Blizzard has made the core features of Season 6 available in Diablo 4 on the PTR for a week – which will be released alongside the 1st expansion Vessel of Hatred. After the test, players express criticism, but the negative points are not necessarily a bad sign for Diablo.
What could players test?
- Blizzard made the PTR for Season 6 available from September 4 to September 11. There, players were able to already test features of Season 6 and Vessel of Hatred.
- The two pieces of content are closely linked, as Season 6 and the expansion both start on October 8 – and many features will remain in the game permanently.
- On the PTR, content such as the new runewords, the revised level system, and the new difficulty levels were available for testing. However, the Spiritborn, Nahantu, and the new co-op dungeon for the endgame were not playable.
Here you read all about the contents of Season 6 and here you find all information about Vessel of Hatred.
This is what players are criticizing: During the test, there was some criticism of Season 6. Now, after the test, more and more feedback threads are appearing on Reddit and in the forum. The biggest criticism: Diablo 4 is too exhausting with Season 6.
The new season is said to change the loot system for the worse, as mentioned in a large thread on Reddit:
The current combination of miserable drop rates, the unlikelihood that the item has the correct affixes, the unlikelihood that the item has two or more great affixes, the unlikelihood of getting the correct hardening, all of that is way too much and causes me to lose motivation.
Since Season 4, you can harden and complete items to improve them. The system has caused issues before: Players said that they would effectively destroy really good items (“bricking”). This is frustrating.
With Season 6, worse drop rates are added, particularly for mythical items. Now, you need luck for everything, which goes against the enjoyment of the game. Players believe that here, players who grind all day clash with casual players who just want to play: “That is just the loud minority that wants endless grinds for hundreds of hours.”
We have already talked to the developers about the future of Diablo 4 and how they implement feedback:
Season 6 performs poorly, but that means nothing yet
The criticism is also present in a more detailed feedback (via Reddit). The gap between casuals and hardcore gamers is much larger in Season 6. The itemization is terrible. Furthermore, class balance is currently not good, Druids and Barbs urgently need help – although Barbs could already literally deal infinite damage on the PTR.
Additionally, some important features like a loadout system are missing, and the new difficulty levels should be harder. Even experts see it this way. However, there is also positive feedback regarding:
- new builds made possible by the new skills in Season 6
- the expanded character customization and cosmetic options
- the level and stat squish for better clarity and more enjoyable leveling
- the group finder, which players have been wishing for forever
- runewords
In general, players are happy to be able to test on the PTR and provide feedback. Because that can still “save” Season 6 before release.
Season 5 already had similar criticism during the PTR. Above all, the Hell Hordes were criticized, and it was said: With the feature, Season 5 would be a flop. Now Hell Hordes are the most popular content and almost all criticisms from the PTR have been implemented.
Blizzard has been paying close attention to players’ feedback for several months now, aiming to implement it as timely and satisfactorily as possible. It has generally worked very well. Even during the PTR, there is already information about changes to bugs and content that will not be included in the game in October. This includes an absurd leveling method: “Completely broken” – Pro levels up to new maximum level in 20 minutes, Blizzard reacts
