Up next in 10
Liz Patt joins Liz Harper in lifting the embargo on the upcoming Diablo 4 expansion Lord of Hatred. From discussions on balance and the weirdly enchanting land of Skovos to an extended discussion on how fishing (yes, fishing) works, Liz and Liz give us a rundown from their hands-on view of the upcoming expansion. Spoiler: They both quite enjoyed their time there, even if they're both a bit miffed at not getting to play Amazons.
Plus, World of Warcraft just released a new little content patch, which includes Decor Duels but doesn't include Player Housing, which was briefly disabled. It's back up now, but it gave all of us a little bit of a panic attack.
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0:10
Hello everybody and welcome to the
0:12
Blizzard Watch podcast where we talk
0:14
about Blizzard Entertainment and its
0:15
many games. This week, we're going to be
0:17
doing a fair amount of talking about
0:20
Diablo IV's upcoming expansion, Lord of
0:22
Hat, as we had to bring in an extra Liz
0:26
to help cover it because we have Liz H
0:29
and Liz P and they're going to talk
0:31
about Diablo because they got access to
0:33
Lord of Hat while Joe and I sit here and
0:35
and be envious and occasionally ask
0:38
extreme envious questions.
0:39
>> Hey, we got early access to the book.
0:41
Thank you very We got We had our own
0:42
early access. Thank you.
0:44
>> Yes. Yay. I I Okay, I'm I'm going to say
0:49
the the game is more fun than the book.
0:51
I just I got to get that out of the way
0:53
>> there. And if people out there are
0:56
interested in the book, listen to lore
0:57
watch this week in which we talk about
0:59
the Diablo for Lord of Hatred Tyan
1:01
novel, which was it was fine. It was it
1:04
was fine. There were things I liked
1:05
about a lore watch episode. So,
1:08
>> uh well, I the book was fine. There's
1:11
there's there's the beginning and end.
1:13
And um that yeah. Yeah. I'm not going to
1:16
go into that any further.
1:18
>> That's what the episode of of Lore Watch
1:20
is for. So yes, go you got it. Go get go
1:22
listen to that. You'll be cool. But for
1:24
right now, uh that was both Liz H and
1:26
Liz P. I leave it to you to figure out
1:28
which one's which. We're really looking
1:29
forward to this one.
1:30
>> Um but yeah, seriously, let's talk about
1:33
the Diablo I expansion. My first
1:35
question, uh we know it's set in the
1:37
Scois, so what can you tell us about
1:40
going to Sco? What is it like as a as a
1:42
quest area? What's the size like hub
1:45
feeling of it? Do you feel like you're
1:47
wasting a lot of time traveling? Do you
1:48
feel like it's it's pretty concise?
1:50
What's going on?
1:51
>> Liz H, go first because I know you have
1:55
thoughts on Sco,
1:57
especially since we don't have Amazon to
1:59
play. I love Sco so much. So, I mean,
2:04
we've heard a lot about Scoas in the
2:06
past. We've played Amazon in the past.
2:07
We've heard bits and pieces and now we
2:11
get to go there and I love it. But not
2:14
only am I excited to learn more about
2:17
Scoos and see Sco Sco Sco Sco Sco Sco
2:18
Sco Sco Sco Sco Sco Sco Sco Sco Sco Sco
2:19
Sco Sco Sco Sco is beautiful. I mean,
2:21
one of the things about Diablo I has
2:23
been it has these gorgeously detailed
2:26
environments. It does a lot of
2:27
environmental storytelling throughout
2:29
the game and the environments are just
2:32
incredibly detailed, but also the
2:36
environments are very grim. I mean,
2:38
there's a very limited color palette.
2:41
There's kind of an intentional dowess to
2:44
the entire game that's, you know, it
2:47
sets the mood of Sanctuary. It shows you
2:50
a world that is full of despair and
2:54
hopelessness where demonic forces are
2:57
grinding people down and people bringing
3:00
their own evil to the world or grinding
3:02
each other down. This is you can tell in
3:06
every every little detail looking around
3:09
you that this is a there's a
3:12
hopelessness to all of sanctuary. But
3:15
Scoos feels like a place where hope
3:18
still lives, where hope is still
3:20
possible. They are sunlit isles. There's
3:25
beautiful blue waters. This is the
3:27
Mediterranean of sanctuary. And it's a
3:30
beautiful place. Uh it's it just feels
3:34
good going to Sco. You know, Diablo can
3:38
enjoy Diablo I a I think it's a good
3:40
game, but it can weigh on you just and
3:43
the mood it sets with the art and design
3:47
can really weigh on you. It sets the
3:49
tone for the entire game. Sco has a
3:51
totally different tone, which isn't to
3:53
say that, oh, this is a fun,
3:55
light-hearted expansion because it's
3:56
still Diablo.
3:58
Yeah, you you know how Vessel of Hatred
4:00
ended. Bad things are happening here.
4:03
But the place those bad things are
4:04
happening in, very beautiful. And it it
4:07
sets a very different tone than we've
4:09
seen in the past.
4:10
>> Yeah, I I think
4:12
>> I I think that's uh that's very they
4:16
they definitely learned some uh design
4:18
lessons I would say in that have been
4:22
applied to Scoos. So like yes, it's uh
4:26
it's got that Mediterranean vibe. Very,
4:29
you know, there's lots of beaches, lots
4:32
of kind of scrubby growth to it. Um, but
4:37
the city of Teis is um I would say
4:41
probably one of the best laidout hubs.
4:44
Like it literally hub everything is
4:46
centralized in one spot and uh it it's
4:50
very very convenient and very helpful
4:52
that it's set up that way.
4:55
Uh, and then the rest of now, now
4:59
>> obviously we are spoiler-free this uh
5:02
this this episode, but as you progress
5:05
through the aisles, you're seeing some
5:09
of the influence of the storyline in
5:12
your surroundings where,
5:14
>> you know, not all of not all of Sco
5:17
experiences that that kind of dark
5:20
oppressive aura that's sitting over most
5:23
of Estuar.
5:24
But uh it's definitely darker. It's
5:29
darkening
5:30
and and that's some of the influence
5:32
that we're experiencing which I thought
5:34
was better done than say in Nantu where
5:39
you had this really like beautiful
5:42
creepy jungle and then there's just like
5:45
hatred everywhere.
5:46
>> Well, I was going to say Nantu the city
5:48
itself was also as far as I'm concerned.
5:50
>> Yeah. and and it it it annoying to
5:54
navigate. Like, is it
5:57
>> that's just like a Diablo thing like in
5:59
Diablo I? Like, I I mean, I'm not trying
6:00
to crash on the game because I've been
6:02
playing a lot of it, but like I think
6:03
outside of Kilvashad, like everything
6:06
feels really awfully laid out.
6:08
>> Kyashad and uh my favorite one.
6:11
>> Kagar. Serar.
6:13
>> No, Saragar is is only easy to navigate
6:16
because it has nothing to navigate.
6:19
>> Yeah, exactly.
6:21
It's they've centralized everything
6:22
there.
6:23
>> I mean, the area around the tree, the
6:24
tree of whispers is also fine.
6:26
>> Yep. This is this is also something that
6:29
Diablo IV has been changing over the
6:31
course of its development in that you
6:34
know it started buil out building these
6:36
kind of like living cities where things
6:38
were arranged as they might be in a
6:40
physical place but these things were not
6:43
actually very fun because you'd go back
6:45
to the city and it's like okay the
6:47
blacksmith is on this side of the city
6:49
my stash is on the other side of the
6:50
city uh the occultist is half a zone
6:54
away you know things like that where
6:58
>> Garbanze and Carass um Carass Bazaar are
7:01
really good examples of
7:03
>> you know I I'm trying to get my gear set
7:05
up. I'm just going to go to Kovashad.
