Abhay Singh
After a disappointing first release, Diablo 4 has been making amends for its transgressions by gradually gathering input through developer Campfire Chats, discussing plans for the future, releasing game improvements, and ending this process with the release of Vessel of Hatred.
Even if Vessel of Hatred isn’t the greatest Diablo expansion ever, it still accomplishes a lot of things well, including adding the Spiritborn, which is Diablo 4’s strongest class to date, and a ton of new features and gameplay enhancements.
Even so, the DLC delivers on its promise to enhance the game’s open environment, but it fails miserably in the very next instance.
Vessel of Hatred had a lot riding on its shoulders
One of the main criticisms of Sanctuary during Diablo 4’s first release was that it felt uninteresting and tiresome to play through, lacking horses and offering little to do in between tasks and dungeons.
Before Vessel of Hatred was launched, a lot was riding on it because Blizzard eventually fixed these problems in the original game.
Regretfully, Nahantu not only solves the “empty open world” issue but also poses the opposite one, despite being a fantastic area to explore.
Nahantu might feel far larger and livelier than the rest of Sanctuary if players explore it while completing the main story missions from Diablo 4’s Vessel of Hatred campaign.
There’s never a boring moment in Blizzard’s action RPG thanks to the several new dungeons that each have unique Spiritborn Aspects that players won’t have unlocked on their first playthrough and the tight passageways teeming with foes.
It’s difficult to ever consider Nahantu empty, unlike the Sanctuary areas of the main game, as it seems like the ideal location to spend the beginning of a new story.
Because players can become fully engrossed in the game and constantly have something to do or new loot to chase—something the expansion is more generous with than the main game was at launch—this is fantastic for first plays.
When starting Diablo 4’s Season 6 on the first go, dungeons can be difficult because players won’t have a lot of gear and other pieces unlocked to maximize their builds.
Moreover, the addition of Mercenary tasks helps ensure that questing doesn’t feel like a lonely journey from point A to point B.
Nahantu falls short on subsequent playthroughs
Though it can be a pain to navigate, Nahantu proves to be insufficient on later playthroughs or even in the endgame due to the area’s abundance of opponents that progressively get tougher (owing to Diablo 4’s new difficulty options and leveling up).
If that’s what players are looking for, it still provides plenty of encounters with Elites and groups of creatures, but other than that, traveling across the area to get someplace can be more of a bother than anything else.
It’s possible for players to be dismounted all the time, and negotiating those tiny, initially enticing passageways becomes tiresome when one is besieged by hostile monsters.
This also takes away some of the beauty of Diablo 4’s Nahantu, a more colorful area that has the potential to be serene outside of the major social areas but is never truly tranquil.
Although this is the nature of ARPGs, Nahantu approaches Sanctuary’s primary issue from the beginning in the other way, which causes players to encounter a different kind of issue. Nahantu’s shortcomings can be one of the reasons someone decides to stop playing the game after a playthrough or two.
These shortcomings include a campaign that is arguably not satisfying after Diablo 4’s great Lilith-centered story, a Season 6 mechanic that can leave a bitter taste in the mouth, and hidden altars that don’t do much compared to the base game.
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