Diablo 4 Features That the Game Is Missing Ahead of Season 4

Skill Trees

Diablo 2's skill tree system was one of the ways the game established a solid foundation for character and build customization for the series. However, Diablo 3 dropped this system in Diablo 4 Items favor of skill categories which included six different slots for skills with three to five options per slot. Diablo 4 takes a similar approach to skills as Diablo 2, returning to a skill tree format for unlocking and organizing abilities that allows players to have a much more customized character build than Diablo 3's system.

Sorcerer Class

While originally appearing in the first Diablo, the Sorcerer shifted in Diablo 2 to become the female-only Sorceress class, and Diablo 4's Sorcerer class functions similarly to its Diablo 2 counterpart. The Wizard was the primary magic-based class in Diablo 3, but it never really matched the same play style as Diablo's Sorcerer or Diablo 2's Sorceress as it focused heavily on the Arcane damage type. It's clear Blizzard saw the value in the classic Sorceress class and wanted a return to form with its incarnation in Diablo 4.

Unique Items

Unique quality items were introduced in Diablo 2 which included the infamous Shako that returns in Diablo 4 as the Harlequin Crest. Diablo 3 did away with uniques and instead introduced legendary items as their replacement, which took a little of the excitement out of the true exclusivity of Diablo 2's uniques. Diablo 4 finds a happy medium including both legendary items from Diablo 3 and uniques from Diablo 2, including a variety of extremely rare and highly sought-after items.

Skull Gems

While not a major change in the gameplay department, Skull Gems return from Diablo 2 as socketable gems in Diablo 4. Diablo 3 included other types of gems such as Amethysts, Emeralds, Rubies, Sapphires, Topazes, and Diamonds, but Skull Gems were missing from the game altogether. It may not seem like a huge deal for them to return in Diablo 4, but it helps demonstrate that Blizzard took a lot of inspiration from Diablo 2 when designing this latest entry.

Additional Skill Ranks as Item Affixes

Item affixes have been another staple mechanic of the Diablo series that were reworked between Diablo 2 and Diablo 3. While Diablo 2 included the potential for items to contain affixes that add ranks to a class' skills, Diablo 3 removed this feature, opting instead for affixes that primarily affect specific stats or damage types. Diablo 4's affixes score another point for build customization by bringing back the potential for items to have affixes that boost skill ranks, allowing players to go all-in on one or buff a variety of their preferred skills.

One lucky Diablo 4 player stumbles into a cellar only to discover an infestation of Treasure Goblins. While the latest entry in the long-running Diablo franchise follows similar footsteps to its predecessors where players build out their character with skills and loot, Blizzard's newest game does change up a number of core elements. Diablo 4 has embraced live-service and always online elements allowing players to not only see other players around the interconnected map, but take part in public events or work to take down challenging world bosses like Ashava.

Even without the open world components, Diablo 4 allows players to travel and explore at their own pace, weaving together a massive interconnected map with plenty of things to see and do including side quests that server to further flesh out Sanctuary. Diablo 4 players may also come across dungeons and cellars on their adventures which are locations that serve as instances that have enemies and loot to find.

In terms of dungeons, players will find partially procedurally-generated zones with enemies and light puzzles to overcome, leading to a boss fight and a potential game changing Aspect. With how random some of these zones can be, one player managed to beat the odds and found a Diablo IV Gold for sale valuable reward at the end.