Diablo 4 is easily in the best spot it’s ever been. The Lord of Hatred expansion gave it depth where it sorely needed it without ruining its strength as a straight-forward action RPG where numbers go up and loot rains from the sky. It’s never had a better foundation for Blizzard to build on as it sets course for whatever’s next.The newest season, the Season of Death Awakening, is essentially a test run for another foundational change that, while controversial, is probably a healthy decision in the long run. But everything else in the season feels like a step back.Lord of Hatred restructured Diablo 4 around customization. It gave every class powerful (and flavorful) new skill trees, the bones of an incredible item crafting system, and a bunch of ways to curate the endgame into a loop of activities you like the most.For the first time, Diablo had me excited to experiment with everything as I pushed a character to max level. I finally got to see my best friend—who I convinced to give the game another shot—see how fun it is to slowly build a character up into a demon-slaying god without resorting to a guide. For a lot of people, Diablo 4 finally felt like an action RPG with a vision that wouldn’t be thrown out and reworked in a few months.Almost nothing in season 14 acknowledges this massive leap forward for the game. All of it is still there and just as good as it was a…
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