Diablo 4 has several exciting items to offer on a player's journey towards the level cap, but past a certain point their level requirements stop matching their item power. Though the rarity of Uniques feels balanced in Diablo 4, its itemization still needs some work: from Resistances, to broken Legendary Aspects, to the lack of an attribute hierarchy on item tooltips. As fun as farming for loot through Nightmare Dungeons and World Bosses can be, there are some aspects to a Diablo 4 player's equipment that don't make sense.
An important thing to keep in mind is that the level scaling in Diablo 4 exacerbates some of the issues, as its current iteration is considered by many players as too punishing. Getting to a higher level generally makes a character's surroundings stronger. Enemies are tougher, bosses hit for more damage, and players need to keep improving their gear to stay alive. By the time they arrive to Level 60 in Diablo 4, they have already reached the maximum possible affix range that can roll on an item, and any levels after that are solely about increasing the challenge.
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Though it makes sense to cap out items earlier than player levels, especially if the inspiration is Diablo 2 or Path of Exile, the items that drop past Level 60 still have the same level requirement as the player's level at the time of their drop. As pointed out by AdLate8669 on the official subreddit for Diablo 4, the current concept doesn't make sense because it significantly stifles the trade economy, since items obtained by endgame characters are in the same affix range at Level 60 as they are at Level 100.
The thread was positively received, as many players agreed with AdLate8669's take. Given that anything past an Item Power of 725 only offers a slight increase in base armor or base damage, with the affixes staying the same, there doesn't seem much point to keeping level requirements for items at higher levels. Diablo 4 has Uniques such as Harlequin Crest that are far more build-defining than any jump in Item Power past 725, which has prompted fans to suggest a max level requirement of 70.
It remains to be seen how Blizzard will handle expansions in Diablo 4. A new Region could mean a higher Level Cap, or just a higher Item Power, as the open-world nature of the game opens up the possibility to completely avoid a linear power progression. Until then, both players and developers will have to figure out what system works best for the base version of Diablo 4.
Diablo 4 is available on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
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