As the release date of "Diablo 4" approaches, combined with the public experience of two large-scale beta tests in mid-to-late March, this dark orthodox sequel that has been missing for ten years has finally slowly unveiled its mysteries.
Compared with the discussion of topics such as "whether the taste is right or not" and "whether there is a breakthrough innovation", the focus of players now falls more on the epic changes that have taken place in the nature of the game.
Although you can still travel alone in the dark dungeon, enjoy the pure lone wolf experience of fighting alone from beginning to end; But multiplayer random events and towns, periodic world bosses, free trading, plane systems, and wild PVP content that will only be available in the middle and late stages are clearly identified - "Diablo 4" is a multiplayer online open world online game with a single-player experience.
Admittedly, from the online co-op mode of Battle.net in "Diablo 2" to the full networking of "Diablo 3", the exploration of the "off-single" of the Dark series has begun more than a decade ago, but the design of "Diablo 4" that is obviously closer to multiplayer gameplay still makes the series players a little uncomfortable.
From many previous interviews, we can know that "Diablo 4" has indeed learned a lot of experience from "Diablo: Immortal" jointly developed with NetEase, whether it is the addition of MMO social elements or the change of the payment model, it is no wonder that some players call "Diablo 4" "the big "Diablo: Immortal".
Orthodox single-player sequel to adapt mobile games? Some players may laugh at Blizzard without contending. But the real concern of the production team was "Play Your Way", which was an opportunity to promote the game to a larger group of people, taking care of and accommodating the needs of more players, rather than focusing on the experience of only a subset of core users.
On the other hand, "Dark: Immortal" has been exposed since the 2018 BlizzCon was exposed, and it has been under pressure to explore how the dark series does socializing, stepping on countless pits and puddles, and indeed verifying and summarizing many successful experiences. Now the design of various social gameplay in "Diablo 4" is said to be "crossing the river by feeling the 'immortal'", I am afraid it is not too much.
NetEase's "strong social" factor has spawned the difference of "Dark: Immortal"
The online game attempt of "Dark: Immortal" is largely derived from NetEase's consistent insistence on MMO mobile game socialization.
Compared with PC online games with long online time and high stickiness, the fragmentation of mobile games makes it more difficult to achieve social interaction, and most of the early mobile games in friends just send physical strength to each other, and the real interaction between players is almost nothing.
However, NetEase has created a set of "strong social" operation concepts in years of exploration, and even made this label into the collective impression of NetEase games. Through benign interaction, in the game society, which was originally only linked by interests, rich and colorful emotional layers such as brotherhood, family affection, friendship, and love are precipitated, so as to build a real emotional bond between players that transcends the game world. These are all reflected in Diablo: Immortal.
(Players often share people and things they encounter in immortality)
Different from the previous lonely dungeon exploration and slash-style brushing equipment experience, mobile phones make Diablo: Immortal more social, not only can you experience various modes in the game with friends, but also meet some "opponents" who do not fight or know each other.
Diablo: Immortal has been online for nine months, and the three major versions have almost all revolved around the implementation and optimization of new multiplayer gameplay. There have also been a lot of trial and error and the process of being complained about by players, which is not all smooth sailing.
For example, the first major version of "Dark Night Lonely Castle", "Dark: Immortal" launched a forced social gameplay that requires more than 2 people to team up, directly turning away lone wolf players and spawning a series of memes. In addition, the usual Demon God copy also has a number of requirements, and it is impossible to form a team if you have not kept up with the progress of the large army for a period of time, and these MMO gameplay designs that subvert the dark characteristics, which for a while made the series fans and public players quite complain.
However, "Dark: Immortal" is surprisingly fast on its knees, and three months after the launch of "Dark Night Lonely Castle", it proposed the "first season of experience reform", quickly and ruthlessly changed key issues such as the number of team members and the progress gap, whether it is a lone wolf or a team, and also proposed quite tempting return benefits, growth acceleration and greatly optimized equipment explosion rate, and swiped a wave of good feelings.
This is also thanks to the high-frequency, flexible update rhythm plan set by Diablo: Immortal before it goes live, with a major version every three months and a small update every two weeks, so that it can quickly respond to players' demands and make adjustments.
