Sure, it’s simple to get into a four person party with friends, but you can also very quickly join up with random players to run a dungeon together or blast through an Elder Rift. The MMO side of it is also designed for maximum ease. All these design elements speak to how focused Immortal is on being a game you can carry in your pocket, and hop into for short bursts as time permits. I’m also a big fan of auto pick-up for gold and (non-legendary) loot, as well as the short, random events that trigger on a regular basis out in the overworld. You can turn it off and run there the old fashioned way, but personally I think it’s great. There’s even an auto-navigation system to take you to your destination, whether that’s heading to the right area to farm for a bounty, popping over to Charsi the blacksmith in Westmarch to salvage some gear, or finding your way to a dungeon entrance. Once I joined the Shadows – part of the overarching PVP system – that also opened up numerous things to do, from taking on contracts (slightly more involved bounties) to raiding the vault of the ruling players on the server – the Immortals.Įvery activity is short: bounties, rifts, and dungeons can all be completed in a matter of minutes. There are a number of activities for farming XP, from bounties (generally “go here and kill X of a particular monster”) through to zone dungeons that can be played over and over again, Elder Rifts (short gauntlets tied to legendary gems), and Challenge Rifts (another brand of short dungeon, but with escalating difficulty). After that heady initial rush I hit level gate after level gate, leaving me with some work to do to reach the appropriate power for each new zone. Short Bursts of Carnageĭiablo Immortal has a story it wants to tell, but the game’s MMO-style backbone and zone-based structure means that there’s some grinding to see it through. Plus, what self respecting Necromancer doesn’t want to make their build about blowing up corpses to create more corpses? Ah, the circle of life. That said, I’ve settled into a strong Corpse Explosion strat now, where I use inscriptions to increase its range and add stacking freeze effects, then combo it with a Dark Curse modifier that makes enemies explode when they die, letting me chain together insane sequences of explosions. I’ve shifted up the skills I use and the modifiers I assigned to them a lot during my time since launch. Collecting them as you go – via “inscriptions” on legendary items – means you’ll always have options, but also limitations to work around, thus forcing you to potentially try out different combinations while you wait for the modifiers you particularly want to drop on items. I’m definitely a fan of the way skill modifiers have been handled in this iteration of Diablo too. I’ve primarily been playing Necromancer since launch, but have also spent considerable time with Demon Hunter, Barbarian and Crusader over the course of pre-launch review access and various betas (with only Monk and Wizard still on the to do list), and each has fun synergistic gameplay options to explore. If you’re a seasoned keyboard and mouse-based Diablo player, however, it’s still nice being able to play Immortal on a big screen, but I actually really liked the touch controls, so for me, adventuring on iPad was the way to go. There’s no option to adjust resolution, for instance, and I’ve been unable to get a controller working reliably on PC, whether wired or through Bluetooth. On PC, using a keyboard and mouse generally feels good, but the platform has a number of other issues to contend with, and it seems very much like a quick port at the moment (hence the “open beta” tag). Controllers are definitely a lot clunkier than touch when it comes to navigating the interface, but it’s workable. For both, all your key controls are within easy reach – primary attack, skills, health potions, and your ultimate, and it’s really satisfying being able to aim and move independently. The moment-to-moment gameplay feels great, whether you’re using touch controls (which is what I’ve spent 99% of my time on) or a controller tethered to an iOS or Android device. This forward momentum is helped a great deal by the rhythm of combat, which is quintessential Diablo thanks to a solid array of skills to keep combat interesting, paired with the palpable power of being able to cut through most opposition with ease. I couldn’t help but be sucked in by the breakneck pace established across the first 30 or so levels as I grew in power, ranked up my gear, unlocked new skills and found out more about the latest existential threat to Sanctuary, largely via series mascot Deckard Cain. The early going, however, is a heap of fun.
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