Diablo 4 Rhykker Interview: "I hope we get to see the entire World of Sanctuary"

Posted 2023/05/31 at 10:26 AM by silec

Disclaimer: This one-on-one spoken interview was lightly edited and condensed for the purpose of clarity.Wowhead: You have been playing games in the ARPG genre for a very long time now. Games that didn't hold up to their potential and others that are still enjoyed to this day. Do you think that Diablo 4 is on the right path? I think we can all agree that the potential is definitely there.
Rhykker: I definitely agree that the potential is there. For me, the question is, how will the community receive the slower pace of Diablo 4? A vocal part of the ARPG community is asking for a slower-paced game, but there is a reason that all modern ARPGs have evolved to a super fast pace.

You can see it through all the communication over the months and years how open the developers are to feedback from the community. The devs expressed, if the community really wants the pace of the game to change it's something they are open to change.

Overall in the long term, I feel confident that Diablo 4 will be successful. The question is, will there be growing pains in the first six months to a year, where there is maybe some aspect that the community has a negative reaction to? The devs will then adjust the game and it will work its way into the sweet spot that we've been looking for.
WH: What do you look most forward to with Diablo 4 at launch and what are you most excited about seeing in the future?
Rhykker: The story. I have loved Diablo all of my life. I'm not always a fan of games' stories but since it has that special place in my childhood I'm very attached to the Diablo lore.

After that, it would be to jump in and explore the endgame features with other people and see how metas emerge.
WH: Going into the lore of Diablo. You have been uploading excellent chronological Diablo lore videos for almost six years now. You are close to catching up with Diablo's story so far, with you just having released the lore of Diablo Immortal recently. When can we expect to see the next video in the series?
Rhykker: Next is going to be the Diablo III video but I don't know if I can fit all of Diablo III in one video. The goal is to catch up with the story before June 1.
WH: Aside from his robe being a bit torn up, Inarius looks pretty much unscathed in his current form after all the torture he received in the capture of Mephisto. What do you think is the reason for that, and how did he escape from the Burning Hells? Could it be that it is actually not Inarius that we are encountering in Diablo 4 but someone who has taken up his appearance?
Rhykker: That is an interesting theory. If it is not Inarius, my first thought would be Belial. We already know that Andariel and Duriel will be featured at some point during the game. Why not other Lesser Evils like Belial, the Lord of Lies, who is supposed to be a master of disguise?

Otherwise, part of my interest in hearing the story of Diablo 4 is to see if we get answers to how Inarius escaped. We know how Lilith got out of the void, and Blizzard answered that question. There might be some questions that Diablo 4 does not answer, just by virtue of the 50-year time skip. Maybe they are leaving an opportunity for some of these questions to be answered in other stories in the future.

My current leading theory is that if it is Inarius, he got freed or freed himself during the chaos of Hell's invasion of Heaven in Diablo III, where they presumably took all their best warriors with them.
WH: Are you happy with the balance Diablo 4 is striking in terms of ARPG and MMO elements? Is there something that you would not like to see being implemented in Diablo 4?
Rhykker: I am currently content with the balance. 10-20 years ago I tried dozens of MMOs, most of the free-to-play ones and a couple of the subscription MMOs like World of Warcraft and Star Wars: The Old Republic. I really tried to get into and enjoy MMOs. I always enjoy the beginning but it is when we hit the mid-level grind that I get bored and realize they are not for me. I also don't get into the big social aspect of MMOs. I mostly play them solo, which is why Star Wars: The Old Republic was probably my favorite because it has that robust single-player storyline.

When I heard rumors that Diablo 4 would have MMO elements, I was very concerned. As of now, I would definitely not call Diablo 4 an MMO. At its core, Diablo 4 still feels like an ARPG. Over time I have come to understand better why I like ARPGs and why I can't fall in love with MMOs. They are both games about grinding at their core, but I think it's the kind of grinding that differs. I think in an ARPG you have more interesting loot and itemization. There is more variety and it is more about the drops. MMOs are more deterministic in that regard. For me, it is always about that loot piñata that can be around the corner having the possibility to contain the perfect item.

Another thing I was concerned about was seeing other people in the open world, but that hasn't bothered me. I think they have kept the numbers low enough. I never want to be competing for resources, that is what it comes down to. It makes the world not dangerous anymore. The world of Diablo always felt hostile.
WH: You had the chance to play prebuild characters to test out Diablo 4's endgame at Blizzard in Irvine, California. Character respecs, for the Skill Tree and Paragon Board, have been a controversial topic. You mentioned in your endgame video that it was not as restrictive as people make it out to be. Do you personally like the sense of permanence in your choices, or would you rather be able to respec your character frequently, maybe even at no cost whatsoever?
Rhykker: For the kind of game that Diablo III is I absolutely love and need to have free respecs. I can't imagine the game without it. At the very start of Diablo II, there was no way to respec at all and I didn't like that. Simply because you could very easily brick your character. For some people, part of the game is playing with your character until you can no longer progress. You learn from your mistakes, make a new character, and start over. That doesn't appeal to me.

