Diablo 4: Lord of Hatred Expansion

I'm a diehard Diablo lover. Some of my earliest memories come from playing the Diablo 1 demo over and over and over until I was finally able to get my hands on the full game. The atmosphere, progression and replayability of that game really caught me and that particular game has always held a special place in my heart. As time moved on, the Diablo franchise has changed substantially.

After the success of Diablo 1; we receive the strange but endearing Hellfire expansion, allowing us to see what can happen when the original creators let the reins go and bring in some outside help. From there the absolute genre defining 2nd game was unleashed on the world and the impacts of what that game brought to the table are still seen in modern ARPGs. After the original Blizzard North folks were long gone, we started to see the direction that corporate oversite of the franchise would be taking. Diablo 3 at launch was a buggy, extremely difficult, and messy game. Not to mention the real world auction house! Over time, the 3rd game in the series did find it's footing, settling into a fast paced - arcade like groove that allowed you to blast through rifts and bounties at a staggering pace, filling your screen with bring pillars of light.

When Diablo 4 was first announced (I'm not going to talk about Immortal), it was a supposed return to form in some ways. Darker atmosphere, more blood and guts, a more serious story. What it turned out to be was the true culmination of corporate greed, always online, crazy MTX prices, lackluster seasons and a weird open world concept.

I've had my issues with the 4th game. I bought it on release and played through and didn't feel all that satisfied. I didn't even get to see Diablo in my Diablo game! It was a huge letdown for me personally, then Vessel of Hatred arrived and I gave it another shot. Spiritborn was a fun class but the story just wasn't there for me and the endgame felt lackluster.

Lord of Hatred Expansion

That brings us to the release of Lord of Hatred, our second expansion. With it came two new classes, a new endgame activity and a host of changes to the skill tree. Noteabily there are probably many more changes through the various patches since the last expansion, but these are the broad strokes.

Overall the game feels like it's finding a comfortable niche as an accessible and binge worthy arpg. Funny enough, the embracing of all the things that made Diablo 3 great in the end is what is working for Diablo 4 with Lord of Hatred. The story is good (even great!), and the endgame has enough depth to keep a person occupied for a few weeks each season. With the addition of the Paladin and Warlock, we get both something new and something new-but-familiar in the class roster.

Warplans are the new end-game activity that was billed as "providing more player agency towards the end game", and while that isn't exactly how it panned out, it's a serviceable system that provides some direction and additional rewards to activities you may be doing anyway. It also serves as a great way of goal-posting a particular play session. Within a set amount of playtime you can complete one or multiple warplans, look over your loot, and assign your newly aquired paragon points. It's a nice stopping point to say that the session is done and you'll pick it back up next time.

Currently I'm blasting along in T8 with a blessed hammer pally, content to hold down the right-mouse button and hit spacebar to dodge ahead while melting packs of enemies. It's the reality-tv show of ARPGs and after working all day, taking care of a household, and wanting to completely zone out with a show and some mindless blasting of demons, I'm happy to have D4 taking up the main screen.