INTERVIEW – Skulm The Number 1 Diablo IV Necro Shares His Thoughts on The Game and Gaming – Part 2

We’re picking up just where we left off on April 28, 2025 when we published Part 1 of this extensive interview with Skulm, probably the best Necromance in Diablo IV. His accomplishments in the game are nothing short of astonishing.

He’s consistently finding new ways of pushing endgame content in the game, which has included everything from swapping gears to skills in the middle of highly competitive combat situations. His level of skill is truly next level, but he has a very humble approach to the game and offers all kinds of tips and tricks and build guides on his YouTube channel and in Discord.

Players have been asking for a sell-all button in Diablo IV for a long time. When do you think the devs will finally listen?

Mmm, the sell-all button. That’s the dream. I don’t think anytime soon because we don’t even have a loot filter now. They’re actually a bit stubborn when it comes to things like this. I think we should continue dreaming about this.

Let’s change the topic a bit. How long have you been running your YouTube channel?

That’s a good question. I started really small back in the day. I think it was mostly about World of Warcraft Arena PvP. I played as a Death Knight, and a Gladiator, and multi-ranked as one. So that actually gained some following back in the day. And then there were some other MMORPGs like Wildstar and Star Wars: The Old Republic, and I actually gained a lot of followers from those games as well.

Today you have about 15k subscribers and you’ve posted almost 750 videos. What made your channel take off?

The channel really jumped up when Diablo II Resurrected came out. I played that game extensively. I did a lot of Necromancer speedruns in Über Tristram and other end game content, including ladder races where I finished at the top. My follower base kept growing, and then with Diablo 4 It just skyrocketed. I feel humbled and I feel blessed to have such a nice community.

Have you ever been recognized outside?

It has happened a few times that people have recognized me. It feels super weird when people recognize you in the street and want to have a chat with you. But I’m actually really grateful and I feel very blessed to have such a privilege.

But YouTube and playing Diablo IV isn’t your main source of income, is it?

No, during daytime I own and run a law firm as a managing partner and it’s taking a lot of my time.  Gaming and working at the same time is really stressful but possible because I’m not married (laughs).

Would you give up the law firm for YouTube and Diablo IV if you could?

No. And even if I could, I still wouldn’t do it. I admire gamers and while I actually make a bit of money from it, I admire the law more and being a lawyer has granted me so many skills in real life that are extremely useful to me. I mean, we’re living human beings. I’m not a Necromancer in real life. I don’t spawn the dead from graveyards. I mean, it is what it is. It’s a fantasy. A lot of people are starting to identify with their game characters which is very unhealthy and I think that’s a big mental health issue that will need to be addressed at some point.

The gaming community can be rather brutal. What are your thoughts on what happened with Avowed, for example, and what happened with Assassin’s Creed Shadows?

Firstly, I never played any of those games. I did play one of the Assassin’s Creeds, but I can’t even remember which one. I got it as a birthday present. I installed it on my PC, played it a little bit, finished the game, and then I never got any of the other games in the series. So I’m not going to comment on games I haven’t played. But I know they were really badly received and that there’s a disconnect with the audience.

Where do you think it went wrong?

Gamers want to be surprised. They want to be flabbergasted. We get that gamer’s high. We get these moments when serotonin and dopamine is released and then we chase it. We want it. We want that feeling from a game. And when a game doesn’t deliver that, when a game annoys you, then obviously you get frustrated, especially if you paid money for it. Like you’re investing in a product and it’s not yielding the return.

So it’s a matter of expectations not being met?

The expectations in today’s world are really high. Back in the day you couldn’t make a $400 million game because it was on a disc. It was literally on a floppy disk. At the end of the day, it was about your imagination, your creativity, and imagination. We would see pixels, but in our minds, it became reality. But today I think the industry is trying too hard, trying too hard in terms of graphics, in terms of voice actors, it’s becoming too consumer oriented. It’s not about taking us into a magical story. Most games fail to deliver that. Gamers want to be immersed.

Is that how it is for you? You want to be immersed?

