Would a "Slow Season" work in Diablo 4?

Modified Jan 28, 2025 16:30 IST

Diablo 4 slow season — Would a "Slow Season" work in Diablo 4, or would it be wildly unpopular? (Image via Blizzard Entertainment)

Diablo 4’s seasons are always a topic of discussion, but what about a Slow Season? Is that something that could potentially be popular? Before we go any further, this is all hypothetical, and my own opinion not just in the game but the community as a whole. I love D4, and I enjoy playing with other members of the community but let’s be honest — there are some pretty loud, vocal members of the community who can be remarkably toxic. That’s just how online gaming goes, I suppose.

But what would a Slow Season look like in Diablo 4? I imagine it would be not just slow leveling, but unlocking the various seasonal updates/powers/MacGuffins would take a significant amount of time as well.

I wouldn’t say that getting better gear would change too much, especially not Uniques/Mythics — those can already feel nightmarishly slow to farm. Would this be something that would work in the next season

A “Slow Season” is a terrible idea for Diablo 4

Unless it were a longer season, a Slow Season is a remarkably bad idea for Diablo 4. There are plenty of lengthy grinds in the game if you want to attempt them — such as grinding a glyph to level 100 (or several of them) and getting geared enough to fight Uber bosses. Of course, that could take less time if you’re particularly lucky, and already playing an overpowered build.

Season 7, for the most part, respects my time in ways other recent seasons haven't (Image via Blizzard Entertainment)

We have to look at how the game is designed, though. The power fantasy for Diablo 4 is to cleave through scores of enemies, doing thousands, millions of damage. It’s not something that I think would go well if the game suddenly started taking weeks — or even months — to get a character built to exactly where you want them.

If you wanted a slow season in Diablo 4, the game would already have to be designed to be slow, and I don’t think that’s really the case. There are always going to be players who complain about how fast/slow leveling is on the Seasonal Ladder. You could easily hit level 60 after a few hours in Season 7, and even that had complaints. There’s simply no pleasing some people, I suppose.

I don’t have any problem with some things taking a little bit of extra time — like unlocking powers for a Season. My problem comes from when it’s both RNG-heavy, and it takes forever on top of that. From my perspective, I only have so much time to invest in each game I play, and I want that time to feel valuable.

Let's be honest — Season 6 felt slow and miserable (Image via Blizzard Entertainment)

I could be okay with the game being a little slower, but I don’t know if it would be popular. You’d have to find a way to make that slower time feel valuable or worthwhile somehow. That’s the real trick.

There would have to be some kind of compensation where the player feels like they’re getting more powerful — whether through gear, frequent upgrades to powers, or something to that effect.

I think the “slower” seasons, in general, have been pretty unpopular. Season 6, for example, felt like it had almost nothing to it, and the grind was miserable.

I don’t know if the game needs to start going faster either, though. I feel like Season 7 struck a decent balance and let players start working on the endgame at a reasonable pace. You don’t have to start the endgame after two or three days — you can take your time. But the fact that it is an option is kind of nice.

Could a slow season work in Diablo 4 Season 8? It could. But I think the planning and preparation would have to be intense to make it into something the fanbase would enjoy. I think it’s certainly possible, but definitely improbable.

Check out our other Diablo 4 guides and features

Edited by Ripunjay Gaba