It’s been a while since we’ve had a Diablo 4 patch. Since the release of the Vessel of Hatred expansion, and the start of Season of Hatred Rising, Blizzard has mostly been deploying smaller updates aimed at fixing some of the more egregious launch issues.
Though a few of those did include certain tweaks to gameplay, the majority were small enough to make one or two tweaks. This changes later today, though, with the release of 2.0.4.
Patch 2.0.4, which arrives today, October 29 across all platforms, is, like most other recent patches, made up almost entirely of bug fixes. Blizzard, however, also included a number of gameplay changes and some shaking up of values here and there.
The Realmwalker encounter events have been one of the most popular since the start of the season, in part because of the faction reputation they offer, and how that feeds back into the seasonal loop. Realmwalkers also happen to be a great source of gear, as well as the new Seething Opal Elixirs. Those encounters only felt breezy when two or more players were present, but it seems Blizzard thinks players are finishing them a little too quickly.
The patch doubles the health of the Realmwalker, meaning it’s going to take longer to kill it and open the Seething Portal. The patch also makes it possible for one more wave of Bloodbound Guardians to show up. Other Seething-related tweaks include an update to the description of Opals to clarify that the increased loot chance also applies to the Pit and Kurast Undercity.
While on the subject, Radian Chests at the end of Legion events now also grant both bonus loot, as well as Zakarum Remnants reputation to anyone with a Seething Opal active, so long as that is true when the chest is opened.
Patch 2.0.4 also brings a couple of nice quality of life additions. Players in Diablo 4’s endgame, or really anyone who spends a lot of their time in Nahantu, will no doubt be familiar with just how mob density can become something of a problem when moving around. It’s been a little frustrating to have mounts just get scared very easily now and force you off, which is something that Blizzard intends to make less of an occurrence by increasing the amount of damage required before your mount forces you off.
Gem Fragment capacity has been increased yet again, and the Party Finder quick list will now be visible when you’re viewing the Infernal Hordes in the map. PS5 users now also, finally, get VRR support. This feature is available only when Enhanced Visuals is disabled, and it allows the framerate to go beyond 60fps when it’s within your monitor/TV’s VRR range.
Check out the Blizzard blog for the full set of patch notes.
