Andrew Chambers is someone who knows what he’s talking about when he compares the two action role-playing games. Because he once created Diablo 3
Diablo 3 is already a few years older than Last Epoch. It would therefore not be fair to compare the two action role-playing games on a technical level.
In terms of gameplay, of course, it’s a completely different story What makes Last Epoch, which debuted in 2019, better than its seven-year-old competitor? What is the difference in focus between the two games?
These questions have now been answered by Andrew Chambers, someone who should know.
Could never have made a game like Last Epoch
In case the name Andrew Chambers doesn’t ring a bell: The gentleman worked at Blizzard for many years, working as Senior Game Designer on Diablo 3. Many of his decisions have made the action role-playing game what it is today.
It is therefore not surprising that Chambers can draw a very well-founded comparison with Last Epoch. His conclusion: We could never have made a game like Last Epoch.
This is what he says in a new video on his YouTube channel:
However, he expressly does not mean this as a criticism of Diablo 3 and its development team. Rather, the reason for his realization lies in the different approaches of his genre colleagues:
The skill system
Last Epoch is highly complicated in terms of skills and therefore exactly what fans of such games want. The system of classes, sub-classes and passive and active skills isincredible and promisesinfinite possibilities
With Diablo 3, on the other hand, the aim was to appeal to as wide an audience as possible, including genre newcomers. That’s why they didn’t go into too much depth with the skill system, which also made the rest of the game very intuitive.
The trade
According to Andrew Chambers, the two-part trading system in Last Epoch is something that [every development team] in this genre should look at Players have the choice of trading directly with friends or in the auction house
In Diablo 3, only the latter was available, initially with controversial real-money features. According to Chambers, this limitation was intended to provide a safe environment
for players.
Endgame
The endgame in Last Epoch is really solid
and feels like a natural extension, whereas with Diablo 3 at release there was almost no
focus on the endgame.
The team at Blizzard wrongly assumed that players would approach Diablo 3 in the same way as Diablo 2, i.e. replay the campaign over and over again. Instead, the MMOs that had appeared in the meantime had changed the habits of the players, who therefore demanded fresh content in the endgame.
This still makes Diablo 3 better than Last Epoch
Andrew Chambers also recognizes a few advantages with which Diablo 3 can still stand out positively from its younger competitor:
- The use of skills still feels better to him, the gameplay itself is simply outstanding.
- The story of Diablo 3 is deeper than in Last Epoch, which also affected the aforementioned endgame.
- The enemy variations and families fit better thematically into the respective areas of the game world.
Exciting: For Andrew Chambers, even Diablo 4 doesn’t achieve the same quality of gameplay as its predecessor – but that’s just his opinion, of course.
Diablo 3 has now reached retirement age. So unfortunately we can’t give you any exciting news about the game. But when it comes to Last Epoch and Diablo 4, which was at least briefly mentioned, all the more so!
What the immediate future holds for Last Epoch, which builds are best for the endgame praised by Andrew Chambers and which other action role-playing games will launch a major attack on Diablo 4 in 2024 – you can find out all this in the articles linked above.
And what do you think? How do you compare Last Epoch and Diablo 3? Do you agree with Chambers on all points or do you see some things differently to him? Let us know your opinion in the comments section
