Blizzard is changing the way it's going to balance Diablo 4 classes going forward
Starting with Season of the Construct, you can expect a new, easier-to-predict cadence to Diablo 4 balance updates.
Blizzard closed out the pre-Season of the Construct developer livestream for Diablo 4 by sharing news about how it’s going to approach class and item balance going forward, as well as its philosophy behind this new approach.
The developer doesn’t want the meta to get stale, but it’s also aware that taking good things away from players quickly can ruin the fun. So here's what’s actually happening.
As revealed on the show, Diablo 4 will now receive two updates per season. The first arrives with the launch of the new season, and the other midway through it. The update that kicks off every new season will obviously include new content, which will take the form of Legendaries and Uniques. Every class should be getting something new. The first update will also bring new balance tweaks to classes, and may include design changes that aren’t limited to just messing with numbers.
Blizzard wants to generally buff more than nerf, but when things get too powerful/too weak, it’s going to be considered a bug that needs fixing.
The balance changes also extend to drop rates, monsters and so on. By the same token, Blizzard wants to use the start of a new season to make bigger tweaks to the game. Though those obviously aren’t guaranteed to take place during every season, the thinking is that a seasonal kickoff is a good time to start a new initiative or alter how an existing mechanic works (such as when Resistances were changed for Season 2).
The mid-season update, on the other hand, is when you can expect older content to return. Just like Blizzard brought back some Malignant powers as rings in Season 2, you can expect favourites from past seasons to find new life in the current one. They may not necessarily take the form of loot; some could end up being Aspects or even Paragon Nodes.
Likewise, balance updates are also going to arrive with the mid-season patch, albeit with a smaller scope. Blizzard won’t make any staggering nerfs to anything (except for egregious bugs), but you may notice a buff or two.
In case you missed it, Blizzard is also making a few major changes to the Season Journey starting with Season of the Construct, which is looking like it may be Diablo 4's biggest so far in terms of content. Those quality of life updates don’t look too bad, either.
Season of the Construct kicks off Tuesday, January 23, at 10am PT / 1pm ET / 6pm UK.