Diablo 4 update slashes season 3's worst annoyances

Blizzard Entertainment has released patch 1.3.0a for Diablo IV, introducing adjustments and quality of life improvements following the launch of Season of the Construct, the game's latest season. The patch focuses on fine-tuning the features introduced with Season 3, addressing players' feedback on mechanics that felt unrewarding or overly challenging. Notably, changes have been made to the new Seneschal Companion, making it easier to level up by increasing the sources of Governing and Tuning Stones and decreasing the crafting cost and XP required for these stones.

Additionally, Blizzard tackled the Echo of Malphas boss fight, creating a new item, Igneous Cores, to summon the boss and adjusting its difficulty and rewards. Vault runs and Arcane Tremors events also receive multiple quality of life changes, like adjusting the drop rate of Legendary items and the number of stacks of Zoltun's Warding that Pearls of Warding provide. The patch also features various bug fixes and improvements, such as synchronization issues with floor traps, and interaction problems with in-game elements like the Beckoning Thunder Horse cosmetic for Druid players.

The Diablo IV patch 1.3.0a enhances the Seneschal Companion's progression system, modifies the item needed to summon Echo of Malphas and its difficulty level, increases Legendary item drop rates, and introduces various tweaks to traps and hazards in Vaults to reduce player frustration. Quality of life changes also include adjustments to the Arcane Tremors events and a series of bug fixes and performance improvements.

Diablo IV is the fourth installment in the popular Diablo series by Blizzard Entertainment, known for its dark fantasy and horror themes combined with hack and slash and dungeon crawl elements. It follows the success of Diablo III, expanding upon the series' gameplay mechanics and story while introducing new features like a shared open world and PVP zones, offering both solo and cooperative play. Diablo IV aims to capture the core essence of what fans love about the series while also evolving its gameplay and storytelling.