Diablo 4 Season 4 Review: Great Changes, But Things Get Weird Fast

This is certainly a strong start to Diablo 4's fourth season with great loot changes. But after reaching a critical mass of power in two days, I'm left wondering what further pursuits I care about, and it feels like I may blow through this whole thing rather fast.
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[@EastyyBlogspot]

I really wish skills were expanded on

[@dorokaiyinvil5705]

You're a true gamer

[@MR3DDev]

They turned Diablo 4 into Diablo 3, and it does feel better.

[@user-og9dr2rc4g]

Except you aren't shoe horned into specific builds each season and we can hunt greater affexes

[@MR3DDev]

@@user-og9dr2rc4g true

[@omegaxtrigun]

@@user-og9dr2rc4gYou mean hunting ancients?

[@ShaneMcGrath.]

@@user-og9dr2rc4g Yes you are, Most people just copying a few online builds because theirs is shit and won't work later on. Game fooling everyone into thinking there is so much choice but there isn't.

[@nelferiongaming4165]

I am looking at this season as more of a game reset. My general approach to a season is I decide on a build I want to do and I level the character to 100. Once I have descent gear and finish the battle pass I generally stop playing. I am very much enjoying the new faster leveling and the gear changes (61 necro so far). I think that unless you want to push rifts or min/max your gear then after 100 you either make another character or go back to the eternal realm to get the updated gear for old characters. I plan on making a sorc and then I may go back and grind out some gear on my eternal characters before Final Shape (since the old gear is not updated with new stats). I don't think this season was designed to be played for 3 months but is more of a new starting point for the future.

[@samuelrow296]

The items with stars are the only ones you are looking for

[@ghosface353]

Because of the fast time you can play several classes this season. I'm only level 41 or something after 4-5 hours of play, but I find Druid a little slow. Could be fun to also do Barbarian and Necromancer also this season. I usually also end up at 82 when the season end.

[@Syndacyt]

Took a few notes to touch on while watching the video. Thought your concerns were valid but a few caveats. Specifically for Helltides and The Pit (Rifts). Depending on the build you leveled with it was ridiculously easy. Which I won't complain about. Leveling is probably my least favorite thing to do every season. However, Helltides should only really be looked at as a leveling activity or farming boss materials. Otherwise they aren't really worth doing once you reach 100. The current system in place for progression seems to be Helltides (leveling) -> Nightmare Dungeons (Glyph XP and shards required to open The Pit) -> The Pit (masterworking materials, build testing). Think the problem after this is there isn't much else to do. You go into a constant cycle of farming mats to get into the Pit to farm materials to Masterwork. To be fair T150 is equivalent to 25 AoZ, so the difficulty does ramp up. Just hoping there will be more systems in the future to supplement game time. As for constantly skimming through loot, I like that the "majority" (there are some crazy dumb combinations on gear still depending on class and build) are the same rolls. I have bricked 75%+ of my gear while tempering that I don't really have an issue with hoarding gear. I only just started to so I can either sell them or use for a different build. In general I would temper then enchant if its only missing one stat you're looking for. If you do it the opposite way that could just end up as wasted gold due to bricking the item. Overall I think the changes were great though, have a bit more to do throughout the season, especially since I enjoy min maxxing.

[@ntewwible]

Love your takes, Paul! Lets team up on Outriders sequel whenever that comes out!

[@Barn80]

“The bosses in the pit are a joke” he says playing a tier 7 pit lol 😂😂

[@edmundmondo1682]

Hey Paul! I like reading your forbes articles. In the lastest one about madame web you wrote: "young Uncle Ben (this takes place in the 90s) whose wife is giving birth to Peter Parker." But it's actually his sister not wife because that would make Ben incestuos!

[@stevenmag2000]

Try the gauntlet or pit 150

[@cpow1048]

Odd, it too got the same horse armor on my first Tree World Boss kill this season. I’ve played since launch.

[@JDxxatteis]

I’ve had that armor for a while

[@discoocelot9578]

It's fun. Wont play all season but Ill definitely be back for the next. Unless they revert or something.

[@Trev0413]

It's fun, haven't played since s0 and am enjoying my time, but I feel having end game goals is important. Perfecting gear, putting a build together that needs 3+ specific uniques/greater affixes + masterwork RCR for example.... I come from PoE so I get the too easy/power spike complaints for sure. Just play your way until it's not fun, you run outta build ideas, etc. I've accepted D4 now as a fun blaster game that I won't spend a lot of time with each season. Also insert fun with friends comment here; something this game does a decent job of that arpgs aren't always good with.

