I Played Diablo 4 Beta.. My HONEST Thoughts

Asmongold is the only streamer that can talk about computer games whilst sitting in a treehouse, and everything completely makes sense.

I love all the insight and worries you bring to the table.

This will be my first Diablo game. I had a lot of fun playing the beta, and I'm interested in how the story plays out. That cutscene with the priest was so brutal and one of the sidequests shocked me - the man who runs off into the forest with a woman and you help his wife (I think?) find him and when you do, oh boy was that something 😅 I want more quests like those. I'm looking forward to the release, though!

We need more original content like this. No drama bait, just genuine takes.

This was so nice and entertaining.. easy to understand. I can't wait to play and watch the playthrough. Loved seeing you outside, you seemed relaxed and natural. Thanks so much.

Fella, I love content like this. I know your more dramatic Twitch react content is your bread and butter, and I can see your critical process mixed in with some of the edgy-energy. Stuff like this is way more my wavelength for what it's worth. Way more human. Way more relatable.

I love this straightforward, earnest, spoilerfree take. Exactly what I was looking for. Thanks Asmongold.

I played a rogue and my original intention was to make him melee but I picked up a bow and started shooting stuff and had more fun with a range melee hybrid (mostly range) build. I felt my character get more and more powerful each time I got an item. It was a great experience!

I've never seen a video of him not joking or not being super hyper. I know that's the charecter he's created for Clip-Share. But how clean and straightforward this video was I'd watch more of his content.

I enjoy this video format. It's like tea time with Asmongold. All in one take. More of this please, and thanks for the info.

Awesome video. Thanks for your honest, unbiased, spoiler free opinions. We need more content like is on Clip-Share.

Thank you :) I really appreciate your videos and honest take on things. I had fun playing sorc (x2) for 4 days, and ridiculous amount laughter on my poison rain rouge playing with friends. Hope that end game gives us enough variety to keep it interesting.

Love those birds chirping in the back, so calming. Also Asmon just explaining everything in a very realistic way, kind of hits all right spots.

Well said! I hope the devs do take into consideration the experiences of the beta and fine tune things accordingly. I feel the game has potential, cant wait for release.

Off of my general experience on barb in the beta. Some of the legendary effects I got were alone not super cool, but when combined with like two or three it didn't just raise my damage by a nice margin, but it absolutely spiked because of how well they meshed together.

It's always good to watch Asmon's thoughts about games. For me D4 have been a fun experience, I enjoyed the game so far. Next weekend I'll try to play with some friends and see how it works with a party. I think the D4 beta is a solid 8 so far, hope the definitive version keep the rhythm with a improvement to the dungeons.

I agree with pretty much all of your insights here. I too am concerned that the level of customization, build specialization, and that sense of a accomplishment of progressing toward a build's end-state may be lacking or short-lived. I would probably still come back and do seasons, even if it did wind up that way, but instead of doing 2 weeks+ of season play, it would likely be more like a single weekend.

I think as far as the longevity I think it comes down to how they do GRs. They have an option to basically make it Diablo's m+ and do a lot of interesting things. As those leaderboards were a lot of the reasons friends or I continued on D3 as long as we did.

I like the outdoors talk video setting. It's very nice and relaxing. Keep up the great videos, gaming, and reaction videos. You really brighten my days. I can't wait to see more upcoming mmo videos. Keep the good vibes going.🙂P.S. not a Diablo player, but I enjoy watching you play it. 8.5/10 seems perfectly accurate to me.

Agreed on your review, I am new too the Diablo series and I will say it was challenging but doable to understand the game, with some help from seasoned players. But I did have a tremendous amount of fun grinding and upgrading the character, definitely looking forward to this next weekend and the eventual release.

This was my favorite Asmongold video. Agree with everything he had to say except I'm more hopeful and positive about the end game. I feel like they are taking a lot of notes on what doesn't work in D3 and what is great about POE. Enjoyed the beta, excited to dive back in this weekend too.

The Lunge Core skill for the Barbarian fixes the running after mobs. I played all 3 classes, maxed 2 (full legendaries), Barb to 18. Found all of them to be great in their own way including Barb. Lunge/Upheaval/Thorns Barb was really fun.

I actually enjoyed that the legends I found made me stronger but only slightly. They made an ability easier to use or synergize with another skill without making my character a god. I know I’m probably in the minority but I actually liked how the game scaled to where it was never necessarily brain dead play. Things could always kill you if you didn’t pay attention.

