Blizzard disclosed a very significant fragment of the lore of Diablo 4, and that fragment of the lore was that the ‘Lesser Evils’ are returning. The Diablo account officially posted one tweet to the players recommending them to get acquainted with the history of the demons Duriel, Andariel, Belial, and Azmodan as it would be the difference between death and salvation. Nevertheless, the gamers who responded to the tweet seemed to be cool with the lore but their main question was: where is the Paladin class?
Naturally, the tweet was about the major evil demons that we might have to face, probably in the next Vessel of Hatred expansion. It is a typical Blizzard scenario, creating excitement by making us recall the iconic bosses of previous games. The four demon characters mentioned in the tweet are Duriel, the gigantic bug in Act II, who was one of the most dreaded enemies of that act; Andariel, the queen of poisons; Belial, the lord of lies; and Azmodan, the demon in Diablo 3, who was very much into strategy and whom people loved to hate. This tweet refers to them as the Lesser Evils, but as player Richard very literally put it: ‘Lesser Evils… but never lesser threats. Their return always means blood.’ That’s the reality.
Now, here comes the part where it gets funny. One would think that the responses would be full of theories about the next move of Belial or the ways to defeat Duriel. In contrast, the comment section suddenly turned into a gigantic, unrepeatable and collective shout for the Paladin class. It was as if everyone who read the demon names thought, ‘Nice! But now, I am getting the holy warrior!’
A gamer by the name of Rodri didn’t even bother being discreet when he said: “I’m all set to pay $100 for the early access to the Paladin tomorrow, tks. 👀🔥” This is really a solid loyalty demonstration. Another user, Liam94, communicated the same feeling but in a different manner: “Tell us that a paladin is on the way! I will pay!” And the user ‘abracka’ was also in agreement when he stated, “Just letting you know that I am ready to spend $60 to play a paladin tomorrow night through a pre-order purchase. thank you!” It is a whole vibe. The demand is so great that it is almost perceptible.
This is not just a case of one or two people. John, for instance, simply wrote: “BRING BACK PALADIN PLEASE,” in capital letters, which He is the universal language for ‘I am not kidding.’ The demand of the Diablo community for that classic holy knight with his auras and hammers is a major issue. It is a class that has not appeared since Diablo 2, and clearly, players are not going to wait any longer. With the Crusader being in Diablo 3, the return of the original Paladin seems to be a good fit in the overall plan for Diablo 4.
However, the discussion was not only centered around the Paladin. Some of the guys were also discussing the lore. User Glitchy 🪄 had a neat suggestion, he said, “Knowing their plans is half the battle. Belial’s deception is particularly sly. I always have a Scroll of Town Portal for a fast escape.” Very savvy. And another user, PoE2Infernalist, complimented the art team: “Whoever created Azmodan is the 🐐! The coolest demon design, only surpassed by the Prime Evil Diablo from D3.” It is fair to say that the designs are indeed iconic and the artists deserve their credit.
But then there are players who present the opposite side of the coin, and most of them can be labeled as somewhat disappointed with the situation. User, FAFO LETS GO to WAR, expressed a controversial viewpoint: “Been a while since I visited. Elon Musk has really ruined this game. Nobody feels good being a looser while playing Diablo 4 just because of him.” Huh, what? That was a completely unexpected claim. The connection is… very weak, at best, but it shows that for some gamers the issues with the game extend beyond the class selections.
Among the comments were also, from time to time, the practical questions that arose. One person asked whether the event ’22 nights of terror’ in Diablo 2: Resurrected could be played in offline mode. Another one wanted to know if the next patch would be available for pre-download. And then there was the guy who was asking with great excitement when Mephisto and Diablo himself would be coming, demanding a DLC that would be featuring the Prime Evil. “Diablo 4 definitely requires a DLC that showcases Diablo himself,” they admitted. One cannot really dispute that. The community is also looking forward to new content on platforms like PlayStation and Xbox.
