especially if you're of the age to remember Lord of Destruction and the old model of expansions. Imagine a finished game with a story that ends!? 2 new classes that have ACTUAL unique flavor. Plus the box it came in was sweet.
I thought the actual value was just ok. When you do everything, you come out with mercenary buddies, the dark citadel, more map area to play and two mounts. The mounts alone usually are $20 in most games. The production value of the storytelling was top notch, even if it was short. I thought it was good but as a live service the story never ends…kinda like a soap opera. lol! It will be awhile before this is the price you want. However, completely understand your reluctance. Let me just ask this question, if you can’t spend money on the games you like, then what can you spend money on? Isn’t the point of making the money is to spend it on things you want? Take care!
@@MaTtRoSiTy It is actually really well done and its clear they have pretty much overhauled the game. The issue is the content is pretty bare bones from what I am seeing so far. What we get is really good, and they added that same polish to the base game. I would wait for a sale if you arent really into this genre and title.
@@khaterine-v5q As someone who basically plays every ARPG, because damn that genre is fun, Diablo 4 is definitely the weakest entry of the modern titles. I won't go over in detail as to why that exactly is but the one thing it had it going for the game was it's story and cutscenes. Granted, a lot of it came from the fact that it's an established franchise for over 2 decades now, but even with the D4 launch it was at least "decent" enough to keep me interested. And the opening cutscene of 'Vessel Of Hatred' did look promising, too! But man, they absolutely dropped the ball. The dialogue, the characters, the writing - There were so many oddities and outright bad development choices being made that I have my doubts for the future story development of D4. And if they actually decide to demand another 40 bucks from people just to continue this mediocre story, jesus christ, run people, run. The only thing Blizzard keeps nailng are their cutscenes. Those are always a treat. But that's it.
@@kalega311 Plenty of live-service games do it for free, Warframe and PoE. Grim Dawn's expansions (all 3) using their launch prices cost less than 40$ and added more content. That's 2 new zones, a new game mode, new class (and class combinations). The new expansion will also reduce the quality of the base game if you don't buy by getting locked out of content like World Boss spawns.
@@kalega311$40.0] for what was given to us with the VoH DLC, is pretty much highway robbery. I get the fact that these guys work hard on bringing us new content but it barely shows if you play through the entire set of main quests and try out the new dungeon system as well as new dungeons. Still not worth $40.00, this is worth $20.00 at best, $40.00 for the ultimate. Thankfully I have other games that keep me busy and money is better spent on those.
@@nach4642 They aren't free though are they? maybe at point of entry but but to play it to a decent level you have to pay 3-4-500 dollars for currency tabs, say what you want but thats a lot of cash to play a 'Free' game
@@jpb9857 I just like to get value for the money I spend...and when you look at cyberpunks dlc or witcher 3 expansions, that's great value for money.but prices for some of the dlcs being released are wayyy too high and then games companies are wondering why people aren't buying them or waiting for them to be discounted.
@@khaterine-v5qits subjective but i think people lack perspective and do not realize the cinematics alone cost millions (each) to produce. Includes new class, region, story, raid, and game mechanics. Skins are overpriced but i think people who think this expansion is disproportionately priced are pretty unfair
@@Remcodmt then just dont do the cutscenes if theyre that expensive, we are the customer and we dont care how expensive x is. at the end of the day its a GAME which has to have decent GAMEPLAY. if it doesnt deliver on said GAMEPLAY it is not worth the money nor time.. id rather watch lotr and play tetris then
i played a druid in season 5 and playing a spiritborn now and honestly they do feel different enough to me but also i agree with your comparisons they aren't *that* far apart. i think what makes the separation work in my case is that druids have shapeshifting and elemental magic and spiritborn have spirits and their animalistic attacks feel more magical. also i didn't expect this expansion to lead to a full conclusion. they've said before they want to do multiple expansions so i'd expect each xpack story to lead into possible future developments and they have drawn this one out with the prime evils not being fully there from the beginning. but my primary interest is in endgame systems and replayability outside the campaign so i'm not quite the same audience, although i've been a fan of the Diablo series since the original D1 demo
My take on the review is: The expansion is terribly overpriced and not worth buying until it gets a 50% discount. The content is probably too short to deserve an expansion, since its story is only a stepping stone for a future expansion. Blizzard made a whole mess of the skill and leveling systems, which they are still trying to organize, and someday, probably around the third expansion, it will be polished and worth playing, but not yet. As usual the game looks beautiful and appealing, but the product is unfinished.
@@DewtehDew not really. since D4 came to steam it was on discount multiple times for 30-40% off. sure it won't be this year but much sooner than otherwise with it only being on Bnet.
I would have given the expansion a chance, but I refuse to play aRPGs which make raiding a vital part of the experience, all excitement I had for the expansion died when they announced raids would be coming to the game.
I was shocked the dev’s didn’t give players the Paladin class in this update/dlc. That feels like a big miss. My first thought was, “Don’t we already have a Druid?”
The problem for with the whole D4 + DLC is that there is absolutely ZERO original new idea added to the game. Everything is a re-hash of D3 including endgame mechanics, gems, runewords that are actually dumbed down, mercenaries that are dumbed down, rifts that are renamed to something else... Hell even the whole story and vibe/character of Neyrelle is a re-do of Leah character.
Adding a raid is new. Also there’s only so much you can add to an arpg. At the end of the day, all these games are killing things as quickly as possible and slot machine simulator for gear.
@@ekirro there's not "only so much" you can add.. look at Poe, they have endless amount of cool systems and keeps adding more. Sure it's all about loot but there are many ways to get that loot.