[@VikingDudee]

Idk man, they really need to figure out endgame before they win me back, I got 63 on season 4 and just got bored again. Guess it doesn't help that in the back of my mind I know that i'm forced to do the nm dungeons....

[@terrypankhurst7601]

I like it but We need more skills and def tempers, would like tempers to change how skills look, I'm a heartseaker rogue with fire damage be better if I add fire damage to my arrows the have flames on, just little touches can make all the difference. Also I collected all tempers and affixes pretty quickly after that it was meh, should have some unique tempers and aspects that can rteally change how your class plays but are reasonably rare.

[@partskeleton]

You can add two?! Damn I've been messing up

[@bobbyfordstudios]

Lots of good changes, lots of boring stuff (the core end game boredom remains), first time I have ever dealt with lag in D4 (high density helltides), crafting has some epic new elements and yet is a hot mess. Enchanting mechanics make no sense. Before, using the Diablo crafting site, I had no problem creating an overpower build. Now, can't figure it out for the life of me. If they ported some of Immortals mechanics (essence transfer, set items that have meaning, Hordrim & Helliquarry, pets - but with different mechanics, no pay to win, etc ...)

[@jayprofound_mercenary6665]

I havent played since season 1. I rolled Necro for the first time and the first time I died was a world boss 20 levels higher than me. Helltides are the place to be, mobs have been melting and ive been levelling faster than I can put gear on my char

[@FamedGuardian]

Does D4 not have the mailbox feature like D3? I remember being able to carry armor and stuff over at the end of seasons.

[@welds8424]

Your stash

[@thesavagedonut698]

I last played this game in Season 2. With how repetitive and with the lack of rewards in Helldivers 2, I'm kinda thinking maybe it's time to have another go at Diablo 4. Would i still have to grind the same story again with a new Seasonal character, or is there a way to boost past all that content?

[@amscarpi]

You can skip the campaign

[@luninariate]

Never finished the campaign or played much on launch, but got back into it for this season and loved it so much I have been playing ten hours per day everyday

[@lunaticgmd6427]

I've been wanting to wait for the right time to properly play this game

[@TheMountainman14]

Paul complaining about being too powerful and 925 gear. People literally complain about everything

[@rikubear6549]

Love that you can add 2 more affixes to your gear and upgrade your tempering. This system feels better than the Destiny weapon crafting. Glad they made this a little less geindy instead of layering grind on grinds like destiny.

[@JDxxatteis]

I cleared wt3 capstone at level 34 on minion necro lol I wasn’t even paying attention really my minions did all the work it’s kind of broken lol

[@FamedGuardian]

I did similar at level 32 but had to stay WT2 because gear was dropping at much higher levels.

[@JDxxatteis]

@@FamedGuardian yup same

[@mauriciojimenez283]

Guys I'm new to Diablo and need, help. I started about 2 weeks ago and have my character lvl 30. What happens with the new season? I think my character is on the eternal realm, I can still play it but to enjoy the new seasons features do I need to create a new character?

[@Endless10ppp]

Seasonal = new character only

[@Liamo051]

Yes. And when the season ends you can never play that character again. It’s a horrible system and always has been imo

[@ShinyHoneyBee]

​@Liamo051 you absolutely can continue playing that character in the eternal realm, but characters can't move into a new seasonal realm

[@Liamo051]

@@ShinyHoneyBee my bad then. I’ve only just started playing d4 again since seasons have been a thing, so assumed it was the same as d3

[@KeithKillingly]

@@Liamo051doesn’t make sense for Diablo 3 either though

[@Dylonspitz93]

This is a very solid analysis of a casual player I’m sure a lot of people are feeling this way if your not pushing pits and leaderboards

[@deadclicks]

Paul you really should give PoE a shot. I don't play D4 or PoE personally but from what friends have said, PoE seems to do a far better job at making the seasonal model work than D4 does

[@oInstant]

I like it. Good step in the right direction

[@MrJohnb09]

Crashes??

[@TMacF311]

I’d be so much more invested without the seasons

[@YukDuck]

This times 100. Seasonal model is so bad.

