Some Diablo 4 Players Want Level Scaling Reverted

Summary

Diablo 4's level scaling has been a contentious issue since launch, with some players feeling that it makes level ups feel more like a punishment than a reward.
The recent changes to level scaling in Season of the Malignant, where monster levels were scaled down in the open world, have not been well-received by players, who feel that it has slowed down the leveling process.
The dissatisfaction with Season 1 extends beyond the leveling process, with nerfs to survivability, changes to endgame, and issues with itemization making the game feel worse for players and streamers. However, past experience shows that these issues may be addressed in the future.

Diablo 4 is the first open world experience in the Diablo franchise, and though the environments are breathtaking, some players believe that Blizzard needs to improve the game's level scaling. A contentious topic since launch, level scaling in Diablo 4 was criticized for making level ups feel more like a punishment than a reward, and one of the ways that the developers tackled the subject was by scaling down the monster levels in the open world for Season of the Malignant.

This change was accompanied by its fair share of controversy, as many players felt it significantly slowed down the daunting leveling process in Diablo 4, and thus contributed to the overall backlash that Season 1 has gotten. The higher cost of mystery chests in Diablo 4's Helltides and the removal of player boosting have done little to dissuade the community from feeling like the grind has gotten worse in the latest Diablo 4 patch.

To that end, people like webber294 have expressed a desire on the Diablo 4 subreddit for the level scaling changes to be reverted. Having played the game since the Open Beta, webber294 claims that by reducing the monster level in both the open world and instanced zones, it doesn't feel satisfying to clear Malignant Tunnels in Diablo 4 and not get a single Paragon Point out of an hour of playtime. This problem extends to grinding Renown, as side quests no longer provide any passive experience gain as well. Unless Diablo 4 players start to grind Renown early, the process doesn't have a valuable return for their efforts, and starts to feel more like a chore.

While the community may be torn on what level scaling should look like in Diablo 4, it is clear that the current solution isn't working as well as the developers may have liked. Diablo 3 also had level scaling, but the real difficulty curve was locked behind its Torment levels. Some Diablo 4 players have speculated that the solution lies in implementing more World Tiers, where each World Tier in Diablo 4 would then be assigned a certain level multiplier, making it more in line with how power scaling works in Diablo 3.

Ultimately, the dissatisfaction with Season 1 extends past the leveling process. The nerfs to survivability across all Diablo 4 classes, the changes to endgame, as well as the continued problems of Diablo 4's itemization have made the game feel worse for players and streamers alike. That being said, Reaper of Souls has proven that gameplay is malleable, and that the major gripes fans have with Diablo 4 right now may not be a factor down the line.