Outward Definitive Edition | Raining Gold Bars
Diablo IV | Dry Steppes Region
After the Scosglen region, I was not sure how Dry Steppes was going to top just all the gore and darkness of the last region. Thankfully it did not even try. Things were a bit more tame here. As a player, I kind of needed a slight break from things unfolding anyways.
One thing I’ve started to realize that Diablo IV is doing quite differently from other ARPGs I’ve played is not making such a big deal that you have entered into a new act. At least from what I can tell other than one of the storytellers giving you a bit of an overview of events happening I almost did not realize I was in a “new act.”
Most times I was not paying attention enough to notice they gave you an achievement for each act completed either" As so many achievements pop up I ignore them for the most part.
I ended up realizing this when I went to check the main quest log. There I noticed the campaign storyline showed what act I was in. The quick quest in the UI does not show that information.
This entire time I was starting to wonder how long an act would be. I was expecting things to be a lot more dramatic. I also was not expecting to have to walk to every region. It was time for a bit of a journey to Dry Steppes.
Main Storyline Continued
Early on I end up running into the village drunk. I would not know anything about that. Does he think he wrote to someone? I have a feeling after a few drinks he thinks he did. So I don’t quite believe his story. Regardless we had to go out and check on some people.
You could tell this entire area must have been quite humid. We were not quite into a dessert yet since this was a Dry Steppes. It was however an area I would not want to be caught out in a storm in.
While I will say this region had a lot less gore. It was still there. We ended up going on a massive search for someone named Elias Who wanted to bring some evil back into the world. At that time I did not quite understand what that was all about. Other than that can’t be good.
We ended up running into one of this person's devout followers. They were not thrilled about our arrival as one can imagine. I ended up setting fire to the ritual area that the follower had along with the creature that was sent after to stop us.
This fight was looking quite easy. A little too easy. Then I found myself having to deal with two demons! Thankfully I had my ultimate at the ready. I’ve learned when things feel a little too easy save it just in case. It helped me quickly burn down the new challenges I faced.
After being triumphant and some other stuff along the way. I found myself inside a monastery. Some great evils had transpired inside this place. They even tried sealing the doors making it a little harder to get around. That however did not stop me from further exploring the place.
I was kind of shocked at how clean this place was. When I say clean I mean clean in comparison to anywhere else in the game. Sure I came across corpses and giant piles of blood. Other than that however this place almost seemed untouched by the madness that is going on in this world.
Eventfully I get to the end of this decently sized monastery dungeon. We all know how that goes. A fight and disappointment by me not stopping what I wanted to stop. The person there was quite crazy and wanted to be put out of their suffering for what they did.
Next up I felt the game went a little soft on us. We are shown this massive city that is covered in cannibals and other not-so-fun things. We had to go find someone inside the city and it almost sounded like they were going to make us sneak around.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m the kind of person who prefers to blow everything up, set everything on fire, and make all the sounds in the world I can. So I would have hated any kind of “stealth” quest. It just felt like one was coming but it was not.
With how dark the other regions of the game were. I was half expecting to find the person I was looking for to be dismembered into 500 parts in a room with 500 gallons of blood. Turns out NOPE they are fine just been taken to prison.
I break them out. We take a hidden passageway that turns out was not so hidden and still had some unsavory things lurking in it. At this point, it’s zero issues for me. I drop a hydra and some firewalls. Along with some fireballs and everything was swept up and turned into burnt BBQ wings.
They made me do all that just to be told how about a hidden tunnel and how to open a door. That felt like way too much work. This however meant I’d be doing into another dungeon and I love it when I’m in a cave system. So I was all game to do so.
Another easy fight later and that part is already done as well. I then went off to go interact with some alters and say their true names. I also learned who someone was masquerading as but I won’t spoil that.
With how tame this region was it perhaps will be a forgettable one. Only because the other ones so far have been so traumatic and bloody! I then after the final encounter went off to another region.
After a short about of time in the next region I decided to backtrack. You see I had hardly explored Dry Steppes. I felt before I get too far ahead of myself it was just best now to go back and see what else the region had to offer
Working On Dry Steppes Region Renowned
The other main reason to backtrack to Dry Steppes was I had hardly any renown gained here. This time around I decided just getting the first two ranks was not good enough either. I should pick up that third for the another skill point.
The great thing about the skill point unlocks is it’s unlocked for all characters you end up having in this realm. That means if I never need a break from playing a sorcerer my alt is already going be rocking it with extra points.
While I did a lot of exploring around to pick up 5 renowned areas discovered. That was just not going to cut it for the amount of points I needed. I ended up clearing out all the strongholds. Most of the time I found out I not only would get 100 points for beating them. You would also get another 20 renowned for the waypoint if they had one.
These strongholds end up having higher-level creatures than you are at least at the time I was running them. I was level 38 and the game put the area up to level 40.
My first task in one of these strongholds was to clear out three infernal spires. They were usually guarded by some nasty creatures and a lot of them. These fights were far more challenging than what I tend to face
After a couple of other steps you then usually face down the end boss and these can be quite challenging. Thankfully I did not get killed fighting any of them for this region. It was however quite a close call a few times.
Not that it matters much I’m playing in softcore mode. I would have had to repeat the battle perhaps or redo some steps. I rather not find out and just stay alive instead.
One thing I did learn however is these stronghold end guys move around a lot. Kind of hard when I need them to stay still so I can cover the area in the fire. So this fight went on for a bit. In the end, I got the win. I then went off and clicked on the shrine to cover the area.
I also just went off and did a lot of side quests. The great thing is even if I picked up a quest and did not finish it. It will auto-level up the level for it as I progress along in the game. The only downside is you are limited to having 20 at once. I am also quite close to the max amount you can have at once.
After a fair bit of grinding, I unlocked the talent point. It was then time to move on to something else. This time around despite not being a big PvP fan I decided to further explore the area I had discovered regarding that kind of gameplay.
PvP Area
While exploring around I also ran into my first PvP area. It turns out there is also an entire town where most of the vendors charge a different currency to buy stuff from them. This seemed like a cool idea. This area was also well out of the way so if you don’t like PvP it’s not like you have to spend much if any time here.
The way they have PvP setup in such special areas was quite interesting. You can either be someone who goes around farming for Seeds of Hatred off doing PvE things like events and event kills.
You could also flag yourself as a killer and be given Mark For Blood. This enables you to fight and kill other players.
From what I can tell It’s the goal of the PvE player to make it to alters and sit at them to turn in the Seeds of Hatred into a non-droppable currency that you can then spend. It’s the goal of the PvP player to murder you while at such shrines or trying to clear PvE events.
I’m not a big PvP player myself. Perhaps in the future, I’ll come back to this area and do a decent grind. I might also make a more in-depth guide about PvP itself. Since I only stayed here for a short while just checking things out I don’t know much more than this for now.
Final Thoughts
This ended up being quite a tame region. While sure some parts of it were quite dark. It was kind of nice to get a bit of a break from just how dark this game can get. I’m also rather glad I spent some time here to check out the PvP spot I found and to unlock a further talent point from the renowned system.
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Information
Screenshots were taken and content was written by @Enjar about Diablo IV. This was during the early access beta. Things are subject to change.
