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Diablo 4 has had a rough first three seasons. There was no shortage of complaints from the player base, from the lack of a meaningful endgame activity to flaws in its core ARPG design. With the advent of Diablo 4 Season 4, the changes are astounding. It brought an overhaul to its systems with its most fundamental changes focusing on loot. Thus, the aptly called Loot Reborn update conjoined with Season 4 might just give you several reasons to dive back in again. It certainly did for me.
Leveling is Actually Fun This Time Around
While Seasons 1, 2, and even 3 brought some new gameplay gimmicks and mechanics, the core experience for Diablo 4 has mostly been the same for those past Seasons. You’re forced to level up slowly until you get to the meat of the game in World Tier 3 or World Tier 4 difficulty (past level 50).
Much of what slowed down the leveling experience (especially on Druid builds) is the reliance on skill Resource (or Mana) for each class. Diablo 4 was notably released with a rather slow one-two-punch action loop where you have to intersperse your basic attacks with your core skills (or the ones that require mana).
For many, this action economy in an ARPG is counterproductive to actual action. It often felt like you were playing to keep that skill resource up instead of playing your class.
The good news is that Diablo 4 Season 4 or the Loot Reborn update has addressed that issue (not absolutely, though, but it’s still a cause for celebration).
Leveling isn’t slow anymore, and once you get past a certain point (around level 15-20), or depending on your build, you’ll quickly ramp up to a fervent crescendo all the way to level 50+ when you can finally have fun with Paragon levels and Sacred gear.
Resource is Less of a Problem Now
I’ve been playing since launch, and the first class I tried out was the Sorcerer. It had a flashy and mobile skill rotation, but it was hampered by its huge Mana costs. Coupled with its inherent squishiness, I felt like I picked the wrong class — the runt of the litter.
So I quickly switched to Barbarian and managed to level it to 100 before Season 1 began. Still, skill Resource remained a problem even when I was already pushing past T70 Nightmare dungeons. It was only a matter of time before I quit because I didn’t enjoy babysitting that fleeting Resource orb.
I’m happy to say that the skill Resource economy in Diablo 4 Season 4 is now considerably more relaxed and more generous. I tried out the Sorcerer again to see what changed from the worst class in the game at launch. I was pleasantly surprised.
By the time I unlocked my Enchantments at level 15, I no longer needed to use my basic skills. It was all Incinerate and Hydras (or other skills) from that point on. Certain skills, such as Fireball, were still a Mana drain, so you still have to be picky.
However, through a combination of lighter Resource cost and loot that grants Resource generation or resource cost reduction early on, you can easily eliminate the skill resource bottleneck that plagued the previous seasons. You might even achieve that unwittingly, like I did.
In hindsight, Season 4’s lighter reliance on basic skills for resource generation has had huge implications for the gameplay. Since you don’t need basic skills anymore past a certain point (at least in the build I tried), that’s one free slot in the hotbar and maybe a couple of free skill points to reallocate.
Gameplay is thus faster-paced since you don’t need to keep interrupting the action with your basic attack whiffs. That’s partly what makes leveling so much fun and more fluid now.
Helltides Also Did a Lot of Heavy Lifting
Season 4 in Diablo 4 has a tighter focus on Helltides and the whole Hell narrative this time. Bringing in the Iron Wolves faction and actual forces from Hell is a good reason and precedent for revamping the Helltides.
Immediately, the game will even tell you to just jump in on the action, and like a bloodied brochure, it will show you what changed immediately. Helltides are more populated now, and you can no longer go AFK for a few seconds to respec or check your inventory.
Enemies might even respawn right near your character. You’re fighting real hordes of enemies this time. While it can feel like a subtle change since Helltides have undergone several iterations in the past, this particular adjustment is more impactful than others.
It took the best parts of the main Season mechanic from Season 2 (which was the best Season prior) and incorporated that into the default Helltide. There’s never a dull moment in Helltides now. The enemy density is a lovely change of pace for those who want to power level in a busy way.
QoLs, QoLs Everywhere
The consolidation of Aspects into merchant UIs also felt like a subtle change on paper. But it’s a huge, convenient improvement. For reference, I got to level 50 without even using storage in Diablo 4 Season 4. Now that’s what I call a quality-of-life (QoL) upgrade!
In the past Seasons, I would have been juggling four to five storage tabs before I got to level 50 just to save one Aspect, which once oddly occupied the same space as a 7-foot-long great axe. Less time spent on inventory and storage management meant you could actually ‘play’ the game.
Respeccing is also more thoughtful this time as it shows your previous choices. Quite handy in case you change your mind or accidentally respecced.
And let’s not forget the big change that everyone has been clamoring for, even before Season 1: the loot. Before, the game would waste your time by presenting you with a bloat of inconsequential filler stats. It was frustrating and daunting to compare or discard items.
Now, item stats and descriptions are simplified (though not all are explained well). Instead of getting stats that sound like “+5% Damage When You Hit Enemies from Between 5 to 6 Meters Away During a Blue Moon While They’re Burning” (or something like that), you’re presented with a simple, digestible “+10% Damage.”
The game now respects your eye health and your sanity when it comes to evaluating loot. Again, this translates to more action in an action RPG.
In the off-chance that you don’t find what you’re looking for in an item, the Tempering and Masterwork systems — which allow you to add custom stats to your gear, ensure that even the most disappointing placeholder weapons or armor pieces can still perform well.
Easier in the Beginning, Harder in the End
That’s how it should have been from the start. The difficulty curve is much more normal this time. I was even able to break through the World Tier 3 difficulty solo on a level 30 Sorcerer. That was more or less impossible in the past. Diablo 4 seems to be reserving its most monumental challenges for the endgame.
If not, then at least getting to the endgame is shorter now. Trying out multiple classes is a breeze.
What happened before Diablo 4‘s Loot Reborn and Season 4’s updates was quite the opposite. The early game was tedious and difficult. You didn’t have the Aspects or Legendary gear to “fix” the lack of Resource. And once you could finally have some semblance of fun in late-game, it had already become stale.
If you’re still the kind of player looking for the depth that Diablo 2: Lord of Destruction had, sadly, Diablo 4 with its Season 4 and Loot Reborn update isn’t quite there yet. It has now grown closer to Diablo 3‘s final form regarding gameplay fluidity. Perhaps it will tackle further improvements one step at a time.
Now that Diablo 4‘s Loot Reborn and Season 4 changes have overhauled those problematic systems and even introduced a meatier endgame, things are finally looking up for this torchbearer of ARPGs. Let’s just hope it keeps getting better all the way to the expansions.
