Torment 4 Aspirational? My opinion on Season 8 so far

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.

19 Likes

definitely agree that belial was poorly handled with no lore or meaningful context.

back in diablo 1, even the tale of king leoric going mad outperformed all diablo 4 season stories.

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TLDR; Try to be more concise. Stick to details and not your feelings.

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Tl;Dr

  • Season 8 pacing is okay, better than last, but leveling still felt fast.
  • Season Journey has some frustrating, elitist-feeling objectives, rough for casuals.
  • Reliquaries feel bad, BP buyers pay more and get less. Poor value.
  • Seasonal Event is bland. No real quest line or lore. Belial wasted.
  • Torment IV isn’t aspirational, just stressful. Meta builds dominate, class balance is off.
  • Boss fights are over tuned. Long immunity phases and unfair one-shots, Andariel is awful.
  • T4 difficulty = inflated stats, not smart mechanics. Defense/resistance feels meaningless.
  • Game forces meta play. Every class should have 3–4 viable builds for endgame.
  • Endgame is stale. Maxing out just leads to repetitive Pit runs.
  • Blizzard still lacks clear direction for D4. Game swings between extremes.
  • Can’t even play with casual friends anymore, they’re not enjoying it.
  • Mixed feelings overall. If you’re having fun, great, just wish it worked better for everyone.
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I don’t think I can agree to be honest. We already knew where all the evils have been… Slowly resurrecting after Malthael absorbed the black soulstone(containing ALL the souls of the Evils and Prime Evils) and then once defeated, all their souls were released into the world to where they have been slowly resurrecting over time.

With the end of Vessel of hatred’s story, we got the Wanderer 2.0 with Mephisto in Akarat’s body so he can go spread hatred to bring rise to destruction and terror to eventually resurrect his brothers.

The fact that we are getting old Evils with extra stories in the Seasons feels great to me because it’s extra tidbits of lore. And the “fake-reset” was such a great play on things showing that they can absolutely do more “time” areas which could lead to a future season taking us back to OG Tristram prior to even D1.

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I gave a like just for taking that much time to type out a post…

I feel like this is by design. If they can keep changing it, there will always be hope for the future. If the game stays in a static state for too long, more people would quit.

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No offense to OP , but I have never thought any of my opinions were that interesting that I needed to type out a novel for strangers.

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Some people just need to be like bob. bob is a winner in my book. :star: :star: :star: :star: :star:

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But continued change not in the same direction will lead to a much, much smaller future for the game.

Why are you posting if you didn’t read?

You don’t think your opinions are that interesting but yet you have over 1100 posts?

:nerd_face: Correction, he only has 3 topics, none of which are more than a paragraph long. He was referring to someone writing a 10 page essay on “why paint dries and how it makes them feel” as a topic rather than a few paragraphs. :nerd_face:

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Long as they have some builds that can jump into T4 with minimal gearing i don’t see how T4 is aspirational.

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Blizzard knows what kind of game they want D4 to be. Profitable. Tons of cash. Oodles of dough. Big bucks. Whatever game gets the cash is what they’ll make. Which is why it feels so dated and ‘meh’ because it has no soul to it. It’s just a mobile game with a huge cash shop to trigger materialist instinct.

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The issue I have is the build up. There was no build up. And regardless of what happened at the end of Diablo III that game was completely unfinished. We do not know what happened between the 2nd expansion that never happened and Diablo IV, Unless it was covered in a book. Everything from end of Diablo III to launch of Diablo IV is all up in the ether and pulled back in for what purpose? I am a huge lore person and feel it was a missed opportunity is all. They could have made it a little more engaging and immersive. I felt absolutely no immersion. Even the Herald of Hatred fight at the end of Vessel of Hatred campaign left a lot to be desired. At least there was some build up to a very anti-climatic event. If they introduce an old Evil, Greater or lesser. It should get the attention it deserves.

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Your right about how it feels like more work.

I took my Minions and did the Seasonal Journey. I spent the last couple days trying to decide what End Game build I want to spec into for Necro but none seem fun. They just do more Damage.

Probably the best thing so far is I got all the Legendary Runes to use for any build. That feels the most accomplishing so far this Season. But it wasn’t fun this time around.

I’m kinda thinking about starting a Rogue and playing Twisting Blades. I like that build. Maybe just staying in Torment 1 for a while.

Maybe take my Minions back to Torment 1 and re-focus on Min-Maxing him. I just forced my way to T4 with crap Master Working and switching to Blood Spear for the help.

I felt Season 6 and Season 7 felt better. This Season feels off somehow. It just feels weird to me.

And more balancing and more S Tier Builds is needed. Variety is the most important thing right now.

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Think that one was seen coming.

Would be interesting to hear of their experiences.

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THIS! Also the Butcher! Why no lore, nothing for him? Just put in as a nostalgia act.

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Will your casual friends be playing something else now?