The PTR has been an extreme testing ground designed to help identify the right level of challenge in Diablo 4. Colin Finer, the lead live game designer, acknowledged that the game’s past seasons had issues with balance where players felt they could progress without a challenge.

“We had heard a bunch of feedback from Season 7 that you could just AFK and just get everything for free, and that wasn’t something that we felt like was true Diablo,” he stated in an interview with PC Gamer.

Finer emphasized the importance of balancing game difficulty: “If there isn’t enough challenge, then it just feels like you’re getting candy for free, and you don’t really feel that satisfaction of overcoming a boss.”

As the launch of Season 8 approaches, Finer shared that the goal is to create a gameplay experience that is more challenging than Season 7, ensuring players earn their rewards. He mentioned, “We think that that little tick of difficulty is really going to help the overall game feel much more rewarding.”