At BlizCon’s Diablo 4 fireside discussion this year, the game’s spokespersons announced major changes to Uniques, due to the general consensus that “it’s not fun enough”.
“For end game chase stuff, they have to be really cool and cool … they don’t hit the mark most of the time,” they made clear during their presentation.
“A lot of times, players don’t feel good when they fall and what really impresses me is that if there’s something unique to your build and it’s meant to be good for that build (say like a fireball unique fireball wizard) then a fireball wizard doesn’t want that.
“We don’t want that situation to happen, whether it’s because the unique effect isn’t good enough, or the gear stats aren’t good enough.”
There’s a four-fold fix, and it goes like this: Adding new stats like “tornado duration” to Uniques; to provide the available statistical scope; bypassing slot rules such as allowing Exceptions to roll on Cooldown Reduction; and reviewing unique effects that add to the player’s power.
“This is how we’re going to look at making Uniques, uh, unique going forward.”
Of course, a “big pass” like this – with updates to almost every Unique in the game – is huge and can make players a little nervous about their current build.
To reduce fear over such big changes, the devs want to make sure that transparency is at the heart, so that everyone is on the same page when issuing feedback.
“The most important thing for me and the team is that when we talk to you about the updates we’re making to the game, you understand why we’re making this change and what our goals are, because we’ll see as we go through all of this, we’re changing a lot of all the basic stats and other gameplay systems. And chances are high that we don’t nail everything right.
“But if you understand what we’re trying to do, and we’re transparent about that, then when you’re talking and when you’re giving us feedback, they might be a little bit more. higher quality, and better sources of information if you also understand why we’re doing things.”
