Diablo 4's Bloody Halloween
Diablo 4's Season 2, known as the 'Season of Blood,' is on the horizon, and I am quite excited.
Diablo 4's first season, 'The Season of the Malignant,' left many players feeling underwhelmed, and while I personally had some fun, it fell short of delivering the satisfying end game experience I was hoping for. Season 1 simply didn't meet the expectations of many players looking for a more robust end game.
I'm really hoping that the Season of Blood will surpass the shortcomings of its predecessor. However, if I'm honest, I'm not entirely convinced yet that it will address the end game issues I've been longing for. Playing Diablo 4 has made me nostalgic for the days of grinding rifts in Diablo 3, and I yearn for a similar game mode in Diablo 4.
I feel that it's not about making the end game overly complex. Diablo 4 thrives on its simplicity, setting it apart from games like Path of Exile, which I truly appreciate. I'm seeking a casual, straightforward action RPG experience where I don't have to obsess over min-maxing my gear. I just want to have some fun killing hordes of demons and have a satisfying time leveling up my character. Some argue that Diablo 4's nightmare dungeons are akin to pushing rifts in Diablo 3, but are they really?
For me, I want to see my character level up rapidly and effortlessly. Ideally, I'd like to gain 2-3 levels with each dungeon run. However, in the case of pushing nightmare dungeons in Season 1, it felt more like leveling up once every 20 dungeons (I know I may be exaggerating). I believe Diablo 4 should consider introducing a rebirth system, allowing players to reach level 100 within a matter of hours, and then continue leveling beyond that point. This is a concept I hope Blizzard would explore in the future.
Nevertheless, let's take a closer look at what Diablo 4's upcoming season, the 'Season of Blood,' has in store for us.
Vampire-Themed Questline:
I'm thrilled about the upcoming vampire-themed questline in Season 2. As a fan of vampires, this addition is right up my alley. The main star of the show this time is Erys, a Vampire Hunter, and you follow her on her journey to fight back blood sucking vampires and their vampire lord, Lord Zir, that have awoken and invaded Sanctuary.
To be honest, I actually really enjoy how Diablo 4's seasonal updates always inject some storytelling into the game. Imagine 20-30 seasons of short stories, not bad.
Empower Your Character with New Bloody Abilities:
Season of Blood will introduce 22 Vampiric Abilities. The new powers in this seasonal update is arguably the most pivotal aspect of Season 2. It has the potential to be a game-changer, although it doesn't necessarily address the endgame concerns in my opinion. Unlike the Malignant Hearts in Season 1, the new Vampiric Abilities are not unique to any class, so every class can equip these abilities, as long as you meet the gear requirement - you'll need to slot in Pacts into the Pact slots of your armor. For example, you can slot Pact of Divinity into 6 of your armor slots, which will then allow you to equip a Vampiric ability of that activation cost.
New Seasonal World Events:
Season 2 brings with it new seasonal world events, including 2 local events and 7 dungeon events. From what I understand, this will work quite similarly to Helltides. While this expands the content, I'm curious about how much it will truly transform or improve the game, given the substantial number of dungeons already present in the base game.
New Vampiric Equipment:
I'm hoping that the promise of new gear also means we are getting new free cosmetics for our characters. While what we have now is pretty alright, I hope that the free arsenal of cosmetic grows every season. The Season of the Malignant (season 1) gave us a free but ugly cosmetic set. I hope they do better this time.
Formidable Endgame Bosses:
Diablo 4's Season of Blood introduces five challenging new endgame bosses, if you include Season 1's Varshan. This seems to be the vision for the endgame in this season - leveling up your character and then taking on these formidable bosses to farm unique equipment specific to each of them. It's an interesting shift from the traditional dungeon loot grind, and while it may look promising, we can only know if it works through actual gameplay. I'm eager to see if these unique drops will be enticing enough to make farming them enjoyable.
ReVAMPed Quality of Life features:
Finally, the frustration with the pre-Season 2 gem system will be addressed, as gems are now materials that don't take up our valuable inventory space.
There will also be no need to do renown all over again (thank you, truely).
Scroll of Escape will automatically be consumed upon disconnecting in Hardcore mode.
Generally more experience gained from playing the game, this means leveling up faster.
10 Unlocked waypoints, 2 in each zone. Why not all? I don't see the point in making us run through all of them again.
Stashes can be more easily found in towns now, I think they added a few to each town and nearer to the waypoint.
Mounts can now jump over blockades. The developers also mentioned better control and faster speed boost for mounts.
We now teleport INTO the Nightmare Dungeon, instead of outside.
Paragon Glyph experience increased.
No more annoying dungeon objectives. Now we just need to find and kill the boss inside the dungeon. This is a winner.
We can now lock our items, so that they cannot be sold or salvaged accidentally.
Diablo 4 and Blood Powers Let's Go:
We are about a week away from Season of Blood and there are a lot of changes that we will be seeing when the patch drops. I am spending my time thinking about which class would feel best as a vampire. I bet Necromancers are going to be really popular again this time. I might go for the Sorcerer this time. What about you?
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