Diablo 4 Season 15 PTR Had Some Great Ideas — And Some Very Familiar Problems

Diablo IV's Season 15 PTR is over.

And the community verdict is surprisingly difficult to reduce to either:

This is terrible.

or:

Blizzard has saved Diablo.

Which is probably a good sign.

After a week of testing Soul Splinters, Legacy Uniques, Challenge Dungeons, Overland Ambushes, Mythic changes, Rebirth and another enormous round of class balancing, players have found quite a lot to like.

They have also found several problems that will sound extremely familiar to anyone who has followed Diablo IV for more than six minutes.

Class balance.

Build diversity.

Layered RNG.

Inventory clutter.

Overpowered interactions.

And the eternal question of whether Blizzard is adding another seasonal power system on top of problems the base game still needs to solve.

The encouraging part?

Blizzard has already warned us that the PTR did not contain the entire Season 15 experience.

The rest is being saved for BlizzCon.

Soul Splinters Are One of the Better Seasonal Ideas

The headline Season 15 mechanic shown on the PTR was Soul Splinters.

These are socketable items placed into jewelry that provide powerful bonuses with equally deliberate downsides.

For example, Splinter of Anguish increases Critical Strike Chance and Attack Speed while increasing Resource costs.

Splinter of Pain provides Damage Reduction but makes you slower.

Splinter of Hellfire gives an enormous multiplicative damage bonus while removing your Critical Strike Chance.

And the Black Soulstone rewards killing enemies with stacking damage while simultaneously making you increasingly fragile.

This is good seasonal design in principle.

You are not simply equipping:

Gem of Number Bigger.

You are making a choice.

At least theoretically.

The Problem Is That Diablo Players Will Solve the Choice

This is where community feedback becomes more cautious.

Several PTR testers liked Soul Splinters but questioned whether their downsides are actually meaningful enough to create multiple viable choices.

If one or two Splinters become mathematically superior for most endgame builds, the interesting decision disappears.

Players will calculate the best combination.

A build guide will appear.

Everyone will equip it.

Somewhere, a spreadsheet will quietly declare victory.

That is not a Soul Splinter problem specifically.

It is the eternal ARPG problem of giving players ten interesting options and watching eight of them become decorative within 48 hours.

One community discussion already points toward the Critical Strike/Attack Speed Splinter and Hellfire as combinations whose disadvantages can potentially be minimized or bypassed by the correct builds.

That does not mean they will launch that way.

It means Blizzard has some tuning to do.

Legacy Uniques Are Almost Universally a Good Idea

One of the strongest additions is much easier to defend.

Old Diablo items are coming back.

Season 15 introduces nine Legacy Uniques inspired by equipment from Diablo, Diablo II and Diablo III.

They include:

• Leoric's Crown
• Nemesis Bracers
• Stone of Jordan
• Squirt's Blouse
• Arioc's Needle
• Henri's Perquisition
• In-Geom
• The Furnace
• Messerschmidt's Reaver

This is exactly the kind of nostalgia Diablo IV can use without turning itself into a museum.

The items are recognizable.

But Blizzard has adapted their powers to Diablo IV rather than copying twenty-year-old stat blocks directly.

Leoric's Crown, for example, interacts naturally with Season 15's socket systems.

Stone of Jordan immediately creates theorycrafting possibilities.

And The Furnace has already given players ideas about what sort of deeply unreasonable damage numbers might be achievable.

Diablo is at its best when finding an item makes you want to rebuild the character around it.

Legacy Uniques move in that direction.

Mythics Are Getting More Identity Back

The PTR also continued Blizzard's attempt to repair the Mythic Unique system.

Season 15 makes Mythic crafting considerably more deterministic.

The intention is simple:

If you are investing enough resources to create one of the most powerful items in the game, Blizzard wants you to have more control over what you receive.

That is welcome after Season 14 created plenty of debate around Transfiguration, random affixes and whether upgrading an already extraordinary item could actually make it worse.

We have already seen examples of players feeling that Transfiguration effectively bricked extremely valuable Greater Affix items.

More deterministic Mythics are therefore a move in the right direction.

But PTR feedback still questions how much RNG should remain inside the final system.

Challenge Dungeons Look Promising — But We Haven't Really Seen Them Yet

Challenge Dungeons are another interesting case.

During Season 15, portals can appear while exploring Sanctuary and take players into difficult encounters.

At higher Torment levels, players can deliberately choose enemies several difficulty tiers above their current world setting in exchange for better rewards.

That sounds good.

More optional difficulty.

More reasons to interact with the overworld.

More opportunities to discover something unexpectedly horrible while travelling from one place to another.

Blizzard has also explicitly said that the encounters tested on the PTR were built to test the underlying technology.

The actual Season 15 Challenge Dungeon content will be different.

So judging the system entirely from the PTR would be premature.

Overland Ambushes Could Make Sanctuary Dangerous Again

The same is true of Overland Ambushes.

While travelling through Sanctuary, a powerful demon can begin hunting you.

You receive a warning.

You have 30 seconds.

Then something unpleasant arrives.

That is a simple mechanic, but it addresses a genuine problem with Diablo IV's open world.

Once your build becomes powerful enough, Sanctuary mostly stops feeling threatening.

You are not exploring a world filled with demons.

You are commuting through one.

Random high-difficulty encounters could help change that.

The PTR version was basic, but the concept is good.

Then We Get to Class Balance

And here the optimism becomes considerably less unanimous.

Class balance produced some of the loudest PTR discussions.

Paladin players complained that several builds remain difficult to scale into the endgame.

Sorcerer players continued their ancient cultural tradition of asking why Sorcerer is being treated this way.

Barbarian changes created arguments about toughness and stat scaling.

Warlock produced the opposite problem.

Some interactions were so powerful during testing that we ended up looking at a Warlock setup producing damage measured in tens of thousands of trillions.

PTR numbers are PTR numbers.

They are supposed to break.

That is why the test exists.

But the wider concern remains familiar:

the difference between a fun build and a competitive build can become enormous.

Diablo 4 Still Has a Build-Gap Problem

This matters particularly because Diablo IV now has increasingly visible competitive endgame systems.

The Tower makes build disparity very difficult to hide.

We recently looked at how players calculated gaps of thousands of times between different endgame damage outputs.

No seasonal mechanic can completely solve that.

And adding powerful Soul Splinters could actually widen the gap if certain classes exploit them much better than others.

The ideal Season 15 outcome is not that every build produces identical damage.

That would be boring.

The goal is that more builds feel like legitimate choices rather than mistakes you made before opening Maxroll.

RNG on Top of RNG Is Still Wearing Players Down

The less glamorous complaints may ultimately matter more.

Diablo IV now contains a great many systems.

Greater Affixes.

Tempering.

Masterworking.

Runes.

Talismans.

Charms.

Mythic conversion.

Seasonal mechanics.

War Plans.

And soon Soul Splinters.

Each individual system can be defensible.

The problem appears when obtaining the item is random, its affixes are random, upgrading it adds more random outcomes, converting it creates another layer, and then your ideal build requires interacting with several additional systems.

At some point, “deep itemization” and “administrative procedure” begin sharing a border.

Inventory Bloat Is Becoming a Design Problem

This is closely connected to another recurring complaint:

Diablo IV keeps adding things that need somewhere to live.

Seasonal items.

Charms.

Talismans.

Crafting materials.

Legacy items.

Build alternatives.

Perfect rolls that you are absolutely going to use someday.

Probably.

Community feedback continues asking Blizzard to move more account-bound resources into dedicated material storage rather than requiring them to compete for traditional inventory space.

It is not an exciting BlizzCon announcement.

But sometimes the feature players appreciate most is:

I can see my stash again.

The PTR Was Deliberately Incomplete

This is the single most important thing to remember before judging Season 15.

Blizzard told players before the PTR even started that this test would be unusual.

The company deliberately withheld parts of Season 15 because it has more to reveal at BlizzCon.

That means Challenge Dungeons were not shown in their final seasonal form.

The PTR was intended to test selected systems rather than reveal the entire season.

And Blizzard clearly wants September's convention to supply the missing context.

So anyone saying they have already seen “everything Season 15 has to offer” is simply incorrect.

Blizzard says we haven't.

That Also Makes Season 15 Difficult to Judge

The unusual PTR creates a problem for players trying to decide whether they are excited.

We know the mechanics.

We know some items.

