10 Features Diablo 4 Still Desperately Needs After Vessel Of Hatred

Diablo 4: Vessel Of Hatred is the game’s first major expansion, introducing new features to improve the player experience. Despite a wealth of new content and general improvements, there’s still plenty of much-needed features to be added in future Diablo 4 expansions to help further improve the player experience.

Blizzard has been known for listening to player feedback and acting upon the wishes of fans to enhance its games. Vessels of Hatred is no exception to this, but features have still been missed when revisiting the game. From quality of life improvements to story beats, here’s just a few of the things players still want to see from Diablo 4.

10 More Areas As Detailed As Nahantu

There Needs To Be More Regions That Rival Nahantu’s Depth

For Vessel of Hatred, a new region called Nahantu has been introduced, and it is one of the most visually and thematically striking areas in the game. Players can explore the overgrown jungle and ancient runes, and travel to the main town hub of Kurast. With music reminiscent of Diablo 2, the atmosphere has helped pull players deeper into the world of Diablo. It offers a refreshing change of pace with its dark foliage and wild ambiance.

Despite the size of the map in Diablo, Nahantu stands out as one of the few regions that offers this level of intricacy and detail. A future expansion should focus on a brand-new area that could rival the complexity and variety of Nahantu. It would increase immersion and give players a rewarding feeling from exploring the area, making a DLC’s price tag worthwhile.

9 Pets With Abilities

Transforming Pets Into Strategic Allies

Pets have been a much-loved cosmetic since Diablo 3, as they join the player on their quests throughout the game. Pets are primarily used for collecting loot and, other than being visually appealing, their uses stop there. They are also difficult to obtain without paying real-world money on the battle pass or in the store.

To enrich the players’ experience, and make pets worthwhile, they could be updated to better assist the players similarly to mercenaries. They could potentially add minor buffs, increase health, or offer a distraction to enemies. This would add another level of depth to tactics and build development. Pets are obviously beloved by Diablo 4 players, but they can be majorly improved to become more integral to the gameplay.

8 Improved Endgame Content

Further Engaging Challenges

Blizzard and Diablo 4 have been criticized in the past for poor post-endgame content. Despite the fresh injection made by Vessel of Hatred, the game could still benefit from more challenges for those who have completed the main storyline and reached a high level. There are several ways of doing this that the newest expansion has touched upon, but not perfected.

More complex and interesting world bosses, a new variety of randomized events, and more global challenges would greatly improve the game after completion. This would bring the player away from constant farming dungeons to level up their builds.

7 Expanded Mount Mechanics

Mounts Could Be More Essential Tools

Mounts in Diablo 4 are used for players to move around quickly and more efficiently. As well as this, they can be aesthetically changed to suit the players’ tastes and cosmetic choices. However, there is potential to expand their mechanics to greatly improve the players’ experience and boost engagement. Future updates could feature mount-specific abilities that players could upgrade.

If mounts could have combat moves or defensive maneuvers, as well as unlockable speed boosts, extra armor, and loot discovery, they could be a reason for players to engage further with the mount system. Traversing the world would instantly be more enjoyable and add another level of strategy.

6 Resource Bottlenecks With Iron Chunks And Leather

Reducing Recourse Restraints To Improve Gameplay

In Diablo 4, crafting and upgrading gear, imprinting aspects, and tempering gear all rely heavily on the materials iron chunks and leather. These can be found throughout the game and collected as the player travels through regions, strongholds, and world tiers. Though, unfortunately, these materials are in short supply, forcing players into a constant bottleneck.

This frustrating scarcity forces players into farming these resources instead of engaging with the core content of the game. When the player is trying to upgrade gear or unlock new abilities, they are repeatedly having to increase the amount of iron chunks and leather they have. This issue is more prevalent at higher levels when even more materials are needed. Blizzard should increase the amount of drops and places these materials are found, to save the player from hours of farming the same areas.

