Blizzardjust recently dropped the 1.1.0a update forDiablo 4, setting the game up for the launch of its upcoming first season,Season of the Malignant, which is set to drop on July 20, and after reading the very long and detailedpatch notes, most of the online fanbase was disappointed to learn that this update not only failed to address many of the community’s major concerns, it further exacerbated others.
It’s a lot to get through, but the major points of contention onRedditwere that the game was overall made to feel even grindier and slower than it already was, many requested quality-of-life features were missing, and the Sorcerer, which is considered by many to be the weakest class in the game, was nerfed even further.
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The cost to open Tortured Gift of Mysteries chests, found in Helltide events, was increased by over 40%, and Helltide enemies were made to be higher level. This was seen as particularly frustrating, as it would make running Helltides much less worthwhile and much more time-consuming.
Furthermore, the Diablo 4 devs made significant overall decreases to Vulnerable and Critical Strike damage in item affixes, as builds were essentially mandated to center around these stats due to how powerful the mechanics were.
However, not enough was done to compensate for this, so many believe combat will now feel more sluggish. Some also think that this will only make Vulnerable damagemoreovercentralizing, as it’s still a very powerful mechanic, you’ll now just need even more of it.
Finally, the changes to the Sorcerer were seen as almost laughably unfair. One of its most powerful passives, Devouring Blaze, was heavily nerfed. This was done, again, to promote build diversity, but given that not enough was done to compensate for it, it essentially just made the weakest class in the game even weaker.
The Sorcerer also got a unique weapon, The Oculus, but it comes with an odd and severe drawback. It turns your dodges into Teleports (an ability in the Shock skill tree), but it makes the teleport location random, so you could hypothetically end up in some enemy’s hazardous AoE ability and take heavy damage, without it being in your control.
The response to these patch notes online has been overwhelmingly negative, to the point where many players are stating the game is simply not worth playing if these are the type of changes that are going to be implemented. It’s only online comments, of course; there could still be a huge number of players excited about the upcoming seasonal content, but the hardcore fans are undoubtedly displeased.