We know the balance direction.

We do not yet know exactly how all of it fits together.

A recent community discussion asking what players are looking forward to in Season 15 produced several versions of essentially the same answer:

Ask again after BlizzCon.

That may be the healthiest response.

The Good News Is That Season 15 Has Actual Ideas

For all the criticism, there is a meaningful difference between:

I dislike this idea.

and:

There are no ideas here.

Season 15 definitely has ideas.

Soul Splinters change build construction.

Legacy Uniques connect Diablo IV with the rest of the franchise.

Challenge Dungeons introduce scalable optional encounters.

Overland Ambushes attempt to make exploration dangerous again.

Rebirth makes seasonal characters slightly less disposable.

Mythic crafting is moving toward greater control.

Those are all useful directions.

But Season 15 Cannot Hide the Old Problems Forever

The question is whether Blizzard can improve the foundation at the same time.

Another powerful seasonal mechanic will not fix enormous class disparities.

More loot will not fix inventory friction.

More crafting options will not help if every step adds another frustrating dice roll.

And bigger damage numbers do not automatically make combat better if players still struggle to understand what killed them, something we recently examined in the ongoing debate over one-shots and visual clarity.

That is why the strongest Season 15 feedback is neither hype nor doom.

It is:

These are good ideas. Please finish the job.

BlizzCon Now Has a Lot to Explain

Season 15's PTR showed enough to make the season interesting.

It did not show enough to make the verdict easy.

That was deliberate.

Blizzard has kept part of the season behind the curtain for BlizzCon on September 12–13.

And with the Diablo franchise celebrating its 30th anniversary, expectations are already becoming dangerously healthy.

For now, Season 15 looks like a mixture of promising new systems and extremely familiar problems.

Soul Splinters?

Good.

Legacy Uniques?

Very good.

Class balance?

We need to talk.

RNG layered on more RNG?

We have apparently been talking for three years.

The PTR gave Blizzard the feedback.

BlizzCon gets to show us what the rest of the season actually is.

Sources

Blizzard: Diablo IV 3.2.0 Season 15 PTR Overview and Patch Notes

Diablo IV Forums: Season 15 PTR — The Good, The Mid, The Bad and The Ugly

Diablo IV Forums: Seasonal Splinters Feedback

Diablo IV Forums: Paladin Season 15 PTR Feedback

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Diablo 2 Players Are Asking Whether Three-Month Ladder Seasons Are Too Short

Diablo II has always been a game about patience.

You farm.

You farm some more.

You finally find the rune you wanted.

Then you discover you need another one.

That slow progression is part of why people are still playing Diablo II more than two decades later.

But some Diablo II: Resurrected players think Blizzard's modern Ladder schedule is increasingly fighting against the game itself.

A recent community discussion argues that roughly three-month Ladder seasons are simply too short for ordinary players, especially those who want to build expensive endgame characters without playing for ten hours every day.

The suggestion?

Move closer to four months.

Give the racers their fresh economy.

But also give everyone else enough time to actually enjoy the character they spent the season building.

Season 14 Lasted Less Than Three Months

The timing makes the debate particularly relevant.

Diablo II: Resurrected Ladder Season 14 began on May 22 and ended on August 17.

That is just 87 days.

Season 15 then began on August 21, with Blizzard saying future seasons will follow a similar patch-and-Ladder schedule.

That means players can reasonably expect the current rapid reset rhythm to continue unless Blizzard changes direction.

For the people who love Ladder resets, that is excellent news.

Fresh economy.

Fresh characters.

Fresh race to Level 99.

Everyone is poor again.

For approximately nine minutes.

The Problem Is That Diablo II Has Very Long-Term Goals

The complaint is not really that reaching Hell difficulty takes three months.

It obviously does not.

Experienced players can move through Diablo II extremely quickly.

The problem is what happens after that.

Consider the sort of items a normal endgame character might eventually want:

• Grief
• Enigma
• Infinity
• Last Wish
• Fortitude
• High-end crafted amulets
• Perfect or near-perfect charms
• Rare jewels
• Optimized mercenary equipment

Those are not “finish Act V and pick one” rewards.

They exist because Diablo II's loot system is built around enormous variance and extremely rare drops.

You can farm Travincal for weeks without seeing the rune you need.

You can find five excellent items for classes you are not playing before finding one meaningful upgrade for the character standing in front of you.

That is Diablo II.

It is cruel, statistically unreasonable and somehow still compelling.

One Player Says the Reset Arrives Just as the Character Becomes Fun

The recent forum discussion comes from a player who describes working through Hell with a Frenzy Barbarian, reaching the high 80s, farming Travincal, building Lawbringer and Crescent Moon and gradually equipping a mercenary.

The next major target was Grief.

In other words, the character had reached the stage where the serious endgame chase was finally beginning.

And the season was already nearly over.

That is the central frustration.

For a player with limited weekly playtime, three months may not feel like an entire season.

It can feel like:

Level the character.

Get the basic equipment.

Start becoming powerful.

Reset.

But Ladder Was Never Only About Completing a Character

There is a strong counterargument.

Ladder is designed around restarting.

The fresh economy is not an unfortunate side effect.

It is one of the main attractions.

For dedicated players, the first days of a new Ladder can be the best part of Diablo II.

Low runes matter again.

Basic uniques have value.

A Spirit base can make somebody genuinely happy.

Players group together because nobody has seven fully equipped characters and a mule account containing enough equipment to outfit a small country.

The economy gradually matures.

Then eventually it becomes saturated.

For players who primarily enjoy that fresh-start experience, extending seasons too far can make the second half feel dead.

And Non-Ladder Exists

The immediate response in the forum discussion was exactly what you would expect:

Play Non-Ladder.

Technically, that solves much of the problem.

When a Ladder season ends, the character is not deleted.

It moves into the corresponding Non-Ladder environment, where you can continue playing it indefinitely.

Your Grief project can continue.

Your level 91 Barbarian does not fall into a furnace.

Sanctuary remains available.

But that answer does not completely resolve the argument.

Ladder and Non-Ladder Do Not Feel the Same

Players choose Ladder for more than a number beside their character.

The active population tends to move with the new season.

Trading is livelier.

Group progression is easier to find.

The economy starts fresh.

And new seasonal changes naturally concentrate attention there.

That means telling slower players to simply continue in Non-Ladder can effectively mean telling them to leave the part of the game where most of the seasonal excitement is happening.

It is a valid option.

It is not necessarily an equivalent experience.

Season 15 Makes the Question More Interesting

The debate also lands at an unusual moment for Diablo II: Resurrected.

Season 15 is only days old and arrived with Patch 3.3, bringing another set of changes following the arrival of the Warlock and Reign of the Warlock.

We've already looked at the debate over how healthy the Season 15 Ladder population actually is.

There is also renewed interest in what happens to Ladder content when characters eventually move to Non-Ladder.

Those discussions are related.

If Ladder seasons become shorter, the distinction between “seasonal character” and “permanent character” becomes more important.

Players have to decide what they are actually building toward.

The Fastest Players Are Probably the Wrong Benchmark

One of the strongest points in favor of longer seasons is that the Race to 99 tells us almost nothing about how normal people play Diablo II.

Organized teams can level with extraordinary efficiency.

Experienced traders can build wealth incredibly quickly.

Some players spend more time in Sanctuary during opening weekend than other players manage in an entire month.

That is fine.

Competitive players should be allowed to compete.

But designing the entire seasonal cadence around the moment the fastest players become “finished” would be strange.

The average player is not being fed Baal runs by seven friends while calculating experience-per-minute.

They are probably wondering why the Countess has dropped another Ith rune.

Four Months Could Be a Reasonable Compromise

The original forum suggestion is not asking Blizzard to return to year-long seasons.

The proposal is closer to four months.

That would mean three Ladder resets per year instead of roughly four.

For fast players, the economy would still reset regularly.

For slower players, the extra month could be substantial.

Thirty additional days of farming is a lot when you only play a few evenings each week.

It gives someone who finally completed Enigma in month three enough time to actually use the thing before everyone begins discussing the next reset.

There Is Another Solution: Make Each Season More Distinct

The bigger issue may not actually be whether the season lasts 90 or 120 days.

It may be whether each reset gives players enough reason to start again.

A three-month season full of meaningful new mechanics, balance changes, items and build possibilities can feel exciting.

A three-month season that mostly says:

Your characters have moved to Non-Ladder. Please make them again.

is harder to sell.

