Diablo 4’s next patch expands stash, buffs Sorcerers, cuts respec costs, and more

Diablo 4's pre-season patch was a bit of a disaster. Though it did bring the anticipated Season of the Malignant content to the game, much of that excitement was sucked out because of what patch 1.1 did to the game.

Although it's standard for big patches that kick off new seasons to feature sweeping changes to the meta, this one was a little too much for the young game. Blizzard flattened XP gain (making the grind slower), nerfed all classes, plugged a few power-levelling holes that groups relied on, reduced the effectiveness of some crutch stats without offering alternatives - just to name a few.

It caused a storm of criticism that Blizzard had to host an emergency livestream to address the feedback. While the chat was fairly positive, the developer wasn't ready to backtrack on any of the bigger changes in patch 1.1. Instead, we got a small hotfix that made Nightmare Dungeons more bearable, and fixed a few bugs.

But the developer did promise to change its entire approach to patches, starting with the next one: update 1.1.1. This upcoming patch is expected in the next two weeks. Instead of dropping the patch notes after the release of the patch, Blizzard will share the notes on Friday, several days ahead of its release.

Patch 1.1.1 will be the first to sort of set Diablo 4 back on the right track. Sorcerers will have a bunch of their lesser-used Legendary Aspects buffed, with Barbarians to follow. While this may not fix all of the problems the beleaguered class has been suffering from, it's certainly a start.

Monster density in endgame activities - a hot topic amongst players - is being increased. Specifically, you'll come across larger groups of monsters in Nightmare Dungeons, and Helltide events. This should make it easier to level up, especially now that Nightmare Dungeons are much less gruelling.

Speaking of the grind, Blizzard said it's looking at increasing XP bonuses to make the journey from level 50 to 100 smoother, but didn't say whether or not these will make it in patch 1.1.1, or how big of a boost players can expect.

What we are definitely getting in 1.1.1 is a new stash tab, which isn't much, but once again, it's a step in the right direction. Elixir stacking is being upped, too, which is another small change that helps with inventory/stash management.

Another good piece of news is a cut to the Gold cost of re-speccing, with Blizzard promising a 40% reduction. More specifics about the changes 1.1.1 will be making to the game will be discussed in the next livestream.

The Friday, July 28 Campfire Chat will be livestreamed on Twitch and YouTube as usual, and kick off at 11am PT / 2pm ET / 7pm BST.

The patch itself should arrive about a week later, so sometime in the first week of August. More patches are in the works for Season 1, too.