PoE Sanity

My Honest FIRST Thoughts on Diablo 4 Lord of Hatred

By GhazzyTVWatch videoDuration: PT9M37S

Summary

  • Campaign Experience: Completed in approximately 7.5 hours; rated 8/10 for its phenomenal bosses and story quality.
  • Skill Tree Revamp: Transitioned from a “skill twig” to a legitimate skill tree that allows for build-enabling mechanics without relying solely on legendary aspects.
  • Itemization & Crafting: Shifted away from “showering” the player with loot, instead incentivizing rare gear, tempering, and the crafting system.
  • New Class Mechanics: Experience with the Warlock includes unique resource bars (Dominance and Wrath), though the UI for the HP bar lacks customization.
  • Critical Reception: While the quality has significantly improved, it has taken three years and three separate purchases (base game plus expansions) to reach this state.

Campaign Overview and Build Performance

The campaign for the Lord of Hatred expansion takes roughly seven and a half hours to complete. For this playthrough, I utilized a Demon Summoner Warlock build. The leveling process was highly enjoyable, and the build felt consistently fun throughout the story.

While the endgame remains the most critical component for veteran ARPG players who typically skip the campaign in subsequent seasons, the initial experience suggests this expansion could be the pivotal turning point for Diablo 4. It has the potential to shift the game’s reputation from a “clowned-upon” title to a truly high-quality ARPG.

Campaign Experience and Narrative Feedback

The campaign is a solid 8/10. Even as a player who is generally not driven by lore or story, I found the experience fantastic from start to finish. The gameplay approach and boss encounters were phenomenal.

However, there were minor narrative gripes:

  • Forced Humor: There were very few attempts at humor within the story, and those that were included felt forced and “cringe-worthy.”
  • UI Customization: Playing as a Warlock introduces three bars above the character: Dominance, Wrath, and HP. The HP bar is locked to a blue color; the inability to change this to green was a significant personal annoyance.

The Cost of Iteration

A major point of contention is the time and financial investment required to reach this level of quality. Diablo 4 launched in a poor state three years ago. Since then, players have had to:

  1. Purchase the base game.
  2. Purchase the first expansion (which was still considered subpar).
  3. Purchase the Lord of Hatred expansion to finally reach a state where the game feels “good.”

The community goodwill would have been substantially higher had the game launched with this level of quality initially.

Revamped Skill Tree and Progression

The skill tree has seen a massive overhaul. It has evolved from what was previously mocked as a “skill twig” into a proper skill tree. While not as complex as Path of Exile, it now allows players to enable specific build mechanics directly through the tree rather than being forced to find specific legendary aspects. This change allows for build diversity to shine from the leveling phase all the way to the endgame.

Itemization, Crafting, and Difficulty

The shift in itemization is one of the most positive changes in the expansion:

  • Reduced Loot Bloat: Players are no longer showered with millions of useless unique items.
  • Value of Rares: I finished the campaign mostly wearing rare items, with only one legendary equipped that didn’t even directly scale my character.
  • Incentivized Crafting: The system now pushes players toward tempering and crafting to gain power.
  • Difficulty Scaling: Playing on “Hard” difficulty eventually felt too easy because the character became overpowered. Higher difficulties would have mandated even more interaction with the crafting systems to survive, which is a healthy progression loop.

Final Recommendation

Whether the game is “worth it” depends on player priority:

  • For Story Seekers: If you are exclusively looking for a high-quality campaign and story experience, the expansion is excellent.
  • For ARPG Veterans: If you care about replayability, longevity, and seasonal depth, it is better to wait for a full endgame review.

While the ship is finally turning around, the requirement of three years and three purchases to get here makes it difficult to give an unconditional recommendation.

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