Highlights
Diablo 4's Season of the Malignant shed light on inherent issues with the game's seasonal format, which often becomes tedious over time due to the loss of progress after a couple of months.
The Season of the Malignant patch notes dampened players' excitement with minor alterations to the gameplay cycle and reductions in power for commonly used builds and options.
The endgame of Diablo 4 presently suffers from a lack of diversity and is confined to monotonous grinding in Nightmare Dungeons. To rectify this concern, Season 2 should introduce a fresh activity that offers improved rewards.
The honeymoon phase with Diablo 4 came to an end for many players with the start of Season of the Malignant. This season emphasized several underlying issues that became more apparent when creating a new seasonal character. Like other ARPGs, Diablo 4 follows a seasonal model similar to Path of Exile, requiring players to begin anew with a seasonal character and start from scratch, including currency collection and completing dungeons for Aspects. While this can feel like a chore in the long run, as progress is reset every few months, the pace of the game was the final straw for many players.
Patch notes for Season of the Malignant dampened the excitement of players on launch day. The gameplay loop in Season 1 saw minimal changes, and numerous popular builds and options were nerfed. Additionally, Blizzard made changes to Diablo 4's launch features, such as level scaling, rendering the new Malignant Tunnels obsolete for anything below level 60 due to the weakness of enemies in these activities. Consequently, the endgame becomes a crucial aspect that Season 2 must address with significant improvements.
Why Diablo 4's Endgame Fails and How Season 2 Can Change It
The current gameplay for characters above level 75 is repetitive and lacks variety. The only way to quickly level up is by playing Diablo 4's Nightmare Dungeons, but it can be a tedious grind. Other activities in the game don't give enough experience for characters to level up at a decent pace, making it difficult to reach level 100 without playing Nightmare Dungeons.
To address this issue, Diablo 4's Season 2 should introduce a new activity that provides better rewards than Nightmare Dungeons. This would allow players to level up their main character or multiple characters at a faster rate. They can choose between participating in the seasonal loop or playing Nightmare Dungeons, or even explore other options like the Tree of Whispers. In order for Diablo 4 to have longevity, Blizzard should focus on revamping the endgame system.
Taking a closer look at the issues surrounding Diablo 4's items and loot, including the high cost and lack of efficiency in rerolling affixes on high-level items and the low drop rates of certain Uniques. While not all classes rely on these Uniques, those that do can find themselves at a disadvantage if they do not have the luck to find them during their adventures. Additionally, it is concerning how the current system in the game closely resembles the state of Diablo 3, where the only viable option was repeatedly running Greater Rifts.
Despite the randomly-generated Dungeons in Diablo 4, the overall gameplay can still feel repetitive due to the repetitive structure of these activities. Players are given a limited number of objectives to fulfill in two stages before facing the final boss. To breathe fresh life into the game, Season 2 should introduce more diverse activities that challenge the status quo and offer a unique experience for both new and old players. Providing players with a wide range of gameplay options and activities is crucial for the success of Season 2, especially in light of the shortcomings of Season of the Malignant.
Diablo 4 is available for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.