Attention Devs! Ideas for Season 4! (Solution to Uber Grinding!)

PC General Discussion
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EDIT: Due to the overwhelming negative response of heavily opposing Gacha in an ARPG Loot hunting game, I’ll be withdrawing this idea for the D4 team’s consideration. I hope this post was able to help in some way or another or even to help inspire NEW ideas that do work. Thank you to everyone for your responses!

Hey everyone! NoobTactics here. I have a few ideas for the D4 Dev team and I would greatly appreciate it if you forwarded this on to the game director because I believe I can help improve the game even further this upcoming season!

Personally, I think the drop rate is good for uber uniques. BUT… I played with a guy in season 3 that did over 600 duriel runs without A SINGLE, UBER UNIQUE…

So that leads me to idea #1:

Enable a Pity system for the amount of runs you do.

A pity system, for those of you that don’t know, is a common gacha feature that rewards persistent players with a guaranteed loot drop they are aiming for upon reaching a certain preset number of runs.

The way it could work in Diablo 4 is if you do a certain amount of Uber boss runs (Uber Duriel and the newly added Uber Andariel) without getting an Uber unique, it guarantees an uber unique drop on the threshold counter.

If you make it even every 100 that you don’t get an uber unique, or even 150… That upon your next Uber Andy or Duriel run you are granted a guaranteed uber unique, I think a lot of people would be happy.

How would I go about enforcing this “Pity System” in an ARPG like Diablo 4? With four new items: Piteous Artifact (unique gem), and a Piteous Fortune (Uber unique gem), Shard of Pity and Shattered Pity (useless gem).

You could craft Piteous Artifact with the following materials:

  1. 10 Royal gems of each kind (so total of 70)
  2. 10 Trash Uniques
  3. And 10 million gold.

Once it’s crafted it becomes activated and starts at 0 charges.

While active, you gain ONE charge for every Uber Duriel or Uber Andariel run that does NOT yield an uber unique.

Upon defeating them without an Uber Unique, they drop a Shard of Pity. Picking up a Shard of Pity adds one charge to your Piteous Artifact.

Upon reaching full charge, the Unique gem Piteous Artifact is replaced with an Uber Unique gem, Piteous Fortune.

Visiting an Uber Unique Shrine (or Occultist if that’s better) yields you a random uber unique piece of gear. And the Uber Unique gem is consumed.

However… If you pick up an Uber Unique item while in possession of a Piteous Artifact, the Piteous Artifact SHATTERS, and needs to be re-activated to gain progress again.

Reactivation is not as strenuous as the initial craft however. You take the “Shattered Artifact” and use the Occultist to transmute it into a Piteous Artifact by using the following materials:

  1. 10 Million Gold
  2. 10 Trash Uniques.

The idea here is to make it not so stressful that you’re hoping to NOT find an Uber Unique with all the effort you put in.

With a lessened penalty for starting over (being you don’t need the 70 Royal gems this time), it makes it less stressful if you pick up an uber unique and have it shatter on you.

It becomes a double edged sword, however. When you craft it, it has a huge risk//reward element to it because you have to take into effect that the drop rate for Uber uniques outside of Uber Duriel and Andariel has increased in Season 4, and risk losing the progress if you stop grinding Uber Duriel//Andariel.

If you decide to implement this Pity system idea, you could accomplish a few things with the game’s economy:

  1. Create a new end game activity- Grinding that Pity!
  2. Make gems valuable AND useful in end-game. Incentivizing trade for Royal gems FAR into end game.
  3. Would be a risk/reward factor for players targeting Uber Unique farming. 10 Duriel or Andy runs would net you the 10 trash uniques, supplementing the creation of this gem (And if it shatters, another 10 runs with guaranteed Unique drops fuel the reactivation of this gem).

Ultimately, the goal of this feature would be to enhance the Uber grind. It’s a waste of resources to use one of these unique gems without farming bosses Uber Duriel and Uber Andariel.

I honestly believe the current drop rate of Uber Uniques with Duriel and Andariel are fine. This Unique//Uber Unique gem feature would just be a way for unlucky players to catch up to the luckier ones.

By using a “Shattered Pity” unusable item idea, it allows you to re-invest into grinding for that Uber Unique without breaking the bank with gems.

