Diablo 4’s incredible success is already making the talk everywhere, and that’s because it shows that other developers and studios can learn a lot from this title - be its excellent marketing and open betas or the fun and engaging gameplay loop it has to offer. And yet,Diablo 4is not without flaws, and several of them lie in its class balance. With fiveclasses inDiablo 4and probably at least a sixth coming in its future expansions, a lot is bound to change over time, and Blizzard should start by addressing the low-end performance of two classes that are currently a perfect mirror of their classic RPG counterparts.
It’s no mystery thatDiablo 4went back to its roots in terms of inspiration and class archetypes, and while its leaving new characters likeDiablo 3’s Demon Hunter and Monkbehind is felt, players are playing more familiar roles that make a lot of sense in Sanctuary. However, among the new classes are also the Druid and the Barbarian, and they are notoriously a slog to level up in RPGs of all sorts, with a prime example beingDungeons and Dragons.Diablo 4repeats this stereotype for better or for worse, but the early game experience is paying the price.
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Why Diablo 4’s Barbarians and Druids Struggle in the Early Game
Diablo 4’s Barbariansgot the short end of the stick when it comes to resource generation and management, and this shows a lot in the early game sections. Barbarians not only can’t really start any combat engagement with Fury stacked beforehand because it depletes over time after a short period of not dealing damage, but they have to spam Basic Skills for a while before they’re able to eventually cast Core Skills. This makes the leveling experience quite frustrating and slow across the board, and the best tool to make right by it is Rallying Cry.
Historically, Barbarians suffer from a similar fate in RPGs, but one of the reasons why this is the case lies in their survivability, instead. In fact, Barbarians are always at the very heart of the fight, and new characters always start low on HP and tools to help them survive, which is also the case inDiablo 4. This drove Blizzard to add a 10% built-in damage reduction toDiablo 4’s Barbarians, and while it makes the experience more bearable, the main issue with it is getting to a point where slaying demons is fun - and that mainly happens in the endgame.
Diablo 4’s Druid buildsare in the same boat when it comes to leveling up, as Druids really want to have their Companion skills up at all times to quickly dispose of enemies. These only become available at level 13, and even then, the Druid is very dependent on gear and Legendary Aspects to really shine, with an example being the Shockwave Aspect for Pulverize builds. Both the Werebear and Werewolf builds are not exceptional to level up with, and other options come at increased Spirit cost for Core Skills.
This leaves the Druid in a weird spot, where its best assets are only available after a dozen levels, and any build will only work with very specific requirements. As such, both the Druid and the Barbarian are caught between a rock and a hard place due to their immense power-scaling in the endgame and slow, inefficient leveling experience, which makes them the two worst classes to use on a new playthrough. Still,Diablo 4’s balance patchesbeing frequent could mean that these issues will be dealt with ahead of the game’s first season, or at least some time in the future, so as to not perpetuate this classic RPG blunder for Barbarians and Druids.
Diablo 4launches on June 6 for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
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