Diablo 4 did huge numbers when it was released in June 2023, with positive reviews, impressive sales numbers, and over 12 million players. But for those who finished the game’s campaign and dove into its endgame content, the real meat of an ARPG like Diablo, it was clear something was amiss.
Item progression was frustrating and often felt like a chore. There were few endgame activities and little reason to do them. Seasonal updates added new mechanics and smaller fixes but didn’t solve the underlying structural issues players had with the latest entry in Blizzard’s legendary loot-chasing franchise. It carried echoes of Diablo 3’s 2012 launch, when players quickly became frustrated by its endgame loop (and its real-money auction house). Was Blizzard repeating the same mistake twice?
What a difference a year makes. Whereas it took around two years for Diablo 3 to become great with the addition of its Reaper of Souls expansion, Diablo 4 today is vastly improved to the one of last year or even just seven months ago. Whereas I quickly fell off Diablo 4’s endgame loot grind at launch, I’m now hooked thanks to free updates that overhauled itemization and revamped its difficulty. Diablo 4’s endgame loop is now extremely satisfying, and I’m continuing to chase those smaller upgrades and highly coveted Mythic Unique items that could take my character ever slightly further–something that felt like a fool’s errand a year ago.
Many of the biggest changes came alongside Diablo 4’s appropriately named Loot Reborn update in May. Items gained fewer affixes but ones that were more useful, making it easier to parse at a glance whether an item may be useful or not. Legendary Aspects, once a chore to find and replace, became an almost automated process, with salvaged Legendary items automatically having their Aspects added to the in-game codex for easy imprinting on future items.
The addition of two new itemization systems, Masterworking and Tempering, is what truly took Diablo 4’s items and its endgame into overdrive. Tempering allowed players to add certain affixes to items in order to hand-craft the perfect weapon or piece of armor. Masterworking, meanwhile, pushed players to upgrade a Tempered item into the ultimate version of itself.
Loot Reborn proved to be a game-changer, not only because of the agency it gave players when it came to gearing up, but also for giving reasons to continue deep into Diablo 4’s endgame. The addition of The Pit, a new timed endgame dungeon where materials needed to Masterwork items could be found, additionally gave players more goals to chase.
Just as these systems overhauled Diablo 4’s items and endgame, the game’s 2.0 update, released alongside its first expansion in October, pushed things even further. Blizzard dropped the game’s confusing World Tier difficulty system and instead replaced it with one more akin to Diablo 3. It reorganized the endgame to form a more satisfying endgame progression loop, with Masterworking materials shifting to be found in Nightmare dungeons, and Glyph XP moving to The Pit. A new roguelite endgame activity introduced in Diablo 4 Season 5, Infernal Hordes, became a permanent fixture in update 2.0, giving players more options when it came to choosing how to spend their endgame time.
All of those changes are without even mentioning the additions that came as part of the paid Vessel of Hatred expansion. It added a new region to explore, continued the game’s story, introduced an additional endgame activity in the Kurast Undercity, brought recruitable Mercenaries into the fray, tossed Runewords into the build-customizing equation, and added a brand-new (and very overpowered) class: the Spiritborn.
Now, when it comes to the endgame, players have choices. Do I need to Masterwork my gear more? I can run Nightmare dungeons or Infernal Hordes. Maybe I need to upgrade my Glyphs, so I’ll hit up The Pit for a bit. If I’m looking for runes, a particular type of item, or materials, I can do an Undercity Tribute run with that specific goal in mind. Or if I’m looking for a certain Unique or Mythic Unique item, I can target-farm one of the endgame bosses for a higher chance of finding what I’m looking for. Diablo 4’s endgame now lets me easily work towards whatever goals I have for my character and gives me options when doing so.
Many of these endgame activities feed into each other. Running The Pit will give me tributes to use for the Undercity. Doing Undercity can give me boss-summoning materials. Defeating those bosses will give me Infernal Horde keys, which I can then use to gain Masterworking materials. It all feeds into itself in a satisfying endgame loop that keeps me playing, slaying, and upgrading, something that was definitely not the case when Diablo 4 launched.
That’s not to say there’s no room for improvement. Though there is now much more to do in Diablo 4’s endgame, there are few real challenges or reasons to keep pushing after a certain point. Most dedicated players will be able to easily clear higher-levels of The Pit or defeat the game’s Torment bosses on the game’s highest difficulty, after which gear upgrades simply allow players to clear those activities slightly faster. Doing things faster can be fun (and makes for efficient farming) but can lose its luster after a while without additional goals to pursue. Bugs also continue to be an ongoing issue, and Blizzard could benefit from putting a bit more polish on updates before releasing them out into the wild (something the game’s public test realm, also introduced this year, does help with).
Diablo 4’s road of refinement likely won’t be coming to an end anytime soon, but I am impressed at how far it has come in a relatively short amount of time. Even though Vessel of Hatred proved to be an excellent addition, it was this year’s free Loot Reborn and 2.0 updates, more than the paid expansion, that transformed Diablo 4 from just “okay” into a great ARPG worthy of the Diablo name. It’s fitting that Diablo 4 found its footing just ahead of Grinding Gear Games releasing the highly anticipated Path of Exile 2 into early access. Suddenly, the battle to be the top ARPG in the genre Blizzard invented is heating up. If Diablo 4’s 2025 is anything like its 2024, next year will be a banner year for the genre, and I can’t wait to see what’s in store.
More Best Of 2024: