Diablo 4 Greater Affixes were such a last-minute addition that devs had just two weeks to make them work

Blizzard’s itemisation in Diablo 4 has been a sore point since launch, but the game’s Loot Reborn update last year pointed the ARPG in the right direction. 

Alongside simplifying loot drops, the update added Greater Affixes, more powerful versions of regular affixes that have their own audio cue and a special icon to notify players of their importance. 

As some of the most powerful loot drops in Diablo 4, Greater Affixes have been praised as one of the best additions to the game. However, Blizzard almost didn’t add them in the Loot Reborn update. In fact, their inclusion was extremely last minute. 

Diablo 4 devs made Greater Affixes in just two weeks 

Speaking at GDC 2025, via GamesRadar, Blizzard Entertainment lead software engineer Patrick Ferland revealed that the addition of Greater Affixes were proposed so late into the development of Loot Reborn that the team had only two weeks to make them. 

“Our idea of Greater Affixes itself was a very late-breaking idea,” the software engineer said. “Literally, we had two weeks left in the development schedule when someone even proposed it. But because we had hardened our data reconstruction to changes, we were able to proceed with a big change like that with much higher confidence that we weren’t going to destabilize the build and cause problems.”

Itemisation is still an issue in Diablo 4, but the addition of Loot Reborn was a massive step forward. With Blizzard aiming to rework the game’s “antiquated battle pass” system, revamp difficulty and continue supporting the game for years, there’s still a lot of work to be done. 

While Blizzard is no longer working on annual expansions for the latest Diablo game, a second expansion is still in the works hopefully for a release in 2026. 

For more Diablo coverage, listen to our interview with series creator David Brevik, or read his original plans for the third game that never got made.