Since I’ve been enjoying S8 quite a bit so far, I’d like to share my experiences with it here, both positive and negative.
First of all, I’d like to say that the slightly increased difficulty and the low drop rate in the first 40 levels feel very good. In my opinion, the whole thing plays more smoothly, and some things gain more importance as a result.
I honestly can’t understand at all why so many people are up in arms just because the leveling phase has become a MINUS harder. I was really worried that, as countless posts have described, it would be WAY too difficult and I wouldn’t be able to play a HC character this season. But luckily, that was all a bit exaggerated :)… as is often the case.
I now have 9 hours on the clock with my HC Sorceress and am at Paragon 33. Torment 1 is, as always, a joke, and I’m currently working on Torment 2. So, all in all, it’s not a particularly long leveling phase. Okay, they’ve turned it down a bit from 1-25, that’s how it seems to me, but after that… everything’s the same.
The low drop rate is quite pleasant at the beginning, but I also think they overdid it a bit. But it’s also a good thing and necessary after the loot rain from S7.
The QoL changes were all good and necessary (tempering, etc.).
What I find negative, and I have to agree with many in the community, is the season event, which seems a bit boring. I mean, it would be nice if it were a random, rare event where you could get some good rewards, but the event as a complete season theme is a bit lackluster… They really could have made the effort and added some content, but oh well…
Overall, I’m having a lot of fun with the season, but the lackluster event leaves it a bit bland. I’ll still level up my HC characters to Q4 and have a lot of fun doing it 
ps.
Sorry for the spelling, it was written with google translate