Some Diablo IV players have a new request for Blizzard.
Make loot impossible again.
Or at least almost impossible.
A fresh community discussion argues that Mythic items have become accessible enough that they no longer provide the enormous lottery-win moment Diablo's rarest gear once offered.
The proposed solution is a completely new rarity tier.
Red items.
Extremely powerful.
Extremely rare.
Something you might play an entire season without ever seeing.
And almost immediately, another player pointed out the rather obvious problem:
Isn't that basically what Mythics used to be?
Some Players Think “Mythic” No Longer Means Mythic
The discussion began on August 27 with a fairly blunt claim:
There are no genuinely difficult-to-obtain items left.
The suggestion is to introduce a new red item tier above the current loot structure, giving dedicated players something exceptionally rare to chase.
Not something guaranteed through seasonal progression.
Not something you can steadily craft toward.
Something that drops and makes you stop for a second.
The old Diablo feeling of seeing an item on the ground and thinking:
Wait.
What the hell is that?
There is a real design argument hiding underneath the slightly dramatic forum wording.
ARPGs need aspirational loot.
If every desirable item can be reliably acquired, the chase gradually shifts from finding something extraordinary to finding a slightly better version of something you already own.
Mythics Have Changed Dramatically
The complaint makes considerably more sense when you look at what Blizzard has done with Mythic items.
Season 14 introduced Mythic Uniques 3.0.
Mythic stopped functioning purely as its own tiny category of ultra-rare named items.
Instead, it became an item quality that can apply to any Unique.
A Unique can now naturally drop as Mythic.
Players can also convert Uniques into Mythics through the Horadric Cube or create them using Resplendent Sparks and Runes.
Seasonal progression even provides routes toward class-specific Mythic rewards.
That is an enormous philosophical shift.
The question changed from:
Will I ever see a Mythic?
to:
How good will my Mythic be?
Season 15 Is Making Mythic Crafting Even More Predictable
And Blizzard is moving further in that direction.
Season 15's PTR introduced more deterministic Mythic crafting.
The expensive Horadric Cube conversion becomes a direct 1:1 transfer.
If you have a Unique with excellent affixes, Tempering and Masterworking, the Cube can convert that exact item into Mythic quality while retaining those modifications.
No random reroll.
No praying that the expensive conversion produces something worse.
The Jeweler route also lets players choose an equipment slot and receive a class-specific Mythic from that slot.
That change directly addresses one of the frustrations we saw with players feeling that powerful items could effectively be bricked by later upgrade systems.
From a player-friendly perspective, it makes complete sense.
From a “rare loot should terrify me with possibility” perspective?
You can see why some players feel something has disappeared.
We Have Literally Had This Argument Before
The funniest part of the red-item proposal is that Diablo IV already conducted this experiment.
At launch, the rarest so-called Uber Uniques were astonishingly difficult to obtain.
For many players, they effectively did not exist.
That created incredible screenshots when one finally appeared.
It also created an obvious problem.
If an item is so rare that most players will never interact with it, how much value does it actually add to the game?
Blizzard gradually moved away from that model.
Target farming improved.
Bosses gained better Mythic chances.
Resplendent Sparks created progression toward specific items.
Rune recipes made targeted crafting possible.
And now Mythic 3.0 makes the system dramatically more accessible again.
That did not happen accidentally.
Players asked for it.
The Forum Immediately Pointed Out the Cycle
One reply to the new red-item proposal summarizes the problem perfectly.
Mythics became easier to obtain because people complained that they were too rare.
If Blizzard adds another ultra-rare tier, players will eventually complain about that rarity too.
Then Blizzard makes red items easier to obtain.
Then somebody suggests purple-black items.
Eventually Diablo IV requires a Pantone subscription.
That may sound cynical, but there is history behind it.
Players generally like the idea of impossibly rare loot.
Until the impossibly rare loot is required by the build guide they want to play.
There Is a Huge Difference Between a Chase Item and a Required Item
This is probably the most important distinction in the entire debate.
An ultra-rare item works brilliantly when it is:
Optional.
If it makes a powerful build slightly stranger, faster or more spectacular, its rarity creates excitement.
If it is the component that makes the build function at all?
Its rarity becomes frustration.
One player in the current discussion points directly at this conflict.
Some people are angry because Mythics are too common.
Other people are angry when a build-defining Mythic refuses to drop.
Blizzard's current solution is essentially:
Make the basic Mythic attainable.
Make the exceptional version difficult.
The Real Chase May Already Be the Perfect Mythic
This is where the modern system is more nuanced than simply saying Mythics are common now.
Getting a Mythic is one thing.
Getting the right Mythic with the right underlying item, perfect Greater Affixes and ideal optimization is another.
Season 14's system intentionally moved rarity away from basic access and toward quality.
Blizzard wants more players to interact with Mythic powers.
The hardcore grinder can then chase the absurd version.
That gives both audiences something.
The normal player gets to use the interesting item.
The obsessive player gets to spend another 140 hours looking for one that is 3.7% better.
Everyone wins.
Depending on your definition of winning.
