Like, a skill might inherently have a 10 sec CD, but in the skill tree, you can pick a modification that removes the cooldown but greatly increases the resource cost, and gives the player a debuff for some seconds that might lower resource regen, or increase all resource cost for awhile. Or other mechanisms. To simulate the high cost of the skill when you are no longer limited by a cooldown.
Or vice versa, a skill without a cooldown inherently might have a modification in the skill tree that adds a cooldown, in exchange for a lower resource cost, an extra effect, or similar.
And of course, cooldown reduction on Diablo IV items etc needs to be very very limited, so cooldowns continue to matter and cooldown skills don’t become overpowered, as they did in D3.
Same for resource costs for that matter.
Which tbh is another important aspect of cooldown design.
If a skill has a duration, such as a defensive skill, the cooldown should only start AFTER the duration has ended, so it becomes impossible to have 100% uptime on the buff, CC, or whatever the skill offers.
So every class and every skill will feel very similar and the freedom is gone. I see this as a mistake and a huge weakness in the game mechanics. I don’t even need to have tried D4, I know the effect of D3 and that was enough for me.
Whether eternally long CDs, recharge-degradation mechanics, and of course the hit stun and a grounding of the fight is missing. This yes almost ghostly glide through everything and effeminate combat principle and that in combination with recharge mechanics and long Cds… can only make of the variety a lukewarm and spice-less soup that will run bland and constantly approximately similar.
Diablo IV Cooldown-system expectation
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