Diablo 4 Season 4 Update 1.4.1 - Reduced Masterworking Gold Expenses
Patch 1.4.1 reduced Masterworking gold costs at ranks 5, 8, and 12, simplified transmutation access, and boosted Scattered Prism drop rates in Season 4.
By:
John Langan
What Patch 1.4.1 Changed in Diablo 4 Season 4
Patch 1.4.1 arrived on May 28, 2024, two weeks into Season 4 (Loot Reborn), and focused on the Masterworking crafting system: reducing gold costs at higher ranks, fixing access friction, and addressing quality-of-life issues raised by players during the season's opening weeks. Scattered Prism drop rates were also improved as part of the same update.
Masterworking Gold Costs Reduced
Masterworking, Season 4's gear-crafting system that pushed items through 12 upgrade ranks, had drawn community feedback that gold costs at the top ranks were prohibitively expensive for alt characters. Blizzard responded by cutting costs at ranks 5, 8, and 12 while leaving ranks 1 through 4 unchanged. The revised costs after Patch 1.4.1:
| Masterworking Rank | Gold Cost (post-1.4.1) |
|---|---|
| 1–4 | Unchanged |
| 5 | 400,000 |
| 8 | 800,000 |
| 12 | 2,500,000 |
The rank-12 reduction was the most significant: a 75% drop from the pre-patch cost. Season 4 encouraged players to run multiple characters, and the alt-character use case was the stated driver for the change.
Transmutation and Account-Wide Access
Two access changes shipped alongside the cost reductions. First, players could directly transmute Masterworking materials once the feature was unlocked, removing the previous requirement to open a Materials Cache before starting transmutation. Second, once Masterworking was unlocked on any character, it became available account-wide across all characters on both realms: Seasonal and Eternal. This removed the friction of re-unlocking the system on each alt, which had been a common complaint during the season's first two weeks.
Scattered Prism Drop Rate Improvements
Patch 1.4.1 also increased Scattered Prism drop rates from three specific sources: Treasure Goblins, World Bosses, and The Butcher. Scattered Prisms were used to add sockets to items in Season 4's crafting loop, making them a rate-limiting resource for players pushing high Masterworking ranks. The drop rate increases made socket crafting less dependent on rare encounters and improved the flow of the overall crafting system.
Quality-of-Life Bug Fixes
Several bugs affecting the Masterworking interface were resolved in 1.4.1. A bug that made the Masterworking menu inaccessible after switching difficulty settings was fixed. Icon inconsistencies showing different Masterworking levels on items were standardised. Blizzard also applied usability fixes across the Tempering, Masterworking, and Codex of Power menus — all new crafting systems introduced at Season 4's launch that had accumulated friction during the opening weeks.
Season 4's alt-character loop — where players levelled multiple characters through Wolf's Honor (the Iron Wolves faction reputation system) to earn distinct rewards including a Resplendent Spark at rank 18 — became meaningfully smoother after the transmutation fix and cost reductions. Players who had been avoiding Masterworking on alts returned to the system in the weeks after 1.4.1. If the remaining material costs still feel steep, you can browse Diablo 4 crafting material packs to skip the farming step.
Last reviewed 2026-06-12 against Diablo 4 Patch 1.4.1 (Season 4: Loot Reborn) — Maintained by WowCarry's Diablo 4 team.