Blizzard’s Diablo IV has yet again been pumping out content and brought out with it its newest event the ‘Lunar Awakening Collection’. To celebrate the Lunar New Year and more fitting the ‘Year of the Snake’, players were rewarded with extra XP, unique rewards and a series of new buff shrines.

My favourite part of this event was the tight tie-ins with the Lunar New Year, allowing for Seasonal and Eternal Realm characters to have a chance to unlock 5 beautifully themed new gear and cosmetics such as mount armour, available in Tejal’s shop.

These are incredibly ornate and encapsulate the Lunar New Year theme perfectly with dragon head horse armour, furious Chinese lion buckles and a range of red plumage trims. Unfortunately, I still find this incredibly expensive though with the in-store Platinum costing about $37 AUD, very hefty.

In this event, you could harness Celestial Power at various snake-ish shrines, this gave you a 100 per cent bonus to your experience for 2 minutes granting you increased holy power. These shrines also summoned extra enemies allowing you to transmute kills into reputation which could be traded for rewards such as Respendent Spark (a salvage material) or even a brand new mount.

Much like other events, earning Ancestral Favour unlocks a series of rewards. These can be earned by starting your journey in Ked Bardu from a vendor called Ying Yue. Here you were able to trade in your favours to earn up to 10 levels caches of materials, gear and items with increasing value and use.

The Trag’Oul’s Consort Mount though was definitely my aim because it was beautifully detailed. A white horse with golden filigree and artistic red beads in its hair; the free equipment was definitely worth the event and did not actually require much of the grind with all the bonuses put on.

So how was the event? Overall, it was a typical Diablo event essentially. This event throws a lot of free items at you that suit the Lunar New Year theme perfectly, while keeping all the elite gear hidden behind the in-store currency, Platinum. While the consumer is pretty used to this now, it is still a shame but it is an event you can get through quickly so it was no skin off my back.

I do enjoy that Diablo IV keep pumping out these events but this one, gameplay-wise, didn’t particularly add much value or entertainment. With no new enemies or bosses, it did get a little tedious, despite the plethora of gold thrown at your feet.

While this was a sound event and a nice little appetiser, I sit with bated breath waiting for another DLC like the ‘Vessel of Hatred’, as expansions are what really will be the bread and butter for Diablo IV.

Written by: Stacey