7:08
>> I'm I'm going to I'm trying to get my my
7:10
my spec down. I'm just going to go to
7:13
Kyashad.
7:14
>> Especially this season because the the
7:17
butcher dungeon is in season 12. Uh, the
7:21
butcher dungeon is in Gaya Cole. And
7:24
that city drives me like drives everyone
7:27
insane to the point where they had to
7:29
add a blacksmith to like the little the
7:33
little quest area with the rep board and
7:36
the rep vendor because it was
7:39
frustrating the heck out of everyone.
7:41
like you you couldn't you were getting
7:43
all this gear and then you couldn't you
7:47
couldn't uh salvage it without running
7:49
halfway across the darn city.
7:51
>> Yeah.
7:52
>> And if you're worse laid out
7:54
>> if you're telling me that the teas is
7:56
better laid out than
7:57
>> it's better laid out. Oh yes I am hear
8:00
that
8:01
>> teus is a big circle and in one
8:05
direction you've got your war plans. In
8:07
the other direction you've got your
8:08
stash and your blacksmith. Uh behind
8:10
you, you've got your occultist. You walk
8:13
out slightly beyond the inner ring to
8:15
get to the jeweler. Uh you there's a
8:18
place to go to the carest under city
8:20
there. There's a place where you can go
8:22
to the pit from there. And uh you can
8:25
adjust your difficulty from there, which
8:26
you can't adjust your difficulty in
8:28
every city. So it's all really
8:30
centralized. And if you go farther out
8:33
from the central ring, you do see spaces
8:35
that are more like, oh, this is uh
8:37
actually trying to be a living city, but
8:41
you have all of that utility stuff right
8:44
in the center of town where you are
8:46
going to town portal in. So, that is
8:50
super convenient and something that it's
8:52
taken Diablo for kind of a while to
8:55
figure out. Well, yeah. It's really true
8:57
because they they didn't do it in
9:00
Carass, but they were retro doing it in
9:03
Saggar.
9:04
>> They made Sagar easier to get around in
9:06
and they they didn't fix Car. They've
9:09
been retrofitting all of the cities
9:10
gradually and centralizing things, but
9:13
uh Timus is the city where you see like,
9:16
okay, this was designed to be easy to
9:19
get in and out of and to,
9:22
you know, not have to do a lot of
9:24
running around if you want to
9:26
>> it's it's your true central hub.
9:29
>> Yeah. And I
9:31
>> stuck the barbarians down there for some
9:33
reason and everybody else is up to the
9:35
north like why why did you do this game?
9:37
Not that I, you know,
9:39
>> but I think it's great. I think they've
9:42
they've slowly but steadily learned
9:44
about city design and this is a it's a
9:47
beautiful city and it does have life to
9:49
it. But like the central hub is very
9:52
central and it's easier to do the stuff
9:54
you want to do without having to run all
9:57
over everywhere. I don't want to run all
9:59
over everywhere.
10:00
>> It's also going to be the first city
10:02
where you do have those endgame
10:06
activities. So, we know war plans are
10:08
coming, but in addition to that,
10:10
>> um like the the the pillar, the obelisk,
10:14
that's the right word, for the pit and
10:16
the tower will be available there. The
10:19
little um statue for the unders city
10:23
will be there. So, like you're not
10:25
bouncing all around sanctuary like we
10:28
kind of have been to get to these
10:30
different activities. And even within uh
10:33
so if you're looking at something like
10:35
Hell Tide or World Boss uh if I remember
10:38
correctly some of those war plans you
10:41
just you you you tap the activity in the
10:43
war plan and it it teleports you right
10:45
Liz?
10:46
>> Yeah. So I maybe we should explain a
10:48
little about what war plans are.
10:50
>> Hey like what can you tell us about
10:52
plans?
10:52
>> What is a war plan? Um I will tell you
10:56
everything almost everything. Um, so war
11:00
plans are kind of the new endgame thing,
11:02
and Diablo 4 does have a history of
11:05
piling systems on top of systems on top
11:07
of systems on top of more systems in
11:09
ways that can be confusing and
11:11
frustrating and hard to parse. I will
11:14
grant that war plans are a system piled
11:16
on top of a system, but it's a system
11:18
that makes the rest of the systems
11:20
easier to find and access and play and
11:23
get rewards from. Basically, you go to
11:26
the to the war plan table and you set up
11:30
a war plan that you want to play. When
11:31
you first start, you have an option
11:33
between two things. You can say, "Okay,
11:35
first I'm going to do a hell tide. Then
11:37
I'm going to do a nightmare dungeon."
11:39
And then you go and do those things. You
11:41
come back, you get a lot of rewards, uh
11:43
like extra rewards on top of the stuff
11:45
you already got from doing those
11:47
activities. And as you keep doing this,
11:51
you will level up war plans. As you
11:53
level up war plans, you can Should I go
11:57
simpler than this? Like the war plans
11:58
are kind of like a talent tree where
12:01
it'll show you a list of options and
12:03
you're like, "Okay, I want to do this
12:04
one and this one I can change to this
12:06
one and this one I can change to this
12:07
one." And as you level it up, you get
12:10
more tiers of options you can include on
12:12
your war plan. Different uh objectives
12:14
or activities have different kinds of
12:16
rewards which will be listed on the war
12:18
plan. like one of them may give you more
12:20
crafting rewards, one of them may give
12:22
you more jewelry, one of them may be uh
12:24
they can be common difficulty or they
12:27
can be legendary difficulty which will
12:29
improve the rewards you get. So, it's
12:32
kind of packaging a bunch of in-game
12:35
activities, which I I had my doubts
12:38
about the system because I'm like, isn't
12:41
this this is just kind of a grind on top
12:43
of a grind? But actually, it gives you
12:46
direction to what you're doing at the
12:48
end of the game. and it's put sending
12:49
you to do do all the things you would
12:51
normally do anyway, but it's giving you
12:54
extra rewards at the end. And when
12:57
you've started a war plan, you can go to
12:59
your map in the lower left. It's going
13:01
to show you a list of objectives on the
13:03
war plan you're working on. And you can
13:06
just hit a button and it will teleport
13:08
you to the next objective. You don't
13:10
have to chase things down. You don't
13:12
have to go anywhere. It'll just it'll be
13:14
like do a nightmare dungeon and you
13:15
could use one of the nightmare dungeon
13:17
keys you have or you can just open your
13:19
map and say send me to a nightmare
13:21
dungeon and it will and so it's just
13:24
it's a very easy way to chain through
13:26
endgame activities. At the end you get
13:29
you know extra loot, extra experience
13:32
and all of that. So it keeps your kind
13:33
of end game
13:35
>> I need to ask you a question.
13:37
>> Yes. Are do we no longer have to carry
13:40
mountains of nightmare dungeon keys?
13:43
>> I'm I'm not sure about that. You still
13:46
collect mountains of nightmare.
13:48
>> They still technically exist.
13:50
>> Okay.
13:51
>> And you can I was going to be happy.
13:52
>> You can you can use them like if you if
13:56
you wanted to do a specific dungeon or
13:57
you wanted to do a dungeon with a
13:59
specific aics, you can use your own
14:01
keys. But also you can just say, "Okay,
14:04
I'm doing a nightmare dungeon for the
14:05
war plan." Click button. It will send
14:08
you inside a nightmare dungeon. Nothing
14:10
else you have to do. So, you can just do
14:12
the thing. Do the thing you were wanting
14:14
to do and not really fuss about, oh, I
14:17
have to run across the map to get there.
