so ive been playing d4 for a while now and though I like it in general, its only a poor excuse of what PoE offers.
d4 only offers a few cookie cutter builds, feels even more streamlined and dumbed down than d3 did and i dont see myself replaying it alot since its open world, from what ive seen so far, is biring and bland.
For me, I enjoyed D4 as a nice campaign. Played through a few times, once with my partner and another solo.
D4 pros: Impeccable game feel, moment to moment combat, graphics and even some nice storytelling. Enjoy the QoL features for alts and the myriad of endgame loops; Helltides are a lot of fun.
D4 cons: Dungeons are boring to me. Builds that feel fun and powerful are limited to 0-2 per class; a big letdown. Weird network / instance lag which stands out among the otherwise polished aesthetic. Middling open world re: exploration to reward ratio.
PoE pros: Deeeeeep. Hardcore. Aspirational? Still haven’t cleared the campaign despite getting closer each league. Lots of builds and skill variety.
PoE cons: Feels like the oldest baguette ever to exist. Wildly stiff gameplay. Ugh its such shit compared to D4. Like DMC vs Skyrim level of difference. Disparate, cheap feeling UI and tacked on storytelling. Exudes HardXCore__Statzz.xls energy and feels practically impossible to navigate a viable build without a guide.
In the end I think Grim Dawn outplays both D4 and PoE. Check it out if you love ARPGs
I don’t think PoE and Diablo 4 have the same target audiences. I for one had a lot of fun in the beta (haven’t bought it yet) because it was so streamlined and dumbed down. I’m not looking for a game where I have to theorycraft for hours with help from guides to find the right items to help create the perfect character, I just want to smash some zombies to bits with this cool new club I found 2 minutes ago
Can I also offer you a Grim Dawn in this trying time?
I played a lot of PoE and a bit of D4, IMO both are bad.
PoE has a lot of things, but everything is too complicated, theorycrafting is pretty much impossible without 3rd party tool, trade is annoying. Meanwhile D4 has is more streamlined, gameplay is too slow and there are not enough mobs. Open world feels empty and the game isn’t as polished as it should be.
I hope other Hack and Slash games will be developed in the future, because I think PoE and D4 won’t become better games.
Plenty Diablo players called for D4 to be closer D2 than D3 was. Fewer mobs than PoE is result of that - while in PoE you clear whole screens, D2 wasn’t nearly as fast or full of mobs, encounters were a bit more unique and demanded strategy. So in that way, I would say D4 succeeded.
They do different things for me.
PoE satisfies my creative side in the sense that I can find say, a great unique item, or support gem, want to make a cool build out of it, and give that a shot. I also love that the endgame experience is highly customizable (in the form of hideout, as well as map-running choices, atlas passives, etc)
I’m only level ~40 or so in D4 so take this with a grain of salt – although D4 doesn’t appear to have nearly the same level of customizability that PoE does, what it does offer me is an enormous world I can explore pretty much from the get-go. PoE is extremely linear, all throughout. Another thing D4 does really well is the feeling of its combat. Basic skills being a free, but weaker skill to help generate resource to more infrequently use a Core skill is a satisfying recipe, IMO. PoE would often feel like a screen clearing stomp-fest (and, at times, require it) and even though that can be satisfying in its own way, it’s more fun for me if I feel like I have to struggle and claw my way into wins.