I am hoping the difficulty settings for D4 will help a lot with allowing more casual gameplay and the higher difficulties will allow those who are looking for a challenge to be challenged.

Can we take a moment to appreciate that this video was done in a single take. Well done sir.

Really well thought out take on Diablo 4 and ARPGs as a whole right now. Easily my favorite form of your content.

Never played a game like this before and am very excited to be giving this a try. Being overwhelmed with a feeling of progress is exciting.

Imagine Asmongold’s parents watching him go outside, climb his tree house and start talking to himself

I always hope that the next Diablo captions that same high moment when a high rune drops for you or you roll a perfect anni or torch. However even if that’s not captured in d4 I’m feeling optimistic about the initial gaming experience. Maybe not so much the replay value but just have to wait and see if they do the necromancer dirty.

I've been trying to think what the dungeons were missing since they all feel the same with a different type of lock before the last boss. i think they should have 1-2 dungeons on every main map act area (additional to the ones already available) which are designed as an wow/ff dungeon. multiple bosses with trash and mini bosses between the main bosses and unique environment(not just the theme (they do this one good tho) but the traversal of the map and unique stop gaps to be able to proceed further ) and story in them that is linked to the main or a bigger side quest story. ff14 ties in dungeons to the main story which is very nice and would fit in good in diablo. Maybe they have this in higher levels? But nothing in the beta at least.

I love watching this type of content from you. It is much different from your gaming videos. You're so much calmer. LOL. Not that I don't love your other content, but these are my favorite.

I love all the insight and worries you bring to the table. I 100% agree. Im a newer to the Diablo fanchise and my wife and I started with Diablo immortal and can see a lot of similarities to immortal in the beta and I really hope they fixed a lot of the flawed systems that were in immortal cause then I think it will make the game real fun. PvP is another thing that if they nail it it will bring something new that can be built out in end game content. Also a robust clan system with open world features like fighting a world boss with all clan mates etc.

It's nice to see him take a sit down review it outside that is handled and articulated with such care.
He even showered, got dressed, put his hair up, and touched grass. I'm proud of you lol. I'm just kidding I love you man keep up they great vids and streams.

Wow - tightened up the look - works for ya.
Your dissertation on D4 sounds about spot on to me; D4 is definitely trying to manage the middle of the road and that's most definitely a valid approach, but in the future maybe a custom build system could be employed allowing players to choose the cookie cutter leveling system or an instance where they can opt to apply skill points; etc. manually employing a system like Baldur's Gate where yyou click a button to auto apply skill points based on the character arch type.
Good vid btw.

I freaking love the way he's just being mature and talk about exactly what he things and what he likes or don't like. Was going to play anyways. Still love to watch his reaction.

I´m really excited for D4. I love the darker tone and I expect not much but hundreds hours of fun.
I don´t care about unbalanced things or seasons or any such crap.
I just wanna have a good time with my sorceress.

The gauntlet comparison was great. As an older gamer, that's basically what I've been looking for. Warhammer and D&D (and MERP) was a huge part of my life in my teens and I hope this game hits those notes.

Just wanted to touch on what kept me playing Diablo 2 for so long.
Building gear sets for different viable builds and reaching new attack speed/cast rate/hit recovery breakpoints for those builds. Hunting down items myself and also stumbling across trades. While hunting items I’d always have my eyes peeled for that proper rolled rare that would slot into one of my many specific PvP builds.
Dueling and trading were great pass times in D2.
Creating flashy looking cosmetic sets that were also PvP viable was awesome too.
PK in style..
Hopefully some or any of this stuff exists in D4

Great analysis, Kripparian also dives into the technicalities and issues he had with it. I personally loved the world and soundtrack. Story has been very good so far as well. The towns feel alive too.

Asmond is so well spoken and this review is 100x better than almost any scripted review out there.

I had no idea Zack played games
He really is a man of many talents

I havent played the beta as of yet (playing the second round) however this is one of the best "real talk" videos on a game impression Ive ever seen. Hats off to you! Amazing job. One comment i had was, while watching the opening tutorial of the beta, i get a very strong dungeon siege vibe.... not sure if anyone else feels the same, but its basically all i can see when i watch the opening of the game.

I love your honest and openly insightful takes. We need more of this in the community.

Love the nuanced analysis. More of this 🔥

Hey Zach, got a nostalgia kick the other day playing Realm of the Mad God on Steam based on a buddy's recommendation when I was bored. You might want to give it a look in your down time, especially if you enjoy bullet hell. This was a good overview of D4. After immortal's monetization fiasco I've been having a hard time getting excited about the next Diablo but I'll check out the open beta. Thanks!