@@franchstar1 fair enough but not everyone wants that level of complexity or depth in a game. Also POE has years and years of built up iterations. It wouldn’t be realistic for any game let alone D4 to have that much at launch or even a year in. We’ll see how POE2 changes the formula.
I probably would have bought it for 20 no more than 30. But for 40 for what’s on offer just doesn’t feel right. I haven’t played since the first season. I’m sure the game has improved but something about it just makes me hesitate. Thanks for the review I feel safe skipping it until a deep discount or another expansion.
I think something I'm really struggling with is that the endgame isn't really compelling because I'm not interested in hours of out-of-game optimization and build reviewing. And if you completely ignore all the game guides Internet stuff, the endgame is basically closed-off to you unless you sit there and tediously figure it out yourself. But I'm also not exactly sure how they could change that. Maybe this simply isn't a franchise for me anymore.
i feel ya. Still never got into endgame 😂 I prefered the souls way man. Elden Ring was so awesome. There is a lot of build variety too, but you can easily figure it out for yourself. But in generel the builds are not hard and man the gameplay.. The gameplay is what matters most imo.
The new class for me really turn me off as it does not look to follow the gothic style of diablo in general in fact the reson they did not include a paladin class or similar type is still crazy to me and i am afraid they lose this for future content of the game. I hope the put more content and end game stuff to the game and will maybe give it a purchase once the expansion is on sale.
I actually love the spiritborn. I love shaman classes, I love martial arts, it's perfect for me. But it's a little niche for sure. I was pleasantly surprised by the expansion so far, it just feels a lot better to play the game.
I hate that every 4-6 MOs my old gear is "obsolete". I like to play old (seasonal) eternal characters to see how it holds up to current Meta. It wont be possible if they keep reworking itemization
@@trevorbye6965 I play ARPGs all the time. I haven't seen any Arpg overhaul/remade the game within 12mos. They clearly lack vision and/or execution. D4 is fun game but they can't keep reworking foundational features/mechanic
cant do the blizzard hampster wheel any more. but POE 2 is coming out soon, looks promising for the same itch but not the feeling of constant dissappointment.
I really appreciate the fact that your take on this expansion was from the view of someone who plays eternal characters, exactly as I do. I might mess around with the seasons, I think I've played through 2 of them? But I enjoy taking my established character into the new content. We are rare unicorns, if you listen to some of the player base. I like some of the systems they introduced in Vessel of Hatred, but I thought the campaign content was rather poor. I played for a couple of weeks and I think I'm done for now.
Well, hopefully in 2-3 years they'll have a complete version for $20 and I'll get it then. More likely in 2-3 years they'll close the servers and no one will be able to play it at all.
It's funny you mentioned how you weren't too jazzed by the Spirit Born, but to me, it looks really cool. Not a fan of the Druid myself, so this is a cool way for me to have a class that feels in touch with nature and stuff.
The gameplay for the expansion with all of the new systems is really fun. However, don't buy the expansion just for the story. I finished it in about 5 hours (Edit 2: actually about 6 hours), and like Mortem said, its very underwhelming. Edit: I'm sure one could finish the expansion campaign faster if one wanted too. I wasn't trying to rush or anything like that.
@@Monkeypuzzle I thought about it, and it actually took me around 6 hours (1 hour before work and then 5 hours after work yesterday). I used a new seasonal character (Spiritborn) as well. I recruited all of the mercenaries, did one Realmwalker run, and finished the expansion campaign in about 6 hours (I didn't do the main campaign with Lilith. I skipped the main campaign and just jumped straight into the expansion story).
@@Monkeypuzzle How long it takes you to complete it and how much story it actually provides is not the same. You can watch the whole main story arc in the new xpac in ~2 hours (this includes cut scenes and MSQ npc dialogue). Running from point A to B is not worth including.
Regarding the Spiritborn, I feel like I've been able to combine defensive and offensive elements without taking me out of the class fantasy, like the druid does, where the offense generally lies in Werewolf and defense in Werebear, so I can't build an effective character focusing on just one form.
This is one of the reasons I gave a pass to Diablo 4 seeing as we are never going to get a complete game and the mechanics are subject to continual changes over time for as long as the game is being serviced. The other reasons is simply I did not like the open world setting and the activities seem mundane and exhausting. I know things have been changed quite a bit but ultimate the goal is the same which is to clear house to get better loot. Being an SP gamer, I like more plot elements and progression long with the side quests which is not what this game is designed for. If they ever come out with a complete version towards the end of the game's cycle with all the DLCs included I would be interested in grabbing it to experience the story.
Absolutely don’t like the new direction a lot of DLCs are going in where they’re part of a greater experience, especially when they’re this expensive. Much prefer when they’re standalone complete stories so you can pick and choose which you want, instead of having to buy it all 😔
Really 40 dollars nowadays is expensive? Looking at food/rent/subscriptions fees it feels like nothing and here people are complaining about 4hrs of work on minimal wage and effort
I recently picked up the base game on sale because I enjoyed the previous ones (atleast once they took the Auction House out of D3), but I am not finding the games compelling enough to play very much.
My big problem with Spiritborn is that it plays like a monk, but looks like a druid. Monk is my favorite class in D3 and I have to say I enjoy the playstyle of the Spiritborn in D4, but the visuals remind me too much of the druid and so the class feels less of its own thing.
I am bit disappointed regarding story. Overall quality went down (compared to vanilla) and none of the main plot lines get resolved. Expansion cinematic and some of item description "leaks" prior launch (if you know, you know, if not, l am not going to spoil it for you) were misleading. So, now what, we are going to wait another 2+years and hope we will get some sort of conclusion to story?
Thanks for the video. At this point, the price tag doesn't surprise me. There's clearly a market for a game like this, so you'd think that Sony, or another dev would try to capitalize on it. There's been a few AA titles, but I don't count those. Onward to 400k. All glory to the algorithm.
