Diablo 4 Season 3 isn’t off to the best start, with Blizzard already responding to widespread complaints with its new offering just days after launch. As even its biggest and most enthusiastic streamers, and its wider player base as a whole, express disappointment with the trap-filled Season of the Construct, game director Joe Shely says the team is already planning improvements.
Diablo 4 Season 3 was supposed to be where the Blizzard RPG really fired into gear, following on from a successful and fun Season 2 as it kicked off 2024 and pushed towards the Diablo 4 DLC release date for Vessel of Hatred at the end of the year. It introduces a new construct companion which you can upgrade by taking on special vaults packed with traps, but so far the additions have largely fallen flat – and, at the time of writing, the new Diablo 4 season has just 10,900 viewers on Twitch less than two days after the new season’s start.
“I don’t like the theme,” streamer Max ‘wudijo’ R. says in a video posted to his YouTube channel. Along with being a top player who has already scored multiple wins as the first Diablo 4 player to hit level 100 solo in Hardcore, he’s also typically one of the most positive voices in the Diablo 4 community, so hearing him so immediately underwhelmed is certainly striking. “I think it needs some hot fixes…or a new season.”
While wudijo does offer some positivity about Blizzard’s balance changes and some of the build potential, his comparison of the seasonal grind is striking. “Last season it was ‘farm blood harvest for three hours and you’re good,’” he reminisces of upgrading your Vampiric Powers in the Season of Blood. “Oh yeah, by the way, you can also do it on another character and then use it on whatever you want.
“This season is ‘farm 2,000 vaults’ [to upgrade the construct], good luck. Oh, by the way, ignore everything that the season theme is about – including the construct because it does nothing. Yeah, this is Season 3.” He’s not alone, either; I’m already feeling rather underwhelmed by the construct’s potential, and players on the Diablo Reddit page describe the vaults as “punishing in a way that is designed to purely waste the player’s time.”
Following initial assurances from community manager Adam Fletcher that Blizzard was looking into feedback internally, Diablo 4 game director Joe Shely adds, “We’re carefully reviewing feedback, especially from folks who have played many hours already, and we’ve agreed on several things that can be improved. More details soon.”
As to what those changes could be, another notable Diablo streamer, Ryan ‘Raxxanterax’ S., who has been directly referenced by Blizzard in past livestreams for delivering regular feedback lists that have previously influenced development direction, spent some time yesterday writing up a Season 3 summary with his viewers.
Among his key criticisms are vaults and traps, with a “general sentiment that they are are not fun” and very few opportunities to deal with them, disable them, or avoid them entirely, and pets being impactful as they lag behind, attack too slowly for too little damage, and apply inconsistent buffs to the player.
Raxx’s list also addresses how long the grind to level up the construct is, exacerbated by the fact that it must be done independently for each character. He also mentions several more long-form issues such as a continued lack of endgame activities, the largely repeated Uber Unique grind from Season 2 being “not fun anymore,” and a feeling that we’re all waiting for the itemization improvements already promised to arrive in Season 4. You can see him build the list below, beginning at 5:37:25.
It’s certainly not the start to the season, or the year, that Blizzard was hoping for. While I’m still generally excited about Diablo 4’s future potential as continued improvements to the overall structure and depth of the core game roll out, it’s hard to see the beginning of Season 3 as anything other than a marked step back from Season 2, and that’s a real shame.
For those of you still ready to give the Season of the Construct a shot, or playing for the first time (it’s still well worth seeing that campaign through), we’ve got the best Diablo 4 classes and even the best Diablo 4 builds. If you’re in the mood for something a little different, however, take a look through the best games like Diablo to mix it up a bit.
You can also follow us on Google News for daily PC games news, reviews, and guides, or grab our PCGN deals tracker to net yourself some bargains.