Diablo 4 Open Beta this weekend

[how do you like apples]

They've nerfed all the defensives in the game by about 25% so I think all classes will feel less tanky in season 1. Maybe bad news for sorcerors who were already squishy.

[Alberon]

They seem to have attempted to nerf defences and boost offensive power and try to remove builds being reliant on the same few affixes.

They've scheduled a new 'Campfire chat' on Friday to try and explain themselves.

Really, what seems to be hurting them is the lack of a PTR server where people can try out these new patches, see what works and what needs work.

A lot of complaints are over the changes just making everything take longer as if that makes it more fun. It now takes five seconds for a dungeon exit animation rather than three.

Another major complaint is that the two capstone dungeons cannot be attempted before level 50 and 70. A big part of the achievement of beating them was when you did them underlevel.

[oggyraiding]

Blizzard Campfire Chat scheduled for July 21 to address to controversy.

Not sure if they'll double down on or reverse the changes.

[Alberon]

No way they'll backtrack. Just try to explain why the players are wrong.

[Mobius]

I've uninstalled it. All of the changes are bad and make the game less fun.

[oggyraiding]

Spent a few hours with the new season, with a druid. My launch druid was very tanky, I didn't feel vulnerable until around level 35. Now I'm struggling with some of the Fractured Peaks dungeon bosses even at levels 10-25. My gear is decent and I think my build is better, but I'm definitely significantly squishier. The malignant hearts mechanic is not really that game changing. They're just like the imprinted stuff on higher tier gear, only they go in colour coded gem slot type things. I have yet to tackle a malignant dungeon, so maybe that's where the fun is.

The seasonal journey is fine - each chapter has a bunch of tasks, do most of them to progress. Stuff like clear 3 Fractured Peaks dungeons, dismantle 10 normal gear, mostly stuff you end up doing anyway as you play the game.

I don't know what I was expecting from this seasonal lark, but it feels a bit inconsequential.

[Alberon]

Patch fuckups aside the seasonal content is not enough on its own. To be honest it doesn't feel much more than a Diablo 3 season (and they always used to boost one armour set of each class).

I'm getting replay value from trying a different class, but obviously that isn't going to last for too many seasons. It took them a long while to get Diablo 3 into an enjoyable format and it looks like the same thing is going to happen here.

I suspect I'll be dumping this in a month or so and leaving it for a year.

[how do you like apples]

I like what the caged hearts do (I'm playing necro and I think they have the most impactful bonuses). I don't like when one "drops" in a dungeon and you have to click it then wait 5 seconds for an enemy to spawn, particularly cos they're usually hard to see.

[Alberon]

The latest livestream was this evening. They're not rolling back the last patch, but another emergency one is coming in a couple of weeks where they going to buff other bits.

They also said they're specifically targeting barbarians and sorcerers for improvement. Also patch notes will be released days in advance to avoid this sort of rubbish again.

[Mobius]

Reinstalling.

[oggyraiding]

I really hope we get more questlines later in the season. If I take out the time I spent levelling enough to tackle the strongholds some key items were in, it's probably only 4-5 hours of structured story content.

Also done the first four chapters of the seasonal journey, now I'm on a chapter that requires World Tier 3, and I'm currently level 45 so it looks like I'll be grinding whispers until I hit 50.

[how do you like apples]

You can get to World Tier 3 before 50 if you're strong enough. I did the capstone dungeon at level 40. And I've just done the level 70 capstone at 61 to get into Tier 4.

Hopefully with more development time for season 2 than they had for this season there will be more content released for the endgame next time. The season start was fun with doing the journey stuff and learning about the malignant hearts. Now I'm in WT4 it feels like there's nothing really left to do except grind 40 more levels in nightmare dungeons. The final season journey chapters feel like they'll just be completed naturally as I play. At least necromancer has several viable builds I can play around with

[Alberon]

The lack of endgame content is exactly how it was with Diablo 3. Expect an endgame to be slowly built and plugged in over the next year or two.

It's our fault for buying unfinished games I suppose.

I never got to Tier 4 with my Eternal Realm character, so maybe I'll push my seasonal one forward to there, by which point the buffs for later progression will be in place. By that point Starfield will be out and I'll probably be complaining about what a buggy overpromised/underdelivered mess that is.

[Ham Bap]

I put off starting the new season as there were a lot of complaints about it and I had been away from the game for a couple of weeks, (went on holiday, left the house for a while for a change!)

Started it last night and im having a fun time. I see Reddit and Resetera is full of complaints and hate but its good for me. I mean the new season isn't a game changer but its fine.
This is my first ever Diablo game so trying out Rogue this time, my first playthrough was Necromancer. Its something new along with the new free content.

Maybe if i was a Diablo veteran Id see loads of issues but its fine here.
There are a lot of complaints about the buffs and slowing down level progression but at the same time long time players had finished the game on Hardcore and had seen everything there was to see.

Some of the loot drop is meh I agree but is some of the issue that people have ploughed thousands of hours into Diablo I,II,III and are playing this non-stop and are going to be a bit bored no matter what this new season would have brought?

I could see some endgame issues on my first playthrough, lootdrop and build variety, but I was playing only this non-stop. Had planned to start another game and keep this on the backburner, but at least this new season is some new free content to get me playing a brand new class (Rogue) and new builds to try out.

[Alberon]

A new class brings a new play experience which does help, but I suspect I'll skip season 2 at least before coming back.

[Ham Bap]

Im taking a break from this. Next patch drops next week.
The loot drop is too shite at the minute, something they're addressing with the next patch.
Just an endless grind for nothing at the minute.

Ive been enjoying playing as Rogue, im up to level 51. Though I dunno if i could be bothered to start again as a new class anytime soon.
Maybe a break for a couple more patches then start again as a Druid or Sorcerer (though that class is meant to be bugged overall for endgame).

So a month away or so might be best though Starfield will be out then.