[Update #2]: Diablo 4's August 8th update will buff Barbarians and Sorcerers, increase enemy density and improve boss rewards.

[Update]: Following the disastrous Season 1 update, Diablo 4 devs have announced many major improvements.

As a part of the pre-season update, Diablo 4 dished out a whole bunch of nerfs to player power, survivability, cooldown reduction and leveling speed, while offering only paltry buffs to underused skills in return. This made it so most characters played pretty much exactly the same as before, just slower and weaker.

My hope was that the Season 1 update and its new systems would help compensate for some of these tweaks, but so far it looks like Diablo 4's first season is similarly uninspired. Season 1 brings with it seasonal realms that offer a fresh start to all players, a brand new questline to explore, a fancy new boss to poke for loot, as well as a variety of new gems to acquire by slaying malignant monsters. While all of this is definitely a nice change of pace and something fun to mess around with, the problem is that this is pretty much the entirety of Season 1.

In other words, once the initial rush of excitement fades away, we're going to be stuck doing the same things we did before for another three months. This would be perfectly acceptable for me if the balance update opened up new builds and playstyles, but not much has actually changed outside of the really good stuff becoming weaker. You still can't just pick up a Sorceress and expect to be able to run builds that aren't all-in on defense because all of the issues the class had throughout the pre-season are still there - you just have a bit less power to work with so going with the cookie cutter loadouts is even more important than before.

That said, it's not all bad news as most of these problems are centered around Diablo 4's endgame. If you're just looking to experience the new questline, or maybe try out a new class or two before bailing until the next season, chances are good you'll have a great time with Season 1.

On that note, allow me to share with you a trailer that offers a few hints about what the new storyline is all about. Have a gander:

You can learn more about Diablo 4 and its first season, as well as follow any major updates, over at the official website. Enjoy!