Diablo 4is officially in development at Blizzard and fans are very much excited to find out every detail about the upcoming ARPG. While Blizzard’s keeping quiet about most ofDiablo 4’s planned content, it has opened up about several of the game’s playable classes.Diablo 4will have five different playable classes, but for now only three of them are confirmed. Returning inDiablo 4will be the Barbarian, the Sorcerer, and the Druid. But surprisingly, one of those classes almost didn’t make the cut.
Speaking during the BlizzCon 2019 panel forDiablo 4, game director Luis Barriga revealed that the Druid initially didn’t make the cut. When theDiablo 4development team initially made aline-up of classesthat it planned to work on, the Druid wasn’t included in the conversation. That quickly changed, however, as Barriga says that a single piece of concept art from an unnamed artist changed the team’s mind. “We went to … ‘No, we’re making a Druid 100% starting tomorrow. Right now, " after seeing the piece of art.
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While the piece of art in question wasn’t directly pointed out, Blizzard did share someDruidconcept art. One piece of art showed the Druid in three different sets of gear, themed after natural elements. One set featured gear covered in feathers, with a beaked mask. A second featured a fanged predator’s skull as a mask, armor lined with horns, claws, and teeth. The third featured gnarled branches spread across forearms, shoulders, and head, like the armor was grown. It’s easy to see why Blizzard grew immediately enamored with the class concept.
Ultimately theDiablo 4Druid is a completely new design compared to itsDiablo 2: Lord of Destructionpredecessor. WhileDiablo 4’s design is clearly heavily inspired by the original twoDiablogames, when it comes to gameplay the team at Blizzard isn’t holding itself back with legacy gameplay design. The new Druid will focus on quick shapeshifting between forms, as well as a mix of lightning and wind abilities.
Blizzard is in that exciting and precarious position where every decision with regards toDiablo 4could end up being highly anticipated by fans while being frustrating to others. That’s the burden of adding on to such a popular franchise. Instead of the Druid, Blizzard could easily have opted for a more popular legacy class like the Amazon or Necromancer. The Druid isn’t anywhere near as demanded. To have an artist create something unique and special, and to decide to run with it and make it work, is a risk, but it’s an important risk to take, too.Diablo 4can’t just be halfDiablo 2andhalfDiablo 3. It has to be something more.
Diablo 4is in development for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
