Blizzard dropped the developer update stream for Diablo IV: Season of Infernal Chaos, and reactions are unlike any other. An even split of half the comments is positive, and the others are negative. People get super excited over those new fire wings and whatever chaos is coming. But take a dive into the replies: it almost feels like a hellish pit of fallen angels—almost hostile.
The live stream was the Flufesterial Situation, with the 🔥 emoji and a Twitch & YouTube link attached to it-the whole nine yards. New season hype: all chaos. But players? Not all sharing in this excitement.
Starting right off with the multiplayer complaint, Mike Mitton writes: “@Diablo The move to multi-player only is the reason I no longer buy and play Diablo IV.” It hurts. And he really loves the rest of Diablo games; so that really hurts him. It is really a common thread; to some folks, being always online is a big turn off-they just want to slay some demons solo while not worrying about someone dropping their internet connection.
Then Thiago Snows followed up with his comparison about the current state of affairs with PoE2: “@Diablo Nothing new, nothing exciting. You guys better run up with Expansion stuff to stick ppl into your game, cause u are losing by Km to PoE2.” Indeed, PoE2 looms large, and players are starting to notice if Diablo IV itself does not step up to the stage. So Blizzard, show us the heat or get burned.
Then came even more direct criticisms by Lil Moon: “@Diablo Yall be putting more effort into the damn cosmetics above anything else. The copy paste boss powers are so boring.” Calling it the biggest flop of any Diablo ever, she says the endgame is “so ass” and there’s nothing worth grinding for. Damn, that’s harsh, but you know when players feel like the grind is pointless, they’re going to vocalize it.
Zack Nahr mentioned “@Diablo This season S10 is insane! So cool the new fire wing is.😍😍😍” so may appreciate and love at least the visuals. And Jay simply chimed in, “Nice!, thank you!” so appreciation has been expressed, even though opinions are divided.
Real questions followed-Baboonballs wonders about Lilith’s immunity phase: “Does Lilith still have her immunity phase in her second form? Can we kill her without waiting for her to destroy the floor?” So that’s an exact gameplay gripe, showing how deep into mechanics the players themselves are, wanting to see smoother fights.
Jammy shades retorts, “@Diablo still no offline mode but sure let’s talk about chaos lmao.”The request for offline mode just won’t die, and honestly, it makes sense. Not everyone has stable internet, ya know?”
In another comparison, Pat Rappa notes: “@Diablo If Diablo Campfires are ‘getting into the Weeds’ the PoE2 Dev Chats get into ‘A whole fucking other universe’.” So there are even instances of the dev updates being compared poorly with competitors’ deeper dives.
Some confusion reigns on the collabs—KaiserAcedia asks about an IP collaboration that may have been scrapped, and counters exist as to when certain features are supposed to launch. It’s as though players are trying to piece together what’s coming and when, and Blizzard’s communication surely isn’t always crystal clear on that.
Dynamyte says about Tomb Lord, “It’s been 2 years, and it still requires work for move sets and affixes.” That’s quite a long time for a boss to feel janky; you can almost feel the frustration.
As far as criticism goes, DaBrownBull says “@Diablo The new format is definitely better!!” So maybe the livestream style itself is a step up? Small wins, let’s say.
Then, there is the hilarious AoElena camera-shy moment becoming Charles Dunn during the co-stream! That uplifts the spirit among all of us. Every gaming stream has at least one.
The whole Diablo IV community is split. Some people are ecstatic for the chaos and cosmetics for the new season, while most others are frustrated with the lack of innovation, always-online requirements, and PoE2. If they fail to provide substantial content this time, Blizzard might just end up losing a good amount of their players.
It’s crazy how such a legacy game can ignite such bifurcated reaction. Like, Diablo used to be the undisputed king of ARPGs; now it’s fighting for survival amongst the big boys. The Season of Infernal Chaos is going to have to do more than just bring out some fire and wings-it’s really got to go after those core complaints or risk losing a huge chunk of the player base. But hey, that is life for a live-service game-just always updating, always giving feedback, and never-ending comment sections!
