Diablo 4 developers aiming to “get better” at notifying players of changes after under-the-radar bugfix backlash

Some characters in Diablo 4.
Credit: Blizzard.


Some characters in Diablo 4.
Credit: Blizzard.

Though the arrival of Diablo 4’s Season of the Malignant was arguably overshadowed by a controversial patch, plenty of players have still delved into it and set about trying to find items that can take their characters to the next level.

Some of these hardcore Hellspawn have even managed to stumble across a Malignant Heart that offers a permanent buff. Unfortunately, others have been less lucky, encountering some frustrating bugs.

With patch 1.1.1 having been deployed on August 8, players have been eagerly checking out how its array of changes have affected the experience the game offers. Unfortunately, it seems some ended up coming across an unannounced change with some unintended consequences.

Are you happy with the changes made by Diablo 4’s patch 1.1.1?

Following the patch’s release, Diablo Global Community Development Director Adam ‘PezRadar’ Fletcher has taken to Reddit and the Blizzard forums to address player concerns about the Aspect of Bursting Venoms.

In the forum post, user Deventh had suggested that the aspect wasn't working properly in the aftermath of the patch’s deployment, saying: “It does not create any pool on the ground, at all. It is 100% broken and this aspect is build-enabling, so (a] Poison Rogue is pretty much [stuck] without it.”

Responding, Fletcher said: “This was reported by the community yesterday and the team was investigating this into the early evening last night. We have amended the patch notes this morning to include what occurred here.”

They added: “This was indeed a bug with Rogues that was fixed in this patch but it did lead to a nerf to this specific skill. It actually wasn’t planned for 1.1.1 and was for a patch later on.”

Acknowledging some player frustration over not being notified that this fix was being made as part of the originally released patch notes, Fletcher continued:

This of course is leaving a pretty not great feeling for Rogue players who were relying on this, and we should have given a better heads up regarding this and highlighted it in the notes. We will get better at this. This one slipped under quite a lot of changes in 1.1.1 so I’m hoping we are a bit better buttoned up as we change up internal flags on making sure these can be highlighted into patch notes when we start compiling these with our production teams.

Meanwhile, the game’s developers have also just released the hotfix promised earlier this week, and it substantially buffs the drop rates and craft chances of Wrathful Hearts and Invokers.

Unfortunately, however, it doesn’t include fixes for issues affecting quests such as ‘Fury Against Fate’ and ‘Druid: Spirits of the Lost Grove’, which will instead have to wait for future patches.

Regardless of whether you’re enjoying what all of these recent changes have done to the Diablo 4 experience, make sure to follow us for an array of guides to the Season of the Malignant’s items and quests.

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