Asmon is just an all around great dude. Not many people in his position are this down to earth.

Funny how you went from melee to ranged and had more fun, for me it was the opposite I always start with sorc or some sort of mage but when I tried barb I had way more fun.

First of all, well done on a single take, beautiful review of Asmongold, it's a real pleasure to listen..
Diablo 4's story seems compelling, especially with cutscenes, so that might make it worth a try, it's fun enough and animations, combat are nicely done. But the game feels way too predictive, it's too easy. I have played enough Diablo Immortal to know that diablo 4 is based on it, or rather the other way around, and that one is more of a brainless effort. Although music and environments are really nice, they have tried to make them more impactful, so you would feel more constricted, kind of like in diablo 1. But somehow even though Diablo 1 was way simpler, in terms of skills and customizations, it was still a much harder game, it sent shivers down your spine and was much more interesting. One thing that developers do in the newer games is, they provide you with all the ease, you can't REALLY learn from your own mistakes, I mean, one thing with bosses they could have done is, remove the circles where the boss will impact, and have another detail that you would notice, because you became more mindful with actually being hit. So much of diablo 4 is still automatism, except fighting a bear in the woods, because it hits hard, and because it hits hard you will absolutely make an effort to be more careful, oh yeah, one more thing.. health and health potions, you start with 4 and as you use them they are dropped with the mobs you kill, so very easy to stay on top health and most of the time you will have and keep 4, just like it is in diablo immortal, I had really wished they learned from their collective past, all the way down to Blizzard in its infancy, but unless the game expands beyond beta, I seriously doubt it will keep people and attract the true fans or veterans of the franchise.

Game is great so far. My only issue was the world boss. The fight was amazing, but the fight depended on the level and number of people participating. The butcher was terrifying, I never could kill it as a Rouge. I wonder how a majority of people dealt with it. Like Asmon said, I am worried about the end game. Also I wonder how PVP will be. I can imagine doing a hard-core run then getting jumped by another player ending it all.

This is probably the best Asmongold video I have ever seen. Honest gamer-to-gamer opinion. Love it!

Diablo 4 has my favorite story so far and that’s what I’m here for

I like when he does personal reviews and takes outside its refreshing and pretty sincere in a take.

Love the setting in which you're reviewing the game here. Keep up the good work.

I am also wondering what the endgame is actually gonna look like. Only doing rifts is not gonna cut it and keep players engaged in this game for a long time. They need more.
I also want some sort of index for all the characters in the game lol. It would be cool to have something IN GAME, rather than having to go to a wiki website...

I think it stands alone as its own game but it has lots of good D2 feels to it. D4 is more of the 3rd game the franchise series and D3 is a stand alone. I really liked it.

As someone who played a Barbarian... I felt like I was too slow.. I know while I was playing, I definitely kept an eye out for stuff that made me faster.
Also wasn't until level 21 that I realized theirs a stat to upgrade your basic speed...
Also when it came to "upgraded weapons"... I didn't feel like I got a lot of bang for my buck...
Anyways, interesting to have your perspective on things.

Last Epoch is perfect example of complexity sweet spot. You can literally make work anything you want/you liked. No need to check if everything is done exactly as in your POB, but also you can't just wear and build random shit, you have to read your skills, stats, use ingame guide.

You are the man when it comes to game reviews on RPGs. Glad you got out of the attic and into the treehouse!

nice review by asmon, i agree too with the end game stuff. I hope there are allot of cool bosses to farm for legendary gear that's hard to get or something.

Looking like Asmon is quite happy here! Great to see ❤

So here's just an idea. One thing completely missing from all these games is skill combos. Just as an example, what if you dropped a meteor into a blizzard and it turned the blizzard into a fire storm or the blizzard turns the meteor into an icy comet. Or maybe you could detonate your ball lightning with chain lightning or fireball. Maybe you could use an attack while leaping as barb to make it do more. Or have druid spells do different stuff WHILE transformed. I think there's a huge opportunity here.

When it comes to itemization, I think the problem you experienced with gear just feeling like a number bump is the frantic gear pacing and item drop scaling. Within every level I played, I replaced almost every piece of gear I got. Some pieces twice. There are no highs and lows when it comes to leveling and feeling strong or weak based on how long its been since you upgraded. Feeling undergeared and struggling through content makes the highs of finding a huge upgrade that much better. There are no peaks and valleys, frustration and catharsis, or any sort of contrast when it comes to gear. And that's what kills me about D4.

