So I jumped into Diablo 4 today, ready to grind some more levels, you know? Just wanted to see how my Necromancer felt after a night’s sleep. Booted up the game, grabbed my coffee. Feeling good.
The “Wow, This Feels Weaker…” Moment
Started clearing some trash mobs. Something felt… off. My minions weren’t exploding things as fast as yesterday. That juicy damage feeling was kinda missing. Thought maybe I was just imagining it, still half-asleep. Took on a tougher Elite pack. Yep. Definitely took longer. Didn’t feel right. What gives?
Checked my gear quick – nope, nothing fell off. Paragon board looked intact. Then it hit me: maybe that crazy Decay augment got looked at? You know, the one that was practically carrying my minion build’s damage? The one everyone was talking about? I logged out right away.
Digging Into the Patch Notes (Sort Of)
Opened my browser – not looking for some fancy forum, nah. Went straight to the usual spot where Blizzard drops those little fixes. Scrolled. Yep. Found it. Buried in the latest “hotfix” notes. “Addressed an issue with the Decay augment causing unintended damage scaling.” Suuuper vague. “Addressed an issue.” Come on, Blizz. We know what that means. Nerfed. Hard.
Did some more quick digging, read what other folks were already screaming about online. Basically:
- Before: Decay damage ramped up insanely fast with Minion attack speed. Felt like hitting the jackpot constantly.
- Now: They put a big ol’ speed bump in that scaling. The damage bonus hits a ceiling much, much faster. Feels like hitting a wall.
My Quick & Dirty “Testing”
Jumped back into the game, found the same Elite pack I fought earlier.
- Ran the fight again without changing anything.
- Actually watched the damage numbers this time.
- Yep. Big numbers popping up way less often. Boss health bar melted slower.
- Tried switching Decay out entirely – okay, that was even worse. So it’s still “good”, but… dulled? Like switching from strong coffee to instant.
- Rage-checked the stats. Where it used to feel like a constant sugar hit, now it feels like it hits max power super quick and just… sits there. Flat.
Why Do I Think Blizzard Dropped the Hammer?
Here’s the thing. It wasn’t rocket science. This Augment was basically the cheat code for Minion builds. Zero effort for bonkers payoff. Everyone and their grandma was using it. Felt mandatory, honestly.
That screams “unintended” or “too strong” to Blizzard. They saw minions absolutely steamrolling content that wasn’t meant to be steamrolled yet. That breaks the whole “progression” thing they love so much. Plus, it means everyone was running the same build. That’s boring for them. They want “diversity” (even if they have to smash popular things with a nerf bat to get it).
The classic Blizzard move: find something fun that’s maybe a bit too easy, and make it less fun. Or, as they’d say, “more balanced.” Usually translates to “slower.” Always feels bad. Every time.
Guess I gotta re-think my Necro now. Again.