Diablo 4 Update Makes Secret Change to Forgotten Souls

Summary

Diablo 4 players are generally unimpressed with the latest update, but they appreciate the undocumented change that allows them to obtain Forgotten Souls by salvaging Legendary items.
Most players prefer farming loot in Nightmare Dungeons due to efficiency and higher chances of Sacred or Ancestral items.
The Diablo 4 community has been requesting better incentives for Helltides, and while the addition of salvaging Legendary items for Forgotten Souls is a step in the right direction, they hope for more balanced rewards in the future.

Community reception to Season of the Malignant in Diablo 4 has been lukewarm, to say the least, but there seems to be an undocumented change to Forgotten Souls that will certainly be appreciated by the vast majority of players. The endgame in Diablo 4 is separated into Nightmare Dungeons and Helltides, with the latter being in a dire position since the latest update, largely due to the higher Aberrant Cinder cost for mystery chests.

Though Aberrant Cinders have been restored to their original drop rate shortly after the patch launch, most Diablo 4 players prefer Nightmare Dungeons for farming loot over Helltides. The primary reasons are efficiency and luck, as items that drop in Nightmare Dungeons have a higher likelihood of being Sacred or Ancestral compared to open-world drops. The advantage that Helltides had over Nightmare Dungeons in Diablo 4 was in providing players with exclusive materials such as Fiend Roses and Forgotten Souls.

This seems to have changed in Season of the Malignant, as Diablo 4 players can now obtain Forgotten Souls by salvaging Legendary items, in addition to the usual method of completing Helltide activities. While a few voices in the community such as z0ttel89 have made the argument that this further delegitimizes Helltides as an endgame option in Diablo 4, the vast majority of fans are in favor of the change.

There has been a powerful push from Diablo 4 players for better incentives in Helltides, as the game's Reddit community frequently submits feedback on what they consider to be the biggest emerging and ongoing problems in Diablo 4. While being able to obtain Forgotten Souls outside Helltides is a step in the right direction, this diversification of obtainment methods would be even better if Helltide rewards in Diablo 4 became more in line with Nightmare Dungeons.

From an objective standpoint, it would seem that players had the most fun with Helltides in Patch 1.0.4, when its mystery chests were significantly buffed, and the community went into a collective frenzy in trying to obtain the astronomically rare Uber Uniques in Diablo 4. Though this manner of target-farming Uber Uniques was quickly removed from the game, player engagement was at an all-time high. It implied that new ways of obtaining important endgame items were a healthy direction for Diablo 4, which is why this change to Forgotten Souls has been widely praised by the community. Hopefully, similar changes will be in store for fans in the future.