If Blizzard wants faster resets, each Ladder needs to justify the interruption.

New runewords.

Balance changes.

New endgame goals.

Interesting economy changes.

Something that makes restarting feel like an opportunity rather than administrative work.

Diablo II Is Caught Between Two Different Games

This is really the heart of the argument.

Diablo II Ladder serves two very different audiences.

One wants the race.

Reset everything.

Level fast.

Trade aggressively.

Build wealth.

Do it again.

The other wants the journey.

Slowly improve one character.

Find the impossible rune.

Complete the expensive runeword.

Finally reach the version of the build they imagined two months earlier.

Neither way of playing is wrong.

The problem is that one clock has to serve both.

Maybe “Already?” Is the Wrong Feeling for a Ladder Reset

Season 15 has only just begun, so nobody needs to start packing their Shared Stash yet.

But Blizzard's statement that future seasons will follow similar timing means the discussion is worth having now.

Three months keeps Diablo II moving.

It keeps the economy turning over.

It keeps the starting line relatively close.

But Diablo II is also a game where some of the most desirable items are famous precisely because you might never see them.

Those two philosophies do not fit together perfectly.

A Ladder reset should probably leave players thinking:

That was good. I'm ready to do it again.

Not:

Wait.

I only just made the Grief.

Sources

Diablo II: Resurrected Forums: Three-Month Ladder Seasons Are Too Short

Blizzard: Diablo II: Resurrected Ladder Season 15

Blizzard: Diablo II: Resurrected Ladder Season 14

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Diablo 4 Players Say Talisman Set Bonuses Can Simply Stop Working Mid-Combat

Diablo IV has introduced a fascinating new endgame mechanic.

Sometimes your build stops working.

Players are continuing to report problems with Talisman set bonuses suddenly disappearing during combat, with Sorcerer's Habacalva's Cauldron being one of the clearest examples.

The problem is particularly nasty because it appears most frequently in exactly the places where losing a major chunk of your build is least convenient:

• The Pit
• Kurast Undercity
• Ruptures
• Infernal Hordes
• High-density endgame fights

One Xbox player revived the issue on Blizzard's forums this week after repeatedly losing the set bonus during combat.

The available solutions?

Teleport away.

Die.

Or manually unequip and re-equip part of the Talisman set.

All excellent activities to perform while demons are hitting you.

Habacalva's Cauldron Can Lose Its Heat Mechanic

The most detailed reports involve the five-piece Habacalva's Cauldron Sorcerer set.

The set revolves around building Heat and eventually entering Overheat, providing substantial offensive and defensive bonuses once the mechanic is running properly.

The key phrase there is:

running properly.

Players describe two variations of the bug.

In one version, Heat stacks remain visible, but the actual benefits stop applying. Spells begin consuming Mana again and damage drops even though the UI still suggests the mechanic is active.

In the other, the player suddenly loses every Heat stack and becomes completely unable to generate new ones.

At that point the set can remain broken until something forces the game to refresh it.

Players Have Been Reporting This Since May

This is not a bug that appeared yesterday.

One of the earliest detailed Season 14 reports dates back to May 1, when a Fireball Sorcerer said Habacalva's Cauldron would randomly stop generating Heat after several minutes of gameplay.

Re-equipping a set piece or changing zones temporarily restored it.

Then it broke again.

Further reports continued through May, July and now late August.

A July reproduction report described the problem happening repeatedly inside Helltide Ruptures and occasionally during Pit runs.

Another Xbox player reported the bug occurring as often as several times during a single Rupture.

So while it may not affect every player or every run, this is clearly more than one character having a strange afternoon.

The Bug Gets Worse in Content That Locks Your Build

The obvious workaround is to unequip and re-equip one of the affected Charms.

There is a small problem.

Some endgame activities do not allow you to change equipment freely.

Players specifically mention Kurast Undercity as an example where the set can break after entering the activity, leaving them unable to perform the normal reset.

That turns an annoying bug into something much more serious.

Undercity is timed.

The Pit is timed.

High-level builds are balanced around multiplicative bonuses stacking together.

Removing a major Talisman bonus halfway through a run is not equivalent to losing 5% movement speed.

Your character can suddenly go from:

I am deleting everything.

to:

Why does this elite suddenly have the structural integrity of a bridge?

Habacalva's Cauldron Is Not the Only Set Having Problems

There are also separate reports involving other Talisman mechanics.

Paladin players have recently reported that the five-piece Light's Epiphany bonus can stop applying after loading screens, entering sub-zones or after certain buffs drop and return.

Those players report restoring the effect by switching away from the Disciple Oath and back again.

Except, once again, that workaround becomes impossible in content where build changes are disabled.

That does not necessarily mean both problems have the same underlying cause.

But it does make the broader Talisman system look somewhat uncomfortable when multiple builds can lose set-defining effects after game-state changes.

Blizzard Has Already Fixed Several Talisman Bugs This Season

To Blizzard's credit, Talismans have received plenty of attention in recent patches.

The August 12 update fixed multiple issues involving different Talisman sets and Charms.

Those included problems with Radament's Desecration, Black Shroud, Spellbound Steel and Art of the Bone Weaver.

Blizzard even fixed an issue where the Quintessence buff could be lost randomly.

Which sounds rather familiar.

But the current patch notes do not list a fix for Habacalva's Cauldron randomly losing its Heat functionality.

And players were still reporting the problem on August 25.

There Are Several Community Workarounds

Until Blizzard addresses it directly, players have found several methods that can sometimes wake the set back up:

• Unequip and re-equip one Talisman piece
• Teleport to another area
• Return to town
• Swap a skill on the skill bar
• Mount and dismount in content where mounting is possible
• Die and respawn

Different players report different levels of success with each method.

None are particularly good solutions.

A build-defining set bonus should ideally have one additional workaround:

Continue functioning.

It Is Hard to Trust a Build When the Bonus Can Vanish

This is ultimately what makes the bug more damaging than its raw numbers suggest.

ARPG players build around predictable interactions.

You invest hours farming the correct Talismans.

You adjust skills around the set.

You tune Resource generation, defenses and damage around effects that are supposed to be active.

Then your damage suddenly collapses halfway through a Pit.

Was the enemy stronger?

Did another buff expire?

Did you change something?

Or did Diablo IV simply forget that five Talismans are still equipped?

Players should not have to watch their build like an unreliable kitchen appliance.

The Reports Are Still Active

There is currently no indication in Blizzard's published patch notes that the Habacalva's Cauldron issue has been resolved.

The original reports have now been around for months, and the console bug thread was active again on August 25.

Hopefully that renewed attention helps get it onto the fix list.

Because Talismans are supposed to create builds.

They probably should not randomly dismantle them in the middle of combat.

Sources

Diablo IV Forums: Talisman Set Buffs Stop Working During Combat

Diablo IV Forums: Habacalva's Cauldron Loses Its Five-Piece Bonus Mid-Combat

Diablo IV Forums: Earlier Habacalva's Cauldron Bug Reports

Diablo IV Forums: Light's Epiphany Five-Piece Bonus Reports

Blizzard: Diablo IV Patch Notes

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Diablo Immortal’s New Enrage Mechanic Will Simply Kill You After 45 Seconds

Diablo Immortal has found a remarkably direct solution to players surviving boss Enrage mechanics for too long.

It kills you.

Not eventually.

Not unless you have enough shielding.

Not unless your cheat-death effect fails.

It just kills you.

As part of the August 26 update, Blizzard has redesigned the Helliquary Enrage mechanic so its passive damage continually increases as a percentage of maximum Life.

After 45 seconds, that damage reaches 100% of your maximum Life.

And Blizzard has gone out of its way to make clear that essentially none of Diablo Immortal's usual defensive tricks will save you.

Shields Won’t Save You

The new Enrage damage cannot be mitigated by outside factors.

Blizzard specifically lists:

• Shields
• Damage reduction
• Immunities
• Cheat-death effects

None of them can prevent the damage.

So when the timer reaches the point where the pulse deals 100% of your maximum Life, the game's message is essentially:

Thank you for participating.

The boss has entered Enrage.

Blizzard has politely removed your right to negotiate.

Why Is Blizzard Doing This?

The problem is not ordinary raid groups surviving a few seconds into Enrage and desperately finishing a boss.

Blizzard actually says it likes those moments.

