Blizzard just killed Diablo 4 by announcing a list of changes so massive that it's practically a new game

Blizzard should call Diablo 4's next season Diablo 5 because the changes coming are so fundamental and widespread, it's going to feel like you're playing a full-on sequel.

After months of teasing a massive overhaul to Diablo 4's core design, Blizzard used today's Campfire Chat steam to walk through season 4's rework to loot and many of the game's other core systems over the course of a nearly two-hour stream.

The changes touch almost every aspect of the game, which is probably why the stream opened with game director Joe Shely defining the most important aspects of Diablo 4 as the decisions you make before combat and the ones you make in between.

Season 4's loot rework redefines how you build your character through loot and adds much-needed complexity—and creativity—to Diablo 4's endgame.

Diablo 4's items, and your character as a result, are going to become flexible in ways they've never been since its release. A pair of gloves, for example, can drop with only a few stats, or affixes, you want, and—through two new crafting systems—these can now be shaped around the kind of build you want to play. Blizzard has clearly taken inspiration from Last Epoch and Path of Exile to add a staggering amount of customization to its loot. The hope is that the age of sorting through mountains of gear for the perfect items is finally over—and Blizzard believes it can be done without a loot filter.

Let's walk through a theoretical example of how upgrading loot will work in season 4 and onwards:

The new variability forces you to choose what parts of a build you like the most, and should make every piece of gear exciting to upgrade.

This is, of course, a hyper-specific example. I don't think most players will want 40% bonus movement speed on their gloves, but you get the idea: You can push your favorite stats up to ridiculously high numbers on each piece of gear. And some of the stats will fundamentally change how skills work—a maxed-out Bone Splinters stat will probably cover the