[BlizzCon 2021] Diablo 4 developers explain why PVP does not have to be fair

While Diablo 4 may not be released in 2021, we still learned more about the game on BlizzCon 2021.

The Diablo 4 developers hosted a press conference on Friday. Among other things, they revealed extensive details on how the Diablo 4 player-to-player system (PVP) will work. The new system highlights organic combat experiences over a sense of pure fairness, a point that the developers made very clear during the press conference.

How Diablo 4’s open-world PVP will work

All of Diablo’s open-world PVP opportunities exist within fields of hate. Fields of hatred are areas of the underworld cursed by Lillith. In these areas you can kill enemies and open chests that will drop untreated shards of hate. You can purify that sharpness of hate at purification areas that are also located within the fields of hate.

“Because Diablo 4 is our first open-world diablo game, we’re really trying to figure out what it could mean,” explained Diablo 4 system designer Joe Piepiora. “For PVP and Sanctuary, we have these areas called hate fields, which are open-world PVP areas. But they are filled with monsters, events, coffins to find, rare elite to kill and all the regular traps you would expect in the world of Diablo 4. “

If they are in the fields of hate, players can choose to consider themselves hostile. If you are hostile, you can attack other players, but you will also be marked as dangerous to all the players you encounter. There is no way for players to accidentally force other players to become hostile, so hostility will always be a decision players make.

“If I become hostile when I go through the fields of hatred, every other hero will see me as an enemy,” Piopiora said. “They can all pull together and attack me. I’m taking a risk, this is the kind of high-risk high-reward game we’re looking for as part of PVW worldwide. ‘

Use your bits of hate in Diablo 4

After purifying it, you can use hate pieces to buy special PVP items from in-game vendors. While the items will in no way improve the player stats, it will be a form of bragging rights and prestige. To retain their interest, the items also cannot be traded. If someone has a PVP-specific item, he deserves it.

However, cleaning up the shards is not an easy task as many players will be looking for targets to kill.

‘While you are [purifying your shards of hatred] ‘other players can come down on you, which creates the anxiety when you are in an outside world PVP, where you do not know if another player will help or hurt you,’ said Piopiora. ‘You can easily work with the players you meet in the fields of hate, or they can become hostile and attack you. If they are able to kill you, all the unwarranted pieces of hatred that you have carried will fall away, and they will be able to take it from you and continue on their merry path. ‘

A PVP system not designed for fairness

The developers were excited to share that this PVP system was not designed with fairness in mind. Instead, the goal of the Diablo worldwide PVP system is to instill a sense of risk and an extra layer of challenge in the game for players who want it.

“One of the early emphases of the PVP in Diablo 4 was to erase the idea that PVP should be fair,” Piopiora explained. “I know it can be a scary thing to tell people. When you think of open-world PVP, you do not always face an enemy in an ideal situation, and your cooling is available, and you are healthy, with your drink and everything. Sometimes you can even fight with another creature. We think the ebb and flow of that kind of PVP battles now feels really good in Diablo 4. ”

The environment will also affect PVP situations. Based on your class, building and type of terrain, players will experience a dynamic form of combat where no two situations are exactly the same. Or at least, that’s the developer’s goal with the new system.

“We are not trying to suggest that each class should be exactly parallel when we start from each other at a fixed position,” Piopiora said. “It’s never clear who’s going to win a fight. We want to make sure that there are a lot of conditions in the area, that enable players to feel that they can succeed in some situations and fail in others, and to always have an opportunity to play again next time. ”

With more emphasis on the world itself, your class ultimately plays an important role in determining your chances of winning a PVP battle.

“Another big difference between Diablo 4 and previous titles is the verticality we added,” said Careena Kingdom, lead animator for Diablo IV. ” A barbarian can actually jump off a cliff unlike anyone else who has to climb to the side of the cliff. It offers a very interesting range of methods that you can hunt in those PVP areas. ‘

While the developers have released a considerable amount of information about their asymmetric PVP system, there is still a lot to learn about the full details. We can expect more information about Diablo 4’s PVP system soon.