14:18
Oh, I've got to go through all my keys
14:20
and figure out which one I want to use.
14:22
You don't have to do any of that. You
14:23
can just, okay, I'm running a nightmare
14:25
dungeon now. But the interesting thing,
14:28
the more interesting thing is as you do
14:30
more war plans, you get uh experience
14:35
for the activity type you're doing. And
14:38
each type of activity
14:41
has its own talent tree, which I I say
14:45
that
14:45
>> gets weird.
14:46
>> It does get a little weird. I say that
14:48
and it sounds terrifying. I saw this and
14:50
I was I was horrified. I was so I was so
14:54
afraid of this feature because each
14:56
activity has a talent tree. You've got a
14:58
talent tree for whispers, infernal
15:00
hordes, nightmare dungeons, I chest
15:03
under city, uh the pit. I feel like I'm
15:06
forgetting something, but all of your
15:08
endgame activities have
15:09
>> whispers or hell tides.
15:10
>> Whispers. Whis and whispers and hell
15:13
tides both have
15:15
>> everything. If it's an in-game layer
15:16
bosses, wow, I've said this in the most
15:19
disorganized way possible, but every
15:21
activity has its own talent tree. Now,
15:24
as you go and do war plans, uh when you
15:27
do a hell tide and war plans, you will
15:29
get experience towards hell tides, then
15:32
you can buy talents for that. And the
15:35
talents are um custo customize the
15:39
experience. So,
15:42
it sounds like a little bit like it's
15:43
similar to the thing from Shadowlands,
15:45
the the tower you used to have to run up
15:47
and down.
15:48
>> A little bit.
15:49
>> Yeah, like you get special talents and
15:51
stuff for it.
15:53
>> Uh, permanent.
15:55
>> These are permanent. It's a permanent
15:56
advancement tree, but it is similar.
15:59
>> Not too different than the thing from
16:00
before, the haunting whispers uh things
16:03
you do like the one where you find out
16:05
that is going to kill her kid. Um,
16:08
>> oh, the horrific visions in World of
16:10
Warcraft.
16:10
>> Yeah.
16:11
>> Yeah.
16:12
>> It's a
16:13
>> I've had talent as well, but I'm just
16:15
saying.
16:16
>> Yeah,
16:17
>> it's similar to that.
16:18
>> So, let me give you an example. In
16:21
Nightmare Dungeons, you can pick an AB
16:23
ability called Heredric Hunter. And then
16:27
after you've chosen that, in Nightmare
16:29
Dungeons, killing 30 elites will spawn a
16:31
Heradric Alter. What does a Heredric
16:34
Alter do, you ask? Well, it has a chance
16:37
to either summon more elites to fight,
16:39
to summon three treasure goblins, and we
16:41
all love treasure goblins here, uh to
16:44
summon the butcher, to gain riches, or
16:48
another option which is only described
16:50
as terrible misfortune. It's probably
16:53
fine. So, you can pick that. And after
16:56
that, you can decide whether would you
16:59
like to get two altars instead of one.
17:01
You can pick that or you can pick one
17:03
that will always summon treasure goblins
17:06
and we love treasure goblins. So, that's
17:08
the one I'm definitely going for because
17:11
treasure goblins. And then you can
17:14
choose to give yourself an option that
17:16
when you kill a treasure goblin in a
17:18
nightmare dungeon, the goblin has a
17:21
chance to open a portal to goblins
17:23
retreat. I don't know what that is. I
17:26
assume it's something like the goblin
17:28
portals in Diablo II, but I don't know,
17:31
but I want to find out. And there are
17:34
lots of little customizations like that.
17:36
Some things are just like um doing a
17:38
nightmare dungeon, you get an extra
17:40
chest at the end or you have an extra
17:43
chest option from whisper c from uh
17:46
whispers or your whisper caches are
17:49
always materials or caches of chaos. Um,
17:53
so you have all of these different ways
17:54
to customize the sort of endgame
17:56
activities you want to play and
17:58
different ways you want to play them.
18:00
And you can also choose which activities
18:02
you want to do. Sort of. It's
18:04
semi-customizable because when I first
18:07
heard about this system, I was like,
18:09
"Yes, I can customize what I do in the
18:11
end game. I'm never running an Infernal
18:13
Horde again." Yeah, that didn't go so
18:15
well.
18:15
>> You You still have to It's still a
18:18
random tree.
18:19
>> Yeah. So, when you're making a war plan,
18:21
it's a random selection of things. And
18:23
sometimes you've got to go through the
18:25
Infernal Hordes option. I don't like
18:28
Infernal Hordes. I'm just going to say
18:29
that. But as you keep progressing, you
18:31
get more options in your war plan. And I
18:34
can run less Infernal Hordes. So, you
18:37
know, in that way, progression is very
18:40
compelling. But overall, it doesn't feel
18:45
grindy because you're always doing
18:47
different things. you have some agency
18:49
in what you do and what kind of rewards
18:51
you get and you're constantly
18:54
customizing the way your endgame
18:57
activities play in whatever way
19:00
interests or excites you. So, it it
19:03
feels really great. I was I had a lot of
19:05
trepidation when I first looked at this
19:07
system, but it's actually a lot of fun.
19:11
It gives structure to the end game. It
19:13
makes it easier and I think more
19:16
accessible to casual players because
19:17
instead of logging on and being like,
19:19
"Okay, uh, do I want to do a layer boss?
19:21
Do I want to do nightmare dungeons? What
19:22
dungeon keys do I have? Oh, there's a
19:24
world boss spawning. Oh, there's a
19:25
legion event." You know, you can kind of
19:27
spin around because there's so much to
19:29
do and no direction.
19:31
>> Um, or you can say,
19:34
>> I was going to ask like, uh, one of the
19:35
things I don't like about le about uh
19:37
Diablo 4's current endame is that
19:40
sometimes I don't know where the Legion
19:41
event is. Sometimes it's on the map,
19:44
sometimes I can't find it.
19:45
>> There's so much stuff on the map and I
19:47
can try doing is this sounds like it
19:50
gets rid of that like because you can
19:51
just tell it take me there
19:53
>> potentially there.
19:55
>> Yes, except it doesn't do that for
19:57
legion events and world bosses are
19:58
actually not part of the activity. So
20:01
you will still need to find a
20:02
>> to
20:05
other activities.
20:07
>> Joe, did you have anything you wanted to
20:08
ask? Nope. Keep going. Okay, then I'm
20:11
going to say I want to turn to the this
20:13
question that Mused Moose sent to us
20:14
because I it's something I want to know.
20:17
Um, what what do you got for us on the
20:19
new rebuilt skill whole skill system,
20:22
the the test skill and talents and all
20:24
that stuff, Paragon, everything? How is
20:26
it working in Lord of H? Would you like
20:29
to talk a little? Yeah. Uh, I think one
20:32
of the reasons why Liz is volunteering
20:34
me to start with this or or offering to
20:36
let me start with this is because I am
20:39
the the crazy crazy person that went
20:42
through and took a screenshot of every
20:45
single talent tree because I like carpal
20:50
tunnel. Uh, so the skill trees are
20:53
different. Uh, we've gotten kind of a
20:55
preview of that with how it'll look in
20:58
the Paladin skill trees. And I
21:01
understand that Liz, are you the only
21:04
one who has not yet played Paladin?
21:07
>> I have not yet played Paladin.
21:09
>> Okay.
