The release date of Diablo 4: Lord of Hatred expansion, April 28th, has sparked widespread discussion in the player community.
The update includes a new storyline, new classes, and a new Endgame mode, addressing many players' concerns before the update: the game lacked new content, classes remained unchanged, and there was no progression path in Endgame.
However, besides anticipation, some players also have serious concerns about this expansion.
Lilith Cannot Be Good
Lilith, daughter of Lord of Hatred-Mephisto, sister of Lucion, wife of Archangel Inarius, and mother of Nephalem.
The union of a rebellious angel and a demon gave birth to a group of humans with power that they feared. Heaven and Hell would not tolerate such offspring. Therefore, a division arose among the rebels: some advocated for the extermination of Nephalem, while others advocated for their forgiveness.
Lilith, fearing the extinction of her children, went mad. She began hunting down her followers, slaughtering angels and demons alike. She ruthlessly murdered all of Inarius's followers, even Nephalem, whom she initially sought to protect, fell victim to her clutches.
This is why players had to defeat Lilith in Diablo 4 Season 12, Season of Slaughter.
However, in the new expansion, Lord of Hatred, players will even have to join forces with Lilith to fight Mephisto. Some players in the community expressed that they didn't want this to be Lilith's path to redemption, but rather a temporary reprieve from her evil deeds, such as her plan to eliminate humanity, until Mephisto is defeated, and the eternal conflict will continue.
This is also one of the reasons many players love Diablo 4: a demon will always be a demon, never an angel, and goodness will ultimately lead to betrayal. After absorbing her father's power, Lilith will only lose herself further, wallowing in hatred.
New Classes Appear
The two new classes added to Lord of Hatred, Warlock and Paladin, have been a hot topic of discussion among players. Some players believe the new classes will be incredibly interesting, especially Warlock, a class that uses dark magic, the complete opposite of Paladin who uses light magic.
Warlocks possess a dual resource system - Wrath and Dominion. Most skills consume Wrath, while summoning and commanding monster minions consume Dominion. A skillful balance between these two resources can perfectly unleash Warlock's power.
Paladins, unlike other classes that rely on luck with gear drops, have most of their powerful Diablo 4 Items fully integrated into their class progression. Paladins have a whopping 50 class-specific Aspects.
These Aspects must all be obtained from Salvage, legendary items that drop; no dungeons offer them directly. This means players will need to invest a significant amount of time grinding to collect the core Aspects.
While the strength of these two classes excites and anticipates some players, others worry that these updates will disrupt game balance, especially for classes that were already somewhat weak in previous versions.
On Reddit, a player complained that Ranger's current situation is precarious, with its survivability significantly lagging behind other classes. This player admitted that while they could clear level 105 of the challenge, they were helpless against Bloodstained Lair boss, and the only solution was to team up with a stronger class like Paladin.
This is inevitable; class strength cannot be perfectly balanced. However, the developers will adjust other game mechanics to try to balance the disparity between classes.
The current balance issues in Diablo 4 are likely related to the short duration and low priority of Season 12, Season of Slaughter. The developers may be investing more resources in the upcoming expansion. It is expected that all classes will undergo a large-scale balance adjustment after Lord of Hatred is released.
It should be noted that Ranger is not unplayable at this stage, but it is far from the strength most players desire. In comparison, other classes have a superior growth curve and build diversity. Therefore, even the most loyal Ranger players might consider temporarily switching to another class and returning when the meta improves, which is perfectly understandable.
Endgame Mode
To address player feedback that the game became boring and lacked new content in the late game, Diablo 4 introduced War Plans, an endgame mode for Lord of Hatred, allowing players to customize their own endgame progression.
This system functions like a smart endgame activity playlist. It plans a series of different activities, allowing for seamless switching without the need to manually search for keys or mark them on the map. Each activity also has its own upgradeable Skill Tree, allowing you to customize rewards and even achieve high returns through adventures.
Meanwhile, the developers also increased the level cap for Tortures and characters. Players have mixed opinions on these changes, largely divided into two camps.
Opponents of the increased Torture difficulty argue that it will severely fragment the player base and make the late-game content length and empty. Supporters argue that this will give players with top-tier builds more goals to strive for.
Regarding the increase in the character level cap, the official aim is to provide more build options for Skill Tree and Paragon Board System.
Some players worry that this will lengthen the time to reach the endgame, making the leveling process tedious, a negative change that feels like a step backward. However, other players welcome this change, which they believe will allow for more detailed character development.
Are veteran players being unfairly targeted?
The announcement of the pricing for Diablo 4: Lord of Hatred expansion has sparked considerable anger. The reason is that this expansion is being bundled with the previous version, Vessel of Hatred.
Players are angry because they are being forced to pay again for something they already own. Even if they pre-order both, why don't veteran players receive any discount? This move was widely seen as a betrayal of early supporters, with one player angrily stating, “If a third expansion comes out, will we have to pre-order the first two again?”
Furthermore, the pre-order technology for Lord of Hatred malfunctioned. The community reported numerous technical issues, including unqualified to pre-order, when pre-ordering on platforms like Battle.net, further complicating the release process.
These events led to a massive barrage of negative reviews for Diablo 4 on Steam, positive review rate plummeting to 49%.
Other suggestions included showing goodwill towards existing players by offering discounts to those who pre-ordered Lord of Hatred, instead of requiring them to pay again for content they already owned, and seriously addressing the problems players encountered during pre-orders.
Overall, on the one hand, the community's trust in the developers has not been restored. The lag in balance, redundant gameplay, and the gap between promises and deliveries that have plagued previous seasons have already built up considerable skepticism among players.
Even with the numerous highlights showcased in the promotional materials for Diablo 4's new expansion, many remain concerned that the final product might fall short.
On the other hand, the player community holds a cautiously optimistic view of Lord of Hatred's endgame mode. While new systems like War Plans demonstrate the developers' approach to addressing endgame pain points, past lack of trust makes players hesitant to fully believe the hype.
Therefore, whether Diablo 4: Lord of Hatred can overcome this predicament depends not on pre-release promises, but on the actual user experience after launch.