The problem is that certain class builds became capable of surviving the existing Enrage mechanic indefinitely.

That meant players could effectively ignore what was supposed to be the encounter's final DPS check.

Blizzard says the change is intended to create a more equal playing field between classes rather than nerfing every defensive build individually.

More specifically, the developer points toward extreme cases such as players soloing Helliquary Gauntlet bosses by building around Enrage survival.

The new version makes that considerably harder.

You can still have the heroic last-second kill.

You just cannot turn “last-second” into “I'll be here for another quarter of an hour.”

Helliquary Enrage Used to Be Something You Could Build Around

Helliquary bosses have had an escalating Enrage system for years.

When Blizzard introduced the Helliquary Gauntlet back in 2023, it also changed raids so enraged bosses periodically released damaging pulses that became stronger each time.

That was theoretically a soft timer.

The longer you remained alive, the worse things became.

But Diablo players are Diablo players.

If you give them a theoretically unsurvivable mechanic, somebody will immediately begin calculating how to survive it.

Life Drain.

Absorb shields.

Immunity windows.

Cheat death.

Extreme sustain.

Eventually the soft timer was not particularly soft anymore.

Some builds could simply refuse to die.

The New System Is a Harder Kind of DPS Check

This fundamentally changes what Enrage means.

Before, an exceptionally defensive build could compensate for lower damage by surviving deep into the Enrage phase.

Now the clock wins eventually.

The passive damage increases over time until the player takes damage equal to their entire maximum Life after 45 seconds.

That means there is still room for a dramatic post-Enrage kill.

Forty-five seconds is not nothing.

If a boss is sitting at 2% Life when Enrage begins, your group can absolutely keep fighting.

But there is now a point beyond which additional toughness stops being an answer.

You need damage.

Or you need a resurrection plan.

Preferably the first one.

Not Everyone Likes the Change

Some high-end PvE players are understandably unhappy.

A forum discussion responding to the new mechanic argues that Blizzard is turning Helliquary Gauntlets into simpler damage checks instead of allowing unusual defensive strategies.

The criticism is particularly interesting because soloing Gauntlets had become its own kind of challenge for some players.

They were not necessarily exploiting a bug.

They were deliberately constructing extremely defensive characters capable of surviving mechanics that normally killed everyone else.

For those players, surviving Enrage was part of the challenge.

Blizzard clearly sees things differently.

The developer's position is that Enrage is supposed to end the fight eventually.

A build capable of surviving forever effectively removes the mechanic.

Players Have Suggested Less Absolute Alternatives

The community response already includes several alternatives.

One suggestion is to cap the pulse below 100% maximum Life, perhaps around 90%, keeping it enormously dangerous while still technically allowing exceptional recovery.

Another is to heavily reduce Life Drain during Enrage rather than making the damage completely unavoidable.

A third idea would make bosses progressively faster and more powerful instead of simply applying an unavoidable percentage-based execution.

That would theoretically preserve the fantasy of surviving through skill while still making the encounter increasingly ridiculous.

Blizzard has chosen the cleaner option.

Eventually, everyone dies.

Blizzard Says Average Players Should Barely Notice

This sounds brutal, but Blizzard does not expect it to affect normal Helliquary groups very much.

The mechanic only becomes truly lethal after the boss has already entered Enrage and the passive damage has had time to scale.

Most normal raid groups are either going to kill the boss shortly afterward or already be in serious trouble.

The real targets are extreme survival builds capable of stretching an encounter well beyond its intended limits.

That distinction matters.

This is not Blizzard suddenly giving every Helliquary boss a 45-second fight timer.

The 45 seconds begin after Enrage.

You still have the normal encounter before that.

The August 26 Update Is Bigger Than One Death Pulse

The Helliquary change arrives alongside the broader August update that includes the returning Cross-Server Bout of Realms, the new Seething Polestar Legendary Gem, event changes and a significant class balance pass.

We have already looked at how the Warlock nerfs have players wondering whether Demon Hunter will simply become the next dominant PvP class.

The update also includes changes for Crusader, Druid, Monk, Tempest and Wizard.

But the Helliquary adjustment may be one of the most interesting changes because it affects an entirely different part of the game.

This is Blizzard drawing a line around what an Enrage mechanic is supposed to mean.

Enrage Now Actually Means Enrage

There is something slightly amusing about how explicit the patch note is.

Diablo is a game about finding absurd combinations of gear, skills and defensive effects that allow your character to break rules ordinary humans were clearly expected to follow.

Players discovered ways to survive Helliquary Enrage.

Blizzard looked at those builds.

And instead of nerfing every shield, immunity and Life Drain interaction individually, it essentially added:

No, seriously. You die now.

Whether that makes Helliquary Gauntlets healthier or simply less interesting for extreme PvE players will become clearer as people begin pushing the new system.

But the intent is no longer ambiguous.

Enrage is still giving you one final window to kill the boss.

Forty-five seconds later?

The window closes.

On your head.

Sources

Blizzard: Cross-Server Bout of Realms Returns — Helliquary Enrage Mechanics Update

Diablo Immortal Forums: Don't Make Enrage an Inevitable Death Sentence

Blizzard: Original Helliquary Gauntlet and Enrage Pulse Update

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Diablo 4 Switch 2 Was a No-Show at Gamescom Opening Night Live — Is Blizzard Saving It for BlizzCon?

Gamescom Opening Night Live had Witcher.

It had Gears of War.

It had Final Fantasy.

It did not have Diablo IV on Nintendo Switch 2.

That is increasingly interesting.

For weeks, reports have pointed toward a Switch 2 version of Diablo IV launching in September, with one particularly detailed leak claiming the Diablo IV: Age of Hatred Collection will release on Nintendo's console on September 15.

Gamescom was widely considered one of the obvious places Blizzard could finally make it official.

Opening Night Live happened on August 25.

The show ended.

No Diablo.

No Switch 2.

No surprise appearance from Lilith holding a Nintendo.

Which leaves another very convenient date sitting on the calendar.

BlizzCon begins September 12.

Opening Night Live Came and Went Without Diablo

Gamescom's big opening showcase delivered around two hours of trailers, announcements and world premieres on Tuesday evening.

The Witcher 3 received a new Remastered announcement. Final Fantasy VII Revelation appeared. Gears of War: E-Day was shown again alongside a long list of other games.

Diablo IV was not among them.

That matters because the rumoured Switch 2 edition is supposedly extremely close.

We previously covered the Diablo IV Switch 2 leak pointing toward a September 15 release.

If that information is accurate, Blizzard now has less than three weeks before the game supposedly launches.

That is not much time to announce a $70 port of one of its biggest games.

Gamescom seemed like the easy answer.

Apparently not.

The Leak Has Become Surprisingly Specific

This is no longer just a vague rumour that Diablo IV might eventually reach Nintendo hardware.

Dealabs reporter billbil-kun has reported increasingly specific details about the alleged release.

The latest information claims the Switch 2 package will be called:

Diablo IV: Age of Hatred Collection.

It reportedly contains:

• Diablo IV
• Vessel of Hatred
• Lord of Hatred

The collection is said to cost $69.99 / €69.99 / £62.99.

A boxed edition is reportedly planned too, although the box allegedly contains a download code rather than an actual cartridge.

Most importantly, the updated report now points specifically toward a September 15, 2026 launch.

Still unofficial.

Still not announced by Blizzard or Nintendo.

But unusually detailed for something supposedly launching very soon.

And Then There Is the Pre-Order Date

The most interesting part of the leak may not actually be September 15.

It is September 12.

According to the report, pre-orders for Diablo IV on Switch 2 are expected to open on September 12.

That date happens to be the first day of BlizzCon 2026.

Blizzard has officially confirmed that BlizzCon runs September 12–13 at the Anaheim Convention Center.

So the alleged schedule would look like this:

• September 12: BlizzCon begins
• September 12: Reported Switch 2 pre-orders open
• September 15: Reported Switch 2 version launches

Three days.

Announcement.

Pre-orders.

Launch.

If the leak is correct, Blizzard has practically placed a giant red circle around its own convention.

BlizzCon Would Make More Sense for Blizzard Anyway

There is another reason to save the announcement.

BlizzCon belongs entirely to Blizzard.

At Gamescom Opening Night Live, Diablo would have been one trailer among dozens.

At BlizzCon, Blizzard can turn a Switch 2 release into part of a much larger Diablo presentation.

