The surprise release of Diablo 2's first new class since the medieval ages has mostly gone down very well, with initial impressions being generally positive. That said, now that players have had a week playing as, playing alongside, and battling Warlocks, there's a heated debate fracturing the D2 community: are they overpowered?
The emerging consensus seems to be, yes, absolutely, 100%, without a shadow of doubt. But then the argument evolves into a broader discussion about whether overpowered classes and builds should be nerfed at all. Like Diablo 4's Spiritborn problem from a little while back, Blizzard needs to decide whether to nerf down Warlocks, nerf up the other classes to match, or just leave the whole thing alone and let players figure it out themselves. Naturally, there are impassioned opinions across the spectrum online.
One of the most visited threads on the Diablo 2 subreddit over the last week is one titled "Don't nerf Warlock!" with an image of a Warlock holding up a sign with the same demand. The post has more than a thousand upvotes, which is a lot for the Diablo 2 sub, and over 600 comments either agreeing or disagreeing. The top comment with 508 upvotes is in agreement, but with one suggestion: "Sign needs to be floating with a purple aura," a reference to the purple glow that activates with various Warlock skills and abilities. Naturally, it didn't take long for someone to acquiesce.
Comment from r/diablo2
One Reddit user referenced a new video from streamer Coooley titled 'Oops... I broke the Warlock" in which the known Diablo build breaker demonstrates "the most powerful build I have ever seen in Diablo 2." You can get the full build details in the video, but the main prerequisite is that you level Demonic Mastery up to 10, which unlocks the ability to summon two demons. Meanwhile, Coooley combines a number of damage multipliers, including an additional demon he consumes, to boost Echoing Strike's output to "asinine numbers." After which, he quickly solo-clears the entire game with eight players on the server, meaning monsters are as powerful as they can be.
"'But it's fun!!' - this Spiritborn-esque level of OP is completely unacceptable for D2," argued one Reddit user, who added, "New classes cannot be intentionally made so powerful that they just crush every challenge the game has to offer. It's just a cheap trick to get us to spend our money which, with time, will completely destroy any balance and sense of progression the game previously had. We are heading into a subscription based (buy the new DLC to be competitive) FOTM ARPG."
"No way - it has to get nerfed," said another Redditor. "Bringing up all other characters to his level would make the game feel like Diablo 3, which none of us want. But if we don't do that, the Warlock remains the objectively best class in the game. It has to happen."
As someone who spent hundreds of hours in the early 2000s ripping through Diablo 2's campaign and becoming a notorious player killer thanks to my use of the black market "whites" item set (IYKYK), I have no business saying the new Warlock class should be nerfed, but, well, that's how I feel. When players find ways to exploit multipliers in ways Blizzard clearly wasn't intending, we quickly descend into lawlessness where whatever balance system the studio has implemented becomes obsolete. Not to mention, Diablo 2 Resurrected's Reign of the Warlock DLC is $25, which gives this specific scenario a pay-to-win vibe that I can't get on-board with.