It looks like even with the price and long standing issues, this is a good and fun expansion. Is that something you could say? For some people is about that mostly.
I love seasonal content, like Path of Exile or Last Epoch, the difference is that both of them you don't have to keep paying to enjoy the expansions. This new expansion is priced at exactly what i paid for the full Diablo 4 game (got a 50% discount). It's double what i paid for Last Epoch, when you put the price/enjoyment into perspective, just doesn't scream like its worth the price point. Might get it in the future for a heavy discount, but i'm not holding my breath.
Essentially it isn't worth the price tag for me. The two things that stand out after I pay for it are: my characters get downgraded immediately and the story feels incomplete.
I get why, but I'm a little disappointed they basically went back the the level and difficulty progression of D3. The world tier concept seemed fresh, and having a true max on stats made building your character feel more like a puzzle. Maybe the actual playing of it feels better though.
I REALLY need some help. I'm going to burst a vessel of blood - after paying about 85 USD (yeah probably dumb) to get the top tier upgrade, as soon as I install it, I can no longer play it fullscreen - just 'windowed' or 'windowed fullscreen' - I've tried everything I can think of & online searches just result in older versions of the game with fixes that are not relevant to this DLC/present day. If anyone has any ideas, I would really bloody appreciate it 💚🙏
Imagine how good the final game will be once ALL the dlc is complete… 😅 Personally, I really enjoyed D4 but I only played it casually, completed the campaign, did some of the season of blood quests to get some of the vampiric abilities and then I put it down until a proper expansion debuted. I will admit that the base game had a ton of odd choices that I think hindered the enjoyment of hardcore players. I’m not sure why they didn’t just make an “easy / casual” mode for players like myself and then altered the math and stats for the hardcore audience at higher difficulties / world tiers. This kind of game can seamlessly accommodate both players without compromise. I think the Vessel of Hatred dlc seems cool but not worth the price point since Im just a causal player. Eventually I’ll jump back in once more dlc comes out bundled together.
For 40 bucks I expect something on the level of Shadow of the Erdtree, not a stepping stone to sell future content. Not that I would have played it if it was free, still, the price is ridiculous.
Will wait for a sale before picking it up. Thank God you can still do season content without it. Yeah Realmwalkers are kinda 'eh' but the fact that the new skills and leveling systems aren't locked to the expansion either is pretty nice. Plus I just watched the story on YT anyways so now all I have to look forward to is a new class and Dark Citadel and those can wait until this expansion is in the $20-$25 range.
We've found that shoehorning the new season start in with the exp has diluted both to some extent. Haven't even had a chance to do half of the season mechanics and only a fraction of exp (we're only just going on lvl 30). Hopefully we finish this 'half' campaign shortly & can do the other stuff we actually enjoy through to 60 and beyond, as we're really not feelin it with the story, for whatever reasons. SB is pretty cool and very OP, no surprise there (Blizzard trying to force competitive players to buy the exp 🙄)
Made for the channel but meant to sound like pillars yeah. You can't just pull music from things to use in videos without permission, good way to get a channel shut down.
The story can be described best as, “this game is going to go on indefinitely so we’re tossing you some bread crumbs”. I don’t even have a problem with it. It was minimal and a part of me likes that. The skill tree feels less consequential now because I felt like I had more than enough points to get everything I wanted.
Hello guys! Can someone explain to me now when I have installed diablo 4 vessel of hatred but i would like to start playing from the beginning of diablo 4 sanctiary but it throws me directly to quests from diablo vesel of hatred can someone help me thank you
Good review, however I personally am enjoying the expansion. I don’t play arpgs for the story so can’t comment there - but the new class, new activities, and qol changes are great. Is it worth $40? That’s probably an individual persons opinion and can’t really say
I hope they’ve got the little guys that make the funny sounds… That’s probably to me. One of the most iconic sounds of the Diablo series. If I think of D2… I think of their little death sound. This looks pretty good… I’m probably going to pick it up fairly soon. Since I have such a deep backlog… I just can’t buy a game and play it when it first launches… Especially a game like Diablo that most likely has lots of login issues early on. I so badly wish they had an off-line mode.
Does anyone know how we get or pay for this expansion if you're on standard PC Gamepass. I can't see it listed in store. Don't want to buy the bundle from Blizzard as it's currently £60.
I came back to the game after playing my fill of it during season 2 & I am enjoying the game. I am not fussed about the Spiritborn, like Mortismal said if I want to play an animal spirit user I will just play Druid. I personally was also hoping for them to bring back the Crusader class, which was my favourite from Diablo 3, so was disappointed on that front. I haven't finished the Story for the expansion yet, but it seems to be fairly meh so far. I am enjoying all of the gameplay enhancements like the Diablo 3 style companions & the overhaul to crafting, levelling and loot though. That being said, I am still utterly disgusted with their massive overcharging for bloody skins... I saw they released a cool Lich King skin for the Necromancer, who is my main class. The skin and the Lich King's mount Invincible look really cool, but $25 each is taking the p*ss & anyone willing to buy that ether is wealthy enough not to care about wasting money on vastly overpriced digital cosmetics, or if not they are not very smart with their money...
I'm the same but I really enjoyed this one. I'd say that if you have Game Pass it's worth a download just to run through the campaign. I've cycled off it now because I'm not so interested in multiplayer end game stuff but the campaign was solid.
