Summary
After an exciting first month,Diablo 4’s first season has arrived, and it feels pretty lackluster. The Season of the Malignant is supposed to mark the beginning ofDiablo 4’s seasonal structure that will define the game’s post-launch content, but Blizzard has not really done much with the concept yet. The Malignant storyline seems out of place, the battle pass leaves much to be desired, and nothing really shakes up the core gameplay that much.
Season of the Malignant also proved very controversial with the playerbase, and that has put Blizzard in a bit of a tough spot. The first season was supposed to be where the studio showed its playerbase why it should care about the post-launch content stream. Rather, it may have given some a reason to finally log off. While it may be hard to win players back now, Blizzard can do it if it ensures future seasons do not repeat the mistakes of this one.
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Blizzard Needs to Make Diablo 4’s Seasonal Content Stronger
There was a lot riding onDiablo 4’s Season of the Malignantleading up to its release. Players everywhere had cruised through the game’s content during that first month, some were getting burnt out by the endless ARPG loop, and others were looking for something new to play. This first season also had to introduce players to the game’s first-ever battle pass and give them a reason to come back for moreDiablo 4content. While some players may have jumped back on, the season seemed to fail before it even began.
Before the launch of Season of the Malignant, Blizzard released a patch that angered much of the fanbase. The patch nerfed every class, cooldowns were increased, XP gains had been lessened, and everything about the game felt slower. Fans quickly took to social media to voice their concerns andBlizzard announced a Campfire Chatto explain itself. While its new commitment to players is nice, the damage has already been done.
The Season of the Malignant content had a chance to distract players from that controversy, but the season really did not add much toDiablo 4.The new Malignant Hearts featurefeels like Gems with a new skin, the Malignant corruption does not alter the gameplay loop that much, very few new items were added, the new dungeons feel like the old dungeons, and the battle pass is kind of bland. Aside from the battle pass progression, there really is no major selling point for this first season.
The Season of the Malignant should have been an explosive start toDiablo 4’s seasonal structure, but instead it felt like more of the same. While it is too late for Blizzard to go back and rectify that, it cannot repeat the same mistakes for season two. Future seasons need to launch with far more content, their battle passes need to be exciting, and there needs to be a reason for players to jump back on. If the studio is not able to deliver on those fronts, thenDiablo 4may quickly die off.
Live-service games live or die on the quality of their post-launch content, andDiablo 4has had bad luck so far. The game has a ton of potential and may be one of the best entries in the series, but if Blizzard cannot keep the content train going then players will quickly move on to other things. Season two is the studio’s chance to show that it is not out of this fight yet, but it will need to try extremely hard to win back its scorned and skeptical fanbase.
Diablo 4is available for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
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