It can discuss Season 15.

Show whatever parts of the season were deliberately kept out of the PTR.

Talk about the future of Lord of Hatred.

Then finish with:

Oh, and Diablo IV is coming to Switch 2 on Tuesday.

That is considerably easier to market.

Especially if pre-orders really are supposed to begin during the show itself.

But Gamescom Is Not Actually Over Yet

There is one important caveat.

Gamescom Opening Night Live is over.

Gamescom itself is not.

The convention runs through August 30, with additional broadcasts, publisher presentations and announcements still happening throughout the week.

So it would be premature to declare that Diablo IV cannot appear anywhere at Gamescom 2026.

Blizzard could still announce the Switch 2 version through another presentation, a press release or simply drop the news during the convention.

The biggest obvious stage has passed.

That is different from the entire opportunity disappearing.

There Is Already Evidence Beyond the Leak

The Switch 2 story also has more behind it than one insider report.

Earlier reports pointed toward classification listings in Asia referencing Diablo IV for Nintendo's new console.

And the possibility of Diablo IV on Switch 2 has been discussed long before the September date appeared.

That makes the existence of a port considerably easier to believe than the exact release timing.

What remains uncertain is when Blizzard intends to acknowledge it.

The current official platform list still consists of PC, PlayStation and Xbox.

Until Blizzard or Nintendo changes that, September 15 remains a reported release date rather than a confirmed one.

A September 15 Launch Would Be Extremely Fast

If Blizzard really does wait until BlizzCon, the turnaround would be unusual.

Players could potentially go from:

“Diablo IV is officially coming to Switch 2.”

to:

“Diablo IV is now on Switch 2.”

in roughly 72 hours.

That is not impossible.

It may actually be the point.

Diablo IV is not a new game that requires months of explanation.

Everyone already knows what it is.

A Switch 2 announcement mostly needs to answer a few practical questions:

• How does it perform?
• Does it support cross-progression?
• Which expansions are included?
• How large is the download?
• Does it require additional purchases for existing players?

Then Blizzard can open the doors.

The Missing Announcement Is Now Part of the Story

Before Gamescom, the question was simple:

Will Diablo IV for Switch 2 be announced there?

Opening Night Live has now removed the most obvious version of that scenario.

So the question changes.

Does Blizzard reveal it somewhere else during Gamescom?

Or was the September 12 pre-order date the biggest clue all along?

If nothing happens before Gamescom closes on August 30, BlizzCon becomes very difficult to ignore.

Especially if the reported September 15 launch remains accurate.

Blizzard would have three days between its own convention opening and the alleged release.

That is either an extraordinarily convenient coincidence...

...or we already know one of BlizzCon's Diablo announcements.

Sources

PC Gamer: Every Announcement From Gamescom Opening Night Live 2026

GameSpot: Diablo IV Switch 2 Report and BlizzCon Timing

Blizzard: BlizzCon 2026 Takes Place September 12–13

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Overwatch Is Bringing Back Old Battle Passes — Diablo 4 Players Want the Same

Blizzard has spent years teaching live-service players a simple lesson.

If you want the cosmetic, play now.

If you miss it?

Too bad.

Overwatch is now beginning to rethink that idea.

And Diablo IV players have immediately arrived with a fairly obvious question:

Why not us?

Blizzard has announced a new Legacy Battle Pass Unvault system for Overwatch, arriving with the game's Season 4 midseason update in September.

The exact implementation is still being detailed, but the direction is clear: old Battle Pass content is coming back instead of remaining permanently buried behind seasons that ended years ago.

Meanwhile, Diablo IV players are once again asking Blizzard to bring back older seasonal cosmetics.

Same company.

Same Battle Pass philosophy.

Very different attitude toward the word “legacy.”

Overwatch Is Moving Away From Pure Battle Pass FOMO

Overwatch's current Battle Pass overhaul is already built around giving players more control.

The old completely linear 80-tier system has been replaced by smaller tracks that can be completed in different orders.

Premium players also receive a Tier Hack, allowing them to replace certain Battle Pass skin rewards with older Legendary cosmetics from a rotating curated pool.

But Blizzard also teased something much bigger:

Legacy Battle Pass Unvault.

The system arrives in September and will let players revisit older Battle Pass content.

Blizzard has not yet published every rule, restriction or reward included in the system, so we should not pretend every old Overwatch cosmetic is suddenly becoming permanently available.

But the philosophical shift matters.

Old seasonal content does not necessarily have to remain dead forever.

That is a fairly significant change for a game built around limited-time seasons.

Diablo 4 Players Are Asking for Exactly This

The timing is particularly interesting because Diablo IV's own forums have an active discussion asking Blizzard to bring back past-season cosmetics.

The thread points toward outfits, mounts and accessories that newer players can no longer obtain simply because they were not playing during the correct season.

Examples include older seasonal armor sets and mounts from seasons such as Season of the Construct and Pirate-themed rewards from later seasons.

The proposal is not necessarily to dump everything into the Shop.

Several players actually want Blizzard to use old cosmetics as rewards for playing the game.

Strongholds.

Side quests.

Treasure Goblins.

Open-world activities.

Old seasonal content could become an incentive to revisit parts of Sanctuary that many endgame characters currently ride straight past.

Which is considerably more interesting than simply paying $25 for another armor bundle.

There Is Also a Current Battle Pass Frustration Problem

The discussion is not happening in isolation.

Another Diablo IV thread from August 23 comes from a player who says they had purchased and completed every Battle Pass since beta.

This season, they are stopping.

The complaint is not primarily about cosmetics.

It is about time.

The player feels current progression is slower and worries they will not finish the paid Battle Pass before it expires.

Other players disagree and say their progression feels normal.

But the underlying issue is familiar:

once you pay for a seasonal pass, the clock is still running.

If real life gets busy, you do not merely play more slowly.

You can lose the opportunity to earn content you already paid to access.

That is exactly the kind of pressure legacy Battle Pass systems can reduce.

Diablo 4 Already Changed Its Battle Pass Once

It is worth remembering that Blizzard has already been willing to redesign Diablo IV's system.

Season 8 replaced the traditional linear Battle Pass with Battle Pass Reliquaries.

Instead of climbing a single fixed reward ladder, players can choose the order in which they unlock cosmetics from individual themed collections.

That was already a move toward greater player choice.

The modern Diablo IV Battle Pass therefore has more in common with Overwatch's new philosophy than the original 2023 system did.

Both games now recognise that players do not necessarily want reward number 47 before they can reach reward number 48.

The next logical question is whether the season itself should remain the permanent deadline.

What Happens to Seasonal Exclusivity?

This is where the argument becomes less straightforward.

Some Diablo IV players oppose bringing old cosmetics back.

Their argument is simple:

Those cosmetics represented being there.

A mount from Season 3 means you played Season 3.

An armor set from an early Battle Pass becomes a little badge of account history.

If Blizzard reintroduces everything, that exclusivity disappears.

That matters to collectors.

And Blizzard deliberately used limited availability as part of the original seasonal reward structure.

You cannot remove FOMO after years of selling FOMO without somebody pointing out that the exclusivity was part of what they were originally sold.

That is fair.

But Most Battle Pass Rewards Were Never Elite Achievements

The counterargument is equally strong.

We are not necessarily talking about rewards for defeating the hardest boss in Hardcore.

Many seasonal cosmetics were simply unlocked by normal Battle Pass progression.

Play enough during a particular three-month window.

Get cosmetic.

Miss the window.

Never get cosmetic.

That measures attendance more than accomplishment.

Diablo IV already has other ways to preserve prestige.

Rare boss trophies.

Hardcore achievements.

High-end seasonal rewards.

Things like the Gilded Laurel of Hatred from Rank IX are specifically tied to difficult seasonal progression.

Those are much easier to defend as historical prestige items.

A pair of boots you unlocked because your Battle Pass reached another page?

Perhaps less sacred.

Old Cosmetics Could Become Actual Content

This is the part of the Diablo IV proposal I like most.

Do not simply reopen every old Battle Pass tab.

Use the old rewards.

Imagine a rotating Legacy Reliquary each season.

One old season returns.

Players earn Legacy Favor through:

• Strongholds
• Whispers
• Helltides
• Nightmare Dungeons
• Side quests
• World Bosses

Then they choose which old cosmetics they want.

Blizzard gets another reason for players to engage with existing content.

New players get something to chase.

