Now that the Diablo IV beta is over, Blizzard has shared some interesting stats about the loot-grinding RPG and the way people have been playing it. Some of that is expected, like the fact that The Butcher killed over a million people while Ashava the Pestilent eclipsed about 10 million others. But alongside revealing that you’ve all put in 61 million hours, making it the “biggest beta in the history of the Diablo franchise,” the studio also shared the top two most-played classes during the testing window.
8 Minutes of Diablo IV Character Creator
Read more: Diablo IV is the perfect mindless kill shit game
Diablo IV is the latest isometric action RPG in Blizzard’s long-running loot-driven series. The game is slated to launch on June 6th for most platforms (except Nintendo Switch, sorry) and ran a few different betas so people could test out some gnarly demon-slaying tools. I had a blast playing the beta and Diablo IV has quickly become my most anticipated game of the year. As my colleague Eric Schulkin said during our VGCchat, you can tell the time and care really went into it. So I wasn’t too surprised to see some of the stats Blizzard tweeted on March 30th, specifically the two classes that were played the most.
Necromancers and Wizards ruled Hell
Blizzard announced that people have played over 61 million hours, making the Diablo IV open beta the “largest beta in the history of the Diablo franchise.” That’s an impressive number of hours, but it’s not the only stat Blizzard had for us. While Ashava and The Butcher, two of the beta’s fiercest enemies, killed millions of people, it came at a price. Both jerks have also been felled by players, with Ashava dying around 107,426 times and The Butcher getting a body 576,662 times. (Considering that Ashava has killed 10,163,397 players, that means she only died about once every 95 deaths she caused, which makes her a formidable opponent for sure.) And even though the total number of player deaths is 46 million exceeded, the game’s hellspawn didn’t stand a chance as you decimated nearly 30 billion monsters! Billion with a B. But wait, there’s more. The most compelling stat here is that the Necromancer and Wizard were the most played during the beta.
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What makes this particularly interesting is that the Necromancer was only available during one of the game’s two beta weekends. The Diablo IV Early Access beta, which ran from March 17th to March 20th, featured only the Wizard, Barbarian, and Rogue. But as soon as the open beta arrived, which lasted from March 24th to March 27th, the druid and the necromancer were unleashed and ready to lay their final rest on Mommy Succubi Lilith’s demonic army.
I never checked out the Wizard because I was too busy playing the Necromancer, which is absolutely broken once you level it up. With abilities like lifting skeletons from piles of corpses and exploding corpses to deal damage alongside passive buffs that increase your attack speed with every kill and increase your max skill meter, the Necromancer is cheap as hell. The class can make short work of even the most fearsome bosses and trash mobs. At one point during my time with the Necromancer, I had seven skeletons rolling low with me as we vaulted various dungeon bosses and overworld enemies. In a matter of seconds, those hellish brutes were reduced to little more than piles of flesh that I could either use to summon more skeletons (if any were killed during the exchange) or to heal my undead homies for the next fight. My Shadow Rogue is still dope, but I don’t know, the Necromancer just hits differently. Even Diablo General Manager Rod Fergusson knows this, because right before the game’s open beta ended, he suggested people “play Necromancer.” Well I understand why.
Read more: Diablo IV classes won’t always feel balanced, Blizzard says
It’s no secret that classes don’t feel balanced. As Blizzard said in March, “Not all tier five classes should have the same power.” I’ve noticed the power difference between my shadow rogue and what I call my blood necromancer. However, I think it is situational now. For example, my rogue is great for mobility, while my necromancer is perfect for mow down enemies with her sweeping scythe. Both classes are fine, but yes, I can safely say that the Necromancer felt stronger during the open beta. Knowing this, I’m not surprised that the Necromancer and Wizard have absolute command of the Gates of Hell. Perhaps it will be the same when the game fully launches this June. We won’t have to wait long to find out.
