Have you tried the recently released Diablo 4 Season 8? How do you feel about it? Did Belial’s return really save the game? Did the developers’ improvements to the endgame really succeed? We entered the latest seasonal content with a skeptical attitude, but to be honest, its performance is indeed disappointing.

Since the base game was released in June 2023, several seasonal updates have passed, and various gimmicks have been seen frequently, but the number of online players is indeed difficult to show its former glory. Coupled with the recent series of seasonal updates, roadmaps, and future development strategies revealed by the team, I doubt whether it is worth continuing to play.

Seasonal Content Is Stereotyped

Although the game is slowly becoming more refined and engaging, it is still not enough. Diablo 4 is highly playable, with a large number of activities, achievements, builds, and other content to experience in the game. It sounds like this is enough to keep players playing, but in fact all of this is only fun in the first few rounds. The more you play, the more you realize that these activities are repetitive, and Diablo 4 Gold and loot gains are minimal in most cases.

The past few seasons and recent roadmaps have proven this, and the developers have been using the same formula to run character leveling and even endgame. Basically, each season you need to create a new character, do some introductory quests to understand the season mechanics, which are almost the same every season, and then fill the board by grinding reputation and completing different seasonal activities.

Once you reach level 60 and reach Torment difficulty, you can play The Pits, Helltides, Infernal Hordes and Nightmare Dungeons to gain gold, Masterworking and Paragon Points. Then you need to grind Uber to get stronger, and repeat all of this until you complete all the seasonal journey quests.

I believe many D4 fans will refute that the same situation also existed in Diablo 3. But the fact is that even though it only had Bounties, Nephalem Rifts, Greater Rifts and seasonal objectives, players always had a reason to play and there was always a sense of progress.

Don’t underestimate this. Seasonal themes are real game changers that can easily shake up mainstream gameplay, and rich build changes and team modes are the key to encouraging players to try different classes, but Diablo 4’s seasonal content has always caused great controversy among the player community. This is obviously problematic.

Seasons are supposed to add fun to the game and bring some new content. But the fact is that every three months we experience a familiar pattern with the same style, just different packaging. These fresh contents will disappear in a few days or even hours.

Although stealing Boss Power to unlock new buffs in Season 8 is cool, the content is similar and there is no significant effect on build improvement. After all, it is only temporary.

Overall, the game does bring some experience improvements from time to time, but it is not enough because the core of Diablo 4’s seasonal updates remains unchanged.

New Battle Pass System Is Just A Business Scam

In addition, a new Battle Pass System called Reliquary was introduced in Season 8. Now, the developers have decided to split it into four separate parts that players can access at any time unless you don’t have a premium.

Instead of having to grind to level up, we can redeem any skin we want with special tokens, and these tokens carry over to each season. However, unlike Diablo 4 gold, these special tokens can often only be obtained by spending real money.

These new tokens replace battle pass levels. This sounds cool because you no longer have to upgrade the entire Battle Pass to a certain level to get the long-awaited portal or skin. This way, even if players don’t have Premium Battle Pass, their levels will be saved until the end of the season, and all rewards can be claimed after they have a premium.

But the new system is not like that. Once you claim all the rewards in the free part and collect 99 tokens, you can start free play. At this point, tokens no longer accumulate. So if you want to continue playing and get rewards, you must have a premium. This new system is perfect for developers, but not for players. It is another business scam because it makes Battle Pass much less valuable to players.

Of course, we now have more Battle Pass options. Before, there were only Premium and Ultimate Pass. Now we have four categories, and you can unlock any of them with Platinum. The biggest problem here is Platinum itself though.

Before, players had the opportunity to earn back a fair portion of the currency they spent on Battle Pass by playing the game, 700 Platinum to be exact, which is 70% back. In addition, if you play the game, you can also get all the skins, emotes or town portals.

But now, you can only get 200 Platinum for free, and the price of premium remains the same. The developers have cleverly made you pay more and get less.

So for the current developers, Diablo 4’s seasonal updates are just business, and it’s better to make more money than to add actual content.

Without getting Battle Pass rewards, all you can do is repeatedly participate in the same seasonal activities to upgrade your power and become stronger, and then you lose all these things after the season ends. Therefore, without Battle Pass, the seasonal content becomes more boring. You need to stick with it every season, or until you burn out and quit.

The Difficulty System Is Unreasonable

Let’s move on to the difficulty requirements. The difficulty requirements in the new season have also changed. Previously, we had to complete two special Capstone Dungeons to unlock the new difficulty level. If you have other players in your party willing to help, you can complete it directly from level 1.

But now, Torment difficulty is artificially locked, and the game requires you to reach level 60 and complete the 10th tier The Pit. This is undoubtedly telling players that Torment difficulty is not recommended for those who have not experienced these difficulties.

But this restriction does not make sense for experienced players. Obviously, your character can kill the boss with one blow, you can clear the dungeon in two minutes, or you want to play the same difficulty with a friend, but you or your friend must reach level 60 to enter Torment difficulty.

In addition, there are some special challenges for advancing to Torment difficulty. Both casual players and experienced players are usually forced to use a limited set of builds suitable for this difficulty. Because in most cases, the build you create with your preferred skill combination is likely to fail when facing ordinary monsters. In order to add some challenges, these builds are made less accessible and less suitable for a wider range of players.

Changes To The Boss And Loot System Affect Farming Efficiency

Finally and most importantly, as a boss season, boss and loot system in Season 8 has also been updated. Previously, players would usually form a group of four, with each person taking turns to summon the boss so that all players could share a large amount of loot. Usually, with just one turn, Diablo 4 materials dropped would fill their entire inventory.

However, this system had flaws. Some dishonest players could steal the loot without contributing any resources and leave quietly.

However, this loophole no longer exists. Now, each player must contribute their own resources to open the boss treasure chest and get the reward. And the chance of dropping rewards will increase with each additional player in the group.

However, this change brings another problem. This system will only make everyone’s farming slower. Because it requires a lot of resources, and only the person who opens the treasure chest can get the loot, which means that each player must consume resources up to four times to fill the inventory. So is this a good thing? Obviously not for some players who focus on fast farming.

Final Thoughts

With some of the problems we have encountered so far in the new season, it is hard not to conclude that the developers are not interested in working on new content, and they just want to make more money through the gimmick of this classic Diablo game season update.

Even if some of their graphics and gameplay are really great, after multiple updates, there are still some short-term content that neither brings fun nor surprises. However, in the next season, they may start the same game again with a new package under the banner of returning.

More importantly, the endgame has always been the cornerstone of Diablo series, but here I can hardly see any teamwork and the purpose of grinding monsters is almost non-existent.

Therefore, I urgently hope that D4 will usher in a major update at some point in the future so that we can truly feel the value of the endgame and have meaningful goals worth fighting for.