Diablo IV: Season 2 – Season of Blood
Let’s be honest, Diablo IV wasn’t as good as many gamers hoped for. While the overall premise and atmosphere very much dragged us in, it was the level scaling, the endless grinding, and the lack of many features that made the previous installments great that made us toss the game aside a lot quicker than expected. The first season didn’t interest us that much either, as it offered the same slow grind with a bullet sponge around every corner to put level progression to a painful halt. Now, however, with the recent changes and balancing updates, as well as the interesting theme of the second season, we once again found ourselves butchering the hellish minions in Sanctuary, and we quite enjoyed it. As this is a simple season update, we will not be scoring this piece, as it’s mainly about what this new season has to offer and why you should perhaps consider giving the game one more go.
Let’s get a few things out of the way first, as the changes in the second season do not mean that Diablo IV is now perfection itself, but it’s on track to becoming a great title. The game still lacks set items, there are some connection issues still present, we still somewhat disagree with the overpriced items being offered in a store for real money, and so on. Even so, we feel the game has already shifted its focus from being a stale and boring grind to something more action-packed like Diablo III.
While having the proper gear and having the correct aspects for your build is still very much a key component to making the game a lot easier, we did feel a lot more powerful this time around. We could make fairly easy progress leveling, which is also thanks to getting more experience for your kills. There is a battle pass system in play here, but it’s mainly the free tiers that are actually quite interesting. Some of the free tiers provide you with Smoldering Ashes, which can give you even more experience, making the grind even easier. We also hacked and slashed our way through enemies a lot easier compared to the pre-season build of the game. Your progression doesn’t stop when reaching level 50, as in the past you had to keep going in and out of Nightmare dungeons hoping to get some additional experience. Now, joining events, such as the Blood Hunt or the Helltides, or completing Whispers will grant you quite a bit of experience, making you go through those Paragon levels a lot easier. We did enjoy this faster experience, and it motivated us to make additional characters, rather than just grind with one character hoping we’d get to a high level eventually.
Of course, the Season of Blood also brings with it several interesting mechanics. Very much like the Helltide zones, you’ll also have the Blood Hunt zones. Here you can collect Blood Lures and Seeker Keys. The Blood Lures can be used to summon stronger enemies, which all drop a lot of loot. It was quite entertaining when a group of people kept summoning boss enemies in order to flood the screen with legendary drops. This truly made it feel like Diablo III’s Rifts again. The Seekers Keys unlock chests in the Blood Hunt zones. A fun touch is that you’ll keep your Blood Lures and Seeker Keys, even if you don’t use them. This means that you can use them at a later time in a different Blood Hunt area. The seasonal content also includes a short storyline, but just like the previous season, this storyline feels underdeveloped rather than a fleshed-out Diablo narrative.
There are now also the Vampiric Powers you can mess around with. These powers allow you to equip passive powers that make your character(s) even stronger. To activate the powers, you’ll need to have ‘Pacts’ on your items. There are three Pact types, each with their corresponding symbol. Some powers require you to have a certain number of Pacts of one type equipped, while others will require Pacts of multiple types. You can have up to five powers active at any given time. Your Vampiric Powers are unlocked (and leveled) by offering Potent Blood, which can be acquired by killing enemies. Unlocking powers is at random, where you spend 25 Potent Blood and are able to choose out of three randomly selected powers to unlock or level. The system itself is a bit tedious, as it requires you to keep on clicking through the leveling menu, which gets a bit annoying after a while. Even so, when you have spent the blood, which you can fairly easily acquire, you’re good to go. Keep in mind that you’ll have to go through this process of leveling your Vampiric Powers with every character. Blood Lures and Seeker Keys are shared.
Conclusion
Even though Diablo IV is still nowhere close to achieving greatness, it’s on the right track from being just an okay game to becoming a great game. We enjoyed what season 2 has to offer so far, and we will see ourselves making additional characters to try out new builds during this ongoing season. As there are still roughly two months left in the Season of Blood, we can recommend giving it a go yourself, if you already own the game. If you were on the fence, and still have not picked up the game, this might be a decent point of entry.
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