When we reviewed Diablo IVthe latest entry in last year's long-running action RPG series, we said it was off to a great start. But ARPGs live and die by their endgame loops, and it was far too early at the time to accurately assess the game's true staying power.
Unfortunately, after that confident first step, like so many loot seeking games before it, Diablo IV fell flat on his face. I've seen a lot of stupid updates to live service games, but Diablo IV's first major patch, released a few months after the game's release, was still quite shocking. By this point, a consensus had emerged that the endgame was a bit barren, and that reaching the game's level cap of 100 was a tedious chore. But that's the beauty of live service games, right? Tweak some numbers, add some fun, high-level activities, and honey, you're in for a stew.
Unfortunately, the game's developers at Blizzard had other plans. The patch notes for that first update seemed like someone had systematically gone through the game and removed anything that could be considered fun. Almost every character build was mercilessly manipulated, and worst of all it made the game even slower. Fans were outraged, and Diablo IV the first three seasons failed like this. Mostly I lost interest.
Upon the release of the game's first expansion, Vessel of hatredwe check the state of the game and we're pretty happy with what we found.
Game details
Developer: Snow storm
Publisher: Snow storm
Platform: Battlenet, Steam, PlayStation 4|5, Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One
Release date: October 8, 2024
Price: $39.99
Loot reborn
There were a lot of problems with it Diablo IV's endgame, but the most pressing concern was the loot. There were too many possible 'add-ons' (arbitrary properties on pieces of equipment) and they were far too specific. You'd have a sword that gave you extra critical chance on enemies below a certain health threshold, or a helmet that gave you a chance (of a chance) of healing on a hit. Players started calling these hyper-conditional additions “damage on Tuesday” effects.
