A Diablo 4 loot filter is finally on the table as Blizzard teases new features

More than two years since Diablo 4 launched, it seems Blizzard has finally relented on its most-needed feature. A new 'burning questions' developer video sees Diablo 4 community influencer manager Ruben 'Bluddshed' Marquez sit down with systems designer Aislyn Hall, live-service design director Dan Tanguay, and class designer Charles Dunn to talk about the future of the ARPG, and there are some very welcome tidbits in here. Alongside altered drop tables and a redesign for leaderboards, it sounds as though the studio has finally turned a corner on the one thing I've most desperately wished for since the beginning.

There are several notable improvements discussed here, but the biggest one for me is that a Diablo 4 loot filter is finally a serious possibility. Blizzard has long been reluctant to introduce one, saying it would rather tune drops so that they feel valuable, but the reality is that this is never going to be the perfect solution. Diablo 4 builds might not be quite as flexible as those in Path of Exile, but every class still boasts enough varied options that plenty of items will simply not be useful to your loadout. That's a good thing if you want to offer one of the best RPGs, but it means you need a way to quickly sort drops as you blast through the hordes.

"We've definitely heard everyone's feedback," Tanguay says. "We've done a lot of things that we needed to do prior to revamping the itemization - we've done some almost 'smart filtering.'" He admits, however, "I think we've reached the limits of that approach, and so we are talking about loot filters, but I can't really say much more than that right now." I'll take what I can get; while I'd love to see something with the deep customization of Last Epoch's built-in tool, even a relatively basic way to quickly mark items that are likely to be valuable, or hide those that definitely aren't, would be a gift from Lilith herself.

Loot tables for Diablo 4's endgame 'lair bosses' are also being reworked. Hall explains that the team was keen to "make sure that players that didn't have access to the expansion could still find all of the unique items that they were looking for." However, adjustments are now being made to turn it into more of an overlapping Venn diagram: "I'm not going to go into super details, but you should be able to find loot that feels a lot more particular to Harbinger or Duriel or Andariel," and that'll be part of Diablo 4 Season 10.

I'm tentatively excited for the new season - the 'chaos armor' it introduces, which are essentially souped-up versions of existing uniques that are equipped to different slots, opens up a huge amount of potential for builds that were previously impossible. Hall says we can expect "lots of different ways to get chaos armor" in Season 10, and that you'll also see more of the regular uniques across general play, meaning you won't always have to rely on farming specific bosses. "You can probably expect some more ways to find uniques in the future," she adds.

Diablo 4 leaderboards and ladders have long been a point of contention. They're a fundamental feature of past games, but Blizzard hasn't managed to find a satisfying setup for its latest installment. It tried adding some, only to remove them in Vessel of Hatred, but Tanguay says the team is thinking about how to make them better. "What players are really looking for are leaderboards that allow them to show mastery of their build in whatever situation we can throw at them," he says, "So we're really trying to build the leaderboards and the mode around it around that notion that we're going to keep you on your toes."

Most core improvements to Diablo 4 make their way to both the seasonal and eternal modes, meaning you'll always have them. The specific powers introduced for each season, however, have typically been limited to just that period. We have seen a few attempts to reintroduce popular seasonal abilities as permanent items in the past, and Dunn says more of this is on the cards. "We're going to look for ways to reincorporate those old powers and those old effects into future systems as well."

That doesn't mean an end to the variance of seasonal features, of course. "On one hand, we really like that because it allows us to be very experimental," Dunn notes. "We can try more wacky and crazy things. But we are definitely aware that a lot of players really resonate with some of these mechanics, some of these powers, in particular." In response, Marquez asks whether this particular power-based format, which has headlined most of the recent updates, is becoming too routine.

Dunn likens builds to a cake: "You've got your base skills, your legendaries, your paragon - you're building up layers. Seasonal powers are really just icing on top of that cake, and every season we scrape off the icing and put a new layer on. Different flavor, but it's still just icing at the end of the day. Going forward, we're going to be looking at seasonal powers that really play with the 'filling' of that cake." It's a slightly abstract metaphor, but I see what he's cooking, and I'm hopeful it'll lead to some delicious results.

Season 10's 'chaos perks' are a first step in this direction, Dunn says. "They really directly interact with your player skills." Combined with chaos armor, he believes the new update "really messes with how you build your character at a very fundamental level." He promises "some fun and probably pretty strong combos," and says he's leaning towards playing Spiritborn first: "They've got some really powerful effects that you can now get on different slots than before."

Among the other changes in the works, Tanguay teases that a feature to alert you more visibly to events that are starting in the world "should be coming" in Season 10. It's certainly refreshing to hear Blizzard shifting some of its fundamental ideals; I truly do love Diablo 4, but it's going to take some more dramatic changes than the past couple of seasons have introduced to get me to stick with it all the way through the endgame again.

Diablo 4 Season 10 begins Tuesday September 23. If these changes land, it might be enough to tempt me away from the latest PoE 2 and Last Epoch updates, and hopefully we'll see some more substantial improvements ahead of the second expansion in 2026.

Planning to give the next season a shot? Take a look through the current Diablo 4 system requirements. We've also put together a list of the best games like Diablo in 2025, in case you need even more loot in your life.

Are you going to play Season 10, or do you need more convincing? Let us know in the PCGamesN community Discord server, and tell us your favorite class while you're there (I'm somewhere between Rogue and Druid in my heart).