Diablo 4 is still missing an important feature from past Diablo titles, and the developers have finally narrowed down a release window on when players may expect to see leaderboards in the game. While it is a perfectly fun hack-and-slash title featuring a thrilling campaign, many fans feel like Diablo 4 is missing quality-of-life features that prevent it from living up to its true potential. Though the developers have shown a willingness to acquiesce to the community's list of demands, the process has certainly taken a while, with common requests such as gem bags or itemization fixes only coming in Season 2, roughly five-to-six months away from launch.
Recently, many players have complained about the rarity of Uber Uniques in Diablo 4, especially after an incident with Helltides allowed Barbarian and Sorcerer characters to obtain these powerful items at a generous drop rate. The fun derived from Diablo 4's visceral combat often feels hampered by gameplay systems that work against the player, whether through an accidental or purposeful lack of convenience. Features that were a no-brainer for a Diablo title are suspiciously missing, leading the community to feel like Diablo 4 was released several months too early.
One of the key missing features that players have often asked about since launch are leaderboards, and according to Community Lead Adam Fletcher, the tentative release window for leaderboards in Diablo 4 is slated to be Season 3. The news was shared by 2finesse on the Diablo 4 subreddit, where players weren't happy about having to make do without leaderboards for the full duration of the first two seasons. Given that Diablo 3 focused on Greater Rifts to measure a player's skill level, it can safely be assumed that leaderboards in Diablo 4 will focus on Nightmare Dungeons instead.
However, some cynical players have pointed out an unfortunate reality of implementing leaderboards in Diablo 4 – the current state of class balance in the game. Adding leaderboards to Nightmare Dungeons would likely only further expose the major issues that Sorcerers in Diablo 4 have, as their class significantly lags behind the rest of the pack. Sorcerers are forced into an over-reliance on Defensive Skills, and even infamously have redundant or incomplete Paragon Boards due to the way Winter Glyph works.
While Diablo 4 certainly has its problems, it's in a much better state at launch compared to its predecessor. Diablo 4's storyline has been praised by Diablo fans, and the game's art direction has shifted back to the franchise's darker roots. Still, though missing features will be added at some point through a Diablo 4 expansion or seasons, many players lament that these gameplay systems weren't present from the get-go.
Diablo 4 is available on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.