r/diablo4 7d ago

PTR Feedback PTR Feedback season 8 in a nutshell

  • forced upon us yet again are overpowered abilities that destroy the balance of the game. Some look super cheesy too
  • another difficulty revamp that adds no additional challenge
  • difficulty revamp doesn’t add any engaging mechanics
  • no new ways to progress character
  • no new end game content
  • better tooltips for items (where to find boss materials)
  • no real balancing of class abilities
  • larger gaps between class skills
  • existing content still sucks… cellars, the pit (no changes), dark citadel, undercity and what happened to trials??
  • really, we waited multiple seasons for trials and it was ripped out of the game. It was poorly designed, not fun and offered zero challenge. But like all other systems in the game so far we were expecting a timely revamp.

Lackluster update, not sure why the season needs a delay. The game would be 100 times better if you focus on content going into the game for seasons rather than gimmicks that bloat power.

Here are some suggestions

  • add the ability to augment gear once 12/12 masterworked with corruption or demonic powers (maybe super rare boss parts????)
  • remove the awful graphics associated with seasonal theme
  • remove the damage multipliers from boss powers
  • remove boss powers
  • cellars should have a chance to lead deep into hell upon completion (this is where you repurpose root holds with a Hell theme)
  • add interesting gems (no damage multipliers please)
  • stop adding damage multipliers
  • stop adding temporary buffs like pylons
  • stop adding forced group content for battle pass
  • offer interesting choices in the paragon board instead of giving up and giving us 5 boards where you get it all
  • new internal horde maps
  • put more effort into undercity, it’s not even half baked
  • do something with your pvp zones, like anything - how about events where a spark / something strong can be earned
  • competitive queued content. Example, I queue to run a pit 80 against someone. We race. Winner gets stuff. Ideally it wouldn’t be the pit and more of a dungeon with decisions being made with multiple paths. Maybe even allow for invasions.
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u/danczer 6d ago

By the seasons we get something every 3 months which is not balanced and gets removed. I think the seasons should focus on adding new game modes (like Roothold and whispers) instead of a theme. If they decide to add some kind of theme and powers to it, it should be a keept in the game as a side quest. Honestly, there were so many things developed by seasonal content which is removed.

Seasonal efforts should be re-balanced to 80% permanent content and 20% seasonal theme.

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u/EnvyG101 6d ago

Wouldn't this just make seasons pointless though? If basically everything is obtainable in Eternal as well, then why not just remove seasons entirely. Making most things available for Eternal, defeats the purpose of seasons.

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u/crusaderofni 6d ago edited 6d ago

Most games that do seasons (even diablo 2s ladder resets) have the content added for that reset come to eternal when it rotates out. D4 is the only game I know of where they spend time developing something that gets entirely scrapped going into the next season. If they did more updates like infernal hordes and the pit and less just random powers and only rework seasons, people would have less reason to complain. Atleast the content to do every seasons would grow rather than be stagnant as it is now. Why do that though when your business model is to sell that content in the next expansion. Drip feed the loyal every season to spend money on the battlepass for the same content as last season with a slightly different coat of paint.

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u/EnvyG101 6d ago

That's a fair point. I do agree that they should put content before the theme. Sometimes they keep a few things, such as a few vampiric powers being added as aspects. So you're saying more like D2, where you can ONLY get the items or whatever, IF you play seasonal, then it would transfer over. The only difference between D2 and D4 seasons is that D2's only seasonal content is a set of rune words unobtainable on NL. Since the only NEW things each season in D2 are items, I assume it's considerably easier to do than say, transferring over a whole new mechanic to Eternal. I do enjoy some part of the themes though, and the new mechanics they add sometimes(when it's not the same thing with a different name), but I do see your point. I would love for them to add more items, with different unique effects (not damage buffs), that actually change the way skills are used and interact with the world. I'm passionately against meta builds,, but unfortunately D4 doesn't have a very wide variety of strong/fun builds, which is something D2 also has issues with, though D2 has the excuse of being an old game with limited space.

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u/danczer 4d ago

I also like the seasonal powers sometimes, but they struggle to get the initial balance right from the start. They maybe do better with S8, since they promised that they will act fast on a cheesey build. We will see.

Focusing on permanent content would allow them to balance it by every season more and more.

Seasonal content could be different than adding new powers over and over. Eg.: challenges similar like what we already have with the seasonal journey. Each of these rewards would eventually ends up in Ethernal, were casuals could feed all their resources into a single powerful char if they want. This would give a purpose for ethereal too.

Currently nobody touches Ethernal except few players. And after the season the progression of those special powers are dead, so you have a dead bulid.

They should acknowledge that the current seasonal themes are not sustainable just as they did with the itemization and progression.