With the help of friends and the Season Buff, streamer TheUltimateEggman creates a Greater Nephalem Rift of level 150 in Season 19 of Diablo 3. The community is debating whether this is an exploit or simply clever gameplay.
Update from December 11: Blizzard has since released a statement regarding the action. They clearly speak against exploiting the game mechanics and explain that it is unfair. In Blizzard’s eyes, this is cheating.
“It is not intended to use a group buff to progress in Greater Nephalem Rifts. This is considered cheating. Players who utilize these mechanics should expect a ban or closure of their accounts […].” You can find the full statement from Blizzard about the new method here.
What did the player do? In the Diablo 3 community, a particular gameplay style is currently generating a lot of discussion. In one of his streams, “TheUltimateEggman” demonstrated an approach to a Greater Nephalem Rift that seems unusual to many players.
- He joins solo for a Greater Nephalem Rift of level 150
- While he has friends in his session, they decline the invitation to the Greater Rift
- His equipment is rather defensively oriented. In the Rift, the streamer aims to gather as many enemies as possible while dealing very little damage. He cannot defeat the mobs quickly enough, only survives
- Once he has gathered a large group of enemies, he teleports out and then to his friends
- Meanwhile, his friends have pulled together many enemies elsewhere and are playing on Torment 1 difficulty. TheUltimateEggman ports to his friends, applies a dot to all enemies there, and then goes back into his Greater Nephalem Rift
- When he arrives at his elite enemies in the Nephalem Rift, the enemies marked with the dot die. These kills count for the streamer even in the Greater Nephalem Rift
- Thanks to the rise in the Season Buff, the streamer receives the buff’s bonuses in the Greater Nephalem Rift and can now defeat the elite enemies in seconds, for which he would otherwise deal too little damage
Basically, he is having his group help him master the solo Rift. The Season Buff from Season 19 plays a significant role. You can see how this looks in action in this YouTube video.
The interesting moments are at 3:35, 6:45, and 11:00
Record in the leaderboard: With this tactic, TheUltimateEggman secured the top positions in the American leaderboard for Season 19 in Diablo 3.
A remarkable time was experienced by another player while leveling. He collected over 350 bounty shards and leveled from 1 to 70 in one second.
What does the Season Buff do? The Season Buff from Season 19 in Diablo 3 works in conjunction with killstreaks. Each kill grants you a bit more movement speed and damage. Up to a maximum of 50% movement speed and 100% damage.
Additionally, special bonuses spawn at certain milestones that help you on the battlefield. In the video, you can see energy whirlwinds, treasure chests, and more.
- 15 kills: Homing exploding chickens target your enemies.
- 30 kills: A large Frost Nova freezes enemies.
- 50 kills: It rains corpses from the sky.
- 100 kills: Five massive energy whirlwinds are unleashed.
- 150 kills: Dark geysers form beneath the enemies.
- 200 kills: Treasure chests fall from the sky.
- 300 kills: A fire ring devours everything.
- 400 kills: Meteors crash from the sky.
- 500 kills: Angels descend onto the battlefield and join you.
- 1,000 kills: The final boss spawns and is particularly strong
Is this clever or an exploit?
What is the problem? The community is discussing this type of gameplay. Many believe that by triggering the Season Buff through his friends, which then helps him in the solo Rift, is questionable. They say it does not correspond to the term “solo”.
What players are saying: Opinions are divided. Some players on Reddit and in the comments under the YouTube video say that it is a clever tactic. Others, however, believe that the “solo player” clearly violates the rules, and that this is a blatant exploit.
- “This is outright cheating”
- “This is not solo”
- “Clever but shameful”
- “I like the creativity, but it is obviously an exploit”
- “Uh, it’s a cheap way to be the first player to reach 150. But it’s Blizzard’s weak quality control that didn’t discover this beforehand.”
- “I have to admit, this is super clever. Questionable methods to utilize your friends, but wow!”
- “What is fair about this? This is exploiting.”
- “What exactly is being exploited? The benefits of the seasonal mechanism that the developers built in? This is not a bug or glitch being exploited here”
Streamer banned on Twitch: The Twitch channel of TheUltimateEggman is currently banned and unavailable. Players suspect that this is likely an automatic process by Twitch because some viewers reported the streamer there. It is not assumed that Twitch banned him manually. However, this is still not clear.
What do you think? Is this clever use of a game mechanic and therefore absolutely okay, or do you see it as exploiting an exploit and should it even be punished? Let us know in the comments. Completely legally, you can reach the top ranks of the leaderboard with these classes:
