The fourth season of Diablo IV has definitely taken a good amount of my time. I did enjoyed the game when it was first launched a year ago, but after having two level 100 characters, I was fairly done with the game and needed a break. Diablo IV’s Season 4: Loot Reborn has definitely interested me because of the long hiatus. It was also interesting to see the game trying to change its itemization. I definitely missed out a decent amount of the updated content, and it was interesting to rediscover them during this season.
Admittedly, there were quite a bit of things I wasn’t accustomed too after not playing the game for a while. If you haven’t played Diablo IV, is it worth playing it again after all these updates? The answer is yes, but it depends how much you enjoyed the game during launch day. If you didn’t feel like Diablo IV wasn’t your cup of tea, it still won’t grab you. Diablo IV still plays what was similar to the launch day experience, but just better now.
In hindsight, I believe the campaign was by far the most polished and balanced aspect of the game. I remember being surprised by how good it was. There is a part of me that would love to come back and just make a character just for the campaign experience. For those who want to get to the endgame as soon as possible, skipping the campaign is by far the most optimal way. It is rather disappointing to see the developers want dedicated players to skip out the campaign if they want dive deep into the endgame. Avid action role playing gamers tend to care more about the endgame experience over the campaign. That is why a feature like that is in Diablo IV.
The Endgame is Simply Better Now
The endgame of Diablo IV was by far the thing that’s supposed to keep you playing the game for many hours. At first, it was definitely a lot of fun trying out the different events you have after finishing the campaign, but there were flaws. Helltides on launch day weren’t that interesting in terms of gameplay because of the lack of density. It was basically there for you to farm your crafting materials. World Bosses were very fun during the beta, but they do lose their appeal in the long run. In reality, Nightmare Dungeons were basically the main activity for the endgame. Everything else felt like secondary activities, but they didn’t feel as impactful as the Nightmare Dungeons. Nightmare Dungeons were important for your characters because of the upgraded Paragon Glyphs they provide you.
Trying to get new equipment for my old Barbarian.
Initially, the Nightmare Dungeons were great, but certain modifiers can make them tedious to run through. You always wanted a dungeon that had the right modifiers that didn’t slow down your build or anything that wasn’t too dangerous. Nowadays, the developers have lowered the amount of modifiers on the Nightmare Dungeons. It has definitely made them more fun to run them. You no longer have to constantly check the affixes on them. You don’t have to instantly salvage a Nightmare Dungeon with the Cold Enchanted affix.
Improved Helltides & Unique Items
Fast forward to a year later, I can definitely say that every existing endgame activity within Diablo IV does have its existence. World Bosses are great for crafting materials like Scattered Prism. With that mentioned, they should be better in terms of their scaling because they are generally dead in about 10 seconds when dealing with decked out characters. Helltides have drastically improved and it’s actually a lot of fun to go through them because of the increased density. It’s also nice that players can now have easier access to them. Helltides will appear on the map more frequently.
The new item updates have been fun to go through. It’s nice to see that there are a decent amount of Unique items that are actually worth using. I found Tiabult’s Will while playing, and it’s an item I cannot replace because the stats on it are too good to give up for. I’ve been having a good time of using the Double Swing Barbarian which is certainly a fun class because of some of the aspects that the developers implemented. There are some aspects that allow you to cast dust devils while using your Double Swing ability. They do a lot of damage which makes them great for damaging large groups of demons.
Some Suggestions and Feedback
Diablo IV is definitely taking the right steps into improving its overall gameplay to make the game better than it was before. However, there are still some suggestions I’d like to see the game make down the line. For this season, they decided to have harder versions of the optional bosses that players can farm them for better chances of Unique drops. They call them Tormented versions and they are supposed to give the player more loot. The main reason why I have a problem with these bosses is because of the stingy Stygian Stones.
I haven’t found much of them and I have killed a decent amount of World Bosses and finished multiple Pit runs on my Seasonal Barbarian. I’ve only found one from The Pit, and I did acquire some of them from completing the Iron Wolf reputation. It seems like the drop rates need to be better because I have no idea how many times I need to kill the World Bosses or Pit runs I have to do before I find another Stygian Stone. It’s certainly a nice concept to make harder version to provide a greater challenge for characters with great gear, but I haven’t had much desire to try them out due to how stingy the Stygian Stones are.
Diablo IV’s Greater Rifts
The new endgame content which is called The Pit, and it’s basically Diablo IV recycling Diablo III’s Greater Rift mechanic. You go through a dungeon that is filled with lots of angry demons. On top of that, there’s a timer you have to beat through. At the end of the dungeon after killing a certain amount of enemies, you fight a boss. Once the boss is dead, your loot is rewarded for your heroic effort. In Diablo IV, the game is rewarding certain materials that allow the player to upgrade their favorite items to become better than ever.
This is where you get access to The Pit.
Despite being very similar to Diablo III’s Greater Rift, it is a welcoming feature for Diablo IV. It’s also a good incentive to do them because of the upgrades to your favorite items. I have definitely found some nice items that I obviously took advantage of improving them.
Unfair One Shot Kills
Unfortunately, the heavy amount of one shot kills I had to go through just made it tedious to play through The Pit multiple times. I seriously have no idea of what I need to improve upon to prevent myself from getting one shot from these bosses. It certainly wasn’t fun to keep getting killed by the bosses like that. I do hope in the future, the balancing will be better for The Pit. There are so many instances where a boss can easily one tap you, and you won’t expect it.
Diablo IV is almost a year old, and it has definitely improved its endgame experience. It’s certainly a lot more enjoyable than what it was on launch day, and its new updates make it worth playing the game again. There are still some polishing that needs to be done like the balancing of The Pit or making Stygian Stones not so annoying to acquire. But I do have confidence that the game will continually get better. Diablo IV will be one of those games that I will return if I feel the need to.
