Diablo 4 is getting some huge changes alongside its Containers of Hate expansion, which include a complete reorganization of the game’s difficulty system and ending.
As revealed in a recent (very long) live stream, Blizzard has announced that it will be removing World Levels, Diablo 4’s current difficulty system. In its place is a system more similar to Diablo 3. Each difficulty will allow players to gain additional experience points and gold coins.
Unlocking the new Torment difficulty will tie directly to progression from the Pit Endgame activity introduced in the game’s Loot Respawn update earlier this year. There are four torture difficulties in total, each representing a significant increase in challenge. Players can only unlock Torment 1 after conquering the 20th level of pits, and subsequent difficulties will be unlocked every 15 levels of pits. The highest level of The Pit will be level 100, but each level will be more challenging than the current version of the game.
Torment difficulty will be where players start looking for the best items. Hallowed items will be removed entirely, while ancestral items are being redesigned to only drop on Torment difficulty and be more rare. However, they will also be more powerful, as they will have guaranteed large affix stats and have greater legendary power. Higher Torment levels will reward more ancestral items, rewarding players who challenge the game’s highest difficulty.
Blizzard said that the difficulty changes are to make the various content in “Diablo 4” feel more consistent, rather than the current version of the game’s difficulty will vary greatly based on the end-game activities you pursue.
The difficulty changes will go hand-in-hand with upcoming upgrades and changes to the Paragon system in Diablo 4. (i.e. Eternal Realm, Hardcore Realm, and Seasonal Realm). As players have predicted, this will coincide with numeric value squeezes for damage and health, making the game more readable, rather than bosses having trillions of health and players dealing billions of damage.
After the update, players will actually be able to earn more Paragon points, but the number of Paragon boards will be limited to five. Blizzard says the change is to encourage players to fill out each board more, rather than simply rushing towards each glyph node. Each class will receive a new board and each existing board will be rebalanced accordingly.
With the release of Vessels of Hate, Paragon Glyphs will be leveled through pits instead of nightmare dungeons (which will reward Masterwork materials). It is not an XP system for leveling up glyphs, but a chance or fail system where there is more than a 100% chance if the player completes a pit level 10 or more levels above the glyph’s current level and less than completing a lower level pit level. The new maximum level of the glyph is 100, and the radius increases at levels 15 and 46.
In addition to Hateship’s new class, the Soul Child, new skills for each class, the return of mercenaries, the addition of Runewords in Diablo 2, and a new team-based end-game dungeon, The Dark Castle”, all these changes will be included. Diablo 4: Hateship will be released on October 8th.