21:09
>> I only have there are only you're only
21:11
starting so many hours in a day and I
21:13
spent 40 hours last week playing Diablo
21:15
I Lord of Hatred.
21:16
>> Yeah, I I have the the Paladin I just
21:19
leveled in the most recent season and
21:20
the Paladin I I leveled in the season
21:22
before. So I have two.
21:24
>> Okay.
21:24
>> So you're you're familiar with the new
21:27
three option skill modifiers.
21:30
>> Yeah. Like for example the the skill
21:32
zenith when it goes it has this one
21:34
empowers you this way. This one changes
21:36
this to a different kind of ability.
21:38
This one you know just blows everything
21:40
up. It makes people die and why would
21:41
you pick anything else?
21:42
>> So now everyone has those every skill
21:46
for every class. But it's still a little
21:51
different because one, as we kind of had
21:56
inklings of already, all passives have
21:59
been removed, including the the capstone
22:03
passives, the key passives, which I was
22:05
actually surprised to find that I
22:07
missed. Uh, and um, in each tree you
22:13
have basically your main three modifiers
22:17
for your skill. And then kind of to the
22:20
side you have choice nodes of of buffs.
22:24
So you have a choice between, you know,
22:27
option A or option B and then on on the
22:30
left side and then option A or option B
22:32
on the right side. So, it's a surprising
22:37
am. Now, don't get me wrong. I fully
22:40
expect within like a week of the
22:42
expansion launching, there will be meta
22:45
guides out there for this is the most
22:47
optimal paladin build or warlock build
22:49
or this that or the other. But, it gives
22:52
you a surprising amount of customization
22:56
that I found I was really enjoying.
22:59
And I was surprised at how good it felt
23:06
to modify certain skill keywords. So
23:10
again, going back to the example of the
23:12
paladin, because this is what everybody
23:14
who's pre-ordered would be familiar
23:16
with, you can select a skill modifier
23:20
that will say change a skill keyword. So
23:23
at the example with the paladin, you can
23:26
take your valor skill and modify it to a
23:30
zealot skill and suddenly it's
23:32
benefiting from any zealot benefits or
23:35
uh zealot bonuses. So that's now on
23:40
every every talent, excuse me, every
23:44
skill tree. And I very much enjoyed it.
23:48
In addition, and and I will say it felt
23:52
a lot like the skill runes of Diablo
23:57
III, those modifiers. So, I was when I
24:00
first saw the skill tree, I was like,
24:02
"Hey, Liz, the world really is a flat
24:05
circle
24:06
because
24:08
I just I was flashing back to," okay,
24:11
and now we because the other thing is
24:14
that your skills are no longer unlocked
24:17
by point investment, they're unlocked by
24:19
level. And I was surprised at how happy
24:24
I was to reexperience that because you
24:28
don't, you know, we're not we're not
24:30
talking about spending 100 hour or 120
24:32
hours leveling to level 100 anymore.
24:34
We're we're talking about spending, you
24:36
know, 15 to 20 hours leveling to 70. And
24:41
that's if you're not a professional
24:44
content creator that's streaming the
24:47
first 48 hours of a season. So, it it
24:50
doesn't it smooths out a lot of the
24:54
power acquisition bumps that they've
24:58
also been trying to even out with the
25:01
change to uh the season journey and, you
25:05
know, how those are unlocked through
25:09
objectives now rather than, you know, a
25:11
a battle pass system. So, it it's
25:16
surprising,
25:17
but not bad at all. And and skill tree
25:21
changes were one of the things I was
25:23
most worried about. Absolutely. One of
25:25
the things I was most worried about. I
25:26
was really concerned about the
25:28
experience. It's it's very solid. Uh,
25:32
the one that's going to surprise people
25:34
is that because the middle nodes have
25:39
been pulled out, that kind of bridge
25:41
node between you and your choice node
25:43
for your skill, because those have been
25:45
pulled out, you don't really expect them
25:48
anymore. You expect just the the two
25:50
choice nodes. But specifically on
25:54
druids, they have uh and it doesn't cost
25:58
skill points to pick your path for this.
26:01
So they're not being penalized, but
26:03
there's specifically a choice based on I
26:08
believe you would describe it as your
26:10
your shape-shifting preference. So that
26:13
was that was pretty unique and I was
26:16
intrigued to see that. Yeah, kind of.
26:18
I'm not I'm not going down that path.
26:21
But yeah, I don't think the Paragon
26:25
boards changed too much. I I did flip
26:29
through a few of them and it looks more
26:31
like
26:32
>> layout more than anything.
26:34
>> Paragon boards are t generally tend to
26:36
be all that stuff that they just pulled
26:37
out of the main skills. It's like, you
26:39
know, you get stronger here, you get
26:41
plus five strength, plus five willpower.
26:44
Uh, and then it'll get as you go along,
26:46
you'll find a good node with like, you
26:47
know, 10%, you know, strength and you,
26:50
you know, take less damage from poison
26:51
or something.
26:52
>> So, yeah, we could keep doing that and
26:54
it would be fine because it's separate
26:56
from the way that the talent system
26:58
works. So, okay.
26:59
>> Well, it's not really a change. It's
27:01
more of a visual change than anything,
27:04
but the rare nodes on talent or on
27:09
talent boards on paragon boards are now
27:12
summarized on your your like your
27:16
selection screen for the boards. I don't
27:18
believe that's currently the case in
27:20
game. And so I was kind of surprised to
27:22
see that and and enjoyed it a bit. Uh
27:26
because you know I if you're if you're
27:28
working on your own build, you're not
27:30
using a a prefab so to speak, it gives
27:34
you more of a direction for what you may
27:37
want to add next. Not just for your
27:40
legendary node, but also for like the
27:42
buffs you can get through rare nodes. So
27:45
I thought that was pretty
27:46
>> I mean that's one of the things about
27:47
rare nodes right now that I find totally
27:49
irritating is that you can be going to
27:52
get one of them and then you realize,
27:53
oh, I don't have enough willpower for
27:54
that. Yeah.
27:55
>> Yeah.
27:56
>> So, yeah, that's skill nodes, sorry,
27:58
skillboards.
28:00
>> One of the things that I think is
28:01
interesting, you know, we've got two new
28:03
classes this expansion, but and usually
28:07
when Blizzard adds new classes to any of
28:09
their games, you get this thing where
28:13
the new classes are super powerful, so
28:15
it's hardly worth playing any other
28:17
classes. Like, it can be really extreme
28:19
there.
28:22
>> Yeah, exactly. Spearorn came in. Both of
28:26
them came in super powerful and it's
28:28
like, wow, why am I even playing my
28:31
class? But Blizzard has revamped every
28:34
single class in the game. Even paladins
28:36
have some changes coming into this
28:38
expansion to sort of fit in with the new
28:41
paradigm, even though they were mostly
28:43
designed this way from the beginning.
28:46
Um, every class feels powerful. The
28:50
skill trees are all put together like
28:54
you know the like Liz said the passives
28:56
are gone but they're they're put
28:59
together a lot of the pass a lot of the
29:01
modifiers on skills you see are from
29:04
legendaries that we used to it's like
29:05
you used to have to get a piece of gear
29:07
to do this. Now a lot of that has been
29:10
rolled into the talent trees there. So,
29:13
there's some old familiar stuff in those
29:14
trees, but there's also some new stuff,
29:17
and it's very fun. I did not play any of
29:21
the new hotness in the in the uh preview
29:24
build. I played a necromancer because I
29:27
I guess I just love necromancy so much
29:30
because in Lord of Hat can have 27
29:35
minions at once. Count them up. 27 of
29:39
them. I have a literal skeleton army and
29:43
three golems following me around at all
29:46
times. And you know, you used to be able
29:49
to add, I think, two skeletal warriors
29:52
and two skeletal mages. I think that was
29:54
your maximum.
