Diablo IV: Vessel of Hatred Spiel

by Rian

Diablo IV has a tall order to meet as a fourth installment in the franchise. Blizzard has added, removed, or changed some bits and that since 1996, but as a sequel to a 28 years old franchise, the game cannot offer new ideas without radical departure. Vessel of Hatred has even taller order, as an expansion to an existing game, the expansion is expected to have something new, perhaps little changes, and nothing removed.

As the game is aiming for sobering apocalyptic horror then its predecessor, Diablo 3, which played out to be the story of a superhero more or less, we are greeted, yet again, with normal people with normal capabilities —mind you, you are not part of “normal” clan. The single biggest dissonance between the characters inhabiting the sanctuary and us is that normalcy. Characters chanting in unison are normal, but we don’t know so it is annoying and maddening to us. Characters ignoring the end of the world are normal, but we don’t so we appear mad to them. The game doesn’t introduce itself, introduce normalcy to us to be part of. And this imbalance is forced on players to carry the story forward.

The gameplay in Diablo IV since the release of the expansion is nothing short of a disaster. I had to restart the same quests multiple times as the quest would soft lock: either the point in interest to finish a quest hasn’t spawned, or an event wouldn’t trigger to progress further. In one of the earlier quests where the wanderer is tasked to search for an individual, the evidence I was supposed to find simply didn’t spawn, thereby soft-locking from finishing the quest. And the VoH is filled with search quests.

Vessel of Hatred does examine other avenues, but the limitation the franchise imposes seems far too great. In one of the quests, we are asked to stay near the NPC while he is holding a light, in A Plague Tale fashion. Not only what the quest asks of us is unclear, —leaving the light wouldn’t outright kill you— staying within the light could very well result in opposite. In higher difficulty, coupled with troubled servers, monsters with AoE will instantly melt the wanderer inside the protection. It was better to leave the NPC, who is pleading me not to leave the light, kill the monsters spraying AoE, and return to wailing old friend. Some of the new explorative mechanics either don’t work with isometric ARPG, or don’t sit well with the new mature atmosphere Diablo 4 is aiming.

When it comes to balancing the elite or boss encounters, Vessel of Hatred seems to lack the middle ground. On Normal difficulty, which is the easiest and intended difficulty for the game, it didn’t take long for my character’s abilities to create a chain reaction that will wipe the floor within seconds. Whereas on Penitent difficulty, which was what I played on previously, I often could not make out which lethal projectile hit me to begin with. Coming from the base game, I assume the problem was exacerbated by the server troubles.

Conclusions: Need Servers and Stories

Vessel of Hatred is filled with new attempts to refresh the old franchise. Though not all formulas were entirely new from the eyes of the gaming world, but they were attempts nonetheless. The evils of the Burning Hells make conniving, yet practical threats against the humanity in sanctuary. Ultimately, what broke the Vessel of Hatred is none other than the Blizzard servers and lack of progression in story. Server troubles are universal to the point I cannot fathom how much of the experience I had was truly intended. On those rocky foundations, the expansion doesn’t build much else other than what was stated already.