Diablo 4 continues to progress after a year and a half since its launch, having undergone significant alterations to its endgame, difficulty, and even items. Now, as part of Diablo 4 Season 7, Season of Witchcraft, Blizzard is introducing another permanent game-altering feature to its ARPG—the Armory.
The Armory serves a straightforward purpose: It allows players to configure up to 5 different loadouts per character. With a simple button press, players can change all of their equipped gear, but more crucially, also their skill abilities and paragon skills. Once a loadout is saved, characters can switch to it freely at no cost, providing easy access to up to 5 diverse builds and encouraging players to experiment and explore fresh strategies.
The Armory is in many ways the culmination of how Blizzard’s philosophy has shifted since Diablo 4’s launch. Where once respecializing skill abilities and Paragon Boards (and even re-rolling item affixes at the Enchanter) incurred a hefty gold fee, these costs have become less restrictive over time. Now, with the Armory, players can completely adjust nearly every major aspect of their character and change builds as often as they like, without requiring any sort of payment.
It may seem like an obvious addition, but it is more significant than it initially appears and is likely to foster more creative builds. To delve deeper into the paradigm shift represented by the Armory, GameSpot spoke with Diablo 4 design director Dan Tanguay and game designer Sean White about how Blizzard’s perspective on a feature like the Armory has evolved. Along the way, we discussed other Season 7 enhancements, such as how the team selected its various Witch Doctor-inspired abilities and the potential for Diablo 4 to introduce an entirely Witch-themed class in the future.
Upon the launch of Diablo 4 and its transition into the live-service model we recognize today, Tanguay noted some aspects of the game did not align with player expectations. This led Blizzard to closely examine player feedback and implement changes such as Season 4’s Loot Reborn update and the major difficulty overhaul during Season 6.
Next on the player feedback agenda—the introduction of the Armory. Although the feature appeared in Diablo 3 and Blizzard’s mobile spin-off Diablo Immortal, Tanguay mentioned that the commitment to add the Armory to Diablo 4 was not straightforward. He stated that since Diablo 4 catered to both returning franchise players and newcomers, the team first required time to understand what players wanted from the game.
Initially, the team had a strong aim to “make choices count,” according to White. However, as time passed, the game incorporated more choices for players without providing additional tools for experimentation. This led Blizzard to reassess the direction it wanted its ARPG to take, Tanguay remarked.
“Should we encourage that kind of experimentation or insist you need to start over to carry out this experimentation, or at the very least pay a price that requires some investment and impose barriers in front of that experimentation?” Tanguay stated. “Ultimately, based on what we heard from players, we decided we didn’t want many obstacles to experimentation. We noticed, even in later seasons, that the more we encouraged players to experiment and the fewer barriers we had, they began to create more alternative characters. Ultimately, Diablo 4 and Diablo games, in general, offer an extensive range of classes and builds within those classes, so it makes sense to motivate players to explore all that variety just as they would explore the vast world of Sanctuary.”
Even though much of Diablo 4’s live-service focus has been dedicated to its seasonal servers, the game’s non-seasonal Eternal Realm appears to significantly benefit from the introduction of the Armory. There, players who prefer developing a new character every few months can now easily experiment with new builds, without the feeling of starting over.
“There is a strong community of Eternal players who genuinely want to continue playing their character,” Tanguay noted. “The Armory is particularly appealing to them since they can now create variations on their character without the time constraints… of seasons.”
While the Armory will likely remain a permanent addition going forward, the remainder of the season centers around players acquiring new Witchcraft powers to enhance their builds dramatically. Several of these powers, like Piranhado, Poison Frog servant, and Soul Harvest, are inspired by the Witch.