29:56
>> Yep. That was the Dominion legendary.
29:59
>> Yeah. Yeah. So, and at the beginning of
30:01
the game, it used to there were two
30:02
different legendaries you had to use to
30:04
add the two warriors and two mages, but
30:07
they combined that into one legendary.
30:09
And now you can get a lot of this
30:11
through talents. And I picked up two
30:14
uniques that allowed me to power up my
30:16
minions and add more minions. So I am
30:19
walking around with a a literal army of
30:23
skeletons. And not only do I have an
30:26
army of skeletons, they are more
30:28
powerful than ever. They are a force to
30:30
be waved with. You You do not want to
30:32
mess with my skeleton army. uh because
30:36
just there are so many ways to modify
30:37
everything and power it up. Like I was
30:40
using blood surge, which is an AoE that
30:42
goes around me and you can get uh you
30:45
used to be able to get a legendary that
30:47
made Blood Surge also trigger on all of
30:49
your minions. Now, that's not a
30:51
legendary, it's a talent in your skill
30:54
tree. So, I get my 27 minions out. I
30:59
level blood surge to maximum. I get it
31:02
to where blood surge also goes off on
31:04
every single one of my 27 minions. And
31:07
you know, things have a weird habit of
31:09
just dying when I look in their
31:10
direction. I I think Blizzard has really
31:15
powered up every class in this expansion
31:18
and tried to make each class feel fun.
31:23
And I just hone in on some of those
31:26
class fantasies that used to be
31:29
difficult. they could be difficult to
31:31
bring online. Like you had a lot of
31:33
builds that were like, "Okay, step one,
31:37
spend 40 hours farming for the perfect
31:39
legendary gear. Step two, actually play
31:43
the game." And uh that was not always
31:47
fun, you know, when you required really
31:50
specific things to bring in to start
31:52
playing the sort of class game that you
31:54
wanted to play. Now, a whole lot of that
31:58
is in your talent tree, and you can just
31:59
start playing the way you want. Just
32:02
immediately out of the gate, you start
32:03
playing the way you want. The only thing
32:05
limiting you on what talents you pick
32:07
are your level. And I think it feels
32:11
really good. I think it feels really
32:12
good. Gear is of course still important.
32:15
There are new legendaries, new uniques,
32:18
and of course, you'll find the a lot of
32:19
old ones as well, but there's new stuff,
32:21
too, that will provide new synergies
32:23
with new builds. And man, I think it's
32:27
really fun. I Diablo, the developers,
32:30
talked a while back about wanting to
32:33
make the game less gear dependent in
32:36
Lord of Hatred. And when I heard that, I
32:38
was like, "Yeah, right. How are you
32:40
going to make a game that is so much
32:42
about grinding gear? Not gear dependent.
32:45
But I think they've done a really good
32:47
job of it be basically because you can
32:51
load the game, start playing and get the
32:54
build type you want online and then
32:56
you're going to refine it as you play by
32:58
customizing your skills and by picking
33:01
up different legendary powers, unique
33:03
powers. But you don't you don't need
33:06
them to get started, which is what it
33:08
could feel like a lot in the base game.
33:12
>> Yeah, I definitely found,
33:16
and that was one of the things that
33:18
surprised me because I I was, you know,
33:20
test driving the warlock. I did not end
33:24
up with a ton of legendary items while I
33:28
was leveling. I was, you know, you
33:30
you're you're leveling. you're in you're
33:32
in normal to to penitent depending on
33:35
your confidence level and comfort. And I
33:39
didn't feel like I was being penalized
33:42
at all for not having legendaries like I
33:45
would say is a very regular feeling
33:48
currently in the game. So that that was
33:52
nice. That was actually really really
33:54
nice.
33:55
>> Okay, I'm going to throw question
33:57
>> because it ties into this a little bit.
34:00
Um, he's got a question. It says, "Uh,
34:02
Diablo 4, Lord of Hatred, poststory,
34:04
endgame. There's a lot of systems to
34:06
gain gear and gold in. Which ones are
34:08
your favorites? Which ones need some
34:10
love?" And there's another one after
34:11
this, still part of his question. I'll
34:13
I'll ask after you answer this.
34:14
>> Fishing.
34:15
>> Is fishing needs love or
34:18
>> both. Fishing's very basic coming out of
34:21
the gate. And I'm not really surprised
34:23
by that because, you know, it's it's a
34:25
miniame. It's not.
34:27
>> Is it actually even a mini game or is it
34:28
just an Is this an emote?
34:30
>> A little bit of a mini game.
34:32
>> Well, explain the mini game because I I
34:34
haven't been able to find anybody to
34:35
tell me what you're doing in it. So, so
34:37
you kind of you kind of hit the initial
34:41
uh experience which is you you do the
34:44
the emote action I think is the right
34:47
way of putting it and uh it it converts
34:51
your entire skill bar into a button you
34:54
push that or you you push any of your
34:57
buttons to on your skill bar to catch
35:01
the fish uh to get like a perfect catch
35:04
or something.
35:06
Uh Liz, I think did I I when we were
35:10
waiting for the server to go down, we
35:12
were just sitting there fishing.
35:14
>> I Yeah, I was like, "Okay, I'm just
35:16
going to They said they were going to
35:18
take the these test servers offline at
35:20
six o'clock and it was 6 o'clock and I'm
35:23
like, "Well, I'm still here. I'm just
35:25
going to fish until they throw me out."
35:27
So that was about 45 minutes of fishing
35:29
that I got in right practice with
35:32
fishing and I I ended up following suit.
35:36
Um, but I mean I would say it's it's a
35:39
very simple mini game. You know, you
35:42
cast your line with an ability and after
35:47
you do that, when you when you get a
35:50
bite, if you're if you're positioned so
35:52
that you can see your uh your fishing
35:56
bobber in the water, you can actually
35:58
watch the bobber. but it's subtle and
36:00
because of the fixed camera angle, you
36:02
can't always uh you can't always see
36:06
that. But there's a little fish icon
36:08
that shows up over your head. And if you
36:10
watch that fish icon, you click to pull
36:13
in your line. And if you click like at
36:16
the perfect time, if you get it just
36:18
right, you will get two fish. And if you
36:21
you're off, you get a fish. And that's
36:24
that's really the beginning and end.
36:26
It's just if your timing is a little
36:28
better, you'll get a bonus fish.
36:31
>> So, it's basically the original fable
36:35
fishing system,
36:36
>> but worse is what you're telling me.
36:38
>> It's It's not very complicated. Uh, when
36:42
you catch a fish, the only thing you can
36:44
do with it is you add it to your
36:46
collection, which gives you an
36:48
achievement. There are 117 unique fish
36:52
that you can catch and collect,
36:54
>> but you can't even
36:56
You cannot eat them. They are not
36:57
reagents for anything that we know
37:01
about.
37:02
>> I have a strong suspicion that fish are
37:06
in fact full of secrets. I have not
37:08
discovered these secrets yet, but I am
37:09
convinced I am convinced that they are
37:12
there. Um,
37:13
>> so if you fish enough, you will
37:14
literally have a miserable pile of
37:16
secrets next to you.
