Blizzard's latest update to Diablo 4 takes a closer look at the game's skill and talent system, which has undergone "major changes" based on playtesting and community feedback.According to Blizzard, the current progression of the skill system "felt too simplistic and created problems that made it pointless for players to spend skill points," so they set out to develop a new system that separated skills from passives.

The Sorceress skill tree, for example, is literally a tree, with skills and skill upgrades at nodes along the branches, which are where characters spend the skill points they gain as they level up. Also unlocked here are passive points that can be used for "powerful passive effects" at the roots of the tree. (You can see some of the nodes in more detail in the gallery further down.)

"The skill tree shown above consists of many specific nodes." Imagine that every node on that massive skill tree affects different skills in different ways, and which path you choose will determine a major power increase and play style choice."

Blizzard also noted that players will not be able to get every node in the skill tree: currently, the goal is to have 30-40 percent of the nodes available for endgame characters, "so that players . to be able to create characters in very unique and different ways."

Legendary items also appear to be undergoing significant changes. This is because currently, a character's power is too dependent on the items they have equipped, not their build. Blizzard stated, "We've also had very mixed team feedback on the itemization of the core. We're currently looking at the best way to differentiate the quality of our various items." For example, should magic quality items have a higher affix status than rare items? More details on this are expected to be revealed in the next update.

The update also introduces a Sorceress enchantment system similar to the Barbarian arsenal system.

"Our main goal is to have very unique class-specific mechanics in Diablo IV. We have this goal because 'Diablo' is a game where many players will experiment with different builds and classes. We believe that unique class mechanics, with their very different strengths and playstyles from other classes, will make exploring different classes and playing the game more fun."

Finally, there is a brief note on the end-game progression of Diablo 4, but a proper look at it will not be ready for some time yet.

"This system is intended to provide more depth and replayability than what Paragon currently offers in Diablo 3. We and many Blizzard gamers have talked about the concept of "easy to learn, hard to master." We believe that the late-game progression system is where the hard-to-master elements come in and should meet the expectations of the most hardcore 'Diablo' players."

None of this is carved in stone, as Diablo 4 is still "actively in development" and Blizzard is soliciting feedback and "constructive discussion" about the update on forums, Reddit and social media. And since I know you're interested, sorry, no hint yet about a release date.