Get ready, because the highly anticipated season 1 update for Diablo IV is almost here! To prepare players, Blizzard has released a new patch, 1.1.0a, which weighs in at a hefty 8GB. This update brings a variety of changes to balance, bug fixes, and introduces unique items. Additionally, permanent upgrades like Altars of Lilith unlocks will now be available account-wide for new characters. If you’re new to Diablo IV, the ‘Season of the Malignant’ takes place after the main campaign, following the defeat of Lilith and the unveiling of the Tree of Whispers. Season 1 goes live tonight at 10:30pm IST in India or July 20 at 10am PT in the US, on both PC and consoles.
One of the most significant changes in Diablo IV season 1 affects the Sorcerer class, which relies on spells. The ability Devouring Blaze has received a major nerf, reducing its bonus critical damage from 10/20/30 percent to 7/14/21 percent. This ability’s damage bonus is increased when enemies are immobilized, but Blizzard has also reduced the damage numbers from 25/50/75 percent to 10/20/30 percent. This nerf has upset the Diablo IV community, with one user expressing their frustration on the official subreddit, receiving over 23,600 upvotes at the time of writing. For a full list of patch notes, visit the official Diablo IV website.
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The new season was meant to kickstart a side storyline in Sanctuary, where a plague gradually transforms all living creatures into bloodthirsty fiends. The developers promised that players could create overpowered builds by collecting Malignant Hearts from these creatures, allowing them to effortlessly conquer the map in a quest involving the new character Cormand. However, each decision outlined in the pre-season patch seems to significantly slow down character progression. For example, the Barbarian class’ Hamstring skill now only slows down Healthy enemies, and the Necromancer’s Splintering Aspect Bone Shard damage has been reduced from 50–100 percent to 30–60 percent.
The developers note in the patch that they observed the experience bonus for killing higher level monsters accelerates too rapidly compared to the challenge. As a result, the progression system has been slowed down. In the pre-season, defeating a monster one level higher grants a +15 percent bonus, which increases to +25 percent when killing enemies that are three levels or more above you. For players on Nightmare difficulty (World Tier III), Helltide events have been adjusted to be slower, with an increase in monster difficulty. The spawning demons are now three levels higher than your character, instead of two. Additionally, the cost of the Tortured Gift of Mysteries chest has increased from 175 to 250 Aberrant Cinders. In a hotfix, the studio addressed the reduced drop rate of Aberrant Cinders in Helltide, which they claim was lower than intended.
In response to the community backlash, Blizzard has scheduled a Campfire Chat live stream session on Friday, July 21 at 11:30pm IST/ 11am PT in the US to address these concerns. The session will be streamed on the official Diablo YouTube channel, although immediate changes to the features that make Diablo IV gameplay a ‘slog’ are not expected. Additionally, Adam Fletcher, the community director, confirmed that Blizzard will be removing the level requirements for World Tier 3 (40) and World Tier 4 (60) that were introduced in the pre-season patch.
Diablo IV is available on PC (via Battle.net), PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series S/X.
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