[@TMacF311]

@@YukDuck why grind for things that are obsolete in a few months? The gameplay is decent but not great enough for me to do that very often.

[@trustytea3136]

There is the whole eternal realm too

[@Cloudz2021]

​@trustytea3136 Right. That's literally the whole purpose of Eternal, to avoid the seasonal model.

[@YukDuck]

@@Cloudz2021 Ummm, no. Then you don’t have access to new content or the battle pass. I should be able to experience new content and work on the battle pass without having to roll a fresh character each time.

[@DeuceTreyz]

Time for a update

[@crithon]

well, glad to see nothing has changed in 28 years

[@BlackKnight-kg6ii]

I can not play the Game right now after the new patch today, game crashed every 2-10min.

[@The_Makr_]

I'm going to start playing this for the first time off gamepass. Any tips?

[@joshuabratton5017]

Try gauntlet or pit 150

[@XiLock_Alotx]

Start pushing The Pit 100+….its gets insane

[@RealCrazyDiamond]

I really wish I gave a shit about D4, but it's just boring as hell. Who gives a shit about cosmetics. Seriously. Trying to one up other people who have shit too? It's like an entire game full of people with 1st place trophies. When everyone is special, no one is special.

[@dannya412]

i just buy the season pass with the points from microsoft rewards

[@cheemy1000]

Gave up on it, waste of my money

[@sircosta6200]

Very boring season, nothing new and fresh!!

[@garygohmusic]

I logged in again to see what the season has to offer and was utterly disappointed to find it's just blacksmithing to get bigger numbers and more zoomies. There is ZERO nuance to the game because the vocal group that no-life such games are always wanting to go faster and harder so now every ARPG developer is catering only to that. Path of Exile is a zoomy game with visual vomit, so is Last Epoch. Diablo 4 in it's developmental stages wanted to slow things down but people were so pissed and now it's just another zoomer like Diablo 3 was. I absolutely hate that there's no differentiation in this space and the market leader of old is now another victim of streamers and min-max content creators.

[@David-pt3mh]

Good loot is supposed to be the driving force between games like this. If the loot is still homogeneous, the game remains the same.

[@mikesull8603]

I’m all for the loot re work, but this is them fixing the game. Added content other than Greater Rifts is nothing 😒. Season 04 is mid, but the game overall is better-ish.

[@mcsnoopster]

Damn you and you boomy mic Paul lol

[@onyxcitadel9759]

the cycle.. is a vicious one.. it's like dealing with a toxic relationship.. D4 awesome hype train starts running.. every1 hops on.. a few don't and call bull... everything goes up.. high happy feels..then the bugs start showing.. the lack of features start mounting.. then you enter the d4 bad.. those reserved and negative minority start saying..SEE..TOLD YA ..and angry cycle begins.. and then they distract you with the next new shiny and it re cycles.

[@Gandeath0101]

I like the loot and aspect changes. Kinda wish the XP was toned down a bit, give more time to enjoy the leveling experience.

[@taskmaster51]

Dude..keep in mind you play WAY more then us average Joe's. I'm not even level 30 yet Plus in the eternal realm I'm stuck at nightmare dungeons level 70. These changes will get me over the hum0

[@insomniaddictesp]

Play Hardcore.

[@neojones9836]

This right here! The game actually means something on hardcore you have to actually play skillfully and it becomes so much more rewarding. The dopamine rush is crazy when you're fighting for your life.

[@Liamo051]

@@neojones9836that’s great until the server messes you up and you realise why people refuse to play it

[@GoldAnthroWolf]

I had started a druid on Tuesday night, got to 17, like, wow, werewolf is cool, I don't know WHY I didn't make one before.. yeah, Necros. But I rand a Necro to 100 in last season, finished it Sunday, damn, what a grind. I popped it into the game tuesday, and immediately felt the difference, got some quick helltide gear, and it's just a walking murder army because of all the thorns I have. I started a new Necro this morning, at like 3 am when the cat woke me up, when a friend called me at 10am, I was already 53, and was in Tier 2, just absolutely demolishing everything at 52, becuase all the mobs were still capped at 50. The new system is REALLY good, but the tempering is still kinda ass, because it will pretty much waste all your tempers on a good piece of gear, so the last one it'll finally make the roll that's best/you want. It's still a VAST improvement over the old sytem, for sure, but yeah, it's weird going from the first year of the game to this one. I still like the changes, so much nicer, and if more people came back, they really have something. My only take is that gold drops were seriously nerfed, to the point you REALLY need to do Whisper quests to get the caches for some cash, otherwise, you literally have to sell nearly every piece of gear, or you're broke after a few tempers/occultist infusions. Very much in the right direction, could use some more tweaks for the whole 'pick' your temper, like 2x the cost, to get the exact one you want, that'd make it 500% better!

