What did you think of Diablo 4’s first open beta experience?

This weekend marked a momentous occasion, both for the Blizzardverse and gaming in general: Our very first real (public) look at Diablo 4. The beta experience itself consists of the entirety of Act I’s main story, as well as what I assume to be the zones’ full roster of side quests — more than enough to hit level 20 for the adorable wolf cosmetic. I didn’t keep as close an eye on how long I played, but I do remember thinking that there was a whole-freaking-lot of content in Act I alone, to the point where I’m both a little intimidated and also very excited to see just how much the final game has to offer. The map looks massive, after all!

Maybe that’s just because it’s been a minute since I’ve really played a Diablo title, though. I couldn’t actually tell you how much larger one game’s map is than the other. Of course, not having played in a while also means that I had an absolute blast playing the beta this weekend. At the time of this writing, I’m just shy of level 25 (i.e., the max for beta) on a Sorcerer who enjoys throwing lightning everywhere.

Everywhere.

The new talent system feels so much better than Diablo 3’s, and the environments are as gorgeous and grotesque as ever. The multiplayer/MMO element to it also felt a lot less noticeable than I thought it would. Perhaps that’ll change at launch, but for a beta that initially had two-hour queues, the MMO aspect of it all never interfered with the good ol’ fashioned Diablo experience I wanted.

There are certainly times when the graphics feel inconsistent — the isometric environments compared to the intro cutscene make it especially noticeable — and I kind of wish it were more RPG-like in letting me make some choices here and there, but overall, I loved it. Especially as someone who’s never played on console before, the whole experience was frankly exactly what I’d hoped for.

How about you though? Did you play (or watch) the beta? If so, what are your thoughts on it so far?