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Why Herb Gathering Needs Improvement in Diablo 4
Diablo IV
Pubblicato
28/02/2024 alle 14:10
da
RenataKane
Some topics in the Diablo community will always spark controversy - Stash space, drop rates, itemization, and the in-game Shop have all been hot topics burning their way through circles of Wanderers since Diablo 4 launched. We've got our own opinions: read on to find out more about our take on the Herb system in Diablo 4!
The entire Herb collection system for making Elixirs and upgrading potions was created for a different game era. It’s time for a serious revisit to the herb, Elixir and Incense system.
Back before Season 1, everyone was doing a lot of running around above ground, doing side quests, going after Altars, and finishing the campaign. Since Herbs are only obtained by direct farming or doing side quests that give an
Cassa di Erbe
and assorted herbs, getting enough herbs wasn’t much of an issue, because you spent so much time above ground where you could grab them as you went along.
In today's world of spamming Nightmare Dungeons and Vaults to level (because open-world experience gives so little... well, experience), getting enough herbs even to upgrade your healing potion can pose serious problems. There are four key areas where herbs and Elixirs could use some serious improvement.
Herb Farming Isn't Viable
Getting enough herbs often means open-world farming. Without an in-game way to track herb nodes in the world, it’s often a complete guess as to where you’ll even find these nodes, and they have a terrible habit of disappearing. I’ve gone back to previous hot spots only to find a local herb plague has wiped everything out.
Herb node yield is also ridiculously low. It’s frustrating to find those elusive
Bacca Pizzicante
nodes, only to have it yield 1
Bacca Pizzicante
when you need 27 to upgrade to a
Pozione di Cura Grande
at level 80.
There are only a few open-world activities most players do regularly: Helltides, some Whispers, and the Season 3 outdoor activities we’ve come to call Malphas-palooza. Sure, we’ll stop for an herb when we see one there, but that’s hardly enough to keep one character stocked and up to date on their potions.
This is not only an unrewarding mechanic, it’s counter to normal Diablo farming objectives. Diablo has always been a game about farming gear, runes, and the next upgrade, but herb farming feels pointless by comparison. At certain stages of the game, particularly World Tier changes, herbs and elixirs are mostly about temporarily shoring up weaknesses, not building power.
Solution
There are many possible fixes that would help these issues, including improving yields from herb nodes, density of outdoor nodes, and respawn rates. However, reducing the reliance on open-world farming would have a much bigger impact.
Lack of “Indoor” Options
Currently, there are no methods for reliably gathering herbs inside dungeons or vaults. While you may on occasion have a dropped low-level piece of gear roll into an herb instead due to the changes in loot implemented in Season 2, this is completely random and untargetable, so you can't rely on RNG to get your herbs stocked up. Since these dungeons and vaults comprise a large portion of a player’s time due to needing to upgrade Glyphs, it also isolates players from being able to gather useful herbs or Elixirs. While you will sometimes get Elixirs from drops or chests, you don’t always get what you want, nor do you have any method to turn them into something useful to you.
Solution
Extend herb farming to indoor dungeons by allowing mobs to drop herbs. Allowing some mobs to drop herbs would certainly go a long way toward dealing with the herb shortage. Some mobs drop leather and some even drop ore – why can they drop rocks but not flowers?
Additionally, we could introduce herbs as part of chests’ loot tables. We already get a tsunami of gold from chests these days; add some useful crafting materials as well. Even better, we've seen ore nodes in some side quest dungeons -- why not allow both ore nodes and herb nodes in regular dungeons? “Outdoor” dungeons like Aldurwood would be a natural place for herb nodes, as would ruined cities like Guulrahn Slums. Indoor caves would be great places for ore nodes.
Lack of an Alchemy Vendor
There are vendors connected to the Blacksmith who sell Magic and Rare armor and weapons. The Jeweler has a sales representative for Rings and Amulets. The Occultist’s job is made easier by selling enchants through the farmed Codex of Power. The Alchemist is the only one that has no direct sales option, and players running low on Elixirs can definitely feel the loss.
Solution
Adding pre-made Elixirs to the Alchemist shop could alleviate a large portion of the herb burden. An Alchemist vendor could sell basic utility Elixirs like resistances, armor, and extra health, but without the 5% Experience perk. Crafted or dropped Elixirs would always be better and have a wider range of abilities, but it would give players an option to use gold to cover basic quality-of-life shortfalls.
No Way to Salvage Unwanted Elixirs
The Blacksmith can salvage unwanted gear for upgrade bits. The Occultist can remove Legendary Aspects to transfer them to better items or a different slot. The Jeweler can break down Gems so you can upgrade to better gems without wasting lower-level Gems. But while the Alchemist can recycle one type of herb into another, that doesn’t help when your overall herb stock is already low.
This function just redistributes the core problem. It even causes issues if you’re low on
Trivite
, the universal donor of herbs where you can turn 5
Trivite
into one of any other type of herb. This is great if you’re overstocked on
Trivite
and really need
Muschio Ululante
, but not so good if you are short on
Trivite
itself - which means you're back to square one.
Solution
There is nothing you can do with unwanted Elixirs other than use them just for the experience bonus, give them to an alt, or sell them for a pittance - so why not allow the Alchemist to salvage unwanted Elixirs? While converting Elixirs into whole herbs would require some real magic, the Alchemist should be able to salvage unwanted potions into component Essences that can take the place of that herb. This would be a welcome addition to Potion management.
What are your thoughts about the herb-gathering system? Do you have ideas for changes you'd like to see? Let us know in the comments below!
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