Diablo 4 developers, namely Adam Jackson, lead class designer, and Melissa Corning, lead game producer were once again asked about the respec cost because later on down in the game they noticed that in the paragon system refunding one single node would be 40,000 gold Diablo 4, or something close to that. They were asked if their vision is for people to create multiple characters within the same class, like Diablo 2, or if will it still be cheap enough that if you really want to change your build, you can go all the way back for a totally different build.
Adam states that I would say we're somewhere in the middle. Everything exists on a spectrum where you've got really two extremes. A lot of the time our answer is somewhere in the middle, and then depending on feedback, we may move up or down that slider of where it is. You can think of Diablo 2, where it's on an extreme left side where it's like you can't respec at all.
Then the other end with Diablo 3, that style is pretty friendly and you could just experiment around and do what you want in its really free form. But there are also downsides to that style. The attachment that you have with your character build and your fantasy isn't nearly as strong because you could switch everything and anything on a dime.
We're trying to find a nice middle ground, and that's what we're trying to make it really easy early on because that's the period of time where players can make mistakes and we don't want them to be afraid to do that. Later on, it will get a bit more painful and expensive. So do we want you to make a character from the ground up every time you want to change your build? No, not really.
That's a very interesting thing to say as well. He also states that we want it to be a choice, so there should be some pain behind it or some commitment to the idea that if you want to switch, you can, but you're really going to have to invest into it. It's going to be a meaningful choice to do it as far as the exact costs and values.
We are a live service game, though, so I'm sure that those things can change over time. We're going to find out what feels right over time through player feedback. We want it to be a meaningful impactful choice to switch later on, but we don't want you to give up and reroll your character if you put a wrong point somewhere.
That's definitely not our vision of what we want Diablo 4 players to do. Now, to quickly break this down, Adam is simply saying that there are two extremes to this whole scenario. There's an extreme where it's very difficult, like Diablo 2, and then extreme where it's very free form and easy, like Diablo 3.
They want Diablo 4 to be a nice middle ground where it's very easy and very fluid and free form in the beginning, for you to be able to test out all your builds and get an idea on what you enjoy playing, what your playstyle is going to be like, what builds you enjoy. Then once you get to the end game, they want it to be a lot harder because they want you to stick to a certain build, and they want you to cater to that certain playstyle that you enjoy playing the most. They want it to feel very impactful, and they want you to dive into your character as a whole when it comes to that playstyle and that class fantasy that you enjoy playing. They don't want you to just free form, change on a whim whenever you want.
Now, the only issue I have with this personally is that what if you find a really super awesome, powerful, unique item out there? They're very, very rare. But what if you find one that has nothing to do with your build? And then what happens if you switch your whole build to cater to that unique item? Because you're like, oh, my God, I got this new amazing item.
I want to play with it. I want to see how good it feels. I want to test it out. And then you go test it out, and it ends up being horrible. That's the only thing I'm kind of worried about.
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