Story line review only: I almost stopped playing when the knight burned the bound prisoner alive. That is a bad way to go. Then the character turned it's back on the knight, a known enemy, at the bridge and got stabbed through and through. . Seriously? How effing stupid is the character? To turn it's back on a ARMED enemy? Just got to the resurrection scene. Not sure I will keep playing. It is one thing to give the player a choice that leads to destruction, but to have it locked in with cut scenes? That's poor story telling. There is enough stupidity in the world without forcing us to be stupid. . Planet Crafter released a new DLC. Think I will cool my heels playing that for a while.
Seriously hate the seasonal system where all my character' equipments' stats get trashed down so badly. What's the point in playing then? It's so stupid.
This is how it's been since Diablo 2 and is also how many other ARPGs work. You play a new character each season to try out new builds. If you don't want to do that, nothing is stopping you from playing a non-seasonal character. Nothing gets trashed or removed.
People are complaining about not being to kill/fight Mephisto in the first expansion, did you think it would be that easy? He rivals Diablo as THE Prime Evil and hes always 10 steps ahead of you.
I could have done without legacy gear seems like destiny 2 were u had to grind for light every session made the game just a choir to play and kinda a slap in the face to players that put in the time and effort to get the gear and haven't finished master work and tempering it.2 I feel the world tier system was slightly better as now torment is locked behind pit tiers personally I find pit a choir to do as I don't feel u are rewarded good enough for the time and effort.3 performance issues i understand that older consoles kinda get pushed out the new update makes doing stuff outside dungeons sometimes in them almost un playable I understand that not everyone will have this issue there are still a lot of players that still play on older consoles that could also having this problem as well 4 well the new season dose add much needed updates and content the above issues are why unfortunately Diablo devs I feel are going in the wrong direction I'm not gonna say much about the absurd microtransactions and the the ridiculous amount that thay got from them just saying I feel we as the players lost this season and season 5 was better
I've enjoyed diablo and this expansion does look interesting its just a bit too pricey for me. I'll continue to play the main game for now, maybe when the next expansion comes around there'll be a sale
To expensive, I didn't bought it, sadly if you dont buy it, you are quite close to ethernal even if you start season. About their skin prices no comment, maybe their research told them that they will get more money if keep prices so high insted of 3-4$ and sell lots.
Once again a 40$ price point is just too much for an expansion/dlc. Ill wait for a sale
especially if you're of the age to remember Lord of Destruction and the old model of expansions. Imagine a finished game with a story that ends!? 2 new classes that have ACTUAL unique flavor. Plus the box it came in was sweet.
Same, 50% sounds fair.
I thought the actual value was just ok. When you do everything, you come out with mercenary buddies, the dark citadel, more map area to play and two mounts. The mounts alone usually are $20 in most games. The production value of the storytelling was top notch, even if it was short. I thought it was good but as a live service the story never ends…kinda like a soap opera. lol! It will be awhile before this is the price you want. However, completely understand your reluctance. Let me just ask this question, if you can’t spend money on the games you like, then what can you spend money on? Isn’t the point of making the money is to spend it on things you want? Take care!
elden rings dlc was like 35 ish, ehh
I always say the same with Diablo 4, but then it just get's way too far into the season and I just don't get into it
Your comment about the story ending is exactly how I felt about the main game. I was a bit like ‘is that it?’
Will give this a miss
I still never got around to finishing the main campaign lol... so will probably give this a miss now too
@@MaTtRoSiTy It is actually really well done and its clear they have pretty much overhauled the game. The issue is the content is pretty bare bones from what I am seeing so far. What we get is really good, and they added that same polish to the base game.
I would wait for a sale if you arent really into this genre and title.
Same. I think d4 story is not very good. The previous games, evens d3 is clearer (not good, but motivations were clearer).
@@khaterine-v5q As someone who basically plays every ARPG, because damn that genre is fun, Diablo 4 is definitely the weakest entry of the modern titles.
I won't go over in detail as to why that exactly is but the one thing it had it going for the game was it's story and cutscenes. Granted, a lot of it came from the fact that it's an established franchise for over 2 decades now, but even with the D4 launch it was at least "decent" enough to keep me interested.
And the opening cutscene of 'Vessel Of Hatred' did look promising, too!
But man, they absolutely dropped the ball.
The dialogue, the characters, the writing - There were so many oddities and outright bad development choices being made that I have my doubts for the future story development of D4.
And if they actually decide to demand another 40 bucks from people just to continue this mediocre story, jesus christ, run people, run.
The only thing Blizzard keeps nailng are their cutscenes. Those are always a treat. But that's it.
Plenty of other stuff to play right now/until this drops in price a bit. Seems like $40 is asking a lot. Thanks for the review dude!
It def does not seem worth it when it is launching next to a whole bunch of amazing games this holiday season
It felt like a DLC or season content and not an expansion at all. Certainly pretty limited content for the $40 price tag!
@@kalega311 Plenty of live-service games do it for free, Warframe and PoE. Grim Dawn's expansions (all 3) using their launch prices cost less than 40$ and added more content. That's 2 new zones, a new game mode, new class (and class combinations).
The new expansion will also reduce the quality of the base game if you don't buy by getting locked out of content like World Boss spawns.
@@kalega311$40.0] for what was given to us with the VoH DLC, is pretty much highway robbery. I get the fact that these guys work hard on bringing us new content but it barely shows if you play through the entire set of main quests and try out the new dungeon system as well as new dungeons. Still not worth $40.00, this is worth $20.00 at best, $40.00 for the ultimate.
Thankfully I have other games that keep me busy and money is better spent on those.
@@nach4642 They aren't free though are they? maybe at point of entry but but to play it to a decent level you have to pay 3-4-500 dollars for currency tabs, say what you want but thats a lot of cash to play a 'Free' game
The price for this dlc to me is ridiculous for one new class.
And a new region, storyline, mercs, gameplay updates. But yeah, it's still too high.
