Summary
Community reception to Season of the Malignant inDiablo 4has been lukewarm, to say the least, but there seems to be an undocumented change to Forgotten Souls that will certainly be appreciated by the vast majority of players. Theendgame inDiablo 4is separated into Nightmare Dungeons and Helltides, with the latter being in a dire position since the latest update, largely due to the higher Aberrant Cinder cost for mystery chests.
Though Aberrant Cinders have been restored to their original drop rate shortly after the patch launch, mostDiablo 4players prefer Nightmare Dungeons for farming loot over Helltides. The primary reasons are efficiency and luck, as items that drop in Nightmare Dungeons have a higher likelihood of being Sacred or Ancestral compared to open-world drops. The advantage that Helltides had overNightmare Dungeons inDiablo 4was in providing players with exclusive materials such as Fiend Roses and Forgotten Souls.
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This seems to have changed in Season of the Malignant, asDiablo 4players can now obtain Forgotten Souls by salvaging Legendary items, in addition to the usual method of completing Helltide activities. While a few voices in the community such as z0ttel89 have made the argument that this further delegitimizes Helltides as an endgame option inDiablo 4, the vast majority of fans are in favor of the change.
There has been a powerful push fromDiablo 4players for better incentives in Helltides, as the game’s Reddit community frequently submits feedback on what they consider to be the biggest emerging and ongoing problems inDiablo 4. While being able to obtain Forgotten Souls outside Helltides is a step in the right direction, this diversification of obtainment methods would be even better ifHelltide rewards inDiablo 4became more in line with Nightmare Dungeons.
From an objective standpoint, it would seem that players had the most fun with Helltides in Patch 1.0.4, when its mystery chests were significantly buffed, and the community went into a collective frenzy in trying to obtain theastronomically rare Uber Uniques inDiablo 4. Though this manner of target-farming Uber Uniques was quickly removed from the game, player engagement was at an all-time high. It implied that new ways of obtaining important endgame items were a healthy direction forDiablo 4, which is why this change to Forgotten Souls has been widely praised by the community. Hopefully, similar changes will be in store for fans in the future.
Diablo 4is available for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
