Now Let’s Stop Unlocking Waypoints

What You Need to Know

• Having to repeatedly unlock Waypoints is antiquated and it doesn’t even exist in Diablo 3.
• Players will soon have the ability to select one favorite Waypoint of their choice.
• Diablo 4 still lacks other fast travel features that have been the standard for many years.
• Pets should be able to do much more than just run around and pick up drops.

The list of overworld achievements or accomplishments that carry over from one Season to the next has evolved over time. In June of last year, I published an analysis about the first major update to this process following the initial launch of the game. To put it simply, the Devs ultimately decided that all roster-wide Renown rewards should always carry over once they were achieved by any character in either the Eternal or Seasonal realms.

At the same time, however, not all of the Renown activities that players have completed will actually carry over as being unlocked. All of the unlocked Altars of Lilith and the uncovered Fog of War areas on the map remain so once these activities have been completed at least once. However, other activities, such as unlocking some of the Waypoints, liberating Strongholds, and completing side dungeons must be repeated even though the Renown points earned from some of these achievements carry over into each new Season.

And Away We Go

Following the update mentioned above, the Devs agreed to a further compromise by deciding that some of the Waypoints previously unlocked by players would also carry over as unlocked. The goal was to make it a bit quicker and easier for players to get their games going by saving them the trouble of having to rediscover the Waypoints in the major hubs at the start of every Season. Of course, anything is better than nothing, but it sure does seem like another update is well overdue here.

Event Horizon

The map of Sanctuary will soon get quite a bit larger and it will likely continue to grow as other expansions are released in the future. It’s already tedious enough to have to repeatedly unlock so many Waypoints at the beginning of each Season. Before long, having to do that over and over again is going to become a really unpleasant and time-consuming chore.

The current situation in Diablo 4 seems even more unreasonable when you consider that Diablo 3 players are not required to repeat this task. Of course, that wasn’t the case when Diablo 3 first launched because Adventure Mode didn’t exist back then. However, it’s been a very long time since any Diablo 3 players have had to unlock a Waypoint more than once. When you consider it from that perspective, still having to unlock waypoints in Diablo 4 more than once now seems kind of silly.

Negligible Benefit

When Diablo 4 first launched last year, it might have made more sense to repeat Renown activities every Season as a way to get addtional XP for a new Seasonal characters. These days, though, nobody looks to Renown activities as a way to level up their new characters. With the recent introduction of Helltides in World Tiers 1 & 2, along with Nightmare Dungeons starting in Season 6, there’s very little to be gained by running around unlocking Waypoints and liberating Strongholds for the purpose of early game progression.

Fast Travel

One very welcome QOL improvement that will be included in the Vessel of Hatred expansion will be the option for players to bind one Waypoint as their favorite Town Portal. As with the Party Finder, adding a home Waypoint option to Diablo 4 was well overdue because it’s been a standard feature of Triple-A RPGs for many years.

Let’s not stop there, though, because Diablo 4 is still lacking some other common fast travel features. One good example is to be able to mark Teleport locations on the map, which would make the regular return trips to Ladder Boss dungeons or World Boss spawn points less time consuming. While I do understand and appreciate the value and importance of providing players with an immersive experience, I am at a loss to explain why a modern game like the Vessel of Hatred still apparently lacks these basic QOL features.

Good Doggy

While we’re on the subject of basic features, I’d also like to see a UI added to our pets now that we finally have them in the game. I’d really like to be able to just right-click on my pet to bring up a menu that allows me to access my stash from anywhere. Having that feature would be so helpful when I’m about to start Helltides and I realize that I left my Profane Mindcages back in town. Imagine no longer having to worry about feeling embarrassed when it’s your turn to summon a Ladder Boss only to discover that you don’t have the correct quantity of summoning materials in your player inventory.

A basic pet UI could also potentially save us lots of time by avoiding all those trips back to town when doing farming activities. Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to access the Blacksmith menu right from your pet UI so you could salvage gear without having to leave the dungeon after defeating Duriel? If including a feature like this as part of the Premium Battle Pass is what it would take to get it added to the game, then so be it. Either way, I’d really like to see players having more time to devote to progressing their characters while spending less time on housework.

More To Come

The Devs will be doing another Campfire Chat later this week to discuss the Season 6 PTR in more detail. Let’s keep our fingers crossed and hope they have at least a few more QOL improvements to share in addition to the Party Finder and Favorite Waypoint. The Devs have stated numerous times that they always take feedback from the community very seriously. So, be sure to keep sharing your thoughts and opinions on the Forums and on Twitter so they’ll be able to hear your suggestions loud and clear.

Disclaimer on Content Speculation

There are still many changes coming to Diablo 4 with the release of the VoH expansion. Consequently, there will likely be changes to how players level up their characters and progress through the game. Nevertheless, the information presented above will most likely applicable to future Seasons, generally speaking. Please be sure to check back here at PureDiablo for additional updates as more information becomes available.

See You Next Time

The PureDiablo community would like to know your opinion on this topic, so please sound off in the comments section below, or contact me on Twitter. Let me know if you have any ideas or suggestions for future topics here at PureDiablo. In the meantime, be sure to keep an eye on the news feed so you’ll have all the up-to-date info you need to get the most out of your game.

If you believe that any of the information shared above is inaccurate in any way, please let us know, along with a reference for the correct information, so we can update this document accordingly.

Gazerrick is a staff writer for PureDiablo who focuses primarily on casual gaming interests and lore for the Diablo community. When not hacking and slashing his way through a new Season, he can be found participating in, and presenting at, various pop culture conventions in southern Arizona. You can follow him on Twitter @Gazerrick9000 for even more of his gaming indulgences. A collection of his creative media is also available at Cactus Palm Perspectives.