Instead of starting over when your Piteous Artifact shatters, all it takes is a bunch of gold and 10 trash uniques to reactivate it and start over at rank 0.

This would make some players tote that Uber Unique gems are a waste of resources but for those unlucky enough, and strictly do Duriel Andy farming… It’s worth the investment!

Utilizing a “Pity” system could only benefit players. It doesn’t add an influx of uber uniques, it creates a catch up system for those who can go 600 runs in a row without getting a SINGLE Uber Unique drop.

Plus, it provides more structure with a common goal between all players doing Duriel and Andariel runs- To grind that pity!

I hope this idea finds the game director and I hear back from the Diablo 4 Devs. I’d love to offer my services as a video game consultant if possible! I have TONS of revolutionary ideas for WoW Retail!

And now that that’s said, here’s my other idea:

Idea #2: Create a completely separate tab for Summoning mats.

I’ve always felt over-encumbered having to share my consumables tabs with both boss mats AND elixirs.

I feel like, the player base would respond well to a simple fix of separating the tab into two tabs: One with consumables, the other with Summoning Mats.

Consumables are obvious like elixirs, incenses, etc.

Summoning mats are every type of boss mats, AND Nightmare Dungeon sigils. I always pick up good sigils from NM Dungeons only to find out all the other elixirs I gathered are taking up all the space. Simple fix, create two new windows and eliminate the current window.

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Why not just increase the drop chance to 100% just like normal Uniques are right now and be done with it so I can quit faster?

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This does not belong in arpgs.

Why stop at that… have them equipped for every new character at lv 1.

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One can argue that it isn’t purely a gacha mechanic.

Gacha implies you’re spending resources (mostly Real money) on loot boxes.

This is just addressing the fact you could be repeatedly farming the same bosses over and over and getting NOTHING in return.

There’s no rule against ARPG’s leveling the playing field for casual players to not getting ZERO Uber uniques. If you aren’t buying loot boxes it’s not necessarily taboo for an ARPG to provide some serious relief to those not getting anything!

There’s still no guarantee you are getting the item you’re farming for, and every 100-150 runs of nothing does NOT create an influx of uber uniques into the game that were never there before.

I feel like using influences from other genres of gaming can only enhance the gaming experience. It’s like going to film school and studying old films to see where films came from so you can decide where to go from that point on.

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I played D2 for 1000s of hours I never found Tyraels or a Sur rune. I dont feel entitled to them because arpgs revolve around RNG. The entire game is already designed for a casual playerbase.

This isnt a gotcha game.

Boss farming, loot hunting and rare items all belong in arpgs. Look at D3, as a stand alone acrcade game its ok but it only provides maybe 4 hours of gameplay perseason. Its nice that D4 has a couple uncommon items.

2 Likes
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Yeah but they are making some serious compromises with the new PTR patch coming out a week from Tuesday to reduce the grinding and enable more “entitlement” as you call it.

I’m simply trying to help keep the player base on board by rewarding them for their hard work.

I played season 3 and got ZERO Uber Uniques for 200 runs. And after the 200 I received a grandfather.

I would have honestly quit the game had I not gotten that grandfather. It’s extremely discouraging to the casual fan base that they can farm THAT much materials, to get nothing in return. That’s not a grind that’s a waste of time and energy farming hell tides and Varshan mats.

It’s different when you consider the typical ARPG allows for boss farming with a set drop rate. Diablo 4 makes you farm resources so you can farm resources so you can have more chances at probably ZERO useful loot. I think it’s okay to make it possible to get a guaranteed Uber Unique after farming nonstop for 100-150 runs.

If it was a simpler farm I would be on board with it but you have to farm mats to farm bosses that drop mats that you pool together with other bosses’ mats, only to summon ANOTHER boss that drops nothing.

You need to think about keeping the fanbase happy and keeping them from jumping ship.

Edit: And keeping them from jumping ship could mean borrowing mechanics of other successful games.

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And I did 300 malph runs this season because I was unlucky. Ive run a couple hundred duriel runs trying to get star ring and only got a shako, sielig, ash staff and andys. Ive just been unlucky.

Am i frustrated? No, because I choose to play an arpg. Would i continue to play if it was likr D3? Likely not more than 4-8 hours each season because there isnt anything to chase.

