Diablo 4 Season 1 – Balanced nerfs are NOT the worst part of the season, they can turn things upside down, BUT… The season is still DOA, because it’s boring. Smart powers, some MAY be effective, but barely noticeable, or interact outside of Supers, even then some of them aren’t so noticeable.
The evil enemies, as far as I can tell since I’m only level 45, DO NOTHING….. They’re just refurbished NPCs in a refurbished cave with the word “Malicious” plastered on them.
For comparison, POE had a season, the last season I remember playing, where you hit a tower, a damn SECOND DISABILITY starts to expand from there, and the mechanics are EDGE RACE OF THE EXPANDING gap, and take down as many enemies as you can, trying to find the boss before the expansion ends. This mechanic has some, one style of sprint, time trial, positioning, build variety (am I going to kill all mobs or build for elite/nuking bosses?) that changed the way you play this mechanic…IIRC this seasonal mechanic was damned over 2 years ago in POE.
Here we are, a $70 AAA game and their new season is… here are some reinvented gems that do something a little different.
Witch talismans have more damn functions than the whole seasonal mechanic. If the blizzard reverses the entire balance patch, the season is still DOA because… nothing new, except maybe one to three aspects that allow a class or two to have another skill or two that they can effectively use right now. Great. Depending on the tournament you describe, it’s Delirium or Violation.
With Delirium being the mist that grows as you kill enemies, a bar will fill up giving you various bonuses, as well as a chance to see a boss(kill the boss get a lot of Diablo 4 Gold and Diablo IV Items rewards) or get what we call Cluster Jewels (a skill tree that sets up a passive gem inside it that allows for tremendous power) as well as Simulacrum Fragments. By collecting 200 you can create symbols, which unlocks a wave defense mode that allows you to defeat bosses, get lots of rewards and find unique special items (legendary to Diablo).
Or Breach, tap the pillar where a giant purple ring begins to expand, monsters swarm around and it’s a race to kill as many as you can, opening your clenched hand (chest) to find shards. 5 different boss pieces can be spawned by dropping their respective pieces. Xoph, Tull, Uul-Netol, Esh and the main boss Chayula. After collecting 100 shards, you can turn them into offending stones. Once inside, it’s a race to the end, while on timer killing the (elite) rarity will give you more time. At the end of the trial, a loot explosion occurs and you fight the boss who has his own unique set of loot and has a chance to receive a blessing, which allows you to upgrade a single loot, such as turning the Halcyon amulet into The Pandemonius, a staple in a lot of cold spells on important constructions. Both of these mechanics have become essential, meaning any tournament you can replay these mechanics and they count. Diablo 4 has gems that you will stop picking up after a few hours.