With Season 8, Diablo 4 is set to become significantly tougher. The highest difficulty level is supposed to be achieved by only a small part of the player base. Players feared that rewards might be hidden behind this – and it seems that this is now being confirmed.
How difficult is Diablo 4 going to be? Blizzard intends to adjust the difficulty in Season 8, especially making Torment Level 4 significantly more challenging. You should no longer be able to one-shot bosses – if you even make it to that level. Blizzard’s philosophy is that Torment 4 should be “aspirational.” Only the top 10% of players should be able to reach it at all.
The announcement sparked discussions in the community at the beginning of March. One user wrote on Reddit that Blizzard should not call Torment Level 4 “aspirational” if it is tied to the season journey – then it is not optional, but almost mandatory. Even in the current Season 7, you must complete certain objectives on Torment 4 in order to check off the journey.
Now there’s a screenshot of the last page of the new season journey in Season 8 – and it contains exactly what many feared: If you want all the rewards, you have to fight through Torment 4.
Loot pet as a reward for tasks on Torment Level 4
Why is Torment 4 “mandatory” for everyone? The season journey is a source for various items in Diablo 4 – such as crafting materials, gear, player titles, and loot pets. Even the ashes that you used to unlock in the Battle Pass will according to Blizzard transition into the season journey starting from Season 8.
In Season 8, you will receive a Splendid Spark for crafting Mythic Uniques, 4 ashes, and a new loot pet at the last level of the season journey. In a screenshot, Blizzard shows the first objectives of Level 7, and three of those objectives relate to bosses and hellish hordes – to be completed on Torment 4.
While 5 out of 7 objectives are enough – at least one of them must be completed on Torment 4:
“A really bad decision for the community”
What do players say about this? The reactions are quite critical. In a post on Reddit, EYES0NLY writes: “This isn’t ‘T4 is optional,’ this is de facto mandatory.” And ExtremePrivilege wonders why rewards are tied to a level that only a fraction of the player base can even achieve.
In the comment, tehjoch writes: “Designing Torment 4 so that 95% of the player base is never supposed to reach it – and then hiding the pet behind it – is simply a really bad decision for the community.”
And nyabigail believes that when rewards are tied to a level, that level becomes mandatory:
When you tie rewards to completing Torment 4 challenges, Torment 4 automatically becomes mandatory. […] If Torment 4 is so hard that less than 10% of the player base can play it, then there should be no strong rewards hidden there.
The obvious solution would be: Move all seasonal rewards and the best drop rates to Torment 3, and separate the leaderboards by torment levels. One would then enter Torment 4 for the challenge and stay in Torment 3 for the grind.
Even TheSilentTitan thinks: Hiding the loot pet behind the last page of the season journey is “really lame” – because most casual players don’t just play on Torment 4. Casuals stay on Torment 2 or 3 and thus have no chance to obtain the pet, he writes. He believes the last page should contain rewards that help those who want to get the maximum out of Torment 4 in their progress – such as materials or scrolls to perfect gear.
His suggestion: Torment 3 should be the limit for casuals – and the pet should also be available there. The last page could then be full of items for the pros.
And then there’s the objective to defeat Lilith on Torment 4. For many in the community, it is clear: The goal of defeating the toughest boss at the highest level will probably be skipped in the season journey.
The fight against Lilith is considered an absolute test of strength, even with meta builds. Many players are genuinely struggling against her. On top of that, you get a title and the right to brag – but no noteworthy loot. One player dared to face her twice and lost his hardcore character in Diablo 4 after 112 hours of gameplay because he overlooked something.