Do I feel entitled to uncommon uniques? No

The biggest problem is they made them far to common and this is where we start to see a higher level of entitled attitudes towards farming in a farming game.

1 Like
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PLUS, I thought I laid it out in broad details the amount of work it takes to not only craft the unique gem, but the risk reward aspect of picking up Uber Uniques outside of Duriel and Andy farms.

If it costs 70 royal gems, 10 unique trash items, and 10 million gold? That’s not a sense of entitlement that’s a legitimate investment that will probably get “shattered” if they pick up an Uber Unique outside of Uber boss farms.

The whole theme of “Risk for reward” is a very common tactic with ARPG’s, I’m merely suggesting we borrow a part of gacha games and supplement it into the D4 system.

This is not a standard “Creating Gacha Buff for all bosses.” It’s a lot of hard work and gathering. You have to do 10 Duriel//Andy runs just to get the materials to craft the Unique gem, and then another 10 for every time it shatters.

It’s reciprocity for the effort given to the reward you get.

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Having other avenues to obtain uber uniques isn’t a bad idea. We have this in PoE for some rarer items through things like divination cards and such.

I don’t think a pity system is a good idea though. 100-150 runs is not a lot at all.

For what is coming though, we do have the first time kill sparks on the uh I am just going to call them uber ubers I think? Or was it normal ubers? I don’t remember lol. Anyways, either way. Through this, will be able to craft one uber unique of your choosing. So we are getting that.

They could add other systems through other content eventually.

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That is only you. Diablo are loot hunting game. Build & character design supplements but doesn’t replace loot hunting. Part of core to arpg is chasing ultra rare items even if your build doesn’t need it.

d3 has that perfect item chase, you might not like it but there’s more than 4hrs of gameplay. You don’t need to push a build in d2 to its limits but can in d3. D2 kills the desire of power fantasies, more so when everything is tradable. You can RM everything out of box in D2. Its past tense.

Ofc D3’s Paragon system kills Its element pushing a build to its limit. It long overdued its mainstat capping. Its also past tense.

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I can see how most D4 fans can be opposed to a gacha system in an ARPG. I understand that. But for some players to do SIX HUNDRED RUNS with nothing to show for it? If I were them I would quit that day.

I’m merely trying to come up with, like you said, alternative ways to acquire Uber uniques that rewards effort and hard work and especially persistence.

Gacha is the most obvious candidate to that solution but if they were to do it, they’d need to make it “The Diablo version” of gacha. I think it’s possible to use other types of gaming for inspiration and make compromises in what players expect from an ARPG. I can’t think of a better way to reward hard work with a reward simply for trying so hard.

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Give everyone one of them (the gem) for finishing the battle pass. Still explodes on finding an uber. Can’t craft or remake. This way everyone could get one random uber for trying. But that’s it. Be a good compromise.

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pity system doesnt belong in a loot hunt game. also they should just move the summoning mats to the materials page and make them untradeable.

2 Likes
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Moving summon mats and making them untradeable doesn’t really solve much though. If this is to stop rmt of mats, people can just pay for runs from people that have the materials lol.

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That’s an EXCELLENT compromise! Thank you for that

2 Likes
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Should still cost like 100 runs or something to activate though. Most people will get one within that frame, but for those that don’t they will get one. Would perhaps encourage them to try for more once they had one or play another class it would better benefit.

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If people are concerned about the readily availability of such a gem, the costs for crafting could be WAY more ridiculous than I laid out for everyone.

200 royal gems of each kind, total of 1400. And a BILLION gold.

I think the overwhelming negative response to this brief testing group says “Gacha and D4 do NOT mix well.” I’ll be retracting my idea. I’ll leave it unedited for all to see though for everyone’s education on the matter!

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Sure but can we call it the “I pity the fool who don’t have ubers” system?

2 Likes
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would drastically be reduced though because it would get rid of duping. but i understand people who rmy wouldnt want to change the system

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My point was it wouldn’t stop rmt though. Just change how it was done. I understand wanting to stop duping. But this also falls on blizz fixing the issues that allow duping even to happen.

Honestly I am surprised, well maybe I shouldn’t be that they haven’t seemed to really care about fixing duping lol.