During Diablo 4 Beta, I experimented a lot with two World Tiers available and wanted to present my findings and thoughts here.
World Tier 2
For those who know about two World Tiers, I will tell you that in World Tier 2, you gain 20% more experience by killing monsters, and 15% more gold than you loot. Enemies are also harder, but not by much.
Loot
As far as loot goes, there’s no difference in quality or quantity of gear dropped by Trash, Bosses, Chests, Events, or anything. You can get the same thing in two World Tiers.
Butcher
For that, let’s look at Butcher. I managed to kill it several times, and I found no difference in loot between World Tier 1 and World Tier 2. Butcher always drops a Legendary for me no matter the difficulty.
Only World Tier 2 will be harder. Butcher here will be more aggressive, also deal more damage and have more health. It is possible for players to kill this boss with some builds, but I found it much easier on World Tier 1.
Boss Comparison
Speaking of difficulty, let’s compare boss kill times for static gear levels. I used a 432 AP Lightning Storm Druid, and I killed Flesh Cavern boss several times.
My findings concluded that World Tier 2 increased time to kill by approximately 40%. This means that even with great gear and damage, I can’t offset the increased difficulty to really benefit from the benefits I get.
Note that I am talking about bosses and some elites here. If you hit Trash with one shot in both World Tiers, you’ll need to gain 25% extra clear speed to offset the 20% bonus experience per monster kill.
However, there is a huge downside here. We drop the same loot, but at the same time we kill fewer monsters per level. Because we get 20% experience. This means we actually get less loot than World Tier 1 per level. This makes it more likely to fall behind the build and to clean more slowly. Next, introduce World Boss Ashava.
Ashava
This is the only one I managed to kill on World Tier 1 to get 1 Legendary drop and 1 Legendary from the weekly rewards. However, I’m fairly sure there’s no increase in quality or quantity to be found here, at least not from what I’ve seen others play.
Gold
World Tier 2 gives us 15% more monster kills that drop Diablo 4 Gold. But the value of the drop remains the same, which also means that this bonus is really bad. Most of the gold you’ll get will come from trading items again. So World Tier 1 comes out on top again. We’ll also kill more monsters and have a better chance of getting rare and Legendary items.
Summary
So, let’s summarize. My finding is that World Tier 1 is going to be significantly better for loot and gold. You have to kill more monsters at each level, but that also means more equipment drops. Butcher is also easier, which is a substantial source of getting Legendaries, as he guarantees a Legendary drop.
But this is a double-edged sword. You’re less likely to fall behind in gear, but you’re also significantly slower to level up. If you manage to speed up your builds and start browsing through everything, I highly recommend World Tier 2 difficulty for the extra experience and challenge. That concludes my thoughts on World Tier for now.
Personally, I will start with World Tier 1 and switch to World Tier 2 when I feel my build is ready. Hope this helps you choose an appropriate level path in Diablo 4.