If you're too broke to afford $40 for a game you play then don't pay for it
It's literally $40 for days and days and days of entertainment. That's one night out at the bar
@@jpb9857 I just like to get value for the money I spend...and when you look at cyberpunks dlc or witcher 3 expansions, that's great value for money.but prices for some of the dlcs being released are wayyy too high and then games companies are wondering why people aren't buying them or waiting for them to be discounted.
@@jpb9857or 6-7 hours of how long it takes to finish the campaign
Mortismal Gaming has become my go to person I trust for reviews of games I might like.
This is worth 20 dollars max.
What we get is pretty good, and the overall polish of the game has definitely improved. But you are right it is not worth $56 ( Canada ) .
@@khaterine-v5qits subjective but i think people lack perspective and do not realize the cinematics alone cost millions (each) to produce. Includes new class, region, story, raid, and game mechanics. Skins are overpriced but i think people who think this expansion is disproportionately priced are pretty unfair
It's worth -$20
@@Remcodmt then just dont do the cutscenes if theyre that expensive, we are the customer and we dont care how expensive x is. at the end of the day its a GAME which has to have decent GAMEPLAY. if it doesnt deliver on said GAMEPLAY it is not worth the money nor time.. id rather watch lotr and play tetris then
@@Remcodmt Considering you can buy full games at this price, no, I don't agree.
Thanks for saving me 40 clams. Subbed.
i played a druid in season 5 and playing a spiritborn now and honestly they do feel different enough to me
but also i agree with your comparisons they aren't *that* far apart. i think what makes the separation work in my case is that druids have shapeshifting and elemental magic and spiritborn have spirits and their animalistic attacks feel more magical.
also i didn't expect this expansion to lead to a full conclusion. they've said before they want to do multiple expansions so i'd expect each xpack story to lead into possible future developments and they have drawn this one out with the prime evils not being fully there from the beginning. but my primary interest is in endgame systems and replayability outside the campaign so i'm not quite the same audience, although i've been a fan of the Diablo series since the original D1 demo
My take on the review is:
The expansion is terribly overpriced and not worth buying until it gets a 50% discount.
The content is probably too short to deserve an expansion, since its story is only a stepping stone for a future expansion.
Blizzard made a whole mess of the skill and leveling systems, which they are still trying to organize, and someday, probably around the third expansion, it will be polished and worth playing, but not yet.
As usual the game looks beautiful and appealing, but the product is unfinished.
Unfortunately this is Blizzard, it will be a long time before it gets that deep of a discount :(
@@DewtehDew not really. since D4 came to steam it was on discount multiple times for 30-40% off. sure it won't be this year but much sooner than otherwise with it only being on Bnet.
Brother, I haven't even finished downloading it yet. And you are already 100% it...
some reviewers were given it way early, days if not weeks iirc
It's just a review, not a review after 100%.
There isn't really very much to it
I would have given the expansion a chance, but I refuse to play aRPGs which make raiding a vital part of the experience, all excitement I had for the expansion died when they announced raids would be coming to the game.
what did you want them to do when a significative segment of the player base was hammering them down with that request for months.
There's only one dungeon that requires 2 people, and I don't think it's essential.
It’s not essential at all
I was shocked the dev’s didn’t give players the Paladin class in this update/dlc. That feels like a big miss. My first thought was, “Don’t we already have a Druid?”
It's more like Monk TBH
Thanks for this man. Love listening to/watching your reviews. You speak well, and I appreciate that! 😁
I remember when gaming didnt need the internet.
The golden age of gaming, I miss it 🥲
Diablo could be argued as being a series that pioneered online gaming and has always been thought of as an online multiplayer game, at least since D2
I feel you. I go back to when gaming didn't require a graphics card or a math co-processor to play.
Gaming still dosn't Diablo is the exception.
Okay boomer
The problem for with the whole D4 + DLC is that there is absolutely ZERO original new idea added to the game. Everything is a re-hash of D3 including endgame mechanics, gems, runewords that are actually dumbed down, mercenaries that are dumbed down, rifts that are renamed to something else... Hell even the whole story and vibe/character of Neyrelle is a re-do of Leah character.
Adding a raid is new. Also there’s only so much you can add to an arpg. At the end of the day, all these games are killing things as quickly as possible and slot machine simulator for gear.
@@ekirro there's not "only so much" you can add.. look at Poe, they have endless amount of cool systems and keeps adding more. Sure it's all about loot but there are many ways to get that loot.
@@franchstar1 fair enough but not everyone wants that level of complexity or depth in a game. Also POE has years and years of built up iterations. It wouldn’t be realistic for any game let alone D4 to have that much at launch or even a year in. We’ll see how POE2 changes the formula.
@@marceelino lol what
I probably would have bought it for 20 no more than 30. But for 40 for what’s on offer just doesn’t feel right. I haven’t played since the first season. I’m sure the game has improved but something about it just makes me hesitate. Thanks for the review I feel safe skipping it until a deep discount or another expansion.
I think something I'm really struggling with is that the endgame isn't really compelling because I'm not interested in hours of out-of-game optimization and build reviewing. And if you completely ignore all the game guides Internet stuff, the endgame is basically closed-off to you unless you sit there and tediously figure it out yourself. But I'm also not exactly sure how they could change that. Maybe this simply isn't a franchise for me anymore.
i feel ya.
Still never got into endgame 😂
I prefered the souls way man.
Elden Ring was so awesome.
There is a lot of build variety too, but you can easily figure it out for yourself.
But in generel the builds are not hard and man the gameplay..
The gameplay is what matters most imo.
The new class for me really turn me off as it does not look to follow the gothic style of diablo in general in fact the reson they did not include a paladin class or similar type is still crazy to me and i am afraid they lose this for future content of the game.
