Diablo 4 Players call for major change to Living Steel drops

James Lynch
Players take on a boss in Diablo 4 (Living Steel story)

The Diablo 4 community has taken to social media to call on Blizzard to alter the current system for Living Steel drops.

Blizzard’s flagship action RPG had a tough start to life out in the wild, but recent updates have seen the community’s opinions warm towards the game. A complete overhaul to dungeon layouts was particularly well-received, while a refreshed leveling system has lessened the grind significantly.

That said, there are still plenty of things for the developer to work on. Making certain classes and specs more viable is a priority, and the endgame still needs some work to bring it up to the standard of the first 50 levels.

Now, the community is raising another issue, this time with the drop rates for Living Steel, a crucial resource for the endgame.

Living Steel drops are too low to make farming Duriel enjoyable

A player stands above a canyon in Diablo 4 (Living Steel story)
Players are unhappy with how quickly they can earn Living Steel

For context, Living Steel is a resource that drops from Tortured Gifts of Living Steel chests during Helltide events. Players collect this to summon Grigoire, who in turn drops Shards of Agony when defeated. After players have collected both the shards and Living Steel, they can summon Duriel, the only boss in the game who drops Uber Unique items.

One player took to Reddit to point out that the drop rate for Living Steel from Helltides makes farming Duriel a lengthy experience: “The builds this season are a ton of fun. The problem is that I now just want to farm Duriel all day, and I would, if I could. Having to wait around 3 hours for a single Duriel run is poor game design and I really hope they change it before the season concludes.”

Others were quick to agree, with one noting that it’s unfair for solo players: “The higher up I go, and need to farm stuff like living steel to get to the bosses, the more I realize that playing solo is a disadvantage.”

The solution doesn’t necessarily have to include higher drops, though, with many suggesting an alteration to the way Helltides work would be enough to address the issue: “Honestly, just making the helltide a rotating always-up like vamp tide would be great. Still grindy, but not the big gap in time between them. Vamp tides really feel like how Helltides should be going forward.”

Blizzard addressing the issue before the end of the Season of Blood is unlikely, with the scale of the change making it a more likely candidate for whatever season comes next. With recent evidence suggesting the developer is listening to the community, it’s unlikely to go unaltered for too long.

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About The Author

James is a Gaming Writer who specializes in Destiny 2, WoW, Assassin's Creed, Strategies, RPGs and Yu-Gi-Oh! When he isn't writing, he can usually be found supporting Brentford F.C.