Penitent Difficulty Available at Level 1 - Diablo 4: Season of Hatred Rising
In Diablo 4: Vessel of Hatred and Season of Hatred Rising, there will be some changes to the Difficulty Levels and how they work. The biggest change from the Season 6 PTR is that the Penitent level will be freely accessible to everyone at level 1 who has completed the Diablo 4 base campaign (or checked the box on the character creation screen to skip the campaign).
Patch Notes for 2.01/2.02 Patch 2.01/2.02 Livestream
In the Patch 2.01/2.02 Livestream, the Developers warn that anybody who thinks they can just jump into the Penitent difficulty level in marginal gear will be in for a deadly surprise. They made this change because they wanted to open Penitent up for those who like an extreme challenge. Previously, in the Season 6 PTR, you had to be level 50 to access Penitent.
This is what can happen to an under-geared character in the Penitent difficulty level.
Blizzard has changed the names of the first 4 difficulty levels:
There are 8 difficulty levels in total, with the hardest four being called Torment 1 — 4.
Monster Scaling Changes
An important change to monsters in the various difficulty levels was announced. In the Patch Notes Blizzard stated:
Intensity scaling has been moved into Torment Difficulties 1 — 4. Scaling has been adjusted to be more noticeable.
Starting in Season 6, the monster intensity will no longer scale until you reach the Torment levels. Monster intensity is the function of monsters becoming stronger, with better ranged-attack accuracy, and having shorter cooldowns. This scaling has been removed from non-Torment difficulties.
Additional Changes to Difficulty Levels
The 8 new difficulty levels coming to Diablo 4.
The other changes in the 2.01/2.02 Patch Notes and Livestream that are related to difficulty levels include:
- Experience rewards from Whisper Caches and Helltide Chests now give more experience, scaling
