Highlights
- Diablo 4 would greatly benefit from a matchmaking feature that provides extra assistance and benefits to solo players, alleviating the grind and enhancing the overall experience.
- Playing in a group in Diablo 4 offers advantages such as an experience point boost, the ability to revive fallen teammates, and increased strength in PvP battles, making it the preferred way to play.
- The current clan feature in Diablo 4 provides a basis for matchmaking, but additional options like the Summoning Pools or the "Call For Help" and "Answer The Call" systems from The Division games could greatly improve the cooperation and coordination among players.
Given how beneficial it is to play Diablo 4 in co-op, Blizzard should strongly consider how some form of a matchmaking feature could benefit the player base by providing solo players extra assistance and benefits. The grind to reach max level and complete the Paragon Point Boards in Diablo 4 is an extremely long journey, and playing with a party is a great way to help alleviate the grind that some players may be missing out on.
While standard activity-based matchmaking options could prove to be worthwhile for Diablo 4, some other unique styles of matchmaking could also be plenty useful. Even for players who don’t need the XP boost provided by nearby players, there are other additional benefits to playing in a group that solo players should have easier access to.
Diablo 4 is Better With Friends
One of the best ways that Diablo 4 encourages players to team up is the experience point boost provided when other players are nearby. Although this doesn’t require players to be playing in the same party since it includes players who happen to be in proximity, playing in a group is still a great way to ensure that this boost is permanently active. It’s very common to temporarily team up and cooperate with random nearby players for the different World Events in Diablo 4, but this XP buff can still be useful in so many other activities throughout the game.
While it may not apply to Hardcore mode, another reason to play the game in co-op is the ability to revive fallen teammates. Having companions is still a good resource to have in Hardcore mode, but being able to revive teammates is a severely underrated feature. Whether it's in the middle of a boss fight, a World Event, or a Nightmare Dungeon in Diablo 4, successfully reviving another player can turn the tide of most fights.
Not to mention, Diablo 4’s PvP is also best played in a group. There isn’t exactly a healer or support character class in Diablo 4 at the moment, but having teammates will still provide strength in numbers that solo PvP players can’t easily compete with. This same sentiment applies to the entirety of Diablo 4 when comparing the difficulty of playing solo compared to playing co-op, although it can reach an extreme in PvP that players can weaponize.
What A Matchmaking Feature Could Look Like in Diablo 4
The clan feature in Diablo 4 is a great stepping stone for a matchmaking feature, but it can turn into an awkward situation where there is an abundance of players in a given clan who never end up cooperating with each other. With players potentially being in different time zones, world tier difficulties, and progress levels in Diablo 4’s main story, it’s a bit hard for public clans with random players to coordinate and frequently play together the way that typical matchmaking features could.
With all the benefits that Diablo 4 offers to co-op players, it’s somewhat shocking that the game doesn’t currently do much to enable cooperation. Aside from standard activity-based matchmaking features, even something as minimalist as the Summoning Pools matchmaking in Elden Ring could go a long way in Diablo 4.
The “Call For Help” and “Answer The Call” matchmaking options from the Tom Clancy’s The Division games could also be a great addition to Diablo 4. This style of matchmaking in The Division games also plays into a reputation known as the Shepherd system, which will eventually earn players a unique title based on their Shepherd rank. Both a matchmaking feature and a reputation system could be great for encouraging cooperation in Diablo 4, and bonus points if it takes after The Division 2 and offers a stylish player title in Diablo 4 as well.
Diablo 4 is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.