Blizzard has promised to address “feedback” from players on Diablo 4’s latest patch following backlash from the community.
Diablo 4 got its long-awaited pre-Season 1 patch, 1.1.0, yesterday, and it didn’t take long for players to criticise Blizzard for implementing heavy-handed nerfs.
The patch makes sweeping nerfs across the board, with Sorcerer players in particular bemused by the significant hit to the power of their class. The popular endgame activity, Helltides, has been made harder and, with an increase to the cost of opening Mystery Chests, slower (the low Cinder drop rate is a bug).
Experience bonus for killing monsters at higher levels has been nerfed, and, crucially, Blizzard significantly nerfed crit strike damage, vulnerable damage, cooldown reduction, as well as certain affixes, which reduces the effectiveness of many established builds.
“In general, we prefer build-specific changes to be bonuses instead of decreases, but we feel these changes are necessary for the overall health of the game,” Blizzard explained. “Diablo 4 is a game that is continually evolving through its Seasons, thus the adjustments we make will evolve with them.”
The upshot is the Diablo 4 community believes the changes have slowed down progression across all aspects of the game, and, in turn, reduced the power fantasy that comes from overpowering enemies.
“It is not like this game was lightning fast to begin with, but now it is a proper slog,” wrote TheMorals in a Reddit post that has over 19,000 upvotes.
Diablo-related subreddits and social media platforms are packed with complaints from players about the patch, with some saying they will down tools until Blizzard takes action.
Barely made it through a solo tier 52 nightmare. These patches are kinda rough. Pretty much have to fully rebuild this. Self healing is almost not there, Im doing like 60% less damage than I normally would be, my vulnerable damage has almost been cut in half, my attack power… pic.twitter.com/vTOGAwrpXb
— MattGoesBuck (@MattGoesBuck) July 18, 2023
You gotta wonder what the Diablo 4 Devs were smoking when they made this patch they released today.
— Menacing Banana (@Menacing_Banana) July 18, 2023
- Nerf Crit + Vulnerable, but don’t give any replacement of value
- Nerf the worst class in the game
- Make everyone more squishy
- Destroy XP gains
What the hell man
The diablo 4 nerf patch for season 1. There is nothing the season could add, that could justify the amount of bullshit nerf bat they just dropped.
— Dannyfallen (@DannyFaln) July 18, 2023
They are slowing the game down even more
No Thank you, ill wait a few season. Ill go play Last Epoch of ProjectD2 for my ARPG fix
I really wanna play Diablo 4 right now, but this new patch just sucks all the fun out of it. I crash all the time when changing menus or teleporting to major cities. The server lag is so bad when loading new areas too. The xp nerf is also a bummer. Idk, hope S1 fixes some things.
— Nightwraith21 (@its_nighttime) July 19, 2023
god the diablo 4 patch notes are sooooo disheartening. the seasonal effects are gonna have to be really strong. My sorc was already getting one-tapped in mid 40s NMDs before the nerf to armor and resistances if i didnt have ice barrier up. nerfing crit and vuln damage too
— eva like the robots (@cerulean_tear) July 18, 2023
Seriously @Diablo team, what's up with the XP Nerf in Diablo 4?! Grinding for hours just to level up is not fun or rewarding. We want to enjoy the endgame content and farm gear, not feel like we're stuck in an endless leveling-up grind. #Diablo3wasbetter
— Jason (@bucknorris) July 19, 2023
Last night, Diablo community development director Adam Fletcher took to Twitter to say Blizzard staff will address this feedback in a Campfire Chat set for later this week.
“We have been hearing feedback from players regarding some of the changes in 1.1.0 for Diablo 4,” Fletcher said. “We are going to have a Campfire Chat later this week on Friday to talk more about it. We will have more details [and] timing in the next day. Thanks again for the feedback!”
We have been hearing feedback from players regarding some of the changes in 1.1.0 for #DiabloIV.
— Adam Fletcher (@PezRadar) July 19, 2023
We are going to have a Campfire Chat later this week on Friday to talk more about it.
We will have more details/timing in the next day. Thanks again for the feedback!
This backlash will be the last thing Blizzard hoped for going into the launch of Season 1, dubbed Season of the Malignant, on July 20. Diablo 4 has enjoyed a largely successful launch (it’s Blizzard’s fastest-selling game of all time), and despite controversy around always-online and some server issues, is well-received. The pressure is now on Blizzard to defend its decision-making with patch 1.1.0 and, players will hope, announce changes.
If you're still playing, check out our interactive Diablo 4 map to start tracking your progress as you play.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
