of the Sanctuary. We saw some consequences of these actions in the game’s CGI trailer.

The Cathedral of Light has also undergone changes. The Reverend Mother Righteousness survived the battle in hell, but the power in the Cathedral is seized by Urivar, another war hero who does not know the concept of compromise. He launches a hunt for Nyirel, and our task is to get ahead of the warriors of the Light and save the poor girl from the church. He also snatch her from the hands of the demon that is gradually taking over her mind.

The beginning of the new chapter is dynamic and intriguing, and the arrival in Nagant is unexpected and quotes the beginning of the main plot of the game. However, in the middle, the plot starts to sag, and the characters that seemed interesting at the beginning disappear until almost the end. As in the main game, the Cathedral of Light arch, this time with Urivar, is the weakest, although the character is interesting.

I rather liked the way the main storyline develops and where it goes than not. We’re constantly reminded that Mephisto is one of the Primary Evils, that he can only be imprisoned, and many other lore points that fans of the series have long been aware of. There were also hints of his brothers’ return sometime in the future. And here, perhaps, the only disappointment is the classic «expectations and» reality mistake.

Even before the game’s release, the developers announced the annual release of new add-ons, so many people wondered how the game’s plot would develop. Many players, including me, were disappointed with the chosen narrative concept. First of all, this is the merit of the game’s PR department. We expected, if not the end of the Hate family saga (Mephisto is an aspect of Hate), then at least half of it

If we abstract from expectations, the finale takes place in a beautiful location, has several interesting plot twists, and gives a good start for the future with the return of key characters from the original game.

But we’re back to our plans to release one expansion every year. Diablo IV is expected to live for 7-10 years, and if the authors want to stretch the entire Lilith and Mephisto arch over these years, it’s likely that the story will turn into gum that will lose its taste halfway through. And we really don’t want that.

The spiritborne has the support of four spirits: Jaguar, Eagle, Gorilla, and Centipedes. Spiritborne changes the perception of unified classes. If you start playing as a Barbarian, you won’t be able to turn him into a Rogue or vice versa. Spirits allow you to flexibly adapt the class to the player’s preferences, from the fast Jaguar and Eagle to the slower tank supported by the spirit of the Gorilla. Of course, the difference is not as significant as between the aforementioned Rogue and Barbarian classes, but spirits and their combinations make Spiritborne the most flexible of all available archetypes.

Depending on the build you choose, the class feels like a Rogue or Monk or Witch Doctor from the previous game. And it doesn’t copy them, but rather what is felt in its individual elements.

The classic «disease» new class —  Spiritborne stands out too much from the other classes and will remain the most powerful force in the game until the first major nerfs. It’s not a big deal because in Blizzard games, and other developers’ games, new classes are usually a little better than existing ones, especially if you pay for access to them. I’m sure we’ll see some leveling up next season, but for now, playing as Spiritborne is fun and interesting, and that’s the most important thing.

Exclusive

In addition to the new region and class, owners of the expansion received several new mechanics and exclusive content. I’ll start with Mercenaries. Two mercenaries can help at the same time, the first is an auxiliary NPC who accompanies us through the Sanctuary, and the second serves as an additional ability. In the first case, the mercenary acts autonomously. It has its own levels, which are called Report here, as well as a small branch of talents and a pool of abilities that it uses at its discretion.

In the second case, we can choose another mercenary who will come to the rescue at a specific moment and use a specific ability. This mechanic is called Reinforcement. For example, when I activate an ultimatum ability, the mercenary will roll up all the enemies. Abilities have their cooldowns, and you can choose from seven abilities and nine conditions when it will be applied.

As the level of the Report increases, the mercenary unlocks new abilities, points for the talent branch, and also gives a crate of resources or items, and special currency that can be spent in the mercenary store. Legendary items, aspects, and resource packs are sold there to summon bosses and upgrade equipment. I do not recommend ignoring this store, as the items there are really valuable, especially in the early stages of the game. The number of offers increases with the level of all mercenaries.

We get the first mercenary in the story. For three more, you need to complete special quests that reveal the history and character of these mercenaries. The quests are not very long and generally interesting, and even have their own cutscenes on the game engine.

Mercenaries do not replace a full-fledged partner, but they are a good addition to the hero. Reinforcement abilities can be especially useful, as they synergize with our abilities to speed up the extermination of evil spirits.

The second exclusive mechanic is Runes, which came from the legendary Diablo 2. They are of two types: summoning and ritual and work in pairs. The first ones give a specific amount of Offerings (for example, 50) for performing specific actions, such as using Evasion. The ritual rune activates a specific effect when the number of Offerings reaches the required amountFor example, the QAX rune activates when you reach 400 Giving, uses all available mana (or other class resource), and increases the damage from the next talent by 100%. And the legendary YUL rune gives 50 Offerings every time we use an ability with a cooldown.

Runes are inserted into the stone cells and are not always a good choice. However, for some builds, a specific combination of runes can give good bonuses. Also, a large number of runes activate improved talents of other classes, such as the necromancer’s Decrepify or the sorcerer’s Frost Nova.