Returning players can finish collections they missed.

And Diablo IV gets more long-term goals without requiring another currency shaped like a demonic toenail.

It Could Also Help the Alt Problem

We recently looked at how War Plans can make alts feel like repeated work.

Legacy cosmetics could create the opposite incentive.

Finished your main?

Make another class.

Earn an old Necromancer armor set you missed.

Unlock a mount from an early season.

Work through a legacy track while experimenting with something new.

That creates optional progression rather than mandatory repetition.

There is a meaningful difference.

Overwatch Has Removed Diablo 4’s Best Excuse

Until now, Blizzard could reasonably argue that limited-time Battle Passes were simply how its modern live-service games worked.

That argument becomes more difficult when another Blizzard team begins actively building technology to bring old passes back.

Overwatch is not Diablo IV.

Different teams.

Different economies.

Different cosmetic structures.

There is no reason Diablo must copy the system exactly.

But Blizzard has now demonstrated that permanent seasonal scarcity is a design choice.

Not a technical law.

Maybe Battle Passes Should Become Libraries, Not Graveyards

Diablo IV has been running seasons since 2023.

That means years of armor sets, mounts, weapons, portals and trophies now sit inaccessible to anyone who arrived later.

That archive will only get larger.

Season 20.

Season 30.

Eventually Diablo IV risks containing more unavailable cosmetics than available ones.

At some point, preserving all of that content purely as evidence that somebody logged in during the correct quarter of 2024 starts feeling wasteful.

Overwatch appears to have reached the same conclusion.

Diablo IV probably will eventually too.

The question is how long Blizzard wants Sanctuary's wardrobe to remain haunted by ghosts of Battle Passes past.

Because if Overwatch can unvault old seasons, Diablo IV players are going to keep asking the obvious question.

Why can't we?

Sources

Blizzard: Overwatch Battle Pass Revamp and Legacy Battle Pass Unvault

Diablo IV Forums: Bring Back Past Season Cosmetics

Diablo IV Forums: No More Battle Pass for Me

Blizzard: Diablo IV Battle Pass Reliquaries

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Diablo Immortal Players Fear the Warlock Nerf Will Just Create a Demon Hunter Meta

Diablo Immortal players have been asking Blizzard to do something about Warlock in PvP.

Blizzard is doing something.

Now players are worried everyone will simply become Demon Hunters instead.

A new balance patch arrives on August 26 ahead of the returning Cross-Server Bout of Realms, bringing significant changes to several classes and hitting some of Warlock's strongest current PvP tools.

The Warlock adjustments themselves are not particularly controversial.

Even several Warlock critics agree the class needed attention.

The argument is about what Blizzard did not change.

Demon Hunter receives no balance changes in the current August 26 list.

And some PvP players think that could simply move the population from one dominant class to another.

Warlock’s Most Frustrating PvP Tools Are Being Hit

The August 26 update changes three Warlock Legendary Essences: Measured Halves, Supply and Demand and Brutal Lessons.

The biggest PvP impact appears to come from Measured Halves.

Spiteful Sacrifice will still throw dark-energy swords while channeling, but Blizzard is slowing the attack interval from 1.0 to 1.2 seconds and reducing the effective mobility of the setup.

Movement Speed will be reduced by 40% while channeling.

Range drops from nine yards to eight.

Most importantly, the Sacrificial Power projectiles will no longer lock onto enemy players.

Instead, they fire toward the target's current position, meaning a sufficiently quick opponent can actually move out of the way.

That is quite a philosophical change.

Previously:

You have been selected by the swords.

After the patch:

Running may now be relevant.

Soulgorger Is Also Losing One of Its Strong Combinations

Supply and Demand is being redesigned as well.

The Tyrant's Grasp variant will now sacrifice Soulgorger to activate its pair of demonic hands.

That means Soulgorger can no longer remain active while Supply and Demand is running.

Blizzard is compensating in other areas.

The cooldown drops from 12 seconds to 10.

Baseline damage increases.

The Warlock receives an absorb shield equal to 30% of maximum Life.

But the third attack loses its knockback, and the old bonus damage at maximum range disappears.

Brutal Lessons is also being shortened to a ten-second cooldown so it remains aligned with the new Supply and Demand timing.

Individually, these are not “delete Warlock” changes.

Together, they clearly target the combination of damage, survivability, control and automation that made current PvP Warlocks so irritating to fight.

Even Warlock Critics Say the Nerf Was Needed

The funny part is that some of the strongest complaints are not coming from people defending Warlock.

A fresh August 24 forum thread opens by saying the Warlock nerf is justified.

The player's actual complaint is:

Why wasn't Demon Hunter touched too?

That argument also appears repeatedly in Blizzard's original balance discussion.

Players describe current Battlegrounds as being increasingly dominated by Warlocks and Demon Hunters, with several saying Demon Hunter's combination of burst, mobility, stealth and periods of effective untouchability makes it the obvious destination for anyone leaving Warlock.

One player puts the concern simply: nerfing one without the other may just encourage Warlock players to switch classes.

That is not proof that Demon Hunter is mathematically the strongest class in Diablo Immortal.

It is a community prediction about where the PvP meta may move next.

But it is appearing often enough to be worth watching.

Demon Hunter Is Completely Absent From the Current Balance List

Blizzard's official August 26 class section includes changes for:

• Crusader
• Druid
• Monk
• Tempest
• Warlock
• Wizard

There are currently no Demon Hunter changes listed.

Barbarian, Necromancer and Blood Knight are also absent.

That does not mean Blizzard considers every untouched class perfectly balanced.

A balance patch rarely attempts to solve every class simultaneously.

But Demon Hunter's omission stands out because of how frequently it appears alongside Warlock in the current PvP complaints.

If those players are correct, Blizzard may be reducing the dominant class without reducing the obvious alternative.

Diablo Immortal Has Seen This Meta Migration Before

This is the recurring problem with aggressive class balancing in a game where changing class is relatively easy.

Players do not necessarily respond to a nerf by happily accepting a weaker build.

They move.

A dominant class gets nerfed.

The competitive population identifies the next strongest class.

Build guides update.

Essences move around.

Two weeks later, everyone is complaining about something else.

The result can feel less like balance and more like musical chairs with Legendary Gems.

Diablo Immortal's Class Change system makes experimentation one of the game's strengths.

In PvP, it also means a balance problem can migrate remarkably quickly.

Bout of Realms Makes the Timing Much More Important

The patch arrives immediately before the next Cross-Server Bout of Realms.

Registration runs from August 27 through August 30, with the competition beginning August 31 and eventually crowning its champion on September 13.

Blizzard deliberately announced the balance changes early so competitive teams would have extra time to plan compositions, equipment and strategy.

Community Manager Jadai also clarified an important point:

these changes were not created specifically for Bout of Realms.

They are normal balance changes that will also affect the tournament.

So Warlock is not temporarily being restricted for competitive play.

The class itself is changing.

This Is More Than Just a Tournament Problem

That clarification matters because the same builds appear in regular PvP.

Battlegrounds.

Tower War.

Wild Brawl.

And anywhere else players discover that being extremely difficult to target while dealing enormous damage is generally useful.

The Warlock changes therefore affect much more than a handful of high-end tournament teams.

We recently looked at the broader August 26 Diablo Immortal class balance patch, where the immediate story was which classes Blizzard chose to adjust.

Now the more interesting question is what happens after those changes.

Warlock May Still Be Strong After the Patch

There is also a danger in declaring the meta before anyone has actually played the new version.

Warlock is not losing everything.

Measured Halves receives slower attacks, but individual hits become stronger.

Supply and Demand gains a sizable shield.

Cooldowns improve.

Brutal Lessons remains available.

The class still has a substantial toolkit.

It may remain excellent.

Demon Hunter may not replace it.

The new balance may create a healthier mixture of classes than players expect.

That is what live testing will determine once the patch arrives.

The Real Test Starts August 26

On paper, Blizzard's Warlock changes make sense.

Homing projectiles becoming dodgeable is reasonable.

Removing some overlapping Soulgorger power is reasonable.

Reducing the ability to channel strong attacks while moving freely is reasonable.

The concern is not really that Warlock should remain untouched.

It is whether Blizzard has addressed the whole problem or merely the class currently standing at the front of the queue.

If Battlegrounds become more varied after August 26, excellent.

If half the Warlocks wake up the following morning as Demon Hunters, players will probably feel their prediction was justified.

