Feedback: The grind for Witch powers and gems need a smoother curve along with progression.

Hi all,

I'll be the canary in the coal mine.

Witch powers take too long to level up, and gems are too resource intensive to craft, that you will likely not even need to engage with the seasonal system until very late endgame. And even then, you will probably not need them. Most people should just ignore them.

Now I'm not a game designer, but I can see that the way they designed this season mechanic makes zero sense in the context of how D4 is played by anyone.

For those who don't know, the two gates for Witch power and gem progression are a resource called Rot and a rare drop called heads. (Oh and also skull and diamond fragments but ignore those for a second)

In order to get rot and heads, you have two choices: Run headhunt (green helltide) or the root dungeons. Except the root dungeons suck for both rot and heads, so your best bet is headhunts.

So what's the issue?

You need to run nothing but headhunts for 20+ hours to even make a dent into leveling your witch powers or crafting gems. It's a grind, which isn't the issue.

The issue is the whole time you are doing this this witch grind, you are leveling up, getting to T4 and wondering why you even need this witch stuff to begin with.

If you took that time and did pits, bosses and hordes, your character will be powerful enough to do anything in the game except for past pit 100.

So what's the point of the witch powers? Are they necessary to take you to pit 150? Nobody knows at this point.

If you are an average player, the basic witch powers won't make much of a difference and you won't be able to craft even the most basic witch gem until well past paragon 100.

If you are a no lifer, the powers and gems are insignificant and the grind to get them takes away from core progession. If they are a hard requirement fir pit 150, ok. But 99% of the player base doesn't care about that.

So my point is Blizzard should have smoothed the seasonal progression to be parallel to your character's development. Your witch powers should be coming online as you level and progress in paragon. Not 30 hours later.

The way it's designed now makes no sense for casuals or people who play likes it's a job (like me).

They really need to do a better job testing these seasonal systems. Anyone playing just one character would be able to spot the issue within a day's work.