Diablo 4 Season 14 will receive its first update on July 14, and while it does bring some welcome changes to what has proven to be an unpopular season so far, those hoping it would fix everything will have to keep waiting.
Season 14 launched June 30, and its main hook is what Blizzard coined “Mythic Uniques 3.0,” an overhaul of the game’s item chase that made it so every Unique in the game (of which there are well over 100) can become an even more powerful Mythic Unique.
Patch 3.1.1 makes a few core changes that should result in players being able to acquire far more Mythic Uniques than ever before. The main currency used to “upgrade” (in actuality, gamble) Uniques into Mythics using the Horadric Cube, Pandemonium Fragments, are becoming far more plentiful. Blizzard has made them a guaranteed drop from the repeatable Glints of Hope reputation reward, doubled the amount of fragments (from one to two) dropped by the Corrupted Reaper on higher Torment tiers, and reduced the number of Pandemonium Fragments (from five to four) needed to gamble Uniques into Mythics.
More fragments and a lower crafting cost means players will be able to fish for Mythics using the cube far more often, but it does basically nothing else to address the core issues players have with the season: the ability to only equip one crafted Mythic and the almost impossibility of being able to find a good, usable Mythic as a random drop.
The season’s core idea, of opening up Diablo 4’s Mythic possibility space, sounded interesting on paper. In theory, it creates more build diversity by attempting to push players away from the old Mythic Unique system where most builds all used the same handful of best-in-slot Mythic Uniques.
Unfortunately, Diablo 4’s Mythic item changes haven’t won over many fans. With so many new Mythic options, players are struggling to find the items they want for their builds, with no real way to target and farm specific items. Instead, players have to essentially just get lucky turning random Uniques into Mythics via the Horadric Cube and hope to get one that is usable for their build.
Once a player makes a good Mythic, that essentially ends the chase, as they are only able to equip one crafted Mythic at a time and the chances of finding a good non-crafted Mythic out in the wild are slim. Old Mythic build staples like Heir of Perdition, Harlequin Crest, and The Grandfather are even harder to find. When they do drop, they are far worse than they used to be, with partly random modifiers that can sometimes make them not even worth using. As one Diablo content creator, Rhykker, recently put it–Blizzard is making players “work harder to get something crappier than we used to have,” which isn’t exactly a great feeling.
There’s still time for Blizzard to make bigger balance changes to Season 14, with many players hoping for a lift on the single-equipped-crafted Mythic restriction to allow for Mythics made via Resplendent Sparks to also be worn. As it stands now, this first update is barely even a Band-Aid plastered over the season’s far more serious problems. You can read the full update 3.1.1 patch notes below.
Diablo 4 Season 14 Update 3.1.1 Patch Notes
Season of Death Awakening
- Added the Seasonal Reputation Board to Temis.
- Deathtoll Chambers will always reward at least one Superior Lair Key in high Torment levels.
- Corrupted Reaper now drops up to two Pandemonium Fragments, scaling with Torment level.
- Repeatable Glints of Hope Reputation Reward now guarantees a Pandemonium Fragment.
- Reduced the cost of the Upgrade to Mythic recipe on the Horadric Cube from 5 to 4 Pandemonium Fragments.
- Fixed issue where the Season Rank objective Terrorize The Night failed to progress.
- Fixed an issue where the Artificer’s Obelisk displayed a beta tag.
- Fixed a clipping issue on Gloamstrider’s Barding Mount Armor.
- Fixed an issue where Nemesis Lair could fail to trigger in the Corrupted Reaper’s Boss Lair.
- Fixed an issue where only one party member would receive Tower rewards.
- Fixed an issue where part of the map could fail to load in Dark Refuge dungeon.
- Fixed an issue where Tower Halo rewards could appear inverted.
- Fixed an issue where Tower Halo rewards could appear on mounts.
- Fixed an issue where Forgotten Souls were not dropping from Whisper Caches in Torment levels.
- Fixed an issue where Awakened Exarch’s ability ignores sound settings.
- Fixed an issue where Solo Self-Found icon could fail to show on Friends list.
- Fixed an issue where monsters would spawn too far from Rupture portal.
Expansion
Bug Fixes
Paladin
- Fixed issue where Damage with Holy was not showing in Stats and Materials tab.
Spiritborn
- Fixed an issue where Spiritborn’s Stinger could sometimes deal more damage than intended.
- Fixed an issue where Fiery Soul VFX could appear too large.
- Fixed an issue where Wyrdskin gloves could fail to show on character model.
Warlock
- Increased clarity on selected Warlock Soul Shard.
- Fixed an issue where Brutal Aspect’s tooltip bonus preview incorrectly calculated over 100% Attack Speed.
- Fixed an issue where the Fulcrum of Mefis Talisman Set stacks would fall off if a dead enemy attacked your demons.
- Fixed an issue where the Mefis set failed to trigger the 2-Piece Set Bonus from damage sent to your demons from the 3-Piece Set Bonus.
- Fixed an issue where 2-Piece Flesh of Abbadon stacks could be removed erroneously.
War Plans
- Fixed an issue where Wretched Vermin could appear in Town during Helltides.
- Fixed an issue where Colossal Foe and Malignant Invasion mutators could cause Bosses to not drop loot.
- Fixed an issue where Whispers Ambushes could fail to drop loot.
- Fixed an issue where Corrupted Reaper could fail to gain power from Mutators.
- Fixed an issue where Planar Tremors applied to Chaos Rift monsters.
- Fixed an issue where Marks of El’Druin could not be pinned in the Currency tab.
Miscellaneous
- Fixed issue where Invasion Portals could spawn on top of one another.
- Fixed issue where Rathma could get stuck during the quest A Blade’s Weight.
- Added El’Druin, Sword of Justice to the Mythic Unique Cache from the Blacksmith.
Base Game
Bug Fixes
Barbarian
- Fixed an issue where Challenging Shout Bawl Variant could decay more than anticipated.
Druid
- Fixed an issue where Druid’s toggled skills could sometimes gain more damage than intended from the Storm Shepherd’s Call Talisman set.
Rogue
- Fixed an issue where Shadow Clone could cause additional Shrine effects, such as spawning additional Soul Eaters in the Deathtoll Chamber.
Miscellaneous
- Fixed an issue where Pangs of Duriel could spawn out of place during the Duriel fight.
- Fixed an issue that was preventing certain sources of Uniques from dropping as Mythic, including Lair Bosses.
- Increased the chance of naturally dropped Mythics being an Iconic Mythic.
- Fixed various incorrect wardrobe icons.
- Various performance and stability fixes.
- Various clipping and texture fixes.