I liked the story and gameplay in D4 a lot more than previous games. D1 & 2 will always be my favorites since I've played them for over 20 years, but when I was playing the beta, wow, I was really drawn in to how great it was. The sorcerer was by far my favorite class, that might be biased since I've always played that class in every game, but I found it much more fun that Barb and Rogue.

Not an Asmongold watcher but this is a very great video. Well thought out well said. Fair enough that it doesn't have to be so complex but ultimately it will disappointing for me that after such a long time you get a game with no replayability where enemies scale with you so there is never any relative advantage or sense of progress (zones too hard, zones that become easy).

This is the 1st video of you that I do not immediately hate you. Your well spoken and not goofy. Honest and relaxed. No major bias. Honest. Thanks

Awesome review , from an old 41 gamer it kinda gave me the chills that i had when i played the 1st Diablo , at the age of 13 , i am super hyped about this game , and i do hope that the end game wont be like D3 !!!

I loved playing D3 until the endgame. I even pushed GRs for awhile before I just got tired of them and then realized there was nothing else to do. I had like 10 toons and still hit that wall of boredom with pushing GRs. 100% agree with you about hoping there's more than rinse/repeat content at endgame and I'm going to hold off on D4 until I learn what the endgame is like.

Can we take a moment to appreciate that this video was shot outside. I did not expect Asmongold to expose his skin to sunlight 🤣

Hey Asmond, the drops you were getting are regular legendaries, not uniques. Uniques only drop in world tier 3 and 4, with more of them being locked to 4. After legendaries come sacred legendaries, then ancestral legendaries. Sacred items only drop in world tier 3 and above while ancestral is world tier 4 exclusive. The world tier statue has all this info when you check the difficulties. Also, the occultist is where you craft sigils to do the Poe mapping end game (nightmare dungeons).

At 41, this is first Diablo I've put effort into outside of a free trial of the original I got on Windows in 1998. I'm enjoying it so far, but I'm also in that spot between Elden Ring and the next Zelda where I'm looking for something new. Not sure if I'm ready to put down the money for the full purchase tho. EDIT: I will say the lag I experienced today was a giant problem.

Really great commentary man, thanks!

I played POE and Grim Dawn before I played D3, I only played the demo when it first came out and I joined rather late in 2021 and I pretty much loved it so far. The game could be improved still if there was more activities, other than grinding for gear and XP. I hope they don't completely abandon D3 because it's a great game with a great potential.

That is a really interesting point you bring up about barb melee in D4. I havent played it mind you, but from what you are saying, it would lead me to believe that there is no way to "attract" mobs with a taunt or cry? And/or no way to quickly cover ground to a mob via leap? Thank you for this run down btw. Anyone who has played, feel free to enlighten me on this topic.

I love Asmongold Honest Thoughts Videos, since they are sincere and straight to the point without bullshit and ads in some other dudes videos

Playing as a ranged rogue I had a decent time precisely because it wasn't too easy to beat the bosses. Doing the world boss and clearing lvl 25 fortress with that add spawning caster boss at the end was so much fun. Hope the end game has hard bosses as a core feature.

I loved this review, I played barb too but felt the same about having to chase. I played rogue melee with the double dash ability so with good time I had three dashes/dodges and it felt great. Switched to necro since I played necro in d3 to paragon 446ish and it felt really good with the DoT abilities with summons but definitely won’t be as broken as the summoner build in d3 with the army of the dead ability span and op summons. Excited for the game to release, but also very worried about it’s longevity with the simple ability system and weird itemization

you are very well spoken, easy to listen too. good review! gonna buy it either way. Enjoying last Epoch currently.

I think a game out there that bridges the gap between PoE's complexity and Diablo's simplicity is Grim Dawn. That game allows you to make fairly complex builds with lots of fun interactions, but doesn't require a PHD course to figure out how they all work. Last Epoch seems like it's also in that spot, but I haven't played it myself yet. But I plan to in the near future.

Great points being brought up. Just curious about lore, I kind of want to go in somewhat bare. I just heard "Lilith" the other day I mean, what lore is almost expected of me to know. Only to make me more interested and engaged upon release?

Jesus you are well spoken my friend. Love your thoughts on the game. Looking forward to something like POE but is more easily accessible since I now got kids and I have very limited time playing games.

