The Queue: Derbablo! Derbablo!

Some jokes are just for one person.

This is the Queue.

Derbablo! Derbablo! Derbablo DERBABLO!

DERBABLO!

Seriously, though, we got asked a ton of Diablo questions this week and didn’t manage to get them on the podcast this week, so consider this a special Diablo edition of the Queue because I’m just that ridiculously excited.

No, but then again, I didn’t feel like Barbs were too far off in the first place. I had fun for the Open Beta test and the Server Slam.

Diablo 4 has over 50 accessibility options that can be used to tailor your gameplay, and speaking purely for myself as a blind dude with significant nerve damage, I appreciate all of them. But for me, the ability to use a controller even on PC and to really tailor that controller, switching which stick does what and which feature works where, toggle vs holding down a button, outlining your character so they’re always visible even in shadow — these are really vital for my ability to play the game and I’m super excited for them.

Honestly, yes, in some ways this is the most Diablo game ever, just on sheer scale. It’s bigger than any previous game in the series — there’s more of the world open to be explored and played in than in the the previous three games combined, and while Diablo Immortal has a pretty big map there’s no disputing that D4 has the most continuous map space of any such game, meaning that you can start in one place and run to pretty much every place that isn’t, you know, that bad place that Demons come from.

In a lot of ways, Diablo 4 is the one that finally shows us what a world under constant assault from Demons — and sometimes Angels — looks like. Fifty or so years ago, Malthael killed 90% of humanity, and the nations of Sanctuary collapsed. This is a world in a post-Apocalypse, similar to Europe following the Black Death. Sure, we’ve seen horror and death before in these games, but this is the one that shows you not only the horrors of Demonic possession and the walking dead, but the quiet, day to day anguish of people who have lived their entire lives in a world on the brink of annihilation.

Frankly, the much stronger narrative of Diablo 4 — keep in mind, I didn’t hate Diablo 2 or 3 in terms of their narratives, but this one takes all the high points of those kinds of stories and adds in an open world, environmental and quest based storytelling angle that games like the Witcher series or Cyberpunk 2077 made use of and makes that a big part of how you experience Sanctuary. This is a world that’s had nothing but disaster since the original game, and has chewed up and spit out great heroes in the past — and now it’s your turn to try and fix it. So it’s a really Diablo feeling game that uses new techniques to let you unravel that.

Nope. You’ll maybe miss out on some cosmetics from the Battle Pass, or a mount or something, but the story is perfectly accessible and will be there when you get there. I personally plan on ignoring the Battle pass entirely.

I think at this stage of Diablo‘s lifespan, there have been enough classes and several of the ‘new’ ones have basically been variations on previous ones. The Crusader was a rework of the Paladin, the Monk was similar to the Assassin (who themselves weren’t all that different from Rogues, and clearly both Amazons and Demon Hunters drew from that well too) — so I’m not too concerned with reinventing the wheel with a whole new class.

If they go that route and pull it off, great. Finally Diablo gets that Bard class.

For myself here’s a few ideas with some explanation for each.

• Some form of holy knight/warrior — We see Church Knights in D4, serving the returned Cathedral of Light that Inarius started up (again, if you remember the Sin War) and they certainly have some of the kit of a Paladin or Crusader. I’d definitely like to see that playstyle come back for players who liked it, and Diablo 4 doesn’t really have anyone with that particular kit. Call them Paladins, Crusaders, Church Knights, heck whatever happened to Kormac and the Templars?
• Fighting Horadrim — It’s time for the Horadrim to accept that they need a combat arm. Sure, they have the whole I’ve seen this in a book let me just translate that deal down, but it’s time to see more Horadrim who get recruited into the order specifically to kill Demons and save Sanctuary. Think Demon Hunters from D3 meet the guys who banded together to shove a Bowie Knife in Dracular’s neck in Dracula.
• Witches — Not specifically the Witch Doctor from D3, but an iteration and expansion of the idea. Essentially, what if Adria hadn’t been a colossal jerk? What if she’d used her knowledge and occult powers the way she was pretending to for the second and third acts of Diablo 3? Lots of summoning spells, weird transformations both to empower the Witch and hamper their enemies. I think it could be a lot of fun.

Honestly, I feel like the most interesting thing about Diablo 4 is watching people go through unimaginable pain and loss and still somehow find hope. Liz made a great point on the podcast this week (seriously, check it out when it goes live) about how, despite how really bleak this game can be at times, it’s not a grimdark game — there is always that counterpoint of yes, awful things happen, but even so we’re still here and we can still fight that I find honestly lovely, like finding a single flower growing in a garden you’d thought too rank and overgrown with weeds to produce anything beautiful.

I can’t and won’t speculate on the story here, but there is hope in Diablo 4 — the hope that you can actually make a difference, and at times you even manage to. I mean, it’s still Diablo, so a lot of times it’s a very bittersweet kind of hope, but it’s there.

Okay, that’s the Queue for today. Take care, and happy Demon smashing for those of you who will be doing so.