On November 29, Diablo: Immortal (hereinafter referred to as "Immortal") officially opened the "Kane's Invitation" Elite Trial Test. Today, our annual testing journey has come to an end.
The "Immortal" experience is very special: its content is so rich that it took us far more time to try it out than expected to experience the second half of the game and the relevant content after the level. For now, let's take a break to talk about what we saw and heard during this journey, hoping to give you a detailed reference for adventurers.
A segmented experience at one end of the level
Pre-Experience: A traditional immersive adventure that mainly follows the plot
The plot of "Immortal" is set between the timeline of Diablo 2 and Diablo 3 - at the end of the Diablo 2 story, archangel Tyrell smashes the World Stone with a holy sword, and as the World Stone shatters, a huge explosion occurs in the Arret Mountains, and fragments of the World Stone are scattered in the sanctuary.
This is also the beginning of the plot of this game. Scattered in the fragments of the sanctuary, the power to destroy the Demon Bar remains, and it begins to corrupt the earth continuously. At a time when the demons were preparing to invade and resurrect Diablo again, and the world thought that Tyrell was dead, mortals were running around, trying to use their own strength to fight the growing corruption and demons.
In this story, the player's character is initially an adventurer with a fist in his heart. Before reaching level 30, the entire upgrade process is a rather traditional stand-alone immersive experience, or to put it more simply, to follow the plot.
Although the number of cutscenes is not much, but in this "gap" in the plot, because of the successive appearances of old acquaintances such as Kane, Zur, Skull King Leoric, and the dialogue and script performance methods with a very dark flavor, players familiar with the dark can still feel the "smell", and what makes the examination party directly addicted is the warrior monk's hometown Zawane who arrived in the main plot, and the barbarian's hometown ice and snow tundra, you can find a lot of bean knowledge related to the origin of the profession in these scenes. Perhaps for this reason, this is also the part that I remember most after the whole audition.
Mid to late stages: A return to the dark "Brush Brush" journey
However, after reaching level 30, the main plot of the "Immortal" accompanying the whole process began to become like a departure. Upon reaching level 30, the unlock level of the main quest suddenly changes to level 35 – which requires us to rely on other avenues to climb the level. However, the appearance of this gap is not sudden, in the previous main line plot, "Immortal" will actually show you a variety of gameplay in the game. For example, everyone says that the good copy "Crazy King Leoric Invaded":
as well as Ancestral Path quests that provide massive amounts of EXPERIENCE points. For every time a certain number of seals are accumulated and the Ancestral Path is raised one level, you can get a very impressive reward of experience points at one time. The ways to obtain the seal are very diverse, including secret challenges, book collection, bounty missions, wild elite missions and adventure missions.
And the gameplay guided by these ancestral paths, in addition to providing imprints, itself can also provide considerable experience and equipment rewards. It can also be understood as a gameplay compass that is different from the main storyline.
Relying on this wave of combination punches, it is actually relatively easy to get through the first main line gap period ushered in on the upgrade route. After that, the presence of the main line will gradually decrease, and the main focus of the game will be slowly handed over to the adventurers - for example, you can start to sneak away at this time.
However, it should be noted that the "Enhanced Immortal Keystone" that can make the Immortal Secret Realm inevitably drop runes and legendary gems can only be purchased once a day with free platinum coins, and if you want to get additional Enhanced Immortal Keystone, you need to use paid currency. This is also the main paying point for "immortality".
▲ Liver or Krypton, Immortality gives the player two choices
Following the gameplay guidance provided by the Ancestral Road, in the process of level 30 to 55, players can also have enough spare time to explore the various types of gameplay unlocked in the previous main line plot, and slowly find their favorite skill collocation and brush mode. I believe that for players familiar with the Dark series, this kind of free route of the "brush" gameplay, as well as the process of gradually deepening understanding and accumulating equipment in the process of brushing, is also the main fun of Dark.
Skill system and skill expansiveness
In the many previous review articles and playing corners and corners, you are likely to know the series of changes that Immortal has made in the skill system.
