Diablo 4 players continue to grow frustrated over the current state of Nightmare Dungeons, as they demand changes to make the experience less tedious. It's no secret that the endgame in Diablo 4 isn't well-liked by the community, as many find Nightmare Dungeons and Helltides to be inferior compared to the Greater Rifts of Diablo 3. Though the combat and gameplay foundation is great on paper, many fans believe that the systems surrounding it need some work, and if the developers follow through on the roadmap they established during the Campfire Chat on June 16, Diablo 4 may well grow into an outstanding game by the end of the year.
Diablo 4 dungeons have been described as lazy and unimaginative before, often having similar layouts, poor variety of objectives, and a lack of a unique identity. Compared to Greater Rifts in Diablo 3 or the dungeon maps in Path of Exile, many players felt the Nightmare Dungeons in Diablo 4 were just an afterthought, focusing more on quantity rather than quality.
The recent batch of criticisms levied against Nightmare Dungeons in Diablo 4 was posted by Karol123G on the game's subreddit, where it attacked the current iteration of the system's negative affixes. On paper, it makes sense that Nightmare Sigils would come with penalties for players to overcome, as it adds an extra dimension to the challenge outside of scaling the damage and health of dungeon monsters. The problem is that a significant amount of these affixes add challenge at the expense of stripping away the fun of Diablo 4's combat.
Monsters can resist critical strikes, defend against melee attacks, burn through a class's precious Resource, and when playing certain classes or builds that rely on these aspects to deal damage or survive, Diablo 4 players believe it feels too punishing in a way that isn't fun or interesting to deal with. A related issue endemic to Nightmare Dungeons is that the magic find bonuses it provides are largely a placebo in practice, ultimately making fans experience burnout much faster than going through the Greater Rift grind in Diablo 3.
Though the solution to Nightmare Dungeons isn't simple by any means, players seem to be asking for more variety and fewer penalties. Given that Diablo 4 has announced two expansions, and that its seasons will bring new content on a quarterly basis, the lack of variety will be fixed as the game continues to mature. Balancing out its affixes, on the other hand, is something that Blizzard will have to take a closer look at.
Diablo 4 is available on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