5 More Mercenary Types And Passive Abilities

Mercenaries Will Add Tactical Depth

Mercenaries were reintroduced into Diablo 4 with Vessel of Hatred, helping players with their journeys through areas with their special abilities. Notably, in the new expansion, these mercenaries have highly effective passive abilities. There are four to choose from; Raheir (a tank), Subo (an archer), Aldkin (a mage), and Varyana (a berserker). Each of these passive abilities has made for a more interesting tactical way of going through each area.

Players can choose a mercenary depending on what they need to achieve. For example, having a Subo, which reveals all enemies and materials on the map when farming materials. In the next expansion of Diablo 4, Blizzard needs to introduce a wider variety of mercenaries, each with unique passive abilities. This will give the player more variety when approaching each section, enriching the gameplay experience. Players will then be able to tailor their strategies that align with their playstyle, building on the positive addition in Vessel of Hatred.

4 Diablo 4 Still Needs Increased Bag Space

Streamlining Loot Management Will Boost Flow

Players have been asking for more bag space in Diablo 4 since its release in June 2023. The problem of having too small of an inventory is a simple yet desperately needed change for a future update. Players are currently pushed into spending time managing their limited inventory space, which takes away from the more interesting and enjoyable features of the game.

Diablo is known for the amount of loot picked up during gameplay, therefore players either have to constantly go back and forth to sell or only keep the best loot. Expanding inventory slots would reduce the number of frustrating pauses in the game and allow for more improved and efficient farming and loot collecting. Having to pause and manage inventory space is a tedious activity that takes time. The pacing of the game can be slowed down with more enjoyable puzzles or challenging fights, rather than bag management.

3 More Varied Activity Content

Fresh Post-Game Area Design

With Vessel of Hatred, Blizzard has given a reason for players to continue playing the game after finishing the initial storyline. However, the gameplay loop has easily become monotonous for players, particularly at higher levels. The new co-op area ‘the Dark Citadel‘ has brought new game mechanics to diversify the gameplay, requiring at least two players to conquer different parts of the area.

In a further expansion of Diablo 4, Blizzard should offer a chance to experience activities that go beyond the normalized ‘spin-to-win’ mechanics or basic dungeon crawling. By introducing some additional activity content that offers more than the average action RPG, Blizzard would give players a reason to return after maxing out their character. Forcing the player to slow down and strategically approach a section would enhance the gameplay experience.

2 A New Class – More Of The Spiritborn

Expanding The Amount Of Playstyles And Combat Strategies

One of the major new additions to Vessel of Hatred is the new class, Spiritborn. The agile and mobile warrior channels the power of four distinct spirit guardians, that each infuse their attacks with unique effects. The power of the Gorrila, Jaguar, Eagle, and Centipede help the Spiritborn as they traverse the new region of Nahantu, each offering benefits from poison strikes to fire-infused hard hits.

The introduction of the Spiritborn class in Vessel of Hatred has been a hit, giving players a fresh combat experience that compliments the new region and content. The introduction of new classes in a future expansion would ensure replayability and give players a chance to experiment with more playstyles, something that may reignite the return of veteran Diablo players. An additional new class would add some much-needed endgame variety, giving players a chance to try some fresh abilities and mechanics. This would make each enemy encounter more stimulating whilst battling through areas.

1 Lack Of Build Progression Post-Level 50

Bringing Players Back With Less Tediousness

After reaching level 50, the progression in the majority of builds seems to plateau. Regardless of the difficulty and their gear, players’ builds seem to consistently play out the same way. This can potentially dampen the excitement of progressing, and give players a chance to question what they are aiming for when playing Diablo 4.

In a future expansion, a new system of mechanics could be introduced to incentivize players to continue the grind. Further customization and evolution higher than levels 45-50 could give players a chance to channel their excitement into replaying areas. This could easily step away from constant material collection. More challenges that could give players permanent buffs, like using a particular skill several times, would help remove some of the tediousness of build progression in Diablo 4.