12:55 that feeling of being temporarily OP from a great loot drop is also one of my favorite things about D3 and was specifically something i left feedback about back in the D4 invite-only closed beta. appreciate you bringing it up and hope that blizz pays attention.

10 years of development and 1 year of replayable content

During my time in beta I found 2 hydra items on my mage that allowed me to summon 14 heads at a single time. It was an absolute power boost.

Great video , very smart , could watch this guy talk all day . Great Job !!!

This was super thoughtful, moderate, and ya, 1 take… good stuff Asmon

What I like most about Diablo 4 based on the beta, is that is seems very casual friendly but at the same time you can grind it like any other diablo game. Very well built for people who only have a few hours to play the game at a time.

I think earning your ability could allow simple stuff matter move. A lot of games have class specific quest lines or upgrade paths

Cool video. Nice to hear your thoughts. Interesting to see an Internet personality speaking from the heart in a reasonable and measured way. Great content

Asmon, you are a truly skillful when it comes to expressing yourself and talk smoothly, it's a trait most people don't have and I can see why you earn so much money just by talking.

Just finished the beta weekend with my necromancer. The beta was fun and I’d give it an 8/10, mainly because the difficulty just wasn’t there, and I’m kinda bummed there isn’t a crusader but it’s only act 1 and things can change after release so I’m trying not to be too critical. I hit level 25, did probably 95% of the dungeons, finished Act 1, & did all 3 strongholds. The only boss that gave me problems was the Den Mother at the end of light’s watch as it was super tough to zone the boss. Once I got corpse explosion and the few legendary items which removed blood mists cooldown and added a corpse explosion nuke mechanic I was literally crushing everything I literally cleared the whole Kor Dragan courtyard with one bloodmist. If I had too pick my favorite thing about the Beta it would be that the game feels a little more alive with the MMO aspects. While I appreciate the loneliness/bleak nature of Diablo it’s nice having co-op plus 10 other players raiding a massive event or boss.

Definitely found legendaries that caused a very big power spike. Sorc, getting double hydra felt huge. Barb, all the ww mods to pull mobs in, cause sand storms, and a ghostly echo that also whirlwinds.

I dunno man, a few of the legendaries did have that "game changing upgrade"
For example the Sorc staff that lets you summon TWO hydras at any given time.
Really amped up the firepower.

Our man knew us well. And that's why we love Asmond. Thank you for your honest feedback. We appreciate it.

Very insightful review. I almost completely agree with everything after getting barb to 25 especially some bosses being annoying AF, but I think some of the mechanics like Overpower, Lucky Hit, Fortify, etc. might get us closer to that "middle ground" you're talking about in terms of complexity when it comes to end-game gearing.

Itemisation was my main complaint about the Diablo 4 beta. I was playing sorceress and 80% of the gear drops had either dex or str. There needs to be a smarter loot system where the gear has a higher chance of rolling your main stat.

I played the original Diablo on PS1 as a kid with my dad and REALLY loved it. Got Diablo 2 on my PC when I was a high school freshman and I no lifed the hell out of that game. Took some time off before revisting a few years later when in college. To me Diablo 2 was the pinnacle of an ARPG. Diablo 3 launches and I had fun playing it but once you beat the game a few times I just had no desire to return to it. And I think a large portion of that was that it wasn't Diablo 2. I was a lot older when I played Diablo 3 but wanted that same emotional connection I had to Diablo 2 as a teenager and I really think that wasn't fair of me as a consumer. To this day I still dabble with Diablo 2 (Resurrected anyways) but I'm really going into Diablo 4 looking at it like it's it's own game and not some long awaited fulfillment of what I wanted Diablo 3 to be as a young adult. I don't think any game will ever feel the same way Diablo 2 did as a kid, doesn't mean it's a bad game though, so I hope I can give it it's fair due.

I think my biggest fear is that the devs stop listening, like I pray that if Diablo 4 gets the chance it can have an expansive variety of content like PoE and Lost Ark the Devs just need to keep searching for player feedback and make the right choices based on said feedback

This is how I'm going to review my games from now on. Thanks Asmon. We salute you. 🖖

The biggest issue is the fact that you can't use left click for just movement like in PoE. Accidently clicking an enemy when you need to get out of a situation and just end up attacking is horrible :/

Loved the beta. My only concerns were some minor UI annoyances and I feel like the dungeons aren't procedurally generated enough, plus you do a bunch of backtracking to get keys to open doors.