Review for Casual Players: Is Diablo 4: Vessel of Hatred Worth it?

Maybe you bought Diablo 4 at launch, or maybe you picked it up once it hit Game Pass, and now that the game is in a good place, and you’ve been playing the last few seasons, you’re eyeing the new expansion, Diablo 4: Vessel of Hatred.

From the reviews that are already out there we know that it’s been widely well received. What I want to chat about today is if you should pick up Diablo 4: Vessel of Hatred as a casual and mostly solo player.

Different Types of Casuals

There are a few ways to look at this. Are you casual as in you want to play the new story on normal difficulty and move on? Or are you casual in the way that you can only put in a few hours a day and don’t have all the time in the world to do the usual Diablo grind?

As someone who plays mostly solo, but has a little more time to play than the average person, I have some thoughts…

Casual Friendly Story Mode

If you want to play the new story and move on, you can do so, very likely on the easiest difficulty on offer. The story is a bit weak, but it’s there, and it’s a good way to experience the new Spiritborn class as well. You have no interest in making a meta build or to run nightmare dungeons and all of that other cool endgame stuff. Yes, buy the DLC.

There’s a good couple of hours of content, but it isn’t where the bulk of the game improvements are, so basically expect more of the same.

Worth It for Endgame Grind Fans

Now, if you are interested in the Diablo endgame grind, you are no stranger to difficulty tiers and rerunning content, and you’re almost pretty happy to skip the new story to get to the endgame. I’m gonna tell you that if you don’t have a good chunk of time, or some really good friends to play with, the new DLC is tough.

New Difficulty Tiers: What You Need to Know

The biggest change to the entire game, in my opinion, is the way that the game treats its difficulty tiering. I have easily spent 40+ hours over the last couple of weeks exploring the expansion, and something has just not been clicking for me.

Turns out, I am sorely under leveled and under-powered, and leveling on a higher difficult tier to try and speed that process up is a bad idea with the DLC, whereas it was possible before.

Under-leveled and Under-powered

So no, if you want a casual grind at endgame, unless you have a ton of time to invest, you might feel a bit short changed, because the flow of the game just doesn’t feel right.

This doesn’t mean it isn’t good. It’s about rewiring your brain from the difficulties you have been playing on for the last 3 months and trying to be happy playing on what seems to be a lower level, where leveling is slow and drops are few and nightmare dungeons still feel near impossible if you aren’t following a build guide. You can progress, but 2 hours of playing a day won’t get you far.

Basically, the way you used to approach difficulty is now completely different, and the game requires a lot more skill and strategy to master on higher levels.

Is Vessel of Hatred Worth It for Solo Players?

I have spent so much time looking up new mechanics, builds and activities that I feel more like I should be authoring a Wikipedia about the new Diablo endgame meta than I should be speaking about this, or even playing the game. So, if you have limited time, aren’t looking for a challenge and you play more solo than not, the new DLC may not be for you.

The party function helps a bit here and there, but I would go into Vessel of Hatred with a co-op team much rather than facing the pits of hell solo, since they really are closer to hell now. Once you do get over the hump and into the meta, things get pretty fun, but it’s the getting there that really isn’t casual.