The time has come: dust off every weapon and start grinding again, because Diablo III Season 35 has been released. The announcement was dropped like a loot-filled pinata, and now players are recklessly rushing in-well, some even with less enthusiasm than was ever shown for Diablo IV. You heard that right.
Season 35-Borrowed Power-should probably put a new twist on the mechanics with some new gear, but with the seasonal journey really sucking players in, D3 has stolen the spotlight for a little bit-too great a reminder for some that it still matters while D4 is still finding its feet. This tweet from the official Diablo account generated a very interesting kind of hype among the gaming community.
The reply section is a mixture of hype, nostalgia, and outright Diablo IV territory abuse. One player by the name of GabrielKDG straightforwardly asked, “Why does D3 still feel better to me, compared to D4?” Ouch. Another called out without an ounce of restraint: “Way better than d4.” Well, really, that’s not an uncommon sentiment. Despite D4 showing off its graphics and open-world ambitions, some players find themselves drawn back to the simpler pace of chaos that is D3.
But of course, there is darkness ahead: The earliest whining started regarding lack of controller support on PC (cough, V421E, cough), but followed with non-stop requests of a Steam release. Then, there was poor Serge, stuck in some Portuguese or Spanish language pack on PlayStation, just wanting to play in English. Come on, Blizzard, do your thing and sort him out.
Then for the Xbox bunch came the saga of the bugged Challenge Rift Cache addressed three years ago by Kiefer Street. Adam Fletcher (PezRadar) replied first, “Yes – Will ping production,” but like, how many pings does it take to fix a three-year-old bug?
And then there are those players really tired of starting from scratch every season. “Oh no… not restarting the character all over again??????” lamented Shanytc. Yep, buddy, that’s how seasons work. But hey, grinding is supposed to be fun, right?
Meanwhile, D3 vs. D4 is squeezing the life out of a Greater Rift. Some like Carlos Rojas call D4 a “wrost copy of poe for try hards.” Others like Coldy claim they cannot go back to D3 after playing D4 because “it feels like a downgrade.” While the fan base may be divided, one thing is clear-D3 still has an indie following unwilling to let it go.
So what’s the morale? Diablo III Season 35 arrives with a bang and yet remains way too many plays’ choice over its shiny brand new sequel. Whether for the smooth gameplay or nostalgic reasons, or just because D3 really works, it’s not going anywhere; which is kinda cool.
Excuse me now, as I have a season grind to attend to. See you in Sanctuary.
