Diablo 4’s pre-season 1 patch is here and no one is happy about it

Wherever you look, the game’s players are ticked off both by the things that have changed and the things that haven’t, and the response has gotten so bad that Blizzard has scheduled one of its Campfire Chat sessions this Friday to discuss it.

PCG’s Tyler Colp covered the community’s intensely negative reaction to patch 1.1.0’s Sorcerer nerfs yesterday, but it’s not just the wizarding changes that have people up in arms. Even players who aren’t angry about the Sorc changes are going so far as to beg Blizzard to revert the patch, to delete the game (or claim to, anyway), and to start talking about how much they’re looking forward to Baldur’s Gate 3. Sorcerers are probably the angriest though, admittedly. I don’t think any other class is offering Blizzard devs a million bucks to walk a mile in their shoes.

The reaction to the patch has been so vocal and so negative that it’s almost impossible to capture it all here, but perhaps I can give you a taste. In a post titled—rather wryly, you have to admit—”We asked for endgame, not to ‘end the game’,” a player named BGStealth raked the patch over the coals for nerfing “every class to the ground,” for leaving monster density and resistances “unfixed,” and for failing to establish a “real and engaging endgame”. In mocking agreement, a player named Athmil asked “What do mean no endgame? They added another Uber unique that you can never get even after playing for 10,000 hours.”

Other players are baffled at some changes that feel almost arbitrarily spiteful. “They even put 2 extra seconds on teleports out of dungeons,” said a user named w1nstar, to which another player responded: “That’s [Blizzard’s] way of making eye contact with you and calmly and clearly saying ‘Yes, I really, truly do hate you with every ounce of my being’.”

Another player summed up the fan reaction in one easy phrase: “Fixed an issue where players were having fun”.

To my eyes, the negative response to patch 1.1.0 seems to have been coloured heavily by players’ negative reaction to Diablo 4’s transition to live service. While I doubt there’s any world in which a patch like this gets a warm reception, several players have interpreted the changes as cynical tricks to get them to dedicate more and more time to the game. 

Making players weaker, enemies stronger, and sprinkling a few more ultra-rare items in that you have to grind for hours, weeks, and months to obtain has some players suspicious—rightly or wrongly—that Blizzard just wants to keep them playing and monetizable for as long as possible. “This is all about their bottom line and an attempt to have us play the game longer,” said a post by dangerousone326, which has garnered 10,000 upvotes and a long array of Reddit awards at time of writing.

Still, at least some players are having fun dunking on it. Special shoutouts have to go to the comments on the Sorcerer’s new unique wand—the Oculus—which comes with a side-effect of teleporting you to a random location when you use it. At least one player is cheerfully optimistic about it, remarking “I hope it teleports me to the character selection screen so I can reroll another class”. Another is very eager for it to teleport them over to Path of Exile and Baldur’s Gate 3.

Just tested out the new Sorcerer Unique. It’s honestly not that bad. from r/diablo4

Blizzard has promised another of its Campfire Chats this Friday to discuss the feedback to patch 1.1.0, but I don’t think the devs are going to win many people back over unless they happen to announce a sweeping rollback of pretty much every change they’ve made. “Can’t wait to be told they’re listening to everything we say and nothing will be changed,” wrote a player named Presenex in a much-upvoted comment.

We’ll see how it goes, but right now the Diablo 4 community is pretty much in full rebellion against Blizzard’s changes, and it’s hard to see that shifting. Gaming communities being what they are, I doubt this will have much of an impact on the number of people actually playing the game, but it’s not a great look when your game’s main discussion hubs are all wall-to-wall anger and resentment. On the other hand, this guy is pretty chuffed that Blizzard fixed the issue where Meshif’s camel made no noises. Maybe that’s a foundation to build on.