At least for an ARPG and what they have become, particularly in regards to multiplayer and Seasons, I don't think that gameplay loop of playing until you fail makes sense. I think that gameplay loop nowadays would further encourage people to not bother thinking about anything and just look up a guide. They would follow what it says so that they don't screw up and have to start over. As someone who grew his business by making guides, I would love for guides not to be necessary. The fun is in experimenting.

Diablo 4 wants to make both camps happy and found a middle ground between the two, but that means compromise which leads to some players being unhappy. I would like to see some game come by that bypasses respecs entirely. To me, respec is the symptom of a problem. Respeccing is one solution, but I don't think it is the best solution. I don't know what the best solution is but it all comes down to regret. You want to avoid players having regret. If some game solves that problem without respec that could be an interesting way to stop this debate.
WH: Blizzard developers claim that players haven't seen the full picture yet when it comes to endgame class balance. You've played one of the more recent endgame versions of Diablo 4—how does class balance feel overall?
Rhykker: It is a little tough to say because I had specific builds put together. I thought the Druid was weak in the Beta. Blizzard gave me a Werewolf Stormcaster build that I loved. It was probably my favorite build I have played in the game yet. I don't know however how it performs before it gets those necessary gear pieces.

The Barbarian in endgame felt really solid as well. It was one of my least favorite classes prior to that. Judging the balance between the classes is very difficult because I didn't get a suite of classes to play with that had builds at equal power.
WH: Regarding endgame, do you think Diablo 4 is in a good place when it comes to the variety of its endgame content?
Rhykker: Part of the problem right now is the difference between the extremes of player types is so wide that it is impossible to make everyone happy. You have players that will play 10-18 hours a day and will be done with the game in two weeks. Other players will take three months and will not be done with half of the content. I foresee some people complaining after two weeks that there is nothing to do in Diablo 4. For the vast majority of people, there is going to be enough to keep people busy until Season 1, if not longer. As they add more content with Seasons the overall variety will improve.
WH: Which place in Sanctuary would you like to see explored in the game? Do you have a favorite that you would like to visit?Skovos Isles concept art by Peter Lee (2007).
Rhykker: Over the course of Diablo 4's lifespan, I hope we get to see the entire world. If I had to pick, it would be between Skovos and Xiansai. I think it would be Skovos, which is a place that almost made it into Diablo III. We had some awesome concept art for it. Xiansai we know less about but it is another place we have never been.
WH: One last question which almost has been a tradition to ask during our interviews. In one of your recent gaming news videos, you have been talking about the Diablo 4 Gameplay Trailer that got released, and you have also talked about the Bloodied Wolf and the theories surrounding it since players first encountered it months ago during the Diablo 4 Beta. Based on that, who or what do you think is the Bloodied Wolf?
Rhykker: All the theories wanted it to be someone we know. Zoltun Kulle was one of the prevailing theories because his voice sounded the same and he had the same demeanor. From what he was saying it didn't make a lot of sense to me for it to be Zoltun Kulle.

At first, I thought it might be Diablo in disguise. The game is called Diablo - and we don't see anything about Diablo.

Then someone found what I call "the smoking gun", the symbol on the wolf's skull. I chalked it up to be some random cool art, but someone found the same symbol in the Book of Adria and it is the symbol of Mephisto. Based on that, I think it is either Mephisto or an agent of Mephisto. Otherwise, why would they use that exact same symbol?

Comment by BlacKcuDRhykker´s Raiders!

I love that there are still journalists and content creators out there who take the time to make a proper long video and not some 3-minute tik-tok crap that only contains information ripped off from wowhead and maxroll.Comment by HenrikSMyI wish they talked about upcoming classes both old returning and maybe upcoming new ones.
What he would like to see.

I had wished to see Diablo 4's take on Witch Doctor/Shaman.

A more gritty dark take on them.

And maybe new possible classes rumored blood knight or otherwise.Comment by silecI wish they talked about upcoming classes both old returning and maybe upcoming new ones.
What he would like to see.

I had wished to see Diablo 4's take on Witch Doctor/Shaman.

A more gritty dark take on them.

And maybe new possible classes rumored blood knight or otherwise.Comment by StoneLegionI wish they talked about upcoming classes both old returning and maybe upcoming new ones.
What he would like to see.

I had wished to see Diablo 4's take on Witch Doctor/Shaman.

A more gritty dark take on them.

And maybe new possible classes rumored blood knight or otherwise.