Diablo 4 Season 11 triples down on my least favorite activity

Coming from the high that was Diablo 4 Season 10, I'm feeling a little anxious about what I've seen from Season 11 so far. While I'm excited to see how Diablo 4 Season 11 overhauls its equipment upgrade mechanics and puts a new twist on the lesser evils, the return of Leaderboards and the introduction of the Tower alongside them worries me. It's not so much that I fear a repeat of the Gauntlet light exploits that ruined the original version of Leaderboards, but more that I'm not looking forward to a repeat of the same kind of endgame activity that I've already experienced twice before.

My favorite part of Diablo 4and a major reason why I keep coming back 11 seasons later, is how the game puts new twists on its core gameplay loop season after season. Diablo 4 Season 10's Chaos Armor mechanic was the most innovative and refreshing feature the game has seen since launch, making its end-of-season removal even more disappointing. Generally, Diablo 4 has made every seasonal activity feel like a fresh and rewarding experience, and while I'm sure Season 11's Lesser Evil invasions will follow suit, it's the permanent addition of the Tower that I fear could quickly become irrelevant.

Diablo 4 Season 11's New Tower Dungeon is history repeating itself

After 11 seasons, it's not surprising Diablo 4 has presented several similar activities. Even when the game repeats mechanics like seasonal powers, there's a clear level of iteration that makes each version feel like a new and improved experience. Season 10's Chaos Perks had their own unique twist on the seasonal power formula with the addition of demerits for each Chaos Perks buff, setting them apart from Season 9's Horadric Spells. Personally, I like to see mechanics like this improve every season, but it's getting to the point where some kind of endgame activity has run its course, and I'm not sure the tower will come in Diablo 4 Season 11 will feel unique enough to stand out.

Diablo 4 basically has 3 identical endgame activities

The Pit of the Artificer
Kurast Undercity
The tower

One of Diablo 4s core endgame activities is The Pit of the Artificer, a dungeon where players must defeat enough enemies within the time limit to advance to the boss. Defeating the boss before time runs out gives players the opportunity to upgrade their Paragon Glyphs, as well as progress towards unlocking higher levels of Torment difficulty. I was never a big fan of timed dungeons like The Pit, and Diablo 4 doubled down on this type of activity with the addition of the Kurast Undercity in the Vessel of Hatred DLC. This dungeon requires players to race against the clock to defeat enemies and earn attitude to increase rank and unlock the best rewards. Unlike Pit, Kurast Undercity allows players to increase the timer by defeating certain Elite and Afflicted enemies.

Kurst Undercity is a dungeon exclusively for Vessel of Hatred owners, so not all players will have three clones of the same dungeon when the Tower is released in Season 11.

Beginning with Diablo 4 Season 11 will feature a third timed dungeon in the form of the Tower. The purpose of Tower is to provide players with a competitive endgame activity that can earn them a spot on the leaderboards, depending on how well they perform against each floor's enemies in the 10 minutes they are allotted. While the tower appears to be an activity focused on testing buildings rather than a repeatable farm, it still offers some exclusive Diablo 4 cosmetics for players who can top the leaderboard.

Why I'm not a fan of Diablo 4's Timed Dungeons

The stress of a time limit has always been one of my biggest game breakers. While I love a game that Zelda: Majora's Mask today I could never get into it as a kid because the looming threat of a time limit was too much pressure for me to handle. These days I can handle time limits in games better than before, but they are still not my favorite, and I will try to avoid them in games as much as possible. Because of this, I tend to limit my runs of Pit and Kurast Undercity until I know I can steamroll with my build to make the time limit a negligible factor.

Diablo 4's Pit and Undercity Dungeons already limit build potential

Another reason I'm not a fan of timed dungeons like the Pit and Kurast Undercity is that I feel they limit build potential. To optimize a build to clear these dungeons, Diablo 4 basically forces you to invest in movement speed, and classes like Rogue and Spiritborn that excel at maneuverability will shine more than slower, tankier classes like Druid and Barbarian. Because of this limitation, I've found myself moving away from building my seasonal characters with Pit in mind and focusing more on prioritizing DPS to take on Diablo 4's Lair Bosses and Uber Lilith.

How the tower can still stand out in Diablo 4

I remain hopeful that Tower can provide a meaningful new type of game Diablo 4s end game, despite being another timed dungeon. Where I think Tower has room to stand out against dungeons like the Pit and Kurast Undercity is in its Pylons, a new mechanic that works similarly to Shrines in that they offer specific boons to the player, with the difference that there are only three potential effects to choose from.

Plyon	Effect
Pylon of Channeling	Skills cost no resources and have greatly reduced cooldowns
The pylon of power	Damage greatly increased damage
Pylon of Speed	Become unstoppable and unhindered and gain greatly increased movement speed

The effects of these pylons seem like they could turn the tower into an arcade-like rush with their damage and speed multipliers, which could eliminate some of the time limit stress that I find troubling. But other players who like to race against the clock may find that these features trivialize what should be Diablo 4s premier competition experience.