Diablo 4’s Vessel of Hatred expansion is already making splashes in the meta with some Spiritborn builds and new items and skills that change the status quo of the game, and things are bound to change even more further down the line. For example,Diablo 4’s Spiritborn Evade buildis arguably too powerful considering its damage output and ease of use, all on top of the fact that players mainly have to press the Evade button repeatedly (or bind it to the mouse wheel) to melt enemies. One of the most anticipated additions that came with Vessel of Hatred is the coveted fix to Tempering - the Scroll of Restoration.
Tempering was quite controversial in and of itself when it was first added toDiablo 4, as it can easily break a lot of good items with a streak of bad luck and limited attempts with the Tempering mechanic. This can be a huge problem in the endgame, as players may find the perfect item for their builds, but then they would need to nail the correct affix when Tempering, which can be easier said than done. As such, the Scroll of Restoration resetting all Tempering attempts on an item is great, but there’s a catch - or rather, a few.
Why Diablo 4’s Scroll of Restoration is a Double-Edged Sword
The problem withDiablo 4’s Tempering mechanic, which is essentially a crafting equivalent, is that players only have a limited number of attempts for each item. Even though the process is semi-deterministic, in the sense that players can choose their desired rolls from sets of typically 4-to-6 affixes, meaning one has a decent chance to get it, items still can and will break. This means that the item ends up depleting its Tempering attempts before players get the roll they want, and before Vessel of Hatred this meant the item was as good as “vendor trash.”
Enter the Scroll of Restoration, which removes this problem by resetting Tempering attempts on any item, making it incredibly valuable when reachingDiablo 4’s endgame. However, the Scroll of Restoration is not without flaws:
Diablo 4’s Scroll of Restoration May Be Too Little Too Late
What this all means is that players have two ways to get the item, though an extra Scroll of Restoration can be acquired with the Season Journey rewards, and while it can help alleviate the problem of Tempering items, it does not solve it. Not only is the Scroll of Restoration a band-aid to a bigger problem, but it requires two convoluted ways to be acquired, with the Dark Citadel already being controversial inDiablo 4due to its MMO-adjacent mechanics and no way to solo the activity. On top of that, while resetting Tempering attempts can help a lot, there is still no guarantee that players won’t break the item again.
If that happens, both the farming for the Scroll and the item itself are good for nothing. This is often the nature in video games to make for a farming loop that doesn’t always end with the perfect item, but the problem is thatDiablo 4’s community was already vocal about their dislike for the Tempering mechanic, and the Scroll of Restoration does little to alleviate that. In order to avoid backlash or game mechanics that don’t address the elephant in the room, a good way to improve things would be to either make the Scroll of Restoration easier to obtain or make it soDiablo 4playerscan use it more than once on a broken item. However, it remains to be seen if and what Blizzard will do about it, but even then, it’s most likely to be a Season 7 and onward fix.
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Diablo® IV is the ultimate action RPG experience with endless evil to slaughter, countless abilities to master, nightmarish dungeons, and legendary loot. Embark on the campaign solo or with friends, meeting memorable characters through beautifully dark settings and a gripping story, or explore an expansive end game and shared world where players can meet in towns to trade, team up to battle world bosses, or descend into PVP zones to test their skills against other players – no lobbies necessary – with cross-play, cross-progression, and couch co-op on Xbox.This is only the beginning for Diablo® IV, with new events, stories, seasons, rewards, and more looming on the horizon.
