Diablo 5 director Joe Shely says Blizzard is considering a different approach to monster level scaling, with the goal of making character progression feel more meaningful.
The upcoming action RPG was announced at BlizzCon earlier this month, although Blizzard has not shown any gameplay yet. The studio has confirmed that development is still in its early stages, with regular updates expected to begin next year.
Speaking to PC Gamer, Shely discussed one of the more divisive systems introduced in recent Diablo games. While Diablo 2 used fixed level ranges for enemies in different areas, Diablo 3 and Diablo 4 adopted systems where monster difficulty generally increases alongside the player’s character.
According to Shely, Blizzard recognizes that automatic scaling can weaken one of the most important parts of the Diablo experience: the feeling that your character is becoming dramatically stronger.
“Diablo is a game that, in many ways, is about your character getting stronger,”
Shely explained.
He noted that leveling up or finding powerful equipment should create moments where players can immediately see the impact of their progression.
Blizzard Wants Power Progression to Feel More Noticeable
Shely described the ideal experience as one where gaining a level or filling an experience bar results in an obvious power increase.
“You’ve filled the experience bar, you get stronger, you should feel awesome now,”
he said.
However, constantly increasing enemy strength can reduce the impact of those upgrades. A player may become significantly stronger on paper, only to discover that enemies have simultaneously become stronger, leaving the relative difficulty largely unchanged.
Shely acknowledged that this is why monster scaling has become an important design question for Diablo 5.
“Sometimes automatic scaling can get in the way of that feeling, which is so core to it, and that’s why this is a really important question,”
he said.
The director then confirmed that Blizzard intends to approach the system differently in the upcoming sequel.
“We’re going to take a somewhat different approach to that in Diablo 5.”
He did not reveal exactly how the new system will work, meaning it remains unclear whether Blizzard will return to something closer to Diablo 2’s area-based scaling or create an entirely new model.
Diablo 5 Is Also Bringing Back Procedural Environments
The comments about monster scaling come alongside another indication that Blizzard is looking toward earlier Diablo games for inspiration.
Diablo 5 will feature procedurally generated environments, meaning dungeons and other areas can change between visits. Procedural generation was a major part of Diablo 2, making the return particularly notable as Blizzard develops the next installment.
The game will also take place in a post-apocalyptic Sanctuary where the forces of Hell have won, setting up a darker premise for the sequel.
For now, Blizzard has not shown enough gameplay to demonstrate how these systems will work together. However, Shely’s comments suggest that making progression feel rewarding is becoming a major consideration for Diablo 5.
If Blizzard can make new levels and equipment produce noticeable power spikes without completely removing challenge, the sequel could address one of the longstanding criticisms surrounding enemy scaling in modern Diablo games.
