Diablo 4's endgame may look like an MMO (open in new tab), but it won't reflect the genre's endless power-ups or betray the series' history as an action-RPG, Blizzard says.

During development, the team kept asking themselves where to draw the line between "Diablo 4" being an MMO or an action RPG.

"The answer is that Diablo 4 is first and foremost an action RPG," said associate game director Joe Piepiora in a group interview with PC Gamer. It's a game about crawling through dungeons, slaying monsters, killing monsters, and collecting loot."

The open world and the ability for other players to show up together to help with world events and world bosses is meant to make Sanctuary feel bigger, not like a group activity in an MMO.

"In Diablo, everyone is like a damage dealer.

"The fantasy of playing a Diablo game is often to build a really overpowered build and at some point you're going to blow up a screen full of monsters and have that kind of experience. We want to make sure that element is kept. We don't want to have to worry about trying to create a coordinated set of balances where multiple players in a party have to work together in a very specific way.

After completing the Diablo 4 storyline, you will be presented with many reasons to return to some of the older dungeons and maps to get better equipment. There are nightmare dungeons with unique challenges, bounties to accomplish, and open world PvP zones.

As you reach the game's level 100 cap, you earn paragon points, which can be used to increase various stats on a giant board. Compared to Diablo 3's nearly infinite paragon point system, Diablo 4 limits the number that can be earned.

All of this sounds like an MMO, and it doesn't sound like Blizzard claims not to have borrowed from the genre, but Diablo 4 backs down from being an endless grind.

"One thing I want to make clear is that we are not trying to create a situation where players feel they have to play forever," Piepiora said. We want players who play Diablo 4 to enjoy the experience for as long as they're playing the game."

"We want them to reach a certain point when they reach level 100, when they have 220 paragon points in play, when they have all the skill points they have assigned to their character, when they have all the Legendary and Unique items, and when they can just configure the board the way they want it. We want them to reach a certain point where they have all the skill points they have assigned to their characters, and they have all the legendary and unique items they have assigned to their characters.

You can rotate the paragon board, choose nodes that suit your build, and add glyphs that you can find in the open world to power up the surrounding nodes. The idea is to take on more difficult challenges and perhaps move the point along as the meta changes.

Diablo 4 has seasons, just like its predecessor (open in new tab), and each season you start a new character and level up from 1 to 100 each time. By participating in the activities in the video at the end of the season and completing the "Seasonal Journey" goals, players can earn Battle Pass progress through "favors." Battle passes include free tracks with XP boosts for all players, etc., and premium tracks with cosmetic rewards.

"Right now, the Battle Pass is worth roughly 80 hours of time invested in completing the entire Battle Pass, when you factor in completing the Season Journey and playing other content in the game. Getting a character to level 100 may take a little longer than that, depending on how you play," says Piepiora.

He said that players will likely finish Battle Pass before reaching the maximum level in each season, which follows the broader philosophy that players get what they want out of the game and move on if they want.

Story-driven players who are not interested in the endgame can skip the endgame and come back when there is a story update or they are interested in something else, Piepiora said. But I'm not trying to say that the only way to play Diablo 4 is to get into the endgame and get to level 100 with every character you've ever created," he said.

Diablo 4 will be released on June 6. But if you're impatient, you can use this tool based on the game's recent beta to plan your build now (opens in new tab).

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