37:18
I I think I I think here
37:23
>> I think there's something here because
37:25
so you you catch the fish. You add the
37:29
fish to your collection which removes
37:30
the fish from your inventory but gives
37:32
you an achievement to say you caught it,
37:34
right? Except you can keep fishing. You
37:37
can catch that fish again and then it
37:39
sits in your inventory. If it were
37:41
useless, why would it go in your
37:43
inventory? There must be a use for these
37:46
fish even though they do not seem to be
37:48
a component for anything.
37:51
>> I I love your hope because my immediate
37:53
thought was
37:54
>> it's a leftover system that they
37:56
completely forgot about and just never
37:57
got around to fixing because they've
37:58
been doing other stuff.
38:00
>> Nope. I am I am convinced there is
38:02
something here and I will find it one
38:04
day. I will
38:05
>> added leboard.
38:09
So, this this does tie into another new
38:13
thing in Diablo for Lord of Patriot,
38:15
which is the Herodrick cube. We all know
38:18
the Heredric Cube. We love the Herodrick
38:21
cube. I love that extra storage. It lets
38:23
you
38:25
Yeah, I've got to admit in Diablo I use
38:28
the cube for the extra storage. That's
38:30
It was great to have that extra storage.
38:33
Yeah, I'm thinking in Diablo I 4 it
38:35
might be too because man I've got a lot
38:37
of stuff coming along with me on my
38:39
seasonal character. It's like yesesh
38:41
they got a lot of stuff in the bank.
38:42
>> But obviously you can there are all
38:45
sorts of transmutations you can do. Uh
38:48
and one of like kind of the classic from
38:50
Diablo I is you take three things and
38:52
you transmute them into a better version
38:55
of that thing which you can do that with
38:58
uh charms. That's another discussion.
39:01
And you can put a bunch of uniques in
39:04
there to roll yourself a better or
39:06
different unique. Um I I am convinced
39:10
that there is some sort of fish recipe
39:13
that is as of yet undiscovered.
39:15
>> There may not be a cow level, but
39:17
there'll be a fish level and then Liz
39:18
will be validated. That's what I'm
39:19
hearing. That is exactly unknown.
39:22
>> That is exactly
39:25
>> that is exactly what I think. Listen,
39:26
all I'm saying is there there's there's
39:29
an increased focus on the drown moving
39:31
into this expansion. You might not be
39:33
too far off.
39:35
>> The novel talks about relics for like 20
39:38
minutes.
39:40
>> So, and you also fish up uh random
39:42
stuff. I mean, sometimes you don't get a
39:44
fish, you get a random thing you've
39:46
pulled off the bottom of the lake or the
39:48
ocean or whatever. Um, one of them is a
39:50
waterlogged journal. And I did
39:53
immediately think of the journal you
39:55
that they found in the Diablo uh novel,
39:58
The Lost Herodum. Uh but I tried putting
40:02
I tried putting three of them in the
40:04
Herajic cube. It didn't do anything. So
40:07
I I was disappointed. But maybe I need
40:09
to put maybe I need to put three of them
40:11
plus something else in there because
40:14
cube
40:16
>> more fish. Just every fish goes in
40:18
there. Um, yeah. I think I had a water
40:21
logged note, an engagement ring, and a
40:25
broken fishing pole among my my trash.
40:28
>> I I found several severed heads while I
40:31
was fishing. Uh, several rings.
40:35
>> It is still Diablo. And of course, you
40:37
know, you can fish in most bodies of
40:39
water.
40:41
>> That includes like if you find puddles
40:43
of water with dead bodies floating in
40:45
them. like, you know, I'm not sure about
40:49
this fish that I'm pulling up here.
40:51
Maybe it's good that you can't eat the
40:53
fish. Um, but yes, Diablo is still going
40:57
to Diablo. I will say they did commit to
40:59
the bit which was the the region because
41:03
there are region specific fish like
41:05
there's a a basically a type of fish and
41:08
then in that type of fish there will be
41:11
like six or seven I oh god I didn't mean
41:15
to um seven I'm going to commit to seven
41:19
uh different types
41:22
things like celestial and demonic and
41:25
when they say celestial and demonic you
41:27
are pulling a a truly scary looking fish
41:32
out of that pool. Uh,
41:36
wow. They committed to it. And it is
41:39
worth noting that when you pick up a
41:41
fish, it doesn't just go into your
41:43
inventory. It shows up on the ground.
41:46
There is a fish on the ground. Sometimes
41:48
a huge fish. Sometimes a huge fish that
41:51
is glowing red with demonic eyes. uh and
41:55
you know sometimes just a little guy but
41:58
uh yeah they have definitely committed
42:01
to adding fishing to the game which is
42:03
why I don't think the extra fish in your
42:06
inventory I don't think this is an
42:07
oversight I don't think it's a bug I
42:09
think it is full of secrets and I will
42:12
uncover them this is my goal in Lord of
42:14
Hatred I like I just talked all this
42:17
about war plans and how much I love war
42:18
plans stop blah blah fishing is the real
42:22
end game that is why we are here.
42:25
Nothing else. I mess whatever. Uh
42:28
Harajum, whatever. No, I am here to
42:31
fish. I am here to learn the fish's
42:33
secrets. That is all.
42:35
>> Keep jamming fish into that haraj cube
42:37
until he gives you something. That's
42:38
what I say.
42:40
>> Then it's just a smelly cube.
42:43
>> Hey, you got something. That's his
42:45
secret. It doesn't smell.
42:47
>> You're going to have to scrub out the
42:48
cube eventually if you keep putting raw
42:50
fish in it. Uh, but also Tetsi wanted to
42:53
know, um, what class has been the most
42:55
interesting to play and what class would
42:57
you like to play but just haven't gotten
42:59
around for? It just hasn't clicked for
43:01
you yet. Um, so yeah, there you go on
43:03
that one.
43:04
>> H go first on that one. I see Liz H just
43:06
played the uh the necromancer again, so
43:08
I don't know that you'd have
43:11
>> I I did primarily play the necromancer,
43:15
but okay, you guys you guys have been
43:17
here with me on this podcast, you know
43:19
what I think about the warlock. I was
43:22
not thrilled about the addition of
43:24
warlocks to Diablo I because it just
43:27
Blizzard literally described them as
43:29
edge lords and that just did not sound
43:32
like a fun class to play. But it's the
43:36
new thing. I had to go in, log on, and
43:38
check it out. And man, it's actually
43:42
really fun, you guys. It's really fun.
43:45
>> I knew you were going to say that. I
43:46
knew it.
43:47
>> It's It's kind of like a hybrid
43:50
necromancer, sorcerer. You can play it
43:53
as a pure caster if you want. You can
43:55
play it completely focused on summoning
43:57
demons or you can ignore the demon
43:59
summoning. You can. It has a lot of
44:03
interesting CC options like chaining
44:06
your enemies together. Uh, man, it was
44:10
fun and I'm kind of upset by how fun I
44:12
found it. Um, I did not level a h
44:16
>> I got to ask you a question about this.
44:17
Would you say it's fair to say that the
44:19
warlock is like what if sorcerer but
44:22
good?
44:24
>> I'm playing a sorcerer right now in the
44:26
season. So, I'm coming at this from the
44:28
frustration of playing a sorcerer. I
44:30
>> I mean, I think sorcerers in Diablo I,
44:33
they're pretty good, but they are the
44:35
ultimate glass cannon. I mean, a
44:37
sorcerer is just it is all it is all
44:41
arcane power and no no defenses.
44:46
No defense for you. Uh the warlock is a
44:49
very
44:49
>> phenomenal cosmic powers and itty bitty
44:51
health pool.
