12-25-2025, 11:13 PM
At some point in Season 11, you stop trying to prove something and start trying to get paid in loot. I was doing the usual late-night loop, half-asleep, telling myself I should crank torment up "because that's how ARPGs work," then I checked my stash and felt stupid. If you're farming Azmodan and you actually want progress, the chat you should be listening to isn't the bravado crowd, it's the folks quietly optimizing their runs and stocking up on Diablo 4 Items without turning every pull into a mini-raid.
What players noticed in real runs
The big change isn't a secret exploit or some weird animation cancel. It's just people realizing Azmodan's "harder equals better" promise doesn't really show up where it counts. On paper, higher torment should mean higher payoff. In practice, the kill time blows out, and the loot bump doesn't feel like it matches the extra minutes. You'll see it fast: the same materials show up, the same familiar drops, and you're still hunting that one piece that refuses to roll right. Meanwhile, your run count tanks because you're stuck chewing through a health bar that never ends.
Why lowering difficulty feels so tempting
Speed is the real currency. If Azmodan takes seven or eight minutes on a high setting, that's not "more challenge," that's fewer attempts per hour. Drop the difficulty and suddenly it's a clean 30 to 60 second fight, less dodging, less praying you don't get clipped in phase two, and way less mental fatigue. People with limited playtime aren't being lazy, they're being realistic. When the reward curve is flat, efficiency wins. You're not farming a vibe, you're farming probability.
The community split is getting loud
You can feel the argument everywhere. One side says it ruins the spirit, that bosses should be a test and the top torment tiers should matter. The other side shrugs and says, "I've got work tomorrow." And honestly, both are kinda right. It does feel odd to downshift on purpose, like you're gaming the system instead of the demon. But it's also hard to justify sweaty, error-prone runs when the difference in results is basically a rounding error. If Blizzard wants the high tiers to be the main lane, the incentives have to be sharp enough that players feel it immediately.
How I'd approach Azmodan until it changes
If your goal is volume farming, treat difficulty like a tool, not a badge. Pick the tier where you can kill fast, stay safe, and keep your loop steady. Save the "max torment" pushes for when you're chasing bragging rights, testing a new build, or just bored. Most weeks, the smart move is the one that keeps you running, not the one that looks heroic on a clip. And if you're gearing up to make those faster runs even smoother, a lot of folks end up browsing Diablo 4 Items for sale so the grind doesn't eat their whole week.
What players noticed in real runs
The big change isn't a secret exploit or some weird animation cancel. It's just people realizing Azmodan's "harder equals better" promise doesn't really show up where it counts. On paper, higher torment should mean higher payoff. In practice, the kill time blows out, and the loot bump doesn't feel like it matches the extra minutes. You'll see it fast: the same materials show up, the same familiar drops, and you're still hunting that one piece that refuses to roll right. Meanwhile, your run count tanks because you're stuck chewing through a health bar that never ends.
Why lowering difficulty feels so tempting
Speed is the real currency. If Azmodan takes seven or eight minutes on a high setting, that's not "more challenge," that's fewer attempts per hour. Drop the difficulty and suddenly it's a clean 30 to 60 second fight, less dodging, less praying you don't get clipped in phase two, and way less mental fatigue. People with limited playtime aren't being lazy, they're being realistic. When the reward curve is flat, efficiency wins. You're not farming a vibe, you're farming probability.
The community split is getting loud
You can feel the argument everywhere. One side says it ruins the spirit, that bosses should be a test and the top torment tiers should matter. The other side shrugs and says, "I've got work tomorrow." And honestly, both are kinda right. It does feel odd to downshift on purpose, like you're gaming the system instead of the demon. But it's also hard to justify sweaty, error-prone runs when the difference in results is basically a rounding error. If Blizzard wants the high tiers to be the main lane, the incentives have to be sharp enough that players feel it immediately.
How I'd approach Azmodan until it changes
If your goal is volume farming, treat difficulty like a tool, not a badge. Pick the tier where you can kill fast, stay safe, and keep your loop steady. Save the "max torment" pushes for when you're chasing bragging rights, testing a new build, or just bored. Most weeks, the smart move is the one that keeps you running, not the one that looks heroic on a clip. And if you're gearing up to make those faster runs even smoother, a lot of folks end up browsing Diablo 4 Items for sale so the grind doesn't eat their whole week.