You have done it, Blizzard, no more small tremors in this area. The official Twitter account of the game was the first to announce that the next season for Diablo IV would be called the Season of Divine Intervention, and it would take place very soon, on December 11, that soon. One week from now, guys. The tweet included a lot of new features: Tempering & Masterworking, a new mechanic called Sanctification, Azmodan’s comeback, and of course, “and more.” What a classic one. It is always “and more.”
Thus, what is the essential information? The fifth season of Diablo IV is named the Season of Divine Intervention, and it will be opened on December 11. Besides that, there will be new crafting technologies like Tempering and Masterworking for deeper gear customization, a Sanctification mechanic, and the major demon Azmodan is coming back as a new boss. Blizzard is making one more attempt to enhance the end game and monopolize players’ attention against the rivals like Path of Exile 2.
It is really hard to figure out what the community thinks about this, especially if you check out the replies. Surprisingly, the response is quite different, and that’s where the fun lies. The hype train has already arrived with such a person as Glitchy 🪄 who is analyzing the meta and saying “Azmodan returns! The Lord of Sin should bring some interesting challenges. Curious to see how Sanctification shakes up the meta.” That’s the analytical team, already theorycrafting.
Next, we have the appeals that could be described as somewhat passionate if we want to be polite about it. And when I say passionate, I refer to the thousands and thousands of people demanding just one thing: the Paladin. Or Crusader. However, you want to label that holy warrior archetype. HudsonArruda, rebeldottie, and Zack Nahr’s responses are just minor variations of “GIVE US PALADIN!!” or “More Paladins incoming 😻”. It’s a whole atmosphere. One player even claimed that the new systems are cool “but what we really want is the Paladin.” It is almost as if there has been a mass hysteria around this one class, and everybody is expressing their frustration for not having it yet. Surely, Blizzard must be aware of this? The request is very obvious.
But wait a minute, let me collect my thoughts. Oh yes, the Season. So Tempering and Masterworking. That sounds like a new, and D4 highly needed one, layer of grind and domination in order to keep things fresh beyond level 100. Sanctification? No clue what that is but it certainly has a heavenly ring to it. It may perhaps counter all the hellish stuff. And Azmodan… the Lord of Sin reappears. Kevin McAllister (vikingdad278) had the most appropriate nickname for him, though: “The Lord of Nipple Rings” lol. I mean come on, look at the dude, it suits him perfectly.
But this is where it gets exciting. The announcement’s timing is, to say the least, dubious. The user thedarkvortex13 alerted us: “this drops on the 11th and POE 2 drops last of the druids update on the 12th.” And MadSoul87 with this: Blizzard has a “pretty heavy competitor in Path of Exile 2 though with their Druid class dropping.” It’s a head-to-head battle. One player, Protosavage, came straight out: “Feels like a kids game after playing Path of Exile. Weird that I’ve never noticed till I guys lost me around season 7.” Ouch. The comparison game is strong, and Blizzard is walking right into it.
And then there’s the other side of the coin. Total, no-holds-barred salt. Tahgarino went with the classic “No one is playing this shit. Shut it down and fire everyone involved.” That’s a bit extreme. ZurdosNoPasan went on a rant about Blizzard ruining the IP and needing to make an old-school game. And Stungun091 just demanded a complete overhaul: “The whole skill tree and paragon boards need to be redesigned.” It is really not all sunshine and loot drops in Sanctuary, that’s for sure.
Some of the replies are just funny or bizarre. Stapled_Lips asked if there is “going to be a guy named Diablo in it?” which is a fair question for a game called Diablo I guess. And Breadwilton gave a shout-out to a community manager, saying “Oh man I love this community manager so much. Hes a really nice guy.” Aww, wholesome.
But you also got the technical questions and gripes. Radyohead80 was confused about a quality percentage shown in a video. Zac_228 was asking about the PlayStation and Xbox versions.
