This Rune system is lacking. I won't straight up say its garbage, but it feels like it just isn't all there. Runes in Diablo 2 served multiple purposes - they provided more interesting affix's as standalone drops that could be slammed into a piece of gear for some useful buffs to your character offering another problem solving tool for the character with instant benefits. An example of this being your character is having mana issues, you don't have a whole lot laying around but you do have a couple Tir runes and a few open sockets on an item. Tir provides 2 mana per kill, so you slam a few into the sockets to help with your mana economy while you search out a more long term solution. This system sort of grasps at this aspect a little bit, in terms of the runes having qualities to them that you benefit from when you slot them into gear, but we're back to the issue we had with Launch D4 item affixes that required you to "trigger" the affix. I don't know why such a simple and impactful system from a game 20 years old now has been "reimagined" into a cause / effect downgrade. I'm not a fan of that aspect of Runes but the place where I feel its straight lacking is the complete spin on Runewords. Runewords were essentially a "build-a-unique" system within the old game. Didn't get lucky on a decent weapon? Maybe you have a few runes laying around to build into a Malice or a Spirit. Lacking on Resistances? Ral-Ort-Tal into a 3 socket shield and you have a beast of a defensive item until you can find better. This system was a great way to file down some serious edges with a build and supplement some bad RNG (Somewhat, a lot of runewords in the lower tiers were very accessible, however, you could farm for years for a Zod).Overall, the system in Diablo 2 had some balancing issues (Enigma, Stealth, etc.) but the ability to build a unique I feel was very well received. Runewords as they're presented going into Diablo 4 seem to somewhat capture the initial idea of socketing a rune for its affix but when combined into a Runeword falls flat on its face. While this is not D2 and I appreciate the devs for experimenting and trying new things, I don't really feel like this is it. Its just taking a system that had a lot of agency and impact and turning it into something that honestly seems tedious and unfun.
>Jah buffedExcellent news.