Sanctuary may have less Warlock.

That does not automatically mean it has more balance.

Sources

Blizzard: Cross-Server Bout of Realms Returns — August 26 Class Balance Changes

Diablo Immortal Forums: Balance Patch Update / Bout of Realms Preparation

Diablo Immortal Forums: Next Patch Nerfs Warlock but Not Demon Hunter

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Diablo 2 Necromancer Players Want What Blizzard Gave the Warlock

Diablo II's Necromancer has been commanding armies of skeletons since 2000.

Twenty-six years later, some of those skeletons still have trouble getting through a doorway.

Then Blizzard created the Warlock.

Suddenly Diablo II had a new summoner with built-in movement tools, better ways to reposition demons and minions that generally feel considerably less committed to standing behind each other while something murders their master.

Necromancer players have noticed.

A community discussion that became active again on August 24 is asking Blizzard to take some of the lessons learned from Reign of the Warlock and apply them to Diablo II's original summoning class.

The request is not necessarily:

Make Necromancer stronger than Warlock.

It is much simpler.

Please make the skeletons stop fighting the architecture.

The Warlock Has Exposed How Old Necromancer Summons Feel

This is one of the more interesting side effects of Blizzard adding Diablo II's first new class in 25 years.

The Warlock was designed in 2026.

The Necromancer was designed when Windows ME was considered a current operating system.

Put them next to each other and the difference is difficult to ignore.

Warlock's Demon tree allows the class to summon Goatmen, Tainted and Defilers, while Bind Demon can turn powerful existing demons into allies.

The class also has abilities that give players much more direct control over where those summons go.

Death Mark can reposition Warlock demons onto a selected area or enemy, while Blade Warp provides the class with its own movement skill without requiring Enigma.

That means a Warlock summoner can actively decide where the important part of the army should be.

Necromancer players frequently have another strategy.

Walk forward.

Wait.

Wonder why the Skeleton Mages are still standing in the previous doorway.

Necromancer Players Have Asked for Minion Control for Years

This is not a complaint invented after Warlock appeared.

There are Blizzard forum threads from 2022 asking for a dedicated Necromancer command or teleport ability for minions.

The argument was essentially the same then as it is now.

A Summon Necromancer can create a large army.

They cannot meaningfully tell that army what to do.

Players asked for something as simple as:

• Click a location and order minions there
• Click an enemy and make summons focus that target
• Teleport only the summons rather than the Necromancer
• Or simply improve pathfinding so minions stop blocking one another

One player made the point particularly well years ago:

For most Diablo II characters, Enigma's Teleport is primarily a movement upgrade.

For a Summon Necromancer, Teleport can feel like the ability that finally makes the army function correctly.

That has never been an ideal situation.

Skeleton Mages Are Still Excellent Doorstops

Body blocking is at the centre of the current complaint.

Diablo II's maps contain plenty of narrow spaces.

Doorways.

Dungeon corridors.

Bridges.

Tight corners.

A Skeleton Mage can stop in exactly the wrong place and prevent melee Skeletons from reaching the enemy.

Revives can make the problem even worse because some revived monsters are enormous.

The player's army may contain twenty or thirty creatures.

The actual frontline may contain three.

Everyone else is waiting behind a Necromancer traffic jam.

The original poster in the latest discussion says simply allowing Necromancer minions to stop blocking one another would dramatically improve the build.

No huge damage buff.

No new ultimate skill.

Just let the skeletons occupy enough overlapping space that they can actually reach whatever they were summoned to kill.

Warlock Minions Are Not Perfect Either

To be fair, Reign of the Warlock has not completely solved Diablo II minion AI.

Warlock players have reported their own problems with summons clumping together after teleporting.

There are cases where melee demons remain stacked on top of each other until the Warlock moves.

Players have asked Blizzard to make those demons spread out automatically when nearby targets exist.

So this is not a story where Warlock has perfect 2026 AI and Necromancer is trapped entirely in 2000.

Diablo II monsters remain Diablo II monsters.

Sometimes their deepest strategic insight is:

Stand here.

But Warlock at least gives the player tools to correct the problem.

That is what Necromancer players increasingly want.

Players Also Want Control Over Skeleton Mage Elements

The other remarkably old complaint is Raise Skeletal Mage.

Skeletal Mages can spawn using different elemental attacks.

Fire.

Cold.

Lightning.

Poison.

The Necromancer does not simply choose the element they want from the skill interface.

If you are trying to create a particular composition, you summon, inspect, dismiss and summon again.

That was quirky in 2000.

In 2026 it feels more like unpaid administrative work.

The newest discussion asks Blizzard to let players directly choose which Mage type they summon.

That would have obvious practical value.

A player could avoid Cold Mages when they do not want corpses being shattered.

They could build around enemy resistances.

They could create an intentionally specialised elemental army.

Or they could summon nine Poison Mages because they enjoy making questionable decisions.

The important part is that it would be a decision.

Blizzard Has Buffed Skeletal Mages Before

It is not as if Blizzard has completely ignored Necromancer summons since Resurrected launched.

Patch 2.4 gave Skeletal Mages substantial improvements.

Poison damage scaling increased by roughly 750%.

Cold damage scaling increased around 50%.

Lightning received a smaller improvement.

Their life scaling was increased.

Blood Golem and Fire Golem were also buffed as Blizzard tried to make lesser-used summons more competitive.

At the time, Blizzard explicitly said it saw an opportunity to improve underused Necromancer summons.

That was a balance solution.

The current complaint is slightly different.

The numbers may be better.

The controls remain ancient.

Some Players Think the Problem Goes Much Deeper

Once Necromancer players start discussing summons, things rarely stop at doorways.

The August 24 response that revived the current thread comes from a player who says they have:

• A level 99 Summon Warlock
• A level 92 Summon Necromancer
• A level 92 Summon Druid

Their comparison is considerably more aggressive.

They argue Skeleton Warriors need better Attack Rating and damage.

Skeletal Mages need dramatically stronger elemental scaling.

Summons need better movement speed and AI.

Iron Golem should be easier to restore.

Revives should last longer.

And all summons need better PvP behaviour.

Other players push back against that scale of change.

Summon Necromancer remains perfectly capable of clearing Diablo II's endgame, particularly once Corpse Explosion enters the equation.

Giving the class every modern Warlock advantage could easily turn quality-of-life improvements into massive power creep.

That is where the discussion becomes useful.

The Necromancer Is Strong — But Is the Army Actually Doing the Work?

This question has been appearing repeatedly since Warlock launched.

Summon Necromancer is traditionally considered a safe and effective Diablo II build.

Skeletons form a wall.

The Mercenary kills something.

Amplify Damage goes up.

Corpse Explosion turns one dead monster into seventeen dead monsters.

Everything works.

But some players argue that description reveals the issue.

The strongest part of the so-called Summon Necromancer is often:

Corpse Explosion.

Not the summons.

A March discussion after Reign of the Warlock launched asked whether the Necromancer is truly an endgame summoner or simply a Corpse Explosion build surrounded by pets.

Warlock makes that comparison uncomfortable because its summons can contribute much more directly to the actual killing.

Even after Patch 3.3 dramatically reduced Bind Demon's unintended bonus damage, Warlock still has a summoning kit built around actively controlling and supporting its demons.

Necromancer often feels like it controls the battlefield around the army instead.

Death Mark Is the Feature Necromancers Keep Looking At

If Blizzard stole one Warlock idea for the Necromancer, players repeatedly come back to something resembling Death Mark.

Warlock can use it to place demons where they are actually needed.

That solves several problems at once.

Minions stuck behind doors?

Move them.

Boss hiding behind trash enemies?

Send the demons directly there.

Need summons on the other side of terrain?

Reposition them.

A Necromancer equivalent would not necessarily need to deal damage or debuff enemies.

It could simply be:

Command Minions.

Target location.

Skeletons go there.

Target monster.

Skeletons attack it.

That would be revolutionary technology by Diablo II standards.

The invention of pointing.

It Could Also Reduce Necromancer’s Dependence on Enigma

This is perhaps the strongest design argument.

Enigma is already one of the most dominant items in Diablo II because Teleport is extraordinarily useful.

Summon Necromancer gets an additional reason to depend on it.

Teleport instantly gathers the entire army onto the player.

Experienced Necromancer players use this aggressively to “telestomp” targets and force Skeletons, Revives and Mercenary onto the same enemy.