44:53
>> And Warlock is not like that. that a
44:55
warlock is a a pretty sturdy sturdy
44:57
class. Having summons can help keep the
45:00
heat off you, but also having crowd
45:02
control options that can keep monsters
45:04
off you while you murder them. So, man,
45:07
it just feels like a really fun class,
45:09
and I'm kind I'm annoyed by it. I didn't
45:12
want to like warlocks, but they're
45:14
actually they're they're really fun.
45:17
>> Okay. Um Liz P. Now that we've we've had
45:20
Liz shake us to a core, suddenly she
45:23
likes warlocks. I don't know what what
45:25
gravity is anymore.
45:27
>> It's going to get worse. It's going to
45:28
get worse cuz I liked them, too.
45:30
>> Yeah, but I didn't expect you not to
45:32
like them.
45:34
>> The both of us are old school
45:36
necromancer players. We I think I I
45:39
think I can safely say that we are both
45:40
on team necromancer.
45:42
>> Oh, absolutely. I have I have branched
45:44
away from Necromancer,
45:46
>> but only because um I I just I I needed
45:50
a change of pace if I was going to keep
45:52
playing seasons.
45:54
>> Mhm.
45:55
>> But uh
45:57
this I I ended up uh writing which will
46:00
be coming soon our uh Warlock review.
46:04
And I had described the the very first
46:07
way I described it was the way that I
46:10
committed to describing it was if your
46:12
sorcerer and your necromancer had a baby
46:15
and that baby just absolutely mainlined
46:19
the Black Sabbath discoraphy.
46:21
That's that's the warlock and oh I was
46:26
having so much fun. There is a
46:30
ability. It's blazing skull I think or
46:36
blazing scream or something like that
46:38
which sounds like a necromancer uh
46:40
unique.
46:41
>> It is it does have kind of an edgelord
46:44
vibe. It really does. Just ignore ignore
46:47
the names of things and it's
46:49
>> ignore the vibe. Uh it it one of those
46:53
uh skill modifiers that we were talking
46:54
about turns it into an abyss ability and
46:58
you can steer it around. And I was
47:03
steering around this basically the the
47:07
the shadow demonic equivalent of a
47:10
lawnmower
47:12
through packs of demons and I have never
47:16
felt better. Like it was so good.
47:20
It was so good. And I was really, really
47:24
surprised because I was like, "Okay, I'm
47:26
going to try this." And because I tried
47:28
the Diablo II uh Warlock and said,
47:31
"Okay, you know, it's it's interesting,
47:33
but ultimately it's, you know, the vibe
47:35
is not for me." So, I was that's what I
47:37
was expecting in this. I I thought I was
47:39
going to go in and try it out and say,
47:41
"Okay, I' I've given it the college
47:43
try." Uh but I, you know, it's not my
47:46
jam. Um, and oh man, um, you know, I'm
47:50
actually a little upset at how much I
47:52
liked it, too. I played through the
47:55
entire campaign with it, and I
47:59
the majority of my deaths were towards
48:01
the very end, which is when you expect
48:03
to die because, you know, you're ramping
48:06
up to fight the big bad. Uh, as to the
48:09
other part of the question, what class
48:11
would you like to play but just hasn't
48:13
clicked yet?
48:15
Rogue.
48:17
I've I've tried three times to play the
48:21
Diablo IV rogue and it's never clicked
48:24
for me. And I'm so sad by that fact
48:28
because I it just it it even even
48:33
Barbarian has clicked for me, but not
48:36
the rogues. And dang, I really wanted
48:39
to.
48:39
>> Uh Liz, do you want to answer that one
48:41
as well? Other Liz, sorry.
48:43
Liz and I are in the same place on this
48:45
one. I cannot get around the Diablo I
48:48
for Rogue, which is, you know, way way
48:51
back in the day, I was playing Rogue in
48:53
Diablo I because I I love shooting
48:56
things with arrows. Shooting things with
48:58
arrows, it's just great. And you know,
49:01
Diablo Diablo 1 had that great sound
49:03
effect like
49:06
as you're just shooting arrows non-stop,
49:09
a rain of arrows on your enemies. Um, so
49:13
but the Diablo 4 rogue doesn't feel like
49:15
it plays very well in range. It feels
49:18
like it's much more of an uplose and
49:20
personal stabby class, even though it
49:22
does have the option to play at range
49:23
and some skills support that play. I it,
49:27
you know, it just doesn't feel great to
49:28
me. I did not have a chance to try out
49:30
the rogue in Diablo I for Lord of Hat,
49:34
but I wonder classes are so different
49:38
now and I wonder if there have been
49:40
changes to Rogue that make it feel just
49:43
more accessible and more interesting at
49:46
without maybe putting in the commitment
49:48
to grind out tons and tons of
49:49
legendaries to get a really great rogue.
49:53
I don't know. But I am I'm still hoping
49:56
for an Amazon. That is my dream.
49:58
>> I'm surprised nobody seems to love
50:00
Paladins because man, I've been enjoying
50:02
my Paladin. I can't imagine it suddenly.
50:04
>> Oh, good.
50:04
>> If you had asked me, if you had asked me
50:06
two weeks ago, I I would have said that
50:09
the Paladin has been my my new love this
50:12
season. Um, and and I've been going gang
50:16
busters with it. I actually told Liz
50:19
I've hit the highest uh paragon I can
50:23
remember hitting in a little while,
50:24
which is I think I'm at 235 and I'm
50:27
going to see if I can get a few more
50:30
under my belt before next week. But
50:33
yeah, I I in in the uh the battle of of
50:40
light versus demonic, I I might be going
50:44
demonic season 13.
50:45
>> I know. Um, I do I do enjoy the idea of
50:51
the Paladin. I haven't had a chance to
50:52
play it. I haven't, you know, hours in
50:55
the day. I haven't had the time to play
50:56
the Paladin. Um, yeah, but, you know,
50:59
back in Diablo II, I was playing Necro
51:02
Amazon and Paladin were my two big
51:04
classes. I just haven't had time to get
51:06
into the Paladin. And, uh, with a fairly
51:09
brief review period for Lord of Hatred,
51:12
I did not have time to check out every
51:14
class the game had to offer.
51:15
>> All right. Um, before we move on to news
51:17
about another game, I I'm going to now
51:20
turn to Liz Lization and say you you've
51:22
got to read site news. You've got to
51:24
We're relatively late. We can come back
51:25
to Diablo, but you've got to read some
51:27
site news. I've got to insist on it.
51:29
>> Otherwise, we will forget. Yeah. Okay. I
51:33
want to say thank you everyone for your
51:36
support. Uh, everyone here listening,
51:39
but especially our supporters on Patreon
51:41
who keep the site alive and thriving. I
51:45
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51:46
to Nick who subscribed this week at $5 a
51:49
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51:52
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51:59
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52:01
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blizzardwatch.com. Yeah, we have a
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53:08
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53:43
here and listening and uh you know, a
53:46
little extra special thank you for our
53:48
Patreon supporters. Thanks, guys.
53:50
>> Yes. And now you wanted to say something
53:51
about Diablo IV some more, so I'm giving
53:54
it back to you.
53:54
>> I Yeah, I just There were a couple other
53:57
things. There's This is a huge
53:59
expansion. It is huge. They have
54:02
redesigned every class. They have added
54:03
two classes. They've added a totally new
54:06
continent that we've never been to
54:07
before. They have revamped power
54:10
progression. They've added a whole big
54:13
new in-game system. They've added
54:15
fishing, clearly huge and full of
54:17
secrets. They have added 12 tournament
54:20
difficulties. Diablo IV has gone from
54:22
having eight difficulty levels now to
54:24
having 16 difficulty levels in Lord of
54:26
Hers.
