Blizzard revealed today that the upcoming fourth season of Diablo 4, titled Loot Reborn, will not have a seasonal-specific mechanic. In fact, all of the systematic changes and updates in Loot Reborn are also coming to the Eternal Realm, affecting all characters and servers as opposed to just seasonal ones. This asks the question: why bother making a seasonal character?
Big core changes…
A lot of the changes to Itemization as well as the new Tempering system, revamped Codex of Power, Masterworking, and addition of Greater Affixes have all been received positively from players who played the PTR. For the most part, Diablo 4 at its core seems to be headed in the right direction. A lot of the useless base affixes on items have been removed, and equipment can now be upgraded and customized to fit your build so you don’t feel like you have to throw away really good items every few levels.
Helltides have also been revamped adding new encounters and a progressive event that results in fighting Hellborn that drop new materials required to perform Accursed Rituals featuring a new Helltide mini boss, the Blood Maiden. A new end-game activity, The Pit, also allows players to unlock rare crafting materials to further Masterwork their gear once they’ve reached the end-game.
…but not much of a season
However, for an actual new season that requires a new seasonal character, Diablo 4 Season 4: Loot Reborn seems very underwhelming. Every season has been named around the themed seasonal mechanic for that season. And Loot Reborn makes sense; after all, these loot changes are monumental to the game and will overall change the foundation of Diablo 4 moving forward. But these are changes that affect the entire game, not just the season. If you played Season 3, your character will be transferred to the Eternal Realm, where all of these changes also exist.
In a game like Path of Exile, seasonal mechanics are often worthwhile to experience with its new leagues(seasons), but also you get a fresh economy with each league which is reason enough to start over every few months. But in Diablo 4, there is no economy in that regard. The seasonal mechanic is the focal point of each season.
Players over on the /r/Diablo4/ subreddit are wondering the same thing. “Wait, hold up, the season is just the changes to the loot and systems, but marketed as a season because it took dev time that would have normally been put towards an actual season? The only difference between Season 4 and Eternal Realm in 2 weeks is a questline that gives more masterworking recipes and the battlepass track.,” said user Brandonspikes. I’m inclined to agree here. While the core changes are in fact a big deal, hyping it up as an actual season just to throw in a Season Pass feels a bit icky.
The only seasonal feature not also coming to Eternal Realm right away appears to be a questline with the Iron Wolves where you join up with them and progress through Seasonal activities to progress your Seasonal Journey. It seems like more of the event-based mechanics we’ve gotten in the past, not an actual fully-fledged thematic seasonal mechanic.
Diablo 4 “Season” 4: Loot Reborn starts on May 14 on all platforms.
