Diablo 4 Update Makes Earning Greater Affix Items Easier Again

Diablo 4 Season 5 is in full swing, but one of its best changes, guaranteed ways to earn greater affix items, wasn't working properly--until the game's most recent hotfix, that is.

The current season, dubbed Season of the Infernal Hordes, introduced a new endgame activity of the same name that sees players battling against waves of enemies, all the while selecting boons and banes in between waves that modify gameplay. One of the most-lucrative rewards for this activity is the ability to choose a Greater Equipment Chest as a reward: one that houses an item guaranteed to have at least one greater affix.


We have released a new hotfix this morning to address runeshards not dropping in NMDs and the Greater Affix items not being guaranteed in Infernal Horde 60 Aether chests.
We will more than likely have at least one more hotfix in the coming days.https://t.co/f7xw33x09G

— Adam Fletcher (@PezRadar) August 13, 2024

Greater affixes were added as part of Diablo 4's Loot Reborn update, and are items with one or more stats that are even higher than normal, making them highly sought after by players looking to optimize their characters to the max. Prior to Season 5, finding these rare items was entirely based on luck, making a guaranteed way to obtain them a godsend for min-maxing players. The only issue is those "guaranteed" sources of the items in Season 5 weren't actually always granting players a greater affix item.

Thankfully, the third hotfix of the season, released on August 13, makes it so sources of guaranteed greater affix items--namely, certain Reputation rewards as well as Greater Equipment Chests--will now drop the powerful items as intended. The hotfix addresses a few other issues as well, like the fact that one-handed maces bought from the Purveyor of Curiosities were always of Legendary quality, runeshards not dropping in Nightmare dungeons as intended, and an issue with Tier 4 Infernal Compasses found outside of the Infernal Hordes activity not having appropriate affixes.

Diablo community development director Adam Fletcher said in a post on X that players can likely expect one additional hotfix for Season 5 in "the coming days," but did not elaborate on what that hotfix might address.

Diablo 4 Season 5 will be shorter than normal to make way for the game's first expansion, Vessel of Hatred. The expansion will introduce a new class, the Spiritborn, as well as a new zone and endgame activities. Diablo 4: Vessel of Hatred, and Season 6, will begin on October 8.

Source