Blizzard's Senior Vice President Rod Fergusson replies to a Diablo 4 fan regarding the currently low drop rates for Aberrant Cinders, confirming that it wasn't intentional. It's a big week for players as Diablo 4 Season 1 finally begins on July 20, bringing with it a new quest line to follow regarding a new mechanic of Malignant Hearts. Acting as a sort of gem, players can add these into their three slot armor or weapons which provides bonuses on a similar level to Legendary-type gear.To prepare for the upcoming season, Blizzard released a massive update for Diablo 4 which has an impact on just about every aspect of the game. From adjustments to core gameplay elements and class balancing, the huge update also made a number of tweaks to boss characters like the fearsome Butcher. As Blizzard has found that players are easily besting monsters that are even higher level than their own, the balance has gotten a little out of hand in their opinion, resulting in an increase to HP scaling when in co-op to offer more of a challenge. Unfortunately, it seems like the update also made a few unintended changes, especially to valuable resources like Aberrant Cinders. Following the arrival of Diablo 4's 1.1.0 update, players began putting the game through its paces and found that Aberrant Cinders appear to be even tougher to come by during end game Helltide events. During these high level events, players face off against powerful enemies for a limited time, which have a chance to drop these cinders to spend on Tortured Gift chests. However, after seeing some complaints on Twitter regarding the extremely low drop rate following the recent patch, Diablo franchise GM and SVP at Blizzard, Rod Fergusson, replied to confirm that the issue is actually a bug which will be corrected in the first hot fix of Season 1.
While the confirmation should please fans, many began to question the drop rates initially which became an even bigger problem when the recent Diablo 4 patch notes revealed that the Tortured Gift of Mysteries chest was getting its price increased from 175 to 250. As people mentioned in the Patch Notes thread, the drop rate for Aberrant Cinders already felt slow, so raising the price of the chest didn't feel justified. However, fans are now hopeful that the grind for cinders will feel better once the previously mentioned hot fix finally arrives.
Unfortunately, the patch has seemingly frustrated more than a few players with some of the changes made. There are more than a few Diablo 4 players that noticed some of their gear stats get nerfed, reducing their build's effectiveness. Blizzard has responded to the community's criticism by announcing a new Fireside Chat in a few days to address the patch and respond to some of the player complaints.
Diablo 4 is now available for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
