Diablo 4: Season of Witchcraft (Season 7)

Reused content?

To say that Season 7 is reused content is harsh but not entirely true. It’s very similar to Season of Blood, but that isn’t really a bad thing. Season of Witcraft takes Blood’s mechanics, refines them, and adds a few twists of its own.

Gameplay

The major difference comes with how reputation with the seasonal faction is acquired. Instead of just killing enemies to get repuation, instead you must collect grim favors from completing world quests. It doesn’t sound interesting on its surface, but it does help rapidly accelerate leveling, which is good considering the paragon cap is so high. Just like Season of Blood, you’ll have zones taken over by the seasonal enemy, the head rotten. These zones are filled with world quests. There are numerous of these events going on at a time, all with separate, non-concurrent timers, all over Sanctuary. While doing this, you’ll get the seasonal currency to buy witchcraft powers. This is where Season of Witchcraft really borrows from Blood, but the Mythic rarity powers manage to stand apart. My current build uses one that drops flowers around the battlefield, which heal me if I step on them and let out poison for the enemy if they step on them. There are some unique powers this time around with a lot of interesting effects.

The Seasonal Story

Lately, the seasonal story has been pretty brief, or at least it felt that way. They drummed up big drama but never did much with it. I think this one figures out the correct length, giving you a peak into the world of the witches and the Tree of Whispers. The heads on the tree have been taken, and it’s up to you and a trio of witches to figure out who stole them and to stop the rampage they are causing across Sanctuary. There is some excellent insight into the tree and the witches who serve it, along with a window into how bad of a deal it is making a pact with the tree. Poor Lorath.

Bad RNG

The dim spot of this season is the lost witchcraft powers, which can only be obtained by finding Forgotten Alters in dungeons or the Pit. These are the BIS witchcraft powers. The RNG (as of 2/3) is pretty bad. It can take 15 minutes to grind to find one (with the seasonal elixir, which you can only find in seasonal events/dungeons) or an hour… or even never. I do most dungeons with a draught of whispers and still have yet to run into an alter. Fortunately, on 2/4 they will be buffing the appearance rate. Hopefully this will improve.

It's Raining… Loot!

Another dim spot is the massive amount of loot that drops. I probably shouldn’t call it ‘dim,’ but it does hamper a gameplay session to have to run back to town all the time to get rid of it all so frequently. It does help improve your aspects, so I guess it’s a double-edged sword. I never really felt the need for the loot filter players have been asking for until this season.

Conclusion

Is Season of Witchcraft going to bring back anyone who has soured on D4? Nope. If Vessel of Hatred didn’t get you back, you aren’t coming back. It’s a shame. Diablo 4 is a solid game cheapened by exploitive “microtransactions.” I use quotes because I don’t think 30 dollars for an in-game look is micro. That’s another article. If you still find D4 fun, you should try this season out.