Blizzard is making major adjustments to Diablo 4’s leveling experience in Season 8, targeting how item quality and loot progression will feel early on. Here is a full breakdown of the changes you can expect when the new season starts:
Item Drop Changes During the Leveling Phase
- Starting in S8, Common quality items will no longer drop after Level 6.
- From Level 6+, Magic quality gear will dominate until around Level 25, when Rare and higher-tier items will gradually take over.
- Magic items will roll with 1-2 affixes, with 2 affixes becoming standard as players gain levels.
- Rare Items will consistently roll with 2-3 affixes, with 3 appearing more frequently at higher levels.
Legendary Item Drop Rate Reductions
- Blizzard’s nerfing the drop rates of Legendaries during leveling.
What Exactly Does That Mean?
Well, instead of seeing legendaries drop early for you in Season 8, you will first see Common, Magic, and Rare gear drop, which means a significant nerf to gearing while leveling.
Why the Nerf?
Blizzard implemented the nerf to address feedback about Legendaries dropping to quickly at low levels.
Here’s the portion about gearing nerfs taken from the official patch notes:
- Common quality items will no longer drop beyond Level 6. Magic quality items will be the most prevalent until around Level 25 whenRare and beyond items start to take precedent.
- Magic items will now appear with 1-2 Affixes, with 2 Affixes becoming standard as player’s level increases.
- Rare items now always appear with 2-3 Affixes, with 3 Affixes becoming more common as your level increases.
- Legendary Item changes
- Legendary item drop rates have been reduced during levelling.
Developer’s Note: We’ve increasing the power of Magic and Rare items during levelling while reducing the Legendary item drop rates to address feedback about Legendaries too quickly become the only item rarity you care about.
