Difficulty Of Diablo 4's Abbatoir Of Zir Event Is "Pretty Excessive," So It's Getting A Major Nerf

After player feedback and complaints, Diablo IV's meant-to-be-hard Abbatoir of Zir event is having its difficulty significantly scaled down.

The Abbatoir of Zir event kicked off on December 5 as part of Diablo IV's vampire-themed Season 2, and was intended as a way for max-level players with optimal gear to further challenge themselves after having already conquered the game's level 100 Nightmare dungeons. Even so, players complained about just how much harder the event--which functions similarly to Greater Rifts in Diablo III in that players must kill a certain number of enemies within a time limit--was to the game's other endgame activities.

Adding insult to injury was that the reward--the ability to level up a powerful new glyph, Tears of Blood--didn't seem worth it. Napkin math by players on places like Reddit indicated that those grinding out the event would need to play for hundreds of hours in order to level up the Tears of Blood glyph to its higher levels, something that hardly seemed worth it considering the glyph wouldn't carry over to the game's Eternal Realm after the end of Season 2.

Many of those complaints will be addressed in an upcoming hotfix scheduled to release on December 8, Blizzard has announced. Diablo community manager Adam Fletcher thanked the game's community for its feedback in a forum post before outlining many of the changes coming to the event. For starters, glyph XP will be increased starting at Abbatoir of Zir Tier 2 and will go up "significantly" as players progress to higher tiers, which should help to alleviate complaints players had with the grind feeling pointless due to the amount of time required.

But that's far from the only change. The difficulty of Abbatoir of Zir in general will be scaled back, with incoming damage from monsters as part of the event being reduced by up to 20%, according to Fletcher. Additionally, problematic affixes like Vampiric and Suppressor will be disabled game-wide, though for exactly how long remains unclear. Earlier tiers will be less challenging overall, but Tier 10 and beyond will remain roughly as challenging as before, according to Fletcher.

"We have seen players note that the difficulty ramp is pretty excessive even on the first tier for those who were able to complete level 100 Nightmare dungeons before," Fletcher writes. "These changes will allow for more opportunities for players to experience the earlier tiers and grow as they progress through them."

For those playing Blizzard's ARPG but who are looking for a little less challenge, Diablo IV will receive another limited-time event, Midwinter Blight, on December 12. The holiday event will see players earning new cosmetics and items by hunting down the Red-Cloaked Terror.