What gets me going is Dark Souls type of games. Especially Dark Souls 3. Because everything is there. The risk element is there, the environment is there, the atmosphere is there, the challenge is there. Everything there. Skyrim also is another great game as well. These games actually immerse players with the story. Skyrim is super addictive because it has a great story. It has great elements and it has player agency. Dark Souls 3 has player agency. Elden Ring has player agency and a story and an immersive environment.

These games are all great but they are very different from Diablo IV in the sense that they are all viewed from a third person perspective. Is that something you’d like to see for Diablo in the future?

Diablo IV was first planned to be a Dark Souls type of game. Third person view with extremely challenging mechanics and a gothic environment. When I first read that article I was super hyped. And then they changed their minds and said it was going to be an ARPG with isometric camera view. And then they tried to make Nightmare Dungeon tier 100 super hard and people, of course. I’m telling you, a World of Diablo would have been the most epic game ever.

Fingers crossed for that. When Diablo first came out in 1997, almost 30 years ago,  it set the benchmark for early ARPGs but there are several competitors today like the Patch of Exile games and Last Epoch. What do you think of those games compared to Diablo?

I think Path of Exile 2 definitely dropped the ball. It’s trying too hard and it’s just not gaining the momentum or traction that it aimed to. The Path of Exile games are all about the leveling journey. Whereas Diablo, for example, has more of an endgame. Even Diablo II had competitive leaderboards and its own ladder race. Diablo IV had the gauntlet. So when it comes to competitive endgame, Diablo has more content. There’s one more aspect to consider. The Diablo series, except Diablo 3 and Immortal, excels when it comes to bringing out that dark, gothic environment.

Anything else that makes the Diablo series better in your opinion?

I think what makes Diablo unique is the PvP aspect of the game. A lot of people are missing this point. Back in the days, Diablo II PvP and Diablo dueling was a real thing. And it actually has its own place as part of the endgame system. Diablo IV also has two PvP areas but they suffer a bit from imbalances between the classes.

You surely sing Diablo’s praises but there must be something that’s bad or can be improved?

My only criticism of Diablo IV is that I am starting to see a divergence, a path that is going towards World of Warcraft and Diablo 3. For example, when the game first came out and you were on the screen where you choose the class of your character, they were all sitting by a campfire. There was a bit of mystery. Now they have taken that away. It’s a small step, sure, but it’s a step in the wrong direction. Now it’s like in World of Warcraft. You hover over a class, it tells you what it does with some visual animations and text and whatnot. This is too consumer oriented. We need a more enigmatic approach. Now it’s like the game is starting to hold the players’ hands and guiding them too much. There’s almost nothing left to figure out.

What about the roadmap and future of Diablo IV with DLC that will continue to expand on the existing world map? Are you excited?

I am cautiously optimistic. At the end of the day, it is more content and it’s a good thing to have novelty in the game. But at the same time, Blizzard sometimes tries to fix things that are not broken, which is wasting precious time and resources. So they have to be really careful when they decide to bring out new systems or change existing systems. I think Blizzard should firstly focus on quality of life changes that the player base has asked for. When you bring out features that help the player have a better time, you will be successful. Blizzard needs to trust in the player base and listen to the correct feedback.

You don’t think there’s a risk of players feeling a bit overwhelmed if the world map expands, you know, open world fatigue?

So Diablo 4 doesn’t feel like an open world game to me, first of all. The world is not big enough. It should have been like five times bigger than the current size. Then maybe we could start talking about an open world. Right now it doesn’t feel like a world to me. We should really, really, really bring more puzzles to Diablo IV. If Blizzard wants people to actually spend time in the open world, I strongly suggest that every season should have a riddle and every season we should unlock a special secret place. Something like the Lucid Nightmare maze in World of Warcraft. It’s an endless maze and you can only go forward. At some point you end up drawing the route with pen and paper. And in the end you could get like a seasonal power-up. Let’s say your Bloodsurge adds a Poison Nova like in Diablo II. Blizzard could easily implement this. 

You mean like how players are already trying to find the Cow Level?

So, you just gave the Cow Level as an example and how people are spending time in the world. Imagine if there were more secrets. You will actually have a reason to roam around the world. The Cow Level is a big draw for the Diablo series and I’m sure it will be in the game at some point, maybe in a couple of expansions.