During the Spring Festival in 2023, "Diablo: Immortal" has carried out a wave of optimization for the recruitment of replica teams, opened the cross-server team system, and added a guarantee mechanism to the set drop of quests, all in favor of players' next book brushing behavior.
It can be seen that each season of "Dark: Immortal" has a core theme for experience reform, and in the recent new version of "Magic Tower Conflict", a new PVP & PVE version that revolves around the union, the reform of the union mechanism is imperative.
With streamlined and easy searching, Diablo: Immortal helps players find a home in the game
The new big version of "Magic Tower Conflict" launched on March 30 in "Dark: Immortal" is a PVP & PVE gameplay based on the "union" group to capture the tower, occupy the tower, and guard the tower, and it is also a bold attempt by NetEase to explore the dark category to embrace social change.
In the adventure around the "Tower of Calamity", players must first give full play to the essence of the brush, under the leadership of the union president, frantically clean and purify the monsters in the magic tower, and compete for the final points to compete for the ownership of the Tower of Calamity.
The Tower of Calamity can breed powerful Calamity equipment, which not only has the basic attributes of the original legendary equipment, but also has the dual catastrophe attributes of buffs and anti-devouring, and there are additional powerful buffs under multiple suits, so it's no wonder that players flock to explore.
In addition, guilds that successfully occupy the Magic Tower will also be protected by the Magic Tower, and will be rewarded with countless bonus effects and contribution chests according to the time and contribution points of the occupation, and they will have the opportunity to obtain valuable rewards such as enhanced immortal keystones and legendary equipment.
However, a momentary conquest does not represent eternal glory, and the wolves around the Magic Tower are not only monsters, but also other adventure unions lurking in the shadows - the second round of "Strife Mode" pulls the winner off the newly built platform and re-competes.
The guilds that covet the Magic Tower can challenge players who occupy the Magic Tower to occupy various small energy towers in the Magic Tower; The invaded side must rely on its own force and strategy to repel the other party and guard the ownership of the magic tower in order to continue the honor.
In a word, this is a new way of playing with "union" as the carrier to unite brothers and comrades to grab territory, which has the characteristics of PVE brush brush brush and PVP huddle team battle, and all points gain, the belonging of the magic tower, and the competition for rewards must rely on the command and cooperation of members of the union and work together to obtain together.
During this period, friction, unity and competition between trade union members and between trade unions are indispensable, and it is often a flashpoint of emotional and interest entanglements.
In the past, it was not easy to find a union that matched your heart, matched your time and growth rhythm, or could express your ambitions, but now it has reached the key point of union hegemony, and the choice of union is even more important.
Therefore, this new season's experience reform, "Dark: Immortal" has made drastic adjustments to the union mechanism, simplifying the difficulty of searching from various aspects such as objective union lists, information display panels, and arrangement dimensions, and assisting players to find their target union more accurately.
This reform also encourages players to move between unions, support brothers to jump ship en masse, and move from low-activity unions to more popular unions, giving them the opportunity to participate in the gameplay of union hegemony.
The core of the adjustment of the union mechanism is to improve the experience participation of all kinds of players, realize the double optimization of the threshold and system, and create a better game environment for players, at the same time, players can also freely decide their own play experience in the union, retirement, or fight with brothers!
Launched at the same time as the new version, there are also a series of rich return benefits, including the ultimate multi-entry legendary equipment that can be obtained by logging in every day, the accelerated catch-up level direct promotion channel, a large number of strengthening materials and immortal keystones, etc., and the new server "Magic Tower Conflict" also has an 800% accelerated upgrade treatment, and you can enjoy this soaring upgrade experience after reaching peak level 1.
All in all, the new version of "Magic Tower Clash has made a series of reforms to the union mechanism, making the social atmosphere of Diablo: Immortal more inclusive, and players can use these convenient feature innovations and benefits to find the most suitable comfortable pace in the game to enjoy the game.
This is probably the result of "Diablo: Immortal" continuing to pay attention to player feedback and do long-term operation optimization.