Blizzard to address fan feedback following backlash to latest Diablo 4 patch

Blizzard is set to host a Diablo 4 ‘Campfire Chat’ on Friday to address fan feedback to the game’s latest major update.

Released earlier this week ahead of today’s launch of Diablo 4 Season 1: Season of the Malignant, the update was met with disappointment from fans over a number of issues including nerfs to the game’s Sorcerer class.

The Campfire Chat will be hosted by game director Joe Shely, associate game director Joseph Piepiora, and associate director of community Adam Fletcher on July 21 at 11am / 2pm ET / 7pm BST.

“The team will discuss the feedback we’ve received from the community on Patch 1.1.0, and detail what’s on the horizon for Diablo IV,” Blizzard said.

Speaking on stream (via Polygon), streamer Asmongol summarised his feelings about the update as follows: “Number one: Everything is worse. Number two: Everything is harder. Number three: Everything you were doing, now you have to work harder to do it again. Number four: Leveling — slower.”

He went on: “Number five: Helltides — worse, damage reduction: reduced. Vulnerability: gutted. Good decision, by the way. I agree with the vulnerability decision, I think it’s smart.” Vulnerability is a stat in Diablo 4 which greatly increases the amount of damage done by players if they can get enemies into vulnerable states.

Some changes to the update are already being made. Fletcher tweeted in response to players finding new level caps to some of the game’s difficulty tiers (known as World Tiers in-game) that the level requirements for World Tier 3 & 4 would be removed. It’s currently unclear when any changes, or rollbacks, will be pushed to players.

Activision Blizzard said on Wednesday that over 10 million players “experienced” Diablo 4 during its launch month.

The game was released on June 5 for PC and consoles and is the World of Warcraft studio’s fastest-selling title to date, according to its publisher.

“As of the end of the second quarter, Diablo IV had sold-through more units than any other Blizzard title at an equivalent stage of release,” it said in its second quarter earnings report.

Diablo 4’s release drove a record three months for the Blizzard business segment, which delivered its first $1 billion net bookings quarter.