I haven't played Diablo 3 in a while (maybe a year?) and I have recently created a Seasonal Barbarian Character. I have since beaten the game in ~4 hours and am halfway through my 2nd play through (ng+), and have yet to find any real challenge in the game – I beat Diablo in less than 2 minutes flat.
Additionally, I have gems, magic and rare items coming out of my nose, and I get a guaranteed unique drop on every boss, and occasionally on treasure goblins (of which there are many) and resplendent chests.
My character is:
- Level 50
- has ~400 hp/sec regen
- has never taken more than 3/4 of hp worth in damage (which is regenerated within 10 seconds anyway) – and only from attacks from "Molten" or "Arcane" monsters; bosses do next to nothing.
I specifically remember the game being far more challenging the last time I played, my other Barbarian character (also at the same point) has encountered far less unique items, has far more trouble with the bosses, and needs 2 hands to count the number of times he died.
So do seasonal Characters alter the difficulty of the game at all?
Note: I have played the game multiple times before, with all other characters, and I have played the entire series as well, so this is not an issue with unfamiliarity with the game (i.e. "learning the ropes").
Best Answer
No, Seasonal game is exactly the same game as non-seasonal.
If you haven't played in quite some time, though, there are other things in play.
First, many skills were buffed over time - when balancing, Blizzard prefers to buff weak things instead of nerfing strong things, if possible, which results in character "power creep".
Second, there are more and more powerful Legendaries. Back then there was little stuff like "Seismic Slam deals 300-400% more damage, lol", now there are many items like that.
Also, for those readers who come from before Reaper of Souls, the game was greatly changed back then (including the base game, regardless of RoS itself being bought). Item drops became much better, resulting in easier gearing.
What difficulty are you playing in, though?
Post-RoS system of changing difficulty at will is designed so each player could pick one that fits them, and the "game is too easy" situation should never come up.
As an experienced (but not too hardcore) player, I try to level my characters on Master, dropping to Hard in case of unlucky streaks (avoid Expert, its difficulty/reward ratio is unfair) and stepping up to Torment 1 on good days (like when I find a powerful weapon).
True, that does result in much faster leveling than before, plus there is that killing streak experience bonus now.