[@dwwd1558]

I don’t even have enough gold to upgrade my potion.

[@GoldAnthroWolf]

Sorry to comment twice, but I also had to cave and get the Jackal armor for the Necro, coupled with the Adamite set from last season, the helm, gloves boots, Jackal, and the Adamantit chest and legs, in yellow, well, I look like my nickname, and it's really sweet! Normally I wouldn't support such overpriced cosmetics, but first time, in a long time, I've actually wanted something so bad!

[@mehman3342]

You are playing a meta build that is theory crafted to handle the toughest portions of the game, of course the farming part is going to be easy, odd complaint mate.

[@Liamo051]

Was never his complaint. If you aren’t looking to push back against what he’s saying you’ll realise he’s saying he finds he got to that stage too fast and easily

[@JDxxatteis]

The season aspect is awful but I assume that’s caused they focused on re-doing loot etc which I’m all for.

[@TheKrypticX]

There were no added seasonal mechanics, like they had nothing planned? i get they had to pivot kind of for the rehaul but surely they could have launched with SOMETHING new, thats the point of a season, i see the overhaul as just a patch. Helltides are fun, but like after that, its like okay, well im at my peak power for what i want to do, what do i do til August?? The seasonal story is a bland reskinned blue questline with no pay off or anything at all. I dont know, i like the leveling now but im just baffled theres not much to do outside leveling

[@barrywhelchel9005]

Push levels in the pit, it's the same grind as the d3 greater rift pushing.

[@TheKrypticX]

@@barrywhelchel9005 that's great but I, personally, think sets were great to have for better incentive than leaderboards, I had something to chase and grind for instead of just.....deeper level? When I got them all, I was like okay that's a good place to stop. Idk, Im just saying there's nothing really worth pushing in the pit

[@dustinthome5752]

Hey Paul, I know you hate it but ill say it again. Its on gamepass. How did you feel paying $70 for that?

[@ondrej_mrazek_]

78 already, omg man

[@Ben-wc9bh]

That's what I was wondering. 1-78 in 2 days? That seems unreal.

[@owenkaminsky3213]

If you farm exclusively helltides you could be at 70 in a day/2 assuming you play for a multiple multiple multiple hours both days

[@gunnarragnarsson9563]

You live service people love being hamsters in a wheel. You pay 10 dollars. Blizzard won, cause sales numbers The only thing pulling you through all these grinds are: the end of the battle pass because you paid for it and you want the armor set so you play 60 hours of something you don't seem uber excited about: Blizzard won again, cause engagement numbers And you will be back next season for more things 'to work towards'. Thats 3-0 You can't expect more good stuff if you just keep p(l)aying. Same goes for all the 'progress bar filler' games out there.

[@barrywhelchel9005]

I mean people still grind the diablo 2 seasons for the sake of just playing. At least with d4 seasons they are adding new content and you don't have the buy the battlepass if you don't want. You can just play and have updates every few months.

[@kenshiro-lycus3050]

Bruh!! You can literally finish the quest within 15 to 20 minutes, and that's it!! And play Helltides till level 50 or more! 😎

[@jackreacher4547]

Another Paul Tassi arpg review lol. You really need to stay away from them.

[@sdog5823]

I disagree

[@TheALEXiSounds]

Diablo 4 Season 4: What Is The Point

[@grundged]

It's so damn boring mate. Literally nothing is new. It's the same content where every character has the exact same skills. Also only the paid cosmetics look good.

[@JohnSmith-pj6wb]

they should honestly just refund everyone who bought d4 and start making d5 and make it like d2 but with awesome graphics...thats it what makes me upset...no new classes yet and still no freaking diablo in a diablo game...i just cant man

[@lunaticgmd6427]

Didn't they already do a remake of d2 with sick graphics?

[@barrywhelchel9005]

​@@lunaticgmd6427hahaha you're going to ruin his anger fetish

[@TyGreenGoblin]

#4TenDollars. With DLC. I will cop this Spidaman.