Diablo Developers Seek Increased Player Input
Blizzard ran in-game surveys and developer polls to gather Diablo 4 Season 2 balance feedback from players during Season of Blood in October 2023.
By:
John Langan
How Blizzard Collected Player Feedback During Season of Blood
During Diablo 4's Season of Blood (Season 2), Blizzard ran targeted feedback campaigns to shape ongoing balance decisions. Select players received an in-game prompt on login asking them to rate the season's balance and progression feel. Participation was randomised; not every account was invited, and no opt-in mechanism was publicly available. The surveys ran alongside a broader developer push to gather direct input ahead of mid-season patches.
Two questions anchored the survey. The first asked players to score how enjoyable Season of Blood had been on a personal level. The second asked whether progressing a character in Season 2 felt more rewarding than Season 1, targeting the core criticism that Season 1's levelling pace felt unrewarding relative to the seasonal content on offer.
The CoCo Fresh Tea Collaboration
The same month the surveys ran, Blizzard and CoCo Fresh Tea & Juice launched an official cross-promotion tied to Season of Blood. Two named drinks entered the menu: Frozen Orb and Lilith Advocate, both carrying Season-of-Blood-themed branding. The collaboration rolled out across twelve markets (the United States, Canada, Japan, Hong Kong, Thailand, Australia, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Spain, and the United Kingdom), starting October 20, 2023, with most regions wrapping up by late November. It was not a rumour; the official press release and dedicated menu items were confirmed by CoCo and covered by Wowhead on November 9, 2023.
Developer Twitter Polls and Class-Specific Feedback
Alongside the in-game survey, Adam Jackson, then Lead Class Designer for Diablo 4, polled Necromancer players directly on X (formerly Twitter). The poll asked whether the balance of power between the player character and their undead minions felt right in Season 2. It was one of several class-level feedback efforts Jackson ran on social media, sitting alongside the broader in-game survey to give the team two data streams: anonymised aggregate responses and public forum signal, covering the same balance period.
Feedback through the game's open text box covered a wider range of topics. Players raised requests for additional Paragon Board Glyph XP, more rewards from Helltide Chests, and class-build requests including the Mighty Throw Barbarian, a build archetype centred on the Throw Barbarian's core skill that was underrepresented in the Season 1 meta.
What This Feedback Approach Reflected About Season 2
The parallel campaigns — a randomised in-game survey, a developer-run class poll, and an open text channel — pointed to a specific concern Blizzard had coming out of Season 1: that balance feedback was too slow and too coarse to catch class-specific pain points mid-season. Season of Blood launched on October 17, 2023, with pre-season feedback having already informed the Vulnerable and Overpower multiplier caps that defined that season's design philosophy.
Jackson later left Blizzard after Season 2 concluded. The feedback infrastructure he helped build, combining developer-authored polls with internal survey tooling, continued under subsequent design leads and remained part of how the team communicated balance intent heading into Season 3 and beyond.
Last reviewed 2026-06-12 against Diablo 4 Season 2 (Season of Blood) — Maintained by WowCarry's Diablo 4 team.