Diablo 4's endgame and loot system is about to look a lot more Diablo 2-like, with the upcoming Lord of Hatred expansion set to bring back low-level loot to higher levels with one massive change: those items will soon have the chance to drop with greater affixes, something currently only possible in legendary loot.
Currently, at some point toward Diablo 4's endgame, basic loot like common, magic, and rare items all but stop dropping to make way for higher level, more powerful gear, which is identified by its orange color as opposed to blue, white, and yellow-colored bad loot. Visually, that makes for a very uniform aesthetic when you're high-level dungeon mobbing, but come Lord of Hatred's launch on April 28, item drops will look a lot more like Diablo 2, in which low-level gear still drops in the endgame but can be used to make something much more powerful. Diablo 4 loot will now operate on a similar ethos, although the finer details are quite different.
"We feel like the game just feels a lot more hollow now where you just don't really see anything except orange beams, and then you become accustomed to it, and it just doesn't feel like there's texture to it," design director of systems Colin Finer tells PC Gamer, which got the scoop on Lord of Hatred's loot overhaul.
Blizzard also revealed that any item, including those boring old blue and white ones, will have the chance to drop with a greater affix attached. Greater affixes are Diablo 4's most powerful item modifiers, and they'll instantly make the game's loot system more varied and interesting by giving you a reason to pick up those lower-tier items. From there, you'll be able to use the Horadric Cube, a new crafting tool ripped straight from Diablo 2 and coming to Diablo 4 with Lord of Hatred, to turn common items with greater affixes into legendary gear. Pretty cool!
And if you're understandably worried about screen clutter with all of the new loot types coming back, don't forget, Lord of Hatred is adding a loot filter that'll let you choose what type of loot is visible on the ground. Blizzard has yet to fully detail the breadth of customization options included in the new feature, but we know already that it'll let you hide, highlight, and recolor items both on the ground and in your inventory, making it a lot easier to chase that perfect greater affix.
As I've mentioned again and again, I'm a Diablo 2 diehard who's been playing since launch 25 years ago, and I genuinely think it's the perfect ARPG. Diablo 4's much more refined, modernized loot system will likely never adopt everything from the Wild West that is Diablo 2 loot, but it's a step closer with these changes that I think will make looting demons feel all the more rewarding when you get that god-tier greater affix from a blue item.
Ex-Diablo 2 lead character artist says "there's no way you could ever" give the iconic ARPG a new act: "Would it be in a location that Diablo 3 or Diablo 4 has already fleshed out?"
