Diablo 4 experienced a rollercoaster ride since its highly successful launch, marked by record-breaking achievements for Blizzard. However, the post-launch journey has been fraught with issues, including poorly received patches, a lack of additional content, and a somewhat solitary multiplayer experience. This has led to a significant drop in player interest, with a staggering 99% decrease in Diablo 4's Twitch viewership since Season 1's launch.
The end-game content in Diablo 4 has been a major concern for players since its release. Now, a determined Reddit user, u/fpsthirty, has embarked on a mission to shed light on why Nightmare Dungeons in Diablo 4 fail to captivate players.
Over the course of 18 days, u/fpsthirty conducted an exhaustive experiment, completing over 400 Nightmare Dungeons. They meticulously documented a total of 8,104 pieces of Ancestral gear to assess how different tiers of Nightmare Dungeons affected item drops.
The results revealed a surprising disparity in the tiers at which powerful drops occurred. The three most potent items they obtained spanned tiers 21 to 100, covering a considerable range.
To simplify their findings, u/fpsthirty summarized that between tiers 40 to 90, the offered loot was essentially the same. Approximately 70% of the gear they collected displayed a mere 3-point power difference.
While drop rates may vary across tiers, one user emphasized that the ability to clear a dungeon quickly greatly impacts the rate at which you can accumulate Ancestral gear per hour. They noted, "Realistically you want max chances per hour, and tier 100 dungeons slow most characters down a ton, so you're going to have to figure out what tier makes the most sense for your character."
While Tier-100 Nightmare Dungeons are viewed as a significant milestone to achieve, u/fpsthirty's data suggests a different approach. There's little sense in grinding a dungeon with a slower clear rate when you can efficiently farm an easier tier for items of equal power.
The most effective method for obtaining Ancestral gear in Diablo 4 seems to be identifying the highest Nightmare Dungeon tier that doesn't impede your speed and farming that specific tier. Striving for a higher tier may actually hinder your ability to collect potent gear efficiently.
