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There are some things Last Epoch simply does better than Diablo 4. While this isn’t to say that one game is better than the other - I play and enjoy both of them immensely - I do feel like there are simply some things where the newer title from Eleventh Hour Games is better than Blizzard Entertainment’s latest Action RPG. This is just the opinion of one writer, and your thoughts may differ, and that’s perfectly fine.
However, I do feel like there are some gameplay facets and aspects that Last Epoch does better than Diablo 4. Of course, some of these, at least one in particular, could change in the future. For the time being, though, Eleventh Hour Games has brought something different to the table.
Things Last Epoch does far better than Diablo 4
1) Deeper gameplay
One major thing Last Epoch does better than Diablo 4 is the basic gameplay. Sure, Diablo 4 feels great. It has better controller support, and the classes all look and feel fantastic to use. However, there’s a lack of depth, that I think gets addressed in Eleventh Hour Games’ offering instead.
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Having three Mastery classes, each with their own ways to play, the various passive and active ability buffs and upgrades you can get throughout the game, there’s just so much more here. There's enough variety to be different, without feeling like the overwhelming glut that Path of Exile offers.
It’s a solid middle ground, and every class has so many variations and options. Even the most beginner-friendly class build has several ways to deal damage.
2) Deeper end-game options compared to Diablo 4
One of the things that disappointed me about Diablo 4 is the lack of meaningful end-game content. Other than Nightmare Dungeons and the Abattoir of Zir stuff, I can’t think of very much that interests me. Nightmare Dungeons are wildly boring, on top of that. Conversely, Last Epoch does this better than Diablo 4.
There’s so much more to this game, though. You have Empowered Monoliths to seek out particular weapons, and these get more challenging, with better rewards as you go through it. You also have Arena of Champions, if you want to grind through waves of enemies, all for a unique item from the boss.
There are also Dungeons, which are a standard ARPG/MMO option in the late game. Last, there’s the Arena, which doesn’t appear to offer any great rewards. And yet, it’s an intense, endless battle against wave after wave of enemies. There’s so much more to experience in Last Epoch. This could also change in the future with new Cycles of content, but we’ll just have to see.
3) Ability to play pure offline
Simply put, you can play Last Epoch offline, even while the servers are down. In fact, the game offers you the chance to play Pure Offline when you boot up. However, it doesn’t appear that there’s a way to play your offline characters online at this point. This might be to prevent cheating/hacking.
You can’t play your online character offline either, though. I love the idea of being able to play offline, because sometimes, I simply don’t want to bother with other people. I just want to smash my way through enemies without worrying about my internet connection. It also gives me hope of a randomizer being made for this game, somewhere down the line.
4) Uses better, less predatory monetization
While yes, at the time of writing, Last Epoch does this better than Diablo 4, it could change for the worse. Diablo 4 has recently come under fire for having a mount that costs more than the game itself. In Last Epoch, at least at the time of writing, the cosmetic items do not cost than 100 Points (10 USD).
There are still Supporter Packs that are expensive - up to $49.99 - that come with custom cosmetics, and some of the in-game currency, but that’s from the game’s Early Access/Beta days. That’s far less predatory than constantly dropping cosmetics that cost 50+ dollars, on top of having a Battle Pass that you can pay to progress through.
As of right now, Last Epoch has a much more reasonable cosmetic shop compared to Diablo 4.
5) A more in-depth crafting system
Crafting in Diablo 4 is incredibly simple, and not very enjoyable, to be honest. While I’m still learning the system to Last Epoch, there’s so much possibility and potential in it. Players have access to Shards, Glyphs, and Runes that they can use when crafting, with some of these having amazing chances to make your gear better.
Instead of simply smashing equipment down into a few spare parts, you can also use items like the Rune of Shattering to destroy an item, and turn some of its affixes into shards of that type. This allows you to use those affixes later on better items.
This crafting system in a way feels closer to Path of Exile, and it has so many cool ways to improve/power up your gear. You have to worry about Forging Potential though - when a piece of gear’s Forging Potential hits 0, you can’t craft on it any further than that. That makes items like Glyph of Hope so important - it has a 25% chance that the craft you add won’t require a Forging Potential cost.
There’s plenty of depth to this system, while still letting newcomers make awesome gear for themselves.
At the end of the day, players should enjoy whatever MMO and/or Action RPG that they wish. But there are simply some things that Last Epoch does better than Blizzard’s successful Diablo 4.
