Just like with every ARPG before it,Diablo 4features an in-depth leveling system that will see players gain power as they adventure across Sanctuary. There are 100 levels of talent points to earn, and an expansive talent tree to plunge them into. This gives players a ton of flexibility in how they design theirDiablo 4character, but the system is also lacking a crucial feature. A feature thatBlizzard’s other massive RPGWorld of Warcraftalready has, but it seems like the studio wants to repeat its mistakes.
World of Warcraftalso features a massive skill treefor players to plunge countless amounts of points into, but it is far easier to change it up on a whim. While respeccing has been pretty simple inWoWfor a while, it was made even easier with the talent revamp of Dragonflight. Players can now change their specialization without even thinking about it, butDiablo 4players do not have that same luxury. Fans would think that these two games would learn from each other, but that could not be further from the truth.
RELATED:Diablo 4’s Druids Are Following the Footsteps of One World of Warcraft Race
Diablo 4 and WoW Handle Class Specs Very Differently
Diablo 4features a winding skill treefilled with nodes waiting to be activated. Each node represents a new ability, increases stats, or upgrades one of the already purchased abilities. As players spend more points in this tree, they will unlock even more layers that they can plunge more points into.
This variety of skills has led to dozens of unique builds and specializations for players to mess around with, and it will likely lead to even more as the years go by. While this variety is great, for some reason Blizzard made it a bit cumbersome to switch skills.
Ifplayers want to respec inDiablo 4then they must spend gold to get their skill points back. The first time is free, but after that it gets increasingly more expensive the higher level the player is. This means that if players do not have enough gold to spare then they are not able to rework their class, thus preventing them from respeccing. They also cannot save builds for future use, they will often have to track down new items that work with their new spec, and will have to spend a lot of time trying to rebuild their character. This does give players an incentive not to change their build all the time, but it also limits the creative freedom ofDiablo 4.
World of Warcraftalso features a massive skill treefor players to plunge talent points into, but it is so much easier to respec. For starters, players can refund points in the tree without spending a single gold piece. They can just do it whenever they are not in combat, thus allowing them to change without any barriers.
Most classes also feature three different specializations that players can just change into with a simple click, and each class specialization has a starter build in case players do not want to experiment with the skill tree. On top of all that, players can also save up to 10 different loadouts and share them with other players.
WhileWorld of Warcraft’s specs did not always work like this, after years of community requests Blizzard finally introduced spec switching during Wrath of the Lich King. Blizzard made it even easier as the years went by, andDragonflight featured one of the biggest talent revampsthe game has ever seen. It was a fantastic addition to the MMO, but Blizzard has not carried over those same lessons toDiablo 4. Instead, it is repeating the same mistakes that the earlyWorld of Warcraftdid, and that could have easily been avoided.
Diablo 4is available for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
MORE:Diablo 4 May Want to Take Some Notes from WoW’s Trading Post