But Perfect Rolls Do Not Feel Like New Items
The red-item supporters have a strong counterargument.
Finding a stronger version of something you already own does not produce the same emotional reaction as discovering something completely new.
A Mythic with better rolls is exciting.
But you already know what it does.
You already have the icon.
You already built around the power.
The new one simply replaces the old one.
A genuinely rare item can create a different kind of moment.
You inspect it.
You start theorycrafting.
You wonder whether your entire build should change.
That sense of discovery is harder to create when endgame progression becomes increasingly deterministic.
Diablo Needs Items You Don’t Expect to Find
This is where I think the community argument has merit.
Not every item should be part of a checklist.
ARPG loot is more interesting when occasionally the game gives you something you were not farming.
Something that was not step seven of the build guide.
Something that changes your plans.
Diablo II is particularly good at this.
You can spend an evening farming one thing and suddenly find an unrelated rune, jewel or rare item valuable enough to redirect the entire session.
The loot system produces stories because it is not completely obedient.
Diablo IV has steadily become better at allowing players to pursue exactly what they need.
That is convenient.
It can also make loot feel procedural.
Red Items Should Not Simply Be Stronger Mythics
If Blizzard ever introduced a new ultra-rare category, simply giving it 50% more damage would probably be the worst possible implementation.
Because then everyone would need it.
The rarest items work better when they are weird rather than mandatory.
Imagine something that fundamentally alters a skill.
An item that enables an unusual multiclass-style interaction.
A weapon with a strange downside that requires an entirely new build.
Something powerful enough to be exciting but specific enough that your existing character is not considered incomplete without it.
Then rarity becomes possibility rather than obligation.
Seasonal Diablo Makes Extreme Rarity Harder
There is also a structural problem.
Diablo IV revolves around Seasons.
A very rare item in a permanent game can take six months to find.
That is fine.
Your character will still be there.
An item that takes six months on average to obtain inside a three-month seasonal cycle is a different proposition.
Most players will never see it before their character moves to Eternal.
That is exactly why Blizzard has repeatedly introduced deterministic progression toward key items.
The seasonal structure creates pressure for players to experience the important content within a reasonable window.
Eternal Could Be the Better Home for Truly Absurd Chase Items
Interestingly, yesterday's discussion about a Fresh Start option for Diablo IV's Eternal Realm touches the opposite side of this issue.
Eternal has no seasonal expiration date.
That makes it a much more natural environment for genuinely long-term chase items.
A piece of gear that takes months to obtain makes more sense when the character itself is permanent.
Blizzard could theoretically allow incredibly rare prestige drops on Eternal while keeping Seasonal build-defining items reasonably obtainable.
That would create different loot philosophies for different ways of playing.
Blizzard has announced nothing like that.
But it illustrates why one rarity model does not necessarily need to serve every player.
Season 15 Is Moving in the Opposite Direction
Everything we saw on the Season 15 PTR suggests Blizzard currently prefers more control, not less.
Mythic crafting becomes more deterministic.
Legacy Uniques expand the pool of interesting recognizable items.
Soul Splinters create additional build choices.
Blizzard is trying to make it easier for players to construct the character they intended to play.
As we discussed in our Season 15 PTR feedback roundup, the current concerns are more about balance, RNG layering and system complexity than a lack of another rarity color.
That makes a brand-new ultra-rare tier seem unlikely in the immediate future.
The Problem Is Not That Mythics Are Too Easy
The deeper problem may be that Diablo IV needs more exciting things to find after you have completed your build.
That is slightly different.
If Mythics become impossibly rare again, many players simply lose access to interesting powers.
If Blizzard adds more optional aspirational loot, endgame players gain something new to pursue without making ordinary builds miserable.
That could be:
- Ultra-rare cosmetic variants
- Extremely rare alternate Unique powers
- Prestige versions of existing items
- Tradeable collector items
- Rare crafting components for optional upgrades
- Items with unusual rather than universally stronger effects
The goal should be creating:
I cannot believe that dropped.
Without creating:
My character doesn't work because that never dropped.
Diablo Will Probably Never Solve This Argument
Loot games have been fighting this battle for decades.
Make something rare and players complain they cannot obtain it.
Make it attainable and players complain it no longer feels special.
Create deterministic crafting and people miss discovery.
Remove deterministic crafting and people feel their time is being wasted.
Both sides are right.
Unfortunately.
Diablo needs chase items.
It also needs players to actually experience its best builds before the season ends.
The answer probably is not simply making Mythics absurdly rare again.
And it probably is not adding a red tier that becomes required six hours after Maxroll updates its guides.
But the current discussion is identifying something real.
There should always be something in Diablo that you do not expect to find.
Something that makes the loot beam matter.
Something rare enough that when it finally appears, you do not immediately ask:
Does this have one more Greater Affix than the six copies in my stash?
Maybe Blizzard does not need red items.
But Diablo probably still needs a few items that feel mythical.
Sources
Diablo IV Forums: New Red Items That Are Hard to Obtain Should Be Added
Blizzard: Season 14 and Mythic Uniques 3.0
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