By Jason Parker
Diablo 4 Season 9 is here, entitled Sins of the Horadrim, but how is it really? I鈥檒l admit I enjoyed Season 8鈥檚 Witch-themed powers, even though it quickly got boring. What about the Horadric spell combos and Nightmare Dungeons, though? Does that fare any better? The short answer is 鈥淵es, but also no鈥. I鈥檝e enjoyed my time in this season, and I think the Horadric powers are neat. If you don鈥檛 enjoy 鈥渂orrowed power鈥 seasons, then you鈥檙e going to have a bad time, though.I鈥檓 holding out hope that Blizzard will try something new with one of these seasons, but Diablo 4 Season 9 isn鈥檛 one of them. The story is solid though, the powers are fun without being in the way, and the damage, for the most part, is good. I wish there weren鈥檛 so many weird nerfs to things that were fun, though.What鈥檚 the overall vibe and feel of Diablo 4 Season 9?In Diablo 4 Season 9, players are being nosy when it comes to some of the Horadrim鈥檚 secrets. The Horadrim were incredibly powerful mages, who worked underneath Tyrael. The goal? Defeat the Prime Evils. There don鈥檛 appear to be any Horadrim left though, now that Lorath and Donan have perished.The Season’s powers are cool, but the repetitive borrowed power won’t be for everyone (Image via Blizzard Entertainment)Thanks to people fiddling in Firebreak Manor, we鈥檝e got even more demons spilling into the world, and we鈥檒l need the power of the Horadrim to set things right. Without spoiling anything, it all leads to the return of Astaroth, who is even more powerful than ever. Now that was exciting.I鈥檓 glad he was brought back for Diablo 4 Season 9, because the original fight was amazing, and the new fight is just as intense. Players will have their hands full grinding through Nightmare Dungeons, collecting powers, setting up awesome combos, and finding relics of the Horadrim. It鈥檚 more of a lore season, it feels like.I know I shouldn’t have all the powers in a week, but with the time investment, I feel like I should have fewer left than I do (Image via Blizzard Entertainment)Combining Catalysts, Infusions, and Arcana to make Horadric Spells that enhance your current skills is great, but the grind to get the various Arcana is so frustrating. Grinding for the Horadric Jewels (unique Jewels to enhance your powers further) is even worse.I thought it would be better than the Unique Jewels from Season 8, but I appear to have been mistaken. I鈥檝e grinded through dozens of Nightmare Dungeons and I still am missing something like four or five Arcana so far in Diablo 4 Season 9.Sure, it鈥檚 nothing new when it comes to the various seasons of Diablo 4, but I enjoyed Season 9, and am still playing through it as we speak. There were some pretty positive changes to the game, such as to Nightmare Dungeons.The Nightmare Dungeon updates are a great idea, but grinding them wasn鈥檛 always funNightmare Dungeons got a really cool (and permanent) update in Diablo 4 Season 9. Now we have Horadric Strongrooms, which are a mini-dungeon within a dungeon. You鈥檒l occasionally see them within Nightmare Dungeons, though there鈥檚 a Sigil Affix that guarantees one will appear. These are trials you can undertake for more exp, gear, and other rewards. They鈥檙e similar to Infernal Hordes, though on a much smaller scale.These Horadric Strongrooms are honestly, pretty neat timed challenges (Image via Blizzard Entertainment)There are also tons of really cool affixes you can have on your Dungeon Sigils; in particular, I like that there鈥檚 always a Positive (Boon) and Negative (Curse) on each sigil. This makes the Nightmare Dungeons feel more worthwhile, instead of having to nitpick through sigils to get the one that鈥檚 the 鈥渓east awful鈥.In addition, there are Escalating Nightmare Sigils, where you challenge a series of three Nightmare Dungeons. Each one stacks even more affixes, and if you make it to the end, you can battle it out with the new version of Astaroth. This was a really fun treat, but I wish I had more of these to keep running them. This felt like when Helltides were improved. A lot鈥檚 been done for Nightmare Dungeons, but I do wish they weren鈥檛 the whole grind of Diablo 4 Season 9.The power scaling certainly went down, and that鈥檚 unfortunateThe nerfs were simply uncalled for (Image via Blizzard Entertainment)I think there鈥檚 something to be said about power levels in Diablo 4 Season 9. I don鈥檛 like that the numbers keep trending down, or that it gets harder and harder to be overpowered. That鈥檚 what players want. We don鈥檛 want our favorite build to feel like garbage, we want to stomp our way through greater and greater challenges, and feel powerful!We don鈥檛 watch Dragon Ball Z because Goku鈥檚 a dork and a loser. We like seeing him break barrier after barrier, getting stronger every time. I鈥檓 not really a fan of the various nerfs that hit Season 9, and I hope we don鈥檛 keep trending down this road. I just want to feel strong, that doesn鈥檛 sound unreasonable to me.Unfortunately, the Reliquaries persist, but so do II tried to be positive about Reliquaries in Diablo 4, because it could have been a good idea, but it鈥檚 rubbish. I don’t think you get your money’s worth, and I’ve seen some of the items still suggest that you can buy them with Platinum (and not a reasonable amount, either). Oh boy! After spending 800 Platinum to unlock this tier, I can also spend 450 for a Town Portal, or 750 Platinum over and over to get the same skin for every class! (Image via Blizzard Entertainment)Before this system launched, I tried very hard to be positive about it, because I also found the Season Pass to be clunky. I didn’t want to grind through 100 levels, but conversely, I don’t think this is enough. There has to be some kind of middle ground that doesn’t feel predatory.Final ThoughtsIt’s not the best, but it’s far from the worst I’ve seen (Image via Blizzard Entertainment)Diablo 4 Season 9鈥檚 not a bad season, not by any metric, but it does have flaws. The level grind for rewards is slower than last season, which is unfortunate. It鈥檚 still an okay pace, but I genuinely miss how speedy it was for Season 8. It was the first season where it felt worth it to really get to the end of the rewards track.Combat felt good though, and the combos for Horadric Spells seem to offer something for everyone, even if your class isn鈥檛 high on the tier list. I still hope for something new in Season 10, but I don鈥檛 hate Season 9. I understand why some people are upset, seeing basically copy/pastes of previous seasons over again. I understand that, but I do still enjoy the little ways that seasons are shaken up as the months go on.