Despite a relatively stable launch and a solid plan for the future, Diablo 4 isn't a perfect game by any means, as several players have raised complaints about the game's poor execution of explaining the myriad of buffs. As the latest entry in the long-running franchise, Diablo 4 doesn't stray too far away from the roots, focusing on delivering a strong narrative and an ever-increasing power scale to encourage players to push into more challenging content. While the game has gotten many things right from launch, there have been a few missteps here and there.
As its name suggests, Diablo 4 is the fourth main installment in the series, where players are thrust into a conflict between the forces of heaven and hell. Players acquire more potent equipment and fight against more challenging enemies as the game progresses, forming the core gameplay loop that carries into even the most difficult endgame content. This gameplay loop is further augmented in Diablo 4, thanks to an open-world system and radiant encounters where players can form groups and take on Helltides, Legion Events, and World Bosses. Aside from gear, players can utilize different classes possessing special skills to decimate enemies and passives to augment aspects of their class identity.
While Diablo 4's combat is intuitive and easy to grasp for beginners, it truly shines when players can combine different buffs and character effects to the fullest extent and cause even more destruction. Buffs are effects that benefit the myriad of Diablo 4 builds. As these buffs can be temporary or permanent, the game uses different icons on the HUD to indicate the uptime. However, Diablo 4 often poorly represents differing buffs with separate icons, as noted by a player named murderette on Reddit. The player showcases a screenshot of their HUD, where two buffs share the same skull icon, with the right-side buff showing a numerical value to represent a stacking effect.
Players in the comment section have noted that the system is poorly done, especially for an APRG of Diablo's reputation. One player notes how Diablo 4's Necromancers can have difficulty tracking all the buffs since the character heavily relies on using multiple at a time. Other players have pointed out that hovering on the buff icons doesn't explain the functionality, a staple feature in many other ARPGs. Most players are unsurprisingly unhappy with such a bad UI design and want the developers to address the issue in future patches.
While Blizzard hasn't provided any update on this matter, the studio's insistence on making positive changes based on player feedback is reassuring. As Diablo 4 heads into its first season after launch, players should remain hopeful regarding a change.
Diablo 4 is available for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.