54:27
>> All of which are just torment.
54:28
>> 12 torment difficulties. Uh so, so yeah.
54:32
Yeah, I actually think that's working
54:34
out pretty well. I think it is a more
54:37
granular difficulty system and you don't
54:39
get like stuck on a difficulty that's
54:42
too easy but you can't go up to the next
54:43
one because it would instantly murder
54:45
you. So I think that feels pretty good
54:48
but it's a big change. It's a big
54:51
change. Um we also have the addition of
54:54
charms. Charms are basic are just little
54:58
things you can equip. You have a new
54:59
interface called the talisman. You can
55:01
toss charms in there. Each charm has
55:04
different kind of benefits. Like this
55:05
might give you some resistances. It
55:07
might give you plus healing. It might
55:09
give you
55:11
>> Yeah, we did. We did have those in
55:13
Diablo I because time is a flat circle
55:15
and things keep coming back around. So,
55:19
you can slot up to six charms and one
55:22
seal. The seal determines how many
55:24
charms you can equip. And uh the charms
55:27
can be all sorts. There come in all
55:29
rarities. And there are also set charms.
55:32
If you equip set charms, you get not
55:35
only the bonus on the charm, but also
55:37
extra set bonuses depending on how many
55:39
of the charms you equip. So, this is
55:41
kind of Diablo I's replacement for the
55:44
Diablo II sets, which were cool. Set
55:47
bonuses were cool, but it also meant you
55:49
had to go out and grind out and collect
55:51
the whole set before you could start
55:53
playing the kind of set build. So, this
55:56
is a similar system, but a lot more
55:58
flexible because it doesn't have any
56:00
gearing requirements. It just ha you
56:02
just have to collect those charms and
56:04
then you can do a two-piece from this
56:05
and a two-piece from that. You can equip
56:08
super powerful unique charms. You can
56:10
mix and match and really add
56:12
customization and define your build,
56:14
which I think is really interesting and
56:18
fun. Um, and yeah, I think that's I
56:21
think we've covered the big features.
56:23
What do you think, Liz?
56:24
>> Yeah, I I think we uh we tapped on to
56:28
everything. Um,
56:31
and if if you're not sure about it, but
56:34
you know, you're you're a longtime
56:36
Diablo fan and you're like, well, maybe,
56:38
you know, the base game didn't click or
56:40
Vessel of Hatred didn't click, I I
56:42
really do think it's worth playing. I I
56:45
think it's worth trying the expansion.
56:47
And, you just just give it a shot. Give
56:51
it give it give it the college try if
56:54
it's a franchise you enjoy. It's it's
56:56
capping off a a
56:59
era of Hatred trilogy uh per Blizzard.
57:03
So, you know, you you you see this see
57:06
the story to the end. Uh the not not
57:10
chilling for Blizzard to quote other uh
57:12
content creators, just just uh very
57:16
passionately stating that I enjoyed it
57:19
and and I think you should give it a
57:21
try. I'm sitting here trying to think
57:23
about whether or not I'm going to play
57:25
my barbarian or my paladin first and
57:28
hating myself.
57:29
>> Play your barbarian.
57:32
>> Yeah, but it's it's actually I just the
57:34
other day got a drop and went into a
57:36
torment three lair boss and took him out
57:40
in like 12 seconds cuz his deal is
57:42
ridiculously overpowered. And I'm like
57:44
meanwhile my barbarian dies like a
57:46
chicken on these on this fight. So, on
57:47
the
57:49
>> on the one hand, you know, but we'll see
57:51
what happens when the new talents come
57:53
in because if they're as ridiculously OP
57:55
as you're making them sound like they
57:57
might be, then I will just be keep
57:59
hitting people with trees. I I'm fine
58:01
with that. I like throwing things at
58:03
people. It's cool. So, but um yeah, I I
58:07
think we've answered the questions we
58:08
had from people. I know there's probably
58:10
always more to talk about. I'm gonna try
58:12
to should we try to run through the the
58:14
WOW news?
58:15
It's Let's just uh let's just tell the
58:18
people. They probably know, but
58:19
>> patch 12.0.5 is live and it broke
58:22
housing.
58:23
>> Well, technically it didn't break
58:25
housing. Housing being turned off is a
58:28
side effect of just other things being
58:30
broken as well. So, housing is turned
58:33
off right now because the game was uh
58:35
apparently very unstable when housing
58:37
was live, which makes me sad.
58:39
>> Yeah, we don't currently know when it's
58:40
coming back, do we?
58:42
>> We have no idea. We just know it's super
58:44
broken and turned off. And by super
58:47
broken and turned off, I mean you can't
58:50
open the housing interface. You cannot
58:52
go to your house. Obviously, you can't
58:54
go to your neighborhood. You can't
58:55
participate in endeavors. I
58:58
>> What did you lo if you logged off at
58:59
your house? What happens to you?
59:01
>> I don't know. I I would assume you
59:04
probably wind up at the
59:05
>> I think you wind up in your capital
59:07
city.
59:07
>> Yeah, that makes sense.
59:08
>> All right, that's cool.
59:09
>> You can't even learn decor items. So,
59:13
it's like it is turned off off.
59:16
>> Yarp. My guess is
59:17
>> that
59:18
>> my guess is there'll be a patch over the
59:19
evening and uh as patch day winds down
59:23
and they'll they'll probably have
59:24
something within 24 hours.
59:27
>> Hopefully by the time you hear this, it
59:29
will be fixed. But, uh it's been a kind
59:32
of wild patch day with uh it for the
59:36
patch roll out. It was a long
59:38
maintenance and then like some extra
59:41
server stability and no housing when we
59:43
all got to log in. So it could be
59:46
better. Could be could be a better day,
59:48
but you know, it's patch day. You kind
59:51
of you roll with it.
59:52
>> And we'll probably burn down Stormwind
59:54
and Ormar just yet.
59:56
>> And we'll and we'll probably be talking
59:58
more about the after effects of that
59:59
next week.
1:00:00
>> Absolutely. And after we've had a chance
1:00:02
to play around with the new patch
1:00:03
features.
1:00:04
>> Yeah. Uh, but I think we're done, guys.
1:00:06
We got through it. We We've We made Liz
1:00:09
and Liz talk for the mass majority of
1:00:11
this show.
1:00:12
>> Wow.
1:00:13
>> Yeah. If you guys are tired, I don't
1:00:15
blame you. Possibly get some soup. Uh,
1:00:17
something nice and soup.
1:00:19
>> Drink a whole bottle of water. That's my
1:00:21
plan.
1:00:21
>> Yep.
1:00:22
>> But, uh, this has been the Blizzard
1:00:23
podcast. Thank you to Liz and Liz for
1:00:26
both being the best two-headed ogre
1:00:29
since the days of Matt Matt. uh and also
1:00:32
for covering the uh you know Lord of
1:00:34
Hatred for us. I am super curious as to
1:00:37
what happens after Lord of Hat. So yeah
1:00:40
uh that that's that's kind of sticking
1:00:42
in my brain constantly. Uh and thank you
1:00:45
to Joe for being here with me as we the
1:00:48
two of us basically let you guys do the
1:00:51
show. Uh and man, thank you to all of
1:00:54
you in the audience for basically giving
1:00:57
us an excuse to talk about Diablo I for
1:00:59
like an hour. I'm like I'm super happy.
1:01:01
Um, take care everyone. This has been
1:01:04
the Blues Watch podcast and we'll be
1:01:05
back next week.