Nine months ago, the latest installment of the popular action RPG series, Diablo 4, was released. Shortly thereafter, criticism for the game and Blizzard started pouring in, which continues to this day. New players are now asking why – because Diablo 4 is said to be in great shape.
Here’s the current state of Diablo 4:
- Diablo 4 currently faces strong competition; the new Last Epoch received a lot of praise at release and Path of Exile has launched a new expansion.
- Nonetheless, Diablo is currently winning back a ton of players. Some are returning after hundreds of hours spent elsewhere and praising Diablo 4.
- Recently, Diablo 4 launched in the Game Pass and has apparently attracted new players.
So why are players still complaining? Particularly at launch, Diablo 4 was in a state that many fans of the series deemed unacceptable. They missed “Quality of Life” features like a loot filter or conveniences for secondary characters.
However, the biggest criticism was directed at the two most important aspects of any hack-and-slash: endgame and loot:
- The endgame offered very little back then, aside from a few of the same old dungeons, essentially nothing. The tough bosses were only there for “bragging rights” and dropped no loot.
- Items were hard to recognize as improvements with over 200 affixes; players spent hours in town sorting their loot.
- The best items, Uber Uniques, were so rare that they were considered a waste of time.
The criticism still lingers today, and Diablo 4 is still considered a flop, especially among the bitter part of the community, although it is anything but. The game still has many players, an active community, and attracts new players.
On social media, new players are now wondering why Diablo 4 is considered so bad among hardcore fans, especially in comparison to Last Epoch.
We have already spoken with the developers about the future of Diablo 4:
“Half are angry that it’s not Diablo 2”
On Reddit, there are several threads from new players asking exactly about this phenomenon. It even goes so far that parts of the community want to discourage new players from playing Diablo 4 at all. One user simply asks why everyone hates the game and receives over 720 responses on Reddit. The top response is quite short:
Half are angry that it’s not Diablo 2.
A quarter are angry that it’s not Diablo 3 with over 30 seasons of content.
The remaining quarter are angry because it’s not the game that PoE became after 11 years of development.
The dispute among fans about what Diablo 4 should be and what it should not be has been ongoing since release. Some even argue: The game would be better if it didn’t try to please everyone.
Others note that: If Diablo 4 had had the quality features at launch that it has now or that are still coming, the hate wouldn’t be so strong. It simply arrived on the market unfinished and now is slowly offering what should have been there from the beginning.
It still holds that many problems only become clear after dozens of hours. Another Reddit user says that even at level 100, he is not yet bored. There is agreement with the comment: If Diablo 4 does get dull, one can simply take a break and come back later.
The discussion is heating up again precisely because, on the one hand, the Game Pass is bringing in new players, and on the other hand, Season 4 is bringing back old players. The upcoming Season 4 addresses the biggest criticisms and thus is causing discussions in the entire community about whether Diablo 4 is now “saved”. You can find all the information about Season 4 in Diablo 4 in our overview here.
