Once Diablo IV released, I never really expected Blizzard Entertainment to continue supporting Diablo III outside of a skeleton crew. While Season 28 and 29 came and went, Diablo III Season 30 has been a pleasant surprise, as it has allowed players who otherwise lost interest in the ARPG during its early years to experience previous Seasons with some extra bells and whistles tacked on. While no major content updates have been planned for Diablo III as of the release of Season 30, there will still be enough to chew through as previous Seasons go on rotation.
As mentioned previously, Season 30 isn’t exactly novel, but instead is an exploration of content that appeared in Season 1 with some mechanics from previous Seasons tacked on. What makes this interesting is that Diablo III has more or less all of it’s kinks ironed out, which means that new and returning players are experiencing the game at its best. (Though this is debatable depending on what class or build you preferred.) For me, I sort of weaved in an out of Diablo III depending on when I wanted to scratch my ARPG itch. I played the game on launch and experienced it in it’s roughest state, flipping through stages as a Demon Hunter only to drop the game a few weeks later after carrying a friend and their mom through the end game.
I returned for the Reaper of Souls expansion, giving the Wizard a try, but ultimately fell back into playing a Demon Hunter. I enjoyed the Rift system a lot, even wishing it had returned for Diablo IV, but again I ended up dipping out of Diablo III to play something else. The game didn’t hold my attention for any long periods of time, which was fine. However, leading up to the release of Diablo IV, I jumped back into Diablo III again, but this time with a dedicated group made up of friends who were either veterans of the series or entirely new.
We played through Season 27 and even streamed some of Season 28, eagerly awaiting it’s release to run through Rifts and other end game activities in the game’s Adventure mode together. With Season 30, I’ve reinstalled Diablo III to play with that very same group again once we have time. But what I’ve experienced on my own lured me into continuing. It’s content that I missed out on due to my waxing and waning interest in the game. Though knowing that no major changes will be coming any time soon has made it all the more appealing. I know what builds I want to aim for and I know what I can work towards effectively through Diablo III‘s prestige system.
Also, incorporating mechanics from previous systems means that players can choose how they want to progress and gain passives and elixirs. It adds a permanent depth to what is effectively just making numbers go up and killing things quickly and efficiently in a way that feels satisfying.
While I may not stick with Diablo III Season 30 for very long, I know what I’m getting and I know it’s going to be a good time. And if you are a player that maybe dropped off either with Diablo III‘s base game or with Reaper of Souls, I genuinely believe this Season is worth checking out, especially if you weren’t exactly captured by how slow Diablo IV‘s general pace is. Diablo III is erratic, frantic, but ultimately fun, and I’m surprised at just how enjoyable Season 30 is.
Diablo III is available for the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.
