Ahead of BlizzCon 2021, we had the chance to sit down with Diablo 4 game director Luis Barriga, and Diablo 4 art director John Mueller to talk about the just-announced Rogue character class, how PvP works in the new open world, and the darker, grittier look of the game compared to its divisive predecessor.
Why did you bring back the Rogue for Diablo 4?
Luis Barriga: We felt like with the lineup that we were slowly building up, with the Barbarian, the Sorcerer and the Druid, the Rogue gives us this awesome two-in-one capability of representing that finesse dexterity class, both on the melee side and on the ranged side. Of course, on the ranged side, that's the archetypical Diablo 1 rogue. And then on the melee side, fans of pen and paper RPGs, that's like the Rogue's bread and butter. So we felt that was the perfect opportunity to speak to all the players that love that finesse type gameplay, fast-paced combat, very different from the Barbarian as an example, that whether they want melee, whether they want ranged, or whether they want a hybrid approach, the Rogue gave us that canvas to paint on it. We also love the legacy the Rogue has in the franchise, where it was a playable class in the first game. It was a great mercenary addition in the second game. And they have some ties into the lore. Of course, we've expanded it. You don't have to play a Rogue that looks like they're part of The Sisterhood of the Sightless Eye. You can play an outlaw from the streets of Caldeum, or a smuggler from the swamps of Hawezar. Whatever the Rogue character that's in your head, you have a lot of customisation options there.