So when players start skipping a feature entirely, something has probably gone wrong.
That is the current complaint around Heralds in Diablo II: Resurrected. A fresh Blizzard forum thread has players saying that Heralds are being ignored because they feel too tanky, too annoying, and not nearly rewarding enough to justify the effort.
In Diablo terms, that is a bad smell. Not “rotting Fallen camp” bad, but close.
Risk Is Fine. Wasting Time Is Not
Diablo II players are not scared of difficulty. This is a community that has been farming the same bosses for decades with the grim determination of people who owe Mephisto money.
The problem is not that Heralds can be dangerous. The problem is that some players feel the danger and time investment do not match the reward.
According to the forum discussion, some players claim they have killed large numbers of Heralds without seeing meaningful drops, while others say Discord groups are simply skipping them. That is the kind of community behavior that should make any ARPG designer sit up and spill coffee on the balance sheet.
Because players skipping optional content is not always a problem. Players skipping content that was supposed to be interesting, rewarding, or worth hunting? That is different.
Diablo II Lives and Dies by the Loot Carrot
Diablo II is not a game built on endless systems explaining themselves with polite tooltips. It is built on the ancient sacred pact: kill monster, hear item drop, briefly believe life has meaning.
If Heralds break that loop, even a little, players will notice immediately.
A hard enemy with exciting drops becomes a hunt. A hard enemy with disappointing drops becomes roadkill with extra steps. And Diablo II players are famously efficient when it comes to cutting out nonsense. If something does not pay, it gets skipped, ignored, or turned into a forum post with spiritual damage.
That is why Heralds are in a weird spot. If they are meant to be dangerous chase encounters, they need to feel special. If they are just bulky interruptions with weak rewards, players will treat them like cursed speed bumps.
The Feature Needs a Reason to Exist
The loudest criticism is not simply “buff drops.” It is more specific than that. Players want the time spent fighting Heralds to feel like it belongs in Diablo II’s reward structure.
That could mean better drops. It could mean more consistent chase value. It could mean adjusting how Heralds fit into Terror Zones so they feel like part of the hunt instead of an awkward guest who brought no beer and punched the dog.
Whatever the solution, the current mood is clear: if the smart play is to skip the monster, the monster has a design problem.
Diablo II: Resurrected does not need every new mechanic to shower players in treasure like a broken slot machine. That would be boring, and also slightly too Diablo Immortal for comfort.
But it does need new systems to respect the old rhythm of the game. Kill something dangerous. Get a shot at something exciting. Repeat until your eyes become runes.
Skipping Heralds Says More Than Complaining About Them
Forum complaints are normal. Diablo players could find a way to argue with a Horadric Cube.
But actual player behavior matters more than angry posts. If people are seeing Heralds and deciding they are not worth the click, that is the real warning sign.
A feature can survive being controversial. It can survive being hard. It can even survive being slightly irritating, because this is Diablo and irritation is basically part of the wallpaper.
What it cannot survive is becoming irrelevant.
If Heralds are supposed to be a meaningful part of Diablo II: Resurrected’s current season, they need to feel like more than a tanky chore with a disappointing loot sneeze at the end.
Because once Diablo players decide a monster is not worth killing, that monster might as well already be dead.