I hope the put more content and end game stuff to the game and will maybe give it a purchase once the expansion is on sale.
I actually love the spiritborn. I love shaman classes, I love martial arts, it's perfect for me. But it's a little niche for sure. I was pleasantly surprised by the expansion so far, it just feels a lot better to play the game.
not getting my 40e for sure
Maybe maybe at discount but PoE2 will be live then
I hate that every 4-6 MOs my old gear is "obsolete".
I like to play old (seasonal) eternal characters to see how it holds up to current Meta. It wont be possible if they keep reworking itemization
Play guild wars 2.
Obsolete
you’re playing the wrong genre of game lol
@@balintkiss6778 I actually do. Hehe
@@trevorbye6965 I play ARPGs all the time. I haven't seen any Arpg overhaul/remade the game within 12mos.
They clearly lack vision and/or execution.
D4 is fun game but they can't keep reworking foundational features/mechanic
Thank you for the honest review, highly appreciated.
cant do the blizzard hampster wheel any more. but POE 2 is coming out soon, looks promising for the same itch but not the feeling of constant dissappointment.
None of this looks like it’s worth $40 IMO, gonna wait for a sale or skip
I really appreciate the fact that your take on this expansion was from the view of someone who plays eternal characters, exactly as I do. I might mess around with the seasons, I think I've played through 2 of them? But I enjoy taking my established character into the new content. We are rare unicorns, if you listen to some of the player base. I like some of the systems they introduced in Vessel of Hatred, but I thought the campaign content was rather poor. I played for a couple of weeks and I think I'm done for now.
Ive played a couple seasons myself, but wasnt wild about them
Well, hopefully in 2-3 years they'll have a complete version for $20 and I'll get it then. More likely in 2-3 years they'll close the servers and no one will be able to play it at all.
Always enjoy your videos.
Would be fun if they added an officer class similar to Rogue Trader, where you primarily buff mercenary companions for crazy combos.
There was a fun build like that that you could do with a Sorceress in Diablo 2.
It's funny you mentioned how you weren't too jazzed by the Spirit Born, but to me, it looks really cool. Not a fan of the Druid myself, so this is a cool way for me to have a class that feels in touch with nature and stuff.
The gameplay for the expansion with all of the new systems is really fun. However, don't buy the expansion just for the story. I finished it in about 5 hours (Edit 2: actually about 6 hours), and like Mortem said, its very underwhelming. Edit: I'm sure one could finish the expansion campaign faster if one wanted too. I wasn't trying to rush or anything like that.
It took me 20 hours with a new seasonal character, combined with all the purple quests. I don't know how you could do it in 5.
@@Monkeypuzzle I thought about it, and it actually took me around 6 hours (1 hour before work and then 5 hours after work yesterday). I used a new seasonal character (Spiritborn) as well.
I recruited all of the mercenaries, did one Realmwalker run, and finished the expansion campaign in about 6 hours (I didn't do the main campaign with Lilith. I skipped the main campaign and just jumped straight into the expansion story).
@@Monkeypuzzle How long it takes you to complete it and how much story it actually provides is not the same. You can watch the whole main story arc in the new xpac in ~2 hours (this includes cut scenes and MSQ npc dialogue). Running from point A to B is not worth including.
Is Diablo in this game yet?
A $40 expansion that sets up things to come. So glad I passed on D4.
They think they’re FromSoft
The only review I always look for
Regarding the Spiritborn, I feel like I've been able to combine defensive and offensive elements without taking me out of the class fantasy, like the druid does, where the offense generally lies in Werewolf and defense in Werebear, so I can't build an effective character focusing on just one form.
This is one of the reasons I gave a pass to Diablo 4 seeing as we are never going to get a complete game and the mechanics are subject to continual changes over time for as long as the game is being serviced. The other reasons is simply I did not like the open world setting and the activities seem mundane and exhausting. I know things have been changed quite a bit but ultimate the goal is the same which is to clear house to get better loot. Being an SP gamer, I like more plot elements and progression long with the side quests which is not what this game is designed for. If they ever come out with a complete version towards the end of the game's cycle with all the DLCs included I would be interested in grabbing it to experience the story.
Nobody cares what you like bro. Sad but the truth
Absolutely don’t like the new direction a lot of DLCs are going in where they’re part of a greater experience, especially when they’re this expensive. Much prefer when they’re standalone complete stories so you can pick and choose which you want, instead of having to buy it all 😔
Really 40 dollars nowadays is expensive? Looking at food/rent/subscriptions fees it feels like nothing and here people are complaining about 4hrs of work on minimal wage and effort
@@Dar1usz yea, everything else costs more. Therefore I have less to spend on games and less likely to spend on expansions with less content.
I recently picked up the base game on sale because I enjoyed the previous ones (atleast once they took the Auction House out of D3), but I am not finding the games compelling enough to play very much.
Better way to understand Spiritborn identity in contrast to Druids is that they're Diablo's equivalent of Warcraft Shamans.
Shamans mixed with a monk.
My big problem with Spiritborn is that it plays like a monk, but looks like a druid. Monk is my favorite class in D3 and I have to say I enjoy the playstyle of the Spiritborn in D4, but the visuals remind me too much of the druid and so the class feels less of its own thing.
Play Grim Dawn instead guys 🙂
I wonder how the 'Reach Level 100' achievement/trophy is handled now? I already unlocked it, but I'm curious for other since it was such a grind.
everyone: we want paladin!
blizzard: druid v2 it is
Or a D3 jungle monk, just in Green
Yeah it's a Monk, you can tell by how hard they refuse to mention the Monk officially.
It's really not anything like the druid except in the animal spirit theming. Gameplay-wise, it's very much like the D3 Monk.