The most obvious change is definitely the resource system of each class, such as the mage's blue bar, the barbarian's anger, etc. have been removed, with "cooldown" as the common skill structure of each class, replaced by the general attack combo of each class, and the exclusive "divine power" skill. On top of that, dark players, especially Diablo 3 players, are familiar with most of the classic skills, as well as the skill set framework. If you prefer, you can still assemble the skill sets you're familiar with in Diablo 3 and use them to continue your "immortal" journey.
▲ Four loads can be selected from many skills, and as long as the skill is not in the cooldown period, it can be replaced
The difference, of course, is that the skills in Immortal simplify the skill runes that can provide multiple effects, and instead replace them with passive effects directly added to the skills, and provide a variety of skill enhancement effects in the legendary equipment.
So in the beginner stage, my feeling is that it is a little too simple compared to the traditional Dark, but as the level increases, the skill itself can still get a fairly rich extension, such as my main play necromancer, summoning the core skill "Dead Warrior" was originally to summon melee warriors, but after obtaining the legendary item "Mirror Royal", the summoned warriors will become archers, and the output efficiency becomes higher, because it is a long-range attack pile shooter, and it can also effectively become a shield against long-range stray bullets.
The passive implementation of the skill into the legendary item, not only plays the "rune" to complete the effect, in fact, in the brushing process also brings a lot of additional fun - when getting a new legendary item, I will no longer only notice its attributes and affixes, some skill form changes, but also unlocked a new possibility, even if it does not become my favorite skill in the end, I am generally willing to spend some time in the dungeon to experience it, after all, many skills can be regarded as a new skill after the form change.
At this point, our creative thinking is not just about pursuing suits, it's also feasible to strengthen the construction of skill sets with loose pieces, or at least to provide a good choice for the transition period.
Necromancer equipped with BUILD experience
The first thing to note is that the "Build" in "Immortal" does not actually rely on sets like Dark 3, but emphasizes the skill set mode more. To exaggerate, in fact, in the early stages of the game, players can rely on skill selection to achieve a build-like effect.
In this test, my game duration is about 100 hours, except for the experience of mages and demon hunters during the wilderness period, the rest of the time is mostly focused on the new class necromancer in this test, and only use the necromancer to complete the content experience of the late game.
Compared to the rest of the major classes, necromancers are quite difficult to get started with — probably about the same as the barbarians who are friendliest to novices. As a spell class, necromancer's skill range is large, the effect is stable enough, and it is not very difficult to operate, which means that there will be no soul Douluo experience like a demon hunter and a mage with high injuries and crisp skin.
Especially in the summon flow gameplay that most players choose, the most intuitive feeling is stability - there will be almost no sudden death during the training process, and the secret realm will always have a sense of stability. The skill combination of this genre is centered on the summoning of the dead spells, and is basically built as summoning the dead warriors, commanding stone demons, summoning the dead mages, and the armor of the dead. The first three summon spells provide output, while the Armor of the Dead provides protection.
With the help of different legendary items, the actual form of this Build will also change a lot: for example, the Mirror Emperor can make the dead warriors become archers, and the Gilded Ribbon Crown can summon a dead captain who can unleash the Whirlwind Chopper. Depending on the legend, the experience and play style in the dungeon will also change a lot. This should also be an added pleasure for players who like summons.
So far, the strength embodied in the summon stream is reliable enough, challenging the 40 layers of the secret realm, the monster increase and decrease the damage level is about 200 higher than the recommended (about 60% equal to the monster damage reduction), the summon stream necromancer can still advance smoothly, a little grind to pass the level. It would feel very similar to The Whirlwind Set Barbarians of Diablo 3.
Shadow will play with the Immortals, PvP gameplay at a glance
The background of this game is the big theme of "mortals united against demons", but in this process, the characters played by the player can actually participate in three factions, namely the ordinary neutral camp adventurers at the beginning, as well as the hostile Shadow Society and the Immortals, and the social gameplay of this game is also based on this.
