What you need to know
- Just a few days after Diablo 4's Season 1 patch went live on July 18, developer Blizzard has removed a change that forced players to reach a certain level before moving up to the game's endgame World Tiers.
- Specifically, players had to be Level 40 to enter World Tier 3, and 60 to enter World Tier 4. These requirements were lifted when Season 1 fully released on Thursday.
- The addition of these restrictions wasn't documented in patch notes, and many fans felt that they were punishing players for making progress too quickly.
- Diablo 4 is facing widespread scrutiny for heavy nerfs made with the Season 1 patch. Blizzard plans to address the community's concerns during a Fireside Chat livestream scheduled for 11 a.m. PT / 2 p.m. ET later today.
The Diablo 4 Season 1 patch has only been out for a few short days, but developer Blizzard has already reverted one of its biggest — and most widely disliked — changes.
When Season of the Malignant officially went live on Thursday, the new level requirements for the endgame Diablo 4 World Tiers, World Tier 3 and World Tier 4, were removed. Notably, these requirements were silently enabled without patch note documentation when the Season 1 1.1.0 update released on Tuesday. While active, these restrictions prevented players from entering World Tier 3 and 4 if their character was below Level 40 and 60, respectively.
By and large, the addition of these requirements was extremely disliked by the community. Many felt that the change was completely out of left field, and that these restrictions stopped players from making forward progress at their own pace.
"This was a major misstep. This feels like punishing players for no reason," wrote one player on Twitter. "Do not punish capable players who are able to clear something before they are 'supposed to.'"
This was a major misstep. This feels like punishing players for no reason. Do not punish capable players who are able to clear something before they are "supposed to".July 20, 2023
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Most fans are happy to see the reversion of this particular change, though Diablo 4 players overall are still angry about the majority of the Season 1 tweaks still in place. Many significant nerfs were made that weakened a wide variety of builds, with the Sorcerer class in particular getting the worst of it. Sorcerer was generally considered to be one of the weaker classes before the update, so the community saw the nerfs against the class as "kicking it while it's down."
"Buffs, not nerfs! For crying out loud. Stop taking good things and making them bad. Just to try and make bad things seem better. Keep the good as it is!" reads one Diablo 4 review on Metacritic, where Blizzard's ARPG is currently being review bombed by players angry about Season 1. "Build up the bad to make it better, don't tear down the good. I've been playing since Diablo II. I almost deleted my Sorcerer and uninstalled this game. But I have faith that yalls at Blizzard can fix it."
In an effort to smooth things over with fans and discuss the contents of the Season 1 patch, Blizzard is hosting a Diablo 4 Fireside Chat livestream at 11 a.m. PT / 2 p.m. ET on the official Diablo Twitch channel later today. The stream will be hosted by Game Director Joe Shely, Associate Game Director Joseph Piepiora, and Global Community Development Director Adam Fletcher.
Diablo 4 is out now and is available on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One consoles, Windows PC, PS5, and PS4. It's one of the best Xbox games for fans of dungeon crawlers and hack-and-slash combat, and despite Season 1's controversial changes, we've been having an absolute blast with it.