Bought the base game since that went on sale. Will wait till the expansions go on sale, too
The Diablo 2 expansion feels like an expansion with tons of contents.
I am bit disappointed regarding story. Overall quality went down (compared to vanilla) and none of the main plot lines get resolved. Expansion cinematic and some of item description "leaks" prior launch (if you know, you know, if not, l am not going to spoil it for you) were misleading. So, now what, we are going to wait another 2+years and hope we will get some sort of conclusion to story?
Thanks for the video. At this point, the price tag doesn't surprise me. There's clearly a market for a game like this, so you'd think that Sony, or another dev would try to capitalize on it. There's been a few AA titles, but I don't count those. Onward to 400k. All glory to the algorithm.
It looks like even with the price and long standing issues, this is a good and fun expansion. Is that something you could say? For some people is about that mostly.
I love seasonal content, like Path of Exile or Last Epoch, the difference is that both of them you don't have to keep paying to enjoy the expansions.
This new expansion is priced at exactly what i paid for the full Diablo 4 game (got a 50% discount). It's double what i paid for Last Epoch, when you put the price/enjoyment into perspective, just doesn't scream like its worth the price point.
Might get it in the future for a heavy discount, but i'm not holding my breath.
Essentially it isn't worth the price tag for me. The two things that stand out after I pay for it are: my characters get downgraded immediately and the story feels incomplete.
Still can’t get over how aggressive micro transactions are in this $60 game
I get why, but I'm a little disappointed they basically went back the the level and difficulty progression of D3. The world tier concept seemed fresh, and having a true max on stats made building your character feel more like a puzzle. Maybe the actual playing of it feels better though.
I REALLY need some help. I'm going to burst a vessel of blood - after paying about 85 USD (yeah probably dumb) to get the top tier upgrade, as soon as I install it, I can no longer play it fullscreen - just 'windowed' or 'windowed fullscreen' - I've tried everything I can think of & online searches just result in older versions of the game with fixes that are not relevant to this DLC/present day.
If anyone has any ideas, I would really bloody appreciate it 💚🙏
Honestly sounds like I'll be waiting for a complete series pack before I get this game. Getting a half baked game is just weird
Imagine how good the final game will be once ALL the dlc is complete… 😅
Personally, I really enjoyed D4 but I only played it casually, completed the campaign, did some of the season of blood quests to get some of the vampiric abilities and then I put it down until a proper expansion debuted. I will admit that the base game had a ton of odd choices that I think hindered the enjoyment of hardcore players. I’m not sure why they didn’t just make an “easy / casual” mode for players like myself and then altered the math and stats for the hardcore audience at higher difficulties / world tiers. This kind of game can seamlessly accommodate both players without compromise.
I think the Vessel of Hatred dlc seems cool but not worth the price point since Im just a causal player. Eventually I’ll jump back in once more dlc comes out bundled together.
Nice review.
I haven't finished the expansion so I'll come back later.
Just dropping my like and comment because I do like your work!
Lord of Destruction was the high-point. All down hill since then.
For 40 bucks I expect something on the level of Shadow of the Erdtree, not a stepping stone to sell future content. Not that I would have played it if it was free, still, the price is ridiculous.
Just wondering if it's even worth returning without purchasing the DLC
I bought Ravenswatch recently as a steam deck user, and it's taken all my excitement from Diablo.
Will wait for a sale before picking it up. Thank God you can still do season content without it. Yeah Realmwalkers are kinda 'eh' but the fact that the new skills and leveling systems aren't locked to the expansion either is pretty nice.
Plus I just watched the story on YT anyways so now all I have to look forward to is a new class and Dark Citadel and those can wait until this expansion is in the $20-$25 range.
We've found that shoehorning the new season start in with the exp has diluted both to some extent. Haven't even had a chance to do half of the season mechanics and only a fraction of exp (we're only just going on lvl 30). Hopefully we finish this 'half' campaign shortly & can do the other stuff we actually enjoy through to 60 and beyond, as we're really not feelin it with the story, for whatever reasons. SB is pretty cool and very OP, no surprise there (Blizzard trying to force competitive players to buy the exp 🙄)
Hey Mortismal, whats the intro soundtrack you are always using? Is it from pillars of eternity? I know ive heard it somewhere before...
Made for the channel but meant to sound like pillars yeah. You can't just pull music from things to use in videos without permission, good way to get a channel shut down.
The story can be described best as, “this game is going to go on indefinitely so we’re tossing you some bread crumbs”.
I don’t even have a problem with it. It was minimal and a part of me likes that.
The skill tree feels less consequential now because I felt like I had more than enough points to get everything I wanted.
I like the expansion. Added ton of stuff to the game. People won't like it because of 40$ price tag. Should've been around 25-30
It’s worth $40 for me. All the added content will keep me busy for a long time.
Hello guys! Can someone explain to me now when I have installed diablo 4 vessel of hatred but i would like to start playing from the beginning of diablo 4 sanctiary but it throws me directly to quests from diablo vesel of hatred can someone help me thank you
I’ll wait for POE 2.
Being a game as a service, Diablo is not a game I would play, despite having appealing mechanics and graphics. Great video, hugs
Good review, however I personally am enjoying the expansion. I don’t play arpgs for the story so can’t comment there - but the new class, new activities, and qol changes are great. Is it worth $40? That’s probably an individual persons opinion and can’t really say
I hope they’ve got the little guys that make the funny sounds… That’s probably to me. One of the most iconic sounds of the Diablo series. If I think of D2… I think of their little death sound.
This looks pretty good… I’m probably going to pick it up fairly soon. Since I have such a deep backlog… I just can’t buy a game and play it when it first launches… Especially a game like Diablo that most likely has lots of login issues early on. I so badly wish they had an off-line mode.
