This is going to be a long post to read and if you do, thank you!
Well, we are one week into Season 8. The opinions expressed here are my own and do not reflect the views of everyone. With that being said. I am rather torn with how I feel about this season. I normally don’t post and stay quiet and play the game, but this season kinda ruffled my feathers a bit. Lets start with the Pros,
Season 8 pacing is okay, not great, but okay, better than prior season. However I did reach level 60 and paragon 150 in 24 hours of total game play. So, the slower leveling really didn’t feel like it was that slow. I got into Torment 3 fairly quickly and after 60 hours of game play time I am Paragon 220 and now farming Torment IV. So overall in a good state as far as pacing goes. This is really my only decent thing to say about this season as everything else feels meh at best.
Cons. Season journey I have mixed feelings about. A few of the objectives do feel more or less like a kick in the face to the casual player. Myself being a rather mix of hardcore/casual. I feel like the new content is designed for the elite minority of players and I feel like this may alienate a silent majority of the Diablo fanbase.
Season Reliquaries are another slap in the face. The added perk of allowing some more stuff to players without purchasing the battle pass is nice, but the ones who do purchase the battle pass are now out more platinum, have to pay more for it and get less rewards for doing so. So essentially, you are paying more for less. Kind of at odds with that design choice and don’t really understand the reasoning behind that. I can honestly say I am at a loss for words. I have no idea how to actually give any reasonable constructive feedback on that.
The Seasonal Event is boring and quest line is just non existent. Why create a season theme and not actually engage in creating something that can last a good portion of the season. More indepth quest line. More lore and history. Belial is such a huge name and character in the Diablo universe and he is just plopped in the season with no rhyme or reason. No back story, no where has he been. No immersion into why he is back and the two characters you encounter in the quest line progression. They really did Belial dirty. This could have been a huge event and something really to be excited for. A seasonal event should be something people want to engage in and spend a lot of time doing. I want to engage and not avoid.
Torment IV does not feel aspirational at all. I am hard pressed to believe Blizzard and these Streamers understand what the word aspirational means. I keep seeing streamers talking about Torment IV being more aspirational and that Blizzard has done just that as they seem to think it is. The definition is just that. To achieve social prestige and material success. There is nothing material about the success of making it into Torment IV. And my honest to God opinion is. It feels more like work and is a bit more stress inducing and that is coming from someone who actually goes pretty hard in Diablo IV from season to season. Unless you are playing one of the 3-4 builds class builds in the current Meta. We shouldn’t have this whole META mentality in the first place. It really doesn’t belong honestly. On top of that why do specific classes get nerfed and others don’t and some get buffed when they don’t even need it. Why can’t there be a balance. Every class should have 3-4 top tier builds that can tackle any content solo given the right combination of gear, stats and skills/paragon. I mean it can’t be that hard. Now getting the things you need to make that build possible is what should factor in how one gets there. Investing time in a build knowing if you get those specific items you need that you’re one step closer to being there. Ultimately the whole mentality by Blizzard having Torment IV be aspirational and designed for those who only play meta builds and for streamers and whoever else is kind of asinine.
Second issue I have is Bosses in Torment IV. Way over tuned. Some more than others. The lesser lair bosses aren’t too bad. Actally most aren’t too bad, but the phasing immunities need to go away. The animations between phases like Andariel, Duriel for example, last way too long when you can still actively hit them and do absolutely no damage to them. A lot of the one shot mechanics need to go away as well. Make them hit hard, adding de-buffs to make them hurt you more if you get hit by it multiple times is fine. I like that aspect. But having one shot mechanics that just come out of nowhere and sometimes happen so fast you can’t counter are absolutely absurd. Andariel is probably thee worst boss currently. There is just way too much going on in that fight to make it fun. You might as well just take ridiculous damage for just being her room at this point. I actively avoid her. I refuse to even engage in that fight anymore.
Overall I feel Torment IV feels like all they did was ramp up enemy damage and HP to make it “harder” but when people gear up and have all the necessary stats, gear etc… to do the content and just get facerolled. What is the point? Lets take Defense and Resistances for example. If you have awesome defense and resistances It should factor in your survivability unless a mob or boss has the ability to negate that defense or resistance. That is how things should be made more challenging. Having enemies with abilities to negate your defenses and resistances and or skill usage forcing the player to go in knowing what they need to do to counter said boss techniques. Not just having a boss slap you and one shot you and negate all the work you put in on your build. Some builds have it easier, some not so much.
Everyone should be able to play every class at a top tier level, downside to that is actually finding the gear to make it work. But at same time have other builds from all classes that can do fairly well even without that top tier gear and still being able to access everything even if it is a little harder. That is what I consider a challenge. But once you get that gear you’re looking for, you feel like you actually aspired to get there. That is one reason I love Diablo II so much.
Overall, this season just thus far feels more like stressful work and not fun. Unless you are playing one of the 6 S Tier builds. I ultimately feels like now, people feel like they are forced into playing those builds to feel like they actually achieved something. Like people can no longer still do all content they way they want to do the content.
The last thing is I still have issue with. Once you are able to achieve everything. 100% your Season Journey, Get the best rolled gear, (masterwork, GA, Paragon 300, etc…) what is there to do once you get there? I don’t know about everyone else, but doing The Pit gets really stale after a while. Anyone have any thoughts on what could be done to make a legit endgame?
Overall, my feelings of fun this season is mixed. If you are really enjoying this season. Good on you and hope you continue to have fun. Let me know what you find fun about this season. I mean, everyone finds different ways to have fun and play a game.
I just hope one day Blizzard can finally come to terms with what kind of game they want Diablo IV to be as I feel they don’t have any real direction on what they want it to ultimately be and finally find some middle ground. It always seems to be one extreme or another at one end of the spectrum or another. Which kind of sucks. I have a friend I been playing Diablo games with for better part of 10 years and he is really casual and doesn’t take it seriously and I won’t be able to play with him much anymore because he is not enjoying the game this time around. Kind of sucks.
If you made it through this. I appreciate you taking the time to read it. Hope everyone finds something fun to do in Sanctuary or doing something else.