It is extremely effective.

It is also a workaround provided by a high-end Runeword rather than something inside the Summoning skill tree.

Giving Necromancer a limited minion-only repositioning ability would not necessarily replace Enigma.

The Necromancer still would not teleport.

It would simply make the summon build function better before Jah and Ber finally decide to exist.

Reign of the Warlock Has Created This Problem for Every Old Class

Necromancer is probably not going to be the last class to experience this.

Warlock was created with a quarter-century of hindsight.

Blizzard knows which parts of Diablo II feel awkward.

It knows players want mobility.

It knows summoners need control.

It knows modern players expect cleaner feedback and better quality-of-life systems.

Then that modern class gets placed beside seven characters designed under completely different assumptions.

Old mechanics suddenly become much more visible.

We have already seen players ask whether Diablo II should finally receive a dedicated Charm Inventory now that Reign of the Warlock has modernised other parts of inventory management.

The same philosophical question applies here.

How much of Diablo II should Blizzard preserve because the inconvenience is genuinely part of the design?

And how much is simply old because nobody had gone back and rebuilt it yet?

Not Blocking Each Other Seems Like a Reasonable Place to Start

There are enormous Necromancer redesigns Blizzard could attempt.

More Skeleton damage.

More Mages.

Better Golems.

Permanent Revives.

New summon skills.

Different Corpse Explosion scaling.

Any of those would trigger weeks of arguments about whether Blizzard had destroyed Diablo II.

The current request is much smaller.

Make summons better at reaching enemies.

Give the player basic control.

Let Necromancers choose their Skeleton Mage element.

None of that requires turning the original summoner into Warlock 2.

It would simply mean applying 26 years of lessons to a class Blizzard clearly still intends people to play.

Necromancer does not need the Warlock's demons.

It does not need Blade Warp.

It does not necessarily need another 400% damage multiplier.

But perhaps the Skeleton Mage standing in the doorway could move slightly to the left.

We have the technology now.

Sources

Diablo II: Resurrected Forums: Warlocks Have Everything Necros Have Asked For

Diablo II: Resurrected Forums: Necro QoL — Control or Teleport Minion Skill

Diablo II: Resurrected Forums: Improve All Other Summoners

Blizzard: Rain Annihilation in Reign of the Warlock

Blizzard: Diablo II: Resurrected Patch 2.4 — Necromancer Summon Changes

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Diablo 4’s Paragon Point Bug Is Still Making Earned Points Disappear

There are many acceptable ways to lose power in Diablo IV.

A balance patch.

A bad Transfiguration roll.

Replacing an item and forgetting where half your resistances came from.

Pressing Refund All on your Paragon Board and getting fewer points back than you started with is slightly harder to defend.

Fresh reports from both PC and PlayStation players say Diablo IV is still occasionally leaving characters with missing Paragon Points, including one particularly clear PS5 case where a player had 260 points allocated, refunded the entire board and received only 258 back.

Closing the game did not fix it.

Relogging did not fix it.

And remarkably, variations of this problem have been appearing on Blizzard's forums since June 2023.

Three years later, Diablo IV may still occasionally charge a small administrative fee for changing your build.

A PS5 Player Lost Two Points After Refund All

The cleanest recent example appeared on August 18.

A PlayStation 5 Barbarian on the Eternal Realm says they had 260 Paragon Points invested.

That total matched what they expected from their Paragon level and completed regional progression.

Then they selected Refund All.

The result:

258 points.

Two had apparently disappeared.

The player restarted Diablo IV and logged back in, but the missing points did not return.

They also noted something rather worrying:

This was not the first time they had heard of the problem.

A PC Player Says Blizzard Support Confirmed Points Were Missing

A separate PC report from August 16 describes an even stranger situation.

The player believed their character should have substantially more bonus Paragon Points from completed regional progression and Altars.

After counting everything, they concluded that several points were missing.

According to the player, they contacted Blizzard Customer Support and a Game Master confirmed that their character appeared to be missing Paragon Points, then directed them to file a bug report.

That does not tell us what caused the missing points.

But it makes the report harder to dismiss as someone simply miscounting a complicated Paragon Board.

The thread remained active through August 23 as other players discussed similar problems.

This Problem Goes All the Way Back to Diablo 4’s Launch

The truly impressive part is the age of the complaint.

Blizzard forum posts from June 2023 already contain players reporting characters with fewer Paragon Points than expected.

One player said they refunded two nodes and received only one point back.

Another reported removing and rearranging Paragon Boards before discovering that previously earned points had vanished.

More reports followed throughout 2023.

Then 2024.

Some players associated the problem with manually refunding nodes.

Others encountered it after using Refund All.

Others believed regional Renown or Altars had failed to award points correctly.

So we should be careful about calling this one single bug with one known trigger.

“Missing Paragon Points” appears to describe several possible progression or refund failures that produce the same final result.

Your build planner says you should have another point.

The game disagrees.

Refund All Was Added to Make Respecs Easier

There is an unfortunate irony here.

Blizzard introduced the Refund All button back in Patch 1.2.1 specifically because rebuilding a Paragon setup one node at a time was tedious.

The whole point was convenience.

Press one button.

Get everything back.

Build again.

Players have nevertheless reported Refund All-related missing points since shortly after that feature was introduced.

One November 2023 report describes a character going from 225 points before the reset to 224 afterwards.

A May 2024 player reported losing four after using Refund All.

And now, in August 2026, we have another PS5 report describing the same basic sequence.

At this stage the button has developed history.

Why Two Missing Paragon Points Can Actually Matter

Two points do not sound dramatic in a game where endgame builds involve hundreds.

But Paragon Boards are pathing systems.

One missing point can be the difference between reaching:

• A Rare Node
• A Legendary Node
• A Glyph socket
• A required stat threshold
• Or the next Board connection

Modern Diablo IV endgame builds are already separated by enormous amounts of effective power. We recently looked at how Tower scaling magnifies seemingly small build differences at the highest tiers.

Losing one or two permanent points may not destroy a casual build.

For a tightly planned endgame board, it can be enough to force the entire route to change.

Do Not Immediately Assume Your Points Are Gone

There is an important warning before everyone starts counting nodes and panicking.

Diablo IV's Paragon system has changed dramatically since launch.

The maximum level changed.

The number of Boards changed.

Seasonal rewards can add additional points.

Regional progression differs depending on what content and expansions a player has completed.

And online build planners may include points your particular character has not earned yet.

So if your build comes up short, that does not automatically mean you encountered this bug.

The best evidence is a simple before-and-after comparison.

If the board visibly contains 260 allocated points before Refund All and the game returns 258 afterwards, something has gone wrong.

That is much stronger than:

Maxroll says I should have two more.

Players Still Don’t Have a Reliable Fix

Unfortunately, there is no universal workaround.

Old reports contain players who recovered missing points after multiple complete resets and relogs.

Others say restarting did nothing.

Customer Support historically has not been able to manually add missing Paragon Points to individual characters and instead directs players toward the bug-report system.

If you are planning a full respec, the safest approach is therefore surprisingly low-tech:

• Record your total allocated Paragon Points before resetting
• Take a screenshot
• Use Refund All
• Immediately verify the returned total
• If points are missing, document the before-and-after numbers in a bug report

It feels slightly excessive.

So does losing permanent character progression because you wanted to try another build.

Diablo 4 Has Enough Reasons to Fear the Respec Button Already

Diablo IV increasingly encourages experimentation.

Balance changes create new builds.

New items create new builds.

Players find a 4GA drop and suddenly discover a class they had no intention of playing yesterday.

We have already seen players worry that Transfiguration can permanently turn a dream item into something they regret.

The Paragon Board should be the comparatively safe part.

Refund.

Rebuild.

Discover the new setup is terrible.

Refund again.

That is the normal Diablo process.

Losing two points somewhere between steps two and three should not be included.

Especially when players were reporting essentially the same problem in the game's launch month.

Diablo IV has changed enormously since 2023.

Apparently some bugs are running Eternal Realm characters too.

Sources

Diablo IV Forums: Missing Paragon Points — PS5, August 2026

Diablo IV Forums: Missing Paragon Points — PC, August 2026

Diablo IV Forums: Missing Paragon Points — June 2023

Diablo IV Forums: Missing Paragon Points After Respec

Blizzard: Diablo IV Patch 1.2.1 — Refund All Added

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