Thank you for the review! I think the cost is too much for what it is. Hopefully it’ll be $20 on Christmas break.
Does anyone know how we get or pay for this expansion if you're on standard PC Gamepass. I can't see it listed in store. Don't want to buy the bundle from Blizzard as it's currently £60.
I came back to the game after playing my fill of it during season 2 & I am enjoying the game. I am not fussed about the Spiritborn, like Mortismal said if I want to play an animal spirit user I will just play Druid. I personally was also hoping for them to bring back the Crusader class, which was my favourite from Diablo 3, so was disappointed on that front. I haven't finished the Story for the expansion yet, but it seems to be fairly meh so far.
I am enjoying all of the gameplay enhancements like the Diablo 3 style companions & the overhaul to crafting, levelling and loot though. That being said, I am still utterly disgusted with their massive overcharging for bloody skins... I saw they released a cool Lich King skin for the Necromancer, who is my main class. The skin and the Lich King's mount Invincible look really cool, but $25 each is taking the p*ss & anyone willing to buy that ether is wealthy enough not to care about wasting money on vastly overpriced digital cosmetics, or if not they are not very smart with their money...
are you gonna cover the last DLC for Remnant 2 ?
No, it wound up being very small even compared to the other 2
@@MortismalGaming fair enough ^^
I’m just going to buy Silent Hill 2 and wait for a sale on this. Maybe black Friday
It's ok. Path of Exile 2 is coming soon.
Maybe they should add a thief class.
They finally have updated D4 with all the good stuff from D3
It’s still no D2, but can’t wait to play VoH tomorrow
D2 was amazing for its time. It would not hold up in today's gaming market. D2R was an updated nostalgia trip.
Gonna wait for the game of the year edition, which will include everything for $40
I’ll just wait until the next expansion pack, like with Rogue Trader.
Will wait for the GOTYDeluxeComplete Edition then.
I used to love Diablo. But as a solo player (I loathe multiplayer) this diablo and its dlc is not for me. Im no longer the target audience
I'm the same but I really enjoyed this one. I'd say that if you have Game Pass it's worth a download just to run through the campaign. I've cycled off it now because I'm not so interested in multiplayer end game stuff but the campaign was solid.
Story line review only:
I almost stopped playing when the knight burned the bound prisoner alive. That is a bad way to go.
Then the character turned it's back on the knight, a known enemy, at the bridge and got stabbed through and through.
.
Seriously? How effing stupid is the character? To turn it's back on a ARMED enemy?
Just got to the resurrection scene.
Not sure I will keep playing.
It is one thing to give the player a choice that leads to destruction, but to have it locked in with cut scenes?
That's poor story telling.
There is enough stupidity in the world without forcing us to be stupid.
.
Planet Crafter released a new DLC.
Think I will cool my heels playing that for a while.
Hooo, 40 bucks just for this seems like really hard sell.
Seriously hate the seasonal system where all my character' equipments' stats get trashed down so badly. What's the point in playing then? It's so stupid.
This is how it's been since Diablo 2 and is also how many other ARPGs work.
You play a new character each season to try out new builds. If you don't want to do that, nothing is stopping you from playing a non-seasonal character. Nothing gets trashed or removed.
I totally agree, they could have a least let masterworked gear be 750-800 to recognize the time and effort spent. 540 for everything is a sick joke.
When you can get the same exp from aa decade old game for free, I mean who is buying this?
I think Spiritborn is probably replacing the Monk class from Diablo III. Which means that one most likely wont come back.
FUN FACT: citadel doesn't work for console local coop players 😢
People are complaining about not being to kill/fight Mephisto in the first expansion, did you think it would be that easy? He rivals Diablo as THE Prime Evil and hes always 10 steps ahead of you.
I could kill Mephisto and Diablo in the D2 and it was neither easy or short.
I could have done without legacy gear seems like destiny 2 were u had to grind for light every session made the game just a choir to play and kinda a slap in the face to players that put in the time and effort to get the gear and haven't finished master work and tempering it.2 I feel the world tier system was slightly better as now torment is locked behind pit tiers personally I find pit a choir to do as I don't feel u are rewarded good enough for the time and effort.3 performance issues i understand that older consoles kinda get pushed out the new update makes doing stuff outside dungeons sometimes in them almost un playable I understand that not everyone will have this issue there are still a lot of players that still play on older consoles that could also having this problem as well 4 well the new season dose add much needed updates and content the above issues are why unfortunately Diablo devs I feel are going in the wrong direction I'm not gonna say much about the absurd microtransactions and the the ridiculous amount that thay got from them just saying I feel we as the players lost this season and season 5 was better
RANDOM GAME ALERT:
id love for you to cover "Siralim ultimate "
I've enjoyed diablo and this expansion does look interesting its just a bit too pricey for me. I'll continue to play the main game for now, maybe when the next expansion comes around there'll be a sale
I think I'll just stick with indie titles for ARPGs. At least stuff like Slormancer isn't stuck in the past.
hey! can you do a check out video for: Guild Saga: Vanished Worlds? it feels a bit like divinity original sin
I made a video on it a while back, idk if I'll have time for it right now otherwise
@@MortismalGaming Oh, I hadn't noticed, I'll check that one then, thanks!
I was very annoyed about the ending considering the $40 price tag. Cool I paid for a cliffhanger to what will probably be a much better DLC
Fourth Diablo TH-cam Jazz 🎶
already 100%? insanity.
To expensive, I didn't bought it, sadly if you dont buy it, you are quite close to ethernal even if you start season.
About their skin prices no comment, maybe their research told them that they will get more money if keep prices so high insted of 3-4$ and sell lots.