How Diablo 4 Can Evolve Its Endgame

Dec-17-2024 PST Category: Diablo4
As a seasoned player who has spent over 60 hours in Path of Exile 2 (PoE2), progressing through the game's acts and exploring much of the endgame content, I have gained a deeper appreciation for how PoE2 handles its progression systems. In particular, the way PoE2 structures its endgame systems has made me reflect on how Diablo 4 (D4) can improve its own endgame offerings. Having experienced Diablo 4's endgame through six seasons and the expansion, I've seen substantial changes in its systems, from difficulty adjustments to Diablo IV Items overhauls. While these changes have enhanced the gameplay, I believe there are specific elements from Path of Exile (PoE1 and PoE2) that could elevate Diablo 4's endgame experience even further.

In this article, I’ll explore several ways Diablo 4 can draw inspiration from PoE2 to improve its endgame, focusing on adding more depth, challenge, and progression to the systems players already engage with.

1. Add Progression and Specialization to Endgame Systems

In Path of Exile, every major endgame activity is tied to a progression system that feels unique and rewarding. Whether it’s the Atlas of Worlds, Delving, or the Heist system, PoE2 provides opportunities for players to specialize in different areas of the endgame and reap increasingly powerful rewards. Each system has its own skill tree or passive progression, allowing players to tailor their experience based on the content they enjoy most. For example, a player focusing on Delve progression might unlock specific bonuses that increase the rarity of items in deep mines or provide better chances of encountering rare bosses.

What Diablo 4 Could Learn:

Diablo 4’s endgame systems, such as Nightmare Dungeons, the Pit, and Helltides, could greatly benefit from the addition of personalized progression tied to each system. Here's how:

· Nightmare Dungeons: These dungeons could incorporate a system of passive progression that lets you augment loot chances or gear improvements based on your specific dungeon choices. Players could unlock passive abilities that increase the odds of obtaining specific types of loot or upgrade materials for crafting.

· Pit System: The Pit could benefit from a deeper progression system, where completing higher-tier pit runs unlocks greater chances for Glyph upgrades or other rewards, allowing players to specialize their builds.

By giving players more options to tailor their endgame progression, Diablo 4 would create a sense of ownership over their journey and make each system more engaging long-term.

2. Make Endgame Content More Challenging

A key takeaway from PoE2 is the emphasis on progressively harder content, with each challenge becoming more difficult and rewarding as you push deeper into endgame systems. Whether it’s PoE2's super-challenging bosses or the escalating difficulty of its mapping system, every layer of the endgame is designed to test player skill and gear progression.

What Diablo 4 Could Learn:

While Diablo 4 has made significant improvements in balancing difficulty, especially with updates over the seasons, its endgame content can still feel lacking in sustained challenge. A large part of this is due to a lack of meaningful difficulty progression across the board.

· Nightmare Dungeons could benefit from more variable and meaningful affixes that change the difficulty dynamically, similar to how PoE2’s maps are infused with modifiable difficulty levels. Imagine adding affixes that target different aspects of gameplay like elite density, increased boss health, or environmental hazards. The higher the level of your Nightmare Sigil, the more potent these affixes would become.

· Pinnacle Endgame Bosses: Introduce harder, more rewarding bosses tied to specific systems, with permanent buffs or challenges that raise the stakes. As you progress through the Nightmare Dungeons or Pit, you could face a boss whose defeat would permanently increase the loot drop rates or other valuable resources tied to that system.

3. Expand the Nightmare Sigil System

Nightmare Sigils in Diablo 4 have gone through some changes, especially with the shift from leveling glyphs to acquiring Masterwork materials. While the current iteration of Nightmare Dungeons is more rewarding in terms of gear upgrades, it still lacks depth in progression.

What Diablo 4 Could Learn:

In PoE, map keys and their modifiers play a big role in how players engage with the endgame. The addition of various affixes to map keys allows players to tailor the experience to their desires while providing meaningful challenges and rewards.

· Nightmare Sigils as Map Keys: Reintroduce more complex modifiers for Nightmare Sigils that offer unique challenges but also greater rewards. For example, players could find sigils that have specific affixes to make combat harder or grant better chances for rare loot. This would encourage players to experiment with different sigils and chase specific loot more effectively.

· Incorporate Temporary Buffs or Items: Just like the old PoE systems, Diablo 4 could allow you to juice up your Nightmare Sigils with temporary items (akin to PoE's map mods) to increase the loot quality or challenge.

4. Endgame Pinnacle Content for All Systems

In Path of Exile, every core activity has its own Pinnacle content—whether it’s completing endgame bosses, tackling difficult delves, or achieving the highest map tiers. Each system offers a rewarding challenge that feels meaningful, and it gives players a reason to focus on particular activities.

What Diablo 4 Could Learn:

Diablo 4 could borrow a similar concept for its various endgame systems, where each system has its own unique endboss or high-tier challenge. Here's how:

· Nightmare Dungeons: The introduction of a unique Pinnacle boss that can be accessed after completing a series of difficult dungeons could be a great way to add more depth to the system. Defeating this boss could grant a permanent buff to Masterwork materials drop rates, increasing the incentive to farm these dungeons.

· The Pit: Expand the Pit’s concept with a Boss Rush mode or timed challenge system where players face off against a series of campaign or unique bosses. This would add a competitive edge and deepen the replayability of the Pit.

By having a Pinnacle boss or challenge tied to every major endgame system, players will feel that their time in each activity is meaningful and that the system evolves with their progression.

5. Permanent Upgrades and System Buffs

One of the most rewarding aspects of Path of Exile is the ability to gain permanent upgrades for your character and activities. These upgrades range from crafting bonuses to map drop chances, creating an ongoing sense of progression.

What Diablo 4 Could Learn:

In Diablo 4, permanent system-wide upgrades could be introduced after defeating tough Pinnacle bosses or achieving specific milestones in the endgame content.

· Masterwork Buffs: As discussed earlier, defeating the Pinnacle bosses in Nightmare Dungeons could grant permanent increases in Masterwork material drop rates, improving the chances of obtaining the best gear.

· Glyph Upgrades: A Boss Rush mode or other high-tier content could reward players with permanent buffs to their Glyph progression, making these upgrades more impactful.

Permanent upgrades would give players long-term goals to strive for, providing a sense of tangible growth that makes the endgame feel more rewarding.

Conclusion: Expanding Diablo 4’s Endgame for Long-Term Engagement

Diablo 4 has made significant strides in improving its core systems, but there is still room for growth, especially in the endgame. By looking to Path of Exile 2 for inspiration, particularly in how it structures endgame progression, difficulty, and content expansion, Diablo 4 can become a more immersive, rewarding, and long-lasting experience for its player base. Implementing deeper progression systems, adding permanent upgrades, and introducing new types of endgame bosses or challenges tied to existing activities would provide players with meaningful long-term goals. Additionally, MMOEXP having Diablo 4 Gold for sale can help players acquire the necessary resources to fully engage with these new challenges. Most importantly, by focusing on greater complexity and difficulty across all endgame systems, Diablo 4 can ensure that its endgame remains engaging and rewarding, no matter how many hours a player has invested. As the seasons progress and more content is added, expanding the complexity and challenge of the endgame should be a priority for Blizzard. Diablo 4 has the potential to set new standards in the genre, and by learning from the best parts of PoE2, it can continue to build on its already strong foundation.