Diablo 4: Season 15 Launched (Kinda) Yet is it Worth Playing?

#Diablo4’s season 15 launched today not without some controversy where a major bug caused some people who utilized the new Rebirth feature ended up “bricking” the start of their season by receiving the Eternal character’s gear and progress. In addition, solo self found mode at the moment has been disabled because of another bug. After a few frustrating early morning hours though, the team managed to get the season restarted (where some people had their progress reset). Despite all of this, season 15 content-wise has to be one of the largest pure content seasons for Diablo 4 thus far. So should you give this season a try?

Unless you’re a hater, pretty much season 15 will keep you occupied for a good few days at least. Leveling I think will be quick just because the season quests and War Plans activities alone should boost you very quickly especially now that the reputation season quest component has returned to compliment your season journey. Even leveling on normal, you will get through fairly quickly and barely touch stuff like Strongholds (which I normally do) just because of trying to split your time between the seasonal quest and leveling up your War Plans activities.

One thing I noticed (at least from watching people play the PTR) was that the Pandemonium Ruptures, which I believe was the season 14 mechanic. So it looks like these are permanent additions to the game and I do believe I fought a few of the Realm Walkers that spawn (and died to one) But these can be a bit brutal especially at a lower level. While I didn’t do Season 14, I am pleased that the team decided to keep this type of content just because it does add more variety to the game (despite me dying).

But the really big stuff is a lot of the hidden stuff that was hinted. For instance, some people have already found Whimsyshire. Then the Capstone Dungeons themselves have been modified yet again and retrofitted as remakes of key portions of the original Diablo 1-3 series. I just did a special Waking Nightmare dungeon based on the Act 2 Caldeum city rescue with Belial as the final fight and I need to complete the Den of the Fallen on Penitent (later today) to move to the next season tier.

Also, in doing War Plans, you can see how the season influences the Activity Tree. I don’t have specifics but I am pleased that they gave War Plans more flavor here. I still would like to see more activities as I’ve stated numerous times before but it’s clear that War Plans won’t be static (at least until Diablo 5 gets released).

One of the biggest shadow drops here was Diablo 2 Runewords along with a secret Horadric Cube recipe. Because these weren’t listed in the Patch Notes, I haven’t really seen them used in any build guides thus far. But the idea is you take some of the class Runewords and apply them in order onto a white piece of gear to create the Ethereal/Runeword item as you would from Diablo 2 with similar effects. One of the early season dungeons gives you two runes and a white chest piece that you can create Stealth. So that was really cool. Also, I think these runes can still be used as rune words because they have their own properties and cost. But this just shows that there might be yet another interesting item hunt here. One person has even created a post on reddit to show you these recipes.

Build-wise, I don’t know if things will improve much because of the various nerfs. I don’t really believe these D2 Runeword items are going to have a huge impact on the game though outside of potentially being used for leveling and/or novelty. But they are being treated as a Unique item and I have to wonder if you can use them as a charm. Even if you can’t, I do like the fact that these are optional. Also, I think their item level scales but I haven’t tried making anything else yet besides the Stealth item.

I haven’t really touched the end game to comment at this stage. My eyes on are Mythic items since that whole system got revamped. From what I can see the Iconic Mythics aren’t as emphasized in these builds compared to before, which actually is a great thing to be honest. Instead, build enabling Mythics are what seem to be the key. But those are pretty far out of my reach since I only hit 70 last night and am starting Penintent (yeah, I’m slow but I also took a nap and grabbed dinner for a few breaks yesterday)

Regardless, I think the real thing for this season is to encounter all the Easter eggs spread throughout. On reddit, I’ve already seen Cow skins that you can find, some drops for the Staff of Herding and that recipe list for D2 Runewords. Some people think there is a cow level beyond the one that came with Lord of Hatred. More importantly though, despite the hiccups with SSF and the launch, the people who are playing this season really are enjoying it just for the content. Not only that but people aren’t begging for the season powers; they just want the latest content because it obviously just increases the depth of the game and amount of things we can do.

The real takeaway for Blizzard here is that people want large patches of content where there’s tons of additional activities. I’ve been saying that while the season powers are fine on a per season basis, the real thing people want is just more things to do. I think many of us are burnt out on Helltides, boss farming, Inferno Hordes, etc. If Legions, for instance, had a real motivation where it got a massive revamp, more people would do those. Same with World Bosses, normal Whispers and Strongholds. Coming an increase in the types of activities available and making them more dynamic through player agency is the direction the game (for what remains of it) should go (and where Diablo 5 ought to go). I honestly don’t think based on what we’re seeing in this current season that it’s not impossible for the team to execute on that level. The fact that this season is showing one of the biggest surges in players ought to demonstrate how there’s something real key that players want. Even a player like myself who is cynical and cautious in my approach towards my attitude with the game is willing to keep an open mind and recognizes when something is good and am willing to give credit where credit is due.

So to answer the initial question, come on back and stay a while.