The new and exclusive content for owners of the expansion includes two types of dungeons: Kurast City Underground and Dark Citadel. The Underground is a redesigned and improved version of The Gauntlet. It has three neighborhoods, essentially biomes that differ in appearance and final bosses. But the main thing is that, unlike The Gauntlet, the subway is randomly generated each time. The task is to collect four levels of offerings in the allotted time by killing monsters and activating special altars. The race can be modified by Tribute and Deal. They increase the reward, but apply penalties to the initial time and the bonus time awarded for killing special mobs.

The most interesting innovation is the Dark Citadel. It is basically a raid for four players. The citadel is exclusively cooperative, which means that at least two players are required to complete it. This limitation is primarily due to the mechanics of bosses and some locations. And while with locations the need for two players sometimes looks artificial, like one player needs to hold down a button for the other player to go to the next room, the bosses are a different matter.

In total, the Citadel has three wings, or instances if you have experience playing World of Warcraft. They are completed separately, and at the end of each one there is a main boss, the battle with which is quite long, but interesting thanks to cooperative mechanics.

I’ll explain using the example of the boss of the first wing, but without spoilers. At some point, he becomes invulnerable and releases mobs that carry special seeds. After collecting the required number of seeds, a portal to the spirit world opens where at least one player must jump to perform a special mechanic. Players who remain in the main arena must collect the grains again and open the portal for the player who is in the other world. And it has to be done quickly because the player in the other dimension gets a debuff that will kill him if he doesn’t escape as soon as possible. Throughout this cycle, the boss remains invulnerable.

The mechanics are actually not very complicated. I was able to figure them out on the first or second try, at most. The main thing is to be attentive. And players who are used to playing the game with a zerg rush may have problems with this. I had one run where half of the team stubbornly refused to follow the battle mechanics and just hit endless monsters, which caused us to be vyped half a dozen times.

The rewards for completing the Citadel are quite juicy, so you shouldn’t ignore it. Only here is it guaranteed to drop a scroll that resets the tempering of items.

A new look

Significant changes have been made to the game base. There are now as many as eight levels of equal difficulty, which can be divided into two groups: Basic and Torment, each with four difficulties. You can start the game with any difficulty of the Basic group (Normal, Hard, Expert, and Penitent), except that for Penitent you need to complete the story campaign.

The difference between the difficulty levels is significant. If you are just starting the game, I advise you to play on Normal at least until you get the class ability. Then upgrade to Gard and play through at least the story campaign and level up to the maximum level. Once you have more or less decent equipment, you can try Penitent and even Torment 1.

The second important change concerns The Pit. Now they are the determinant of the game’s difficulty and are the only ones that level up Paragon Glyphs. The basic difficulty is open immediately, but to switch to Torment 1, you need to complete the Pit at level 20. And if you already have legendaries and aspects tailored to your build, it won’t be a difficult task.

To unlock the difficulty of Torment 2, you need to go through the level 35 pit. And the difference between Torment 1 and Torment 2 is that on T1 I killed Lilith in seconds, but on T2 it was a full-fledged battle. And this difference immediately becomes noticeable even on basic monsters, dungeons, and other activitiesAn important point is that higher levels of Torment do not give better loot, they increase the amount of loot. That is, you can get Mystic equipment at T1, but at T2, T3, and T4, the chances of getting them increase only because of the greater amount of loot that drops from bosses.

The loot system was redesigned back in the fourth season, and with the release of the expansion, it was adjusted to reflect the changes in the rest of the mechanics. And it feels like legendaries are dropping much less frequently on Basic difficulty.

Now it’s really a celebration when you see the orange color of an item. Although, as early as T1, mostly legendaries are dropped, and their improved versions (Ancestral), which have at least one of the parameters overestimated, are a feast.

The progression has changed significantly. The maximum level of a character has been reduced to 60, after which the character continues to gain Paragon levels. They are now unified for all characters and have a ceiling of 300 levels. These 60 levels feel like they take much longer to gain than the 60 levels from the previous system. But that’s if you take into account the completely naked character and the emphasis on completing the story. If you collect the aspect code and a few good storybooks, then reaching the maximum level with the second character can be even faster.

The new dungeon bosses also have interesting mechanics, and the new Strongholds are even more interesting than the ones in the main game. Even in the story of the expansion, there are missions with puzzles, and I really hope that there will be more of them in the next expansions.

Diablo IV didn’t get off to a great start in the eyes of loyal fans of the series, and especially the genre, but it was a great start for those who are just getting acquainted with aRPGs. With all the changes over the past year, and especially the release of Vessel of Hatred, the game has only confirmed its status as a springboard into the genre. This is a very user-friendly and understandable project for beginners, offering an interesting and richly crafted story campaign, as well as months of content absorption. Hardcore fans of the genre who are used to Path of Exile will still not be satisfied with Vessel of Hatred, but in my opinion, these games are not competitors. They exist on the same planet, but in different poles, and each prevails in its specific niche and works well for its specific audience.