Diablo 4 needs to stop ignoring its Eternal Realm Blizzard EntertainmentDiablo 4\u2019s Eternal Realm is much more than a place to store your old seasonal characters, and it\u2019s time Blizzard acknowledged this and rewarded those who use it. Blizzard was upfront and honest about its intentions for Diablo 4 when it said the game was \u201cnot supposed to be played forever\u201d. What they meant was that once players are done with a character and have reached level 100, they should really consider retiring that character and starting another when a new season comes around. After all, at this stage of the game players are only really able to re-roll and respec their character rather than continue to level them. Power has a ceiling in Diablo 4, and once you reach it, the idea is that you bask in your achievement and then do it all over again with a different class or build. That\u2019s exactly what I\u2019ve done for four seasons now, and I plan to do it again in Season 5 with the final base game class I\u2019m yet to run. Then, I\u2019ll likely play through Season 6 as the brand-new Spiritborn class. However, once I\u2019ve used every class for a season and reached the endgame with all six of them, I\u2019m done with Diablo 4 \u2013 at least until there\u2019s another class to try or story content to enjoy. Getting bored of Helltides You see, I\u2019m getting a bit bored of Diablo 4\u2019s seasonal content. Don\u2019t get me wrong, Season 4 deserves all of its flowers; I\u2019m just a bit sick of Helltides now. And the more of Diablo 4\u2019s seasons I play, the more I come to realize that I\u2019m just doing the same thing over and over again and I\u2019m losing my motivation to keep doing it. I also feel like I\u2019m being dictated to and forced to play in a way that doesn\u2019t suit me. To be honest, the only thing that keeps me coming back to Diablo 4 is the cool new themes and side stories each season has provided; I care little about everything else. I loved the vampire menace and the ability to fight alongside the Seneschal Companion. I even enjoyed hanging out with the Iron Wolves in Season 4 \u2013 even though those missions were padded out by Helltides. This was something that gave them the illusion of being more than a mere backdrop for the seasonal theme. My priorities are shifting when it comes to Diablo 4, and I now find myself more excited by the prospect of new story content and quests than I am by Blizzard\u2019s ability to finely tune the seasonal experience and rewards. Loot is indeed Reborn, but I care way more about what Mephisto is doing to Neyrelle and the new quests that\u2019ll lead to. I skipped the campaign in Seasons 2, 3, and 4 but originally played it through with my Season 1 Necromancer, who I\u2019m now keen to return to and play the DLC with. Basically, I want to do what I did in Diablo 2 and 3 and continue the adventure, not repeatedly start again. When it comes to my old characters in the Eternal Realm, there are still side missions I need to complete, parts of Sanctuary I still want to explore, and hapless NPCs I still need to speak to. I get that the rewards are better during seasonal play, but I\u2019m now at the point where I\u2019m only playing that content for the unique story quests that are added each season, such as the vampire incursion or the horrors that escaped from Zoltun Kulle\u2019s vaults. Soon, even that won\u2019t be enough to motivate me to start a new character. My FOMO will eventually turn into resentment, and that could drive me away from Diablo 4 forever. Bring seasonal stories to the Eternal Realm However, I believe there is a simple solution. Why can\u2019t Diablo 4 be more like other live-service games like Destiny in that when story content is added, it builds on what came before rather than being exclusive to that season and then disappearing forever? Even Diablo Immortal does this. I understand that these stories only serve as a side-order to the seasonal theme, and are mostly designed to encourage us to return that season, but this won\u2019t counter player fatigue forever. Now, I\u2019m not proposing Blizzard change the way they do Diablo 4\u2019s seasons. They\u2019re not broken, so they are in no need of fixing. But if Blizzard wants to retain players like me, they should really consider adding the new story content to the Eternal Realm, even if it\u2019s several months after that season ends. The same goes for gimmicks like the construct companion; they could just make it a pet or let us keep a nerfed version as a reward for completing that questline in the Eternal Realm. This way, players can return to Diablo 4 at their own convenience and enjoy the new quests while giving the world more consistency and a sense of overarching narrative. Should Blizzard decide to return to the seasonal stories in future updates, this will make more sense as every player will have had the chance to experience it with any character. I mean, we know the vampires as still around. Of course, those who participate in seasonal play should be the only ones earning the seasonal rewards. But in my own case, I have no interest in these rewards or spending time grinding for the best loot. If my characters are disposable, then so is any loot they hold. I also don\u2019t want to slog through hours of Helltide events just to play the next chapter in the story \u2013 but I\u2019m down to kill some vampires or pal around with a little robot spider when I get around to it. What I want to do is to periodically return to Diablo 4, enjoy the new content, and then be on my merry way. I want to soak up every bit of Sanctuary and play Diablo 4 when and how I want. Blizzard should start catering for those who enjoy the Eternal Realm and make more of an effort to utilize it. If they want players like me to return to Diablo 4 by the time Season 7 rolls around, then this is how they\u2019ll tempt us back, and keep us coming back. If not, you may see me for the next DLC, if I\u2019ve not moved on fully by then.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Diablo 4 needs to stop ignoring its Eternal Realm Blizzard EntertainmentDiablo 4\u2019s Eternal Realm is much more than a place to store your old seasonal characters, and it\u2019s time Blizzard acknowledged this and rewarded those who use it. Blizzard was upfront and honest about its intentions for Diablo 4 when it said the game was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41415","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41415","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41415"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41415\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41415"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41415"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41415"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}