The Shadow Club is similar to the player-formed guild in the traditional MMORPG, as long as the player passes the Shadow Club Trial, they can join it, and freely form and join the Dark Society, enjoying the exclusive activities and rewards of the Camp such as the Trial Secret Realm and the Gathering provided by the Shadow Club.
The immortals, on the other hand, do not open ordinary access channels, and only the immortals' internal "member recommendation" mechanism can allow an adventurer to join as an immortal. In the first two weeks of the game, there are only NPCs in the Immortal faction, and the battle experience of the treasure house tends to be closer to PVE.
Of course, "there must always be a Lich King", and the first players to become immortals need to be in the top 10 Dark Societies, complete the faction objectives, start the exile war and win the battle. In the very beginning, the number of places in the Immortal faction was only 150, and the players who could enter it could be called the elite of the elite. The Immortal Faction also provides it with exclusive daily quests, unique Immortal Quests, and the faction's unique cloaked appearance.
Shadow will fight against the Immortals' faction, mainly in the Immortal Treasury and the Exile Battle.
Well – you can simply understand the "Immortal Treasury" as a fixed salary for players in the Immortal faction. Players in this faction can apply for a treasure chest display of equipment every week, and according to the contribution value accumulated in daily tasks, they will be rewarded for their achievements;
But the Shadow Society will not sit idly by and allow them to launch shadow Society raids in a four-person squad to loot the treasure chest of gold, honor, and equipment. Whenever the Shadow Society launches a raid, the refreshed Bell Guard in the treasure chest will immediately alert the Immortal Faction, and if the Shadow Society members do not interrupt the alarm in time, the Immortal Faction will be notified, and the Immortals will be able to enter the Vault to fight.
Like the PVP gameplay of many games, treasure house confrontation also has a "time gate", which is fixed from 12 noon to 10 pm every day, for players who are keen on camp confrontation, they can basically devote themselves to this game in their free time.
Of course, the Immortal Treasury is actually more like a little fun between the two camps, and the real place between the two sides is the exile battle that Shadow will unlock after completing the faction's goals.
In this mode, Shadow will send the first ten members of the Dark Society to the battlefield, and the Immortal side will be selected by the Immortal Leader or Aide-de-camp to join the battle, and both factions will be fairly assigned to the 8v8 team battle, competing around the Ancient Heart.
Since it takes some time to start the Exile War, it was not until January 2 that the Immortals and the Shadow Society began a real first round of competition, and this contest finally ended with the victory of the Immortal faction.
For me, a grass-fed PVE player, the biggest attraction of the "immortal" camp confrontation gameplay is nothing more than the reward fashion - the immortal camp can provide a rather unique fashion style, not only for warm players, but also for players who value honor, there is no low attraction.
Looking at the Shadow Club and the Immortals camp, whether it is the unique gameplay of their respective camps, or the interactive gameplay of the treasure house and the battle of exile, in fact, most of them are "PVE +PVP" mode, and the traditional MMO battlefield and arena mode are still relatively obvious differences. Of course, whether to spend time and enthusiasm in this mode, every player can make a choice after their own experience, in this experience, I am more of a "war reporter" perspective on the sidelines, after all, for the experience editor, the difficulty of wanting to join the immortal camp is still quite large (laughs).
epilogue
As a new addition to the gameplay of this elite trial, many contents between the Shadow Club and the Immortal Camp, in fact, many players, including me, still need a period of time to develop more experiences, so you may be able to find that the rest of the game I can mix a lot of my own feelings and evaluations, but the Immortal Battle can only stay in the "interpretation" stage.
But then again, in fact, PVP and MMO content are relatively new things for many dark old players, just like after playing for so long, when I meet other players on the big map, I still have a little inexplicable freshness. The implementation of a series of social gameplay on mobile, encouraging interaction and confrontation between player groups, is what the "immortals" now want to try to do, and perhaps it is destined to be the biggest difference between it and the Dark Ancestors.