The Vessel of Hatred expansion for Diablo 4 has delivered thrilling new content, engaging gameplay, and a fresh class in the form of the Spiritborn. Many players, myself included, have been diving deep into the jungle of Nahantu and embracing the chaos, crafting new builds and optimizing gear. Yet, beneath all the excitement lies a persistent and frustrating issue that’s starting to wear down the player base: a surprising shortage of common materials.
That’s right—not legendary items or rare drops—but simple, supposedly “common” crafting components like Iron Chunks and, most notably, Rawhide Leathers are in critically short supply. And this isn’t just a minor inconvenience—it’s a real bottleneck that hampers player progression in meaningful ways.
Spiritborn Progress... Halted by Rawhide?
After starting my second Spiritborn character—my first being tragically wiped post-review—I began to notice just how limiting the material economy has become. Upgrading your gear, whether through rerolling stats, tempering, or masterworking, quickly becomes prohibitively expensive in terms of these common resources.
For example, my latest attempt at masterworking a piece of gear required 90 Rawhide Leathers just for the fifth upgrade. That’s out of twelve potential stages. And remember, these are considered the common materials. Meanwhile, more “valuable” resources like legendary or rare crafting mats are far more abundant. Why? Because players tend to salvage only legendary gear, which yields rare resources but very few of the commons that we so desperately need.
Not Enough Rawhide in the World
The irony here is clear: Rawhide and Iron Chunks are everywhere in the early game, but by the time you reach the mid-to-late game—when you need them the most—they dry up almost entirely.
Blizzard has tried to steer players toward other sources, such as the Tree of Whispers, to gather materials. However, the output still doesn’t match the demand. A full session of Tree runs netted me just 110 Rawhide Leathers—barely enough for a single masterworking stage at my level. Other material sources? They exist, but again, the drop rates lean heavily toward higher-tier mats.
This discrepancy is more than just a minor issue. It's actively stalling progression for players deep into the endgame. It's forcing tough choices between hoarding materials for a few precious upgrades or endlessly farming activities for a meager return.
Angelbreath Was Fixed—So What About This?
To Blizzard’s credit, they recently addressed a similar issue with Angelbreath, a material that was bottlenecking potion upgrades for players stuck at level 60+. The fix came in the form of a hotfix that noticeably improved drop rates. It shows the team is listening—and more importantly—capable of quick solutions.
But while Angelbreath becomes irrelevant as you progress further into the endgame, the Rawhide and Iron Chunk shortages only get worse. In fact, the issue was even more severe during the review period for Vessel of Hatred, to the point that several of us had to halt progression altogether due to material starvation. Blizzard did nerf material requirements for launch, but even in their toned-down form, the system still doesn’t work.
Why This Is a Big Deal
Let’s be clear: crafting and upgrading are central to Diablo 4’s endgame loop. The thrill of finding a great item is quickly followed by the challenge of tuning it to perfection. When that process is artificially blocked by a shortage of “common” materials, the whole gameplay loop starts to crumble.
What makes this even more frustrating is the imbalance. Legendary materials are capped, stacking up in the hundreds. But you’re burning through Rawhide by the dozens per item, and there's no scalable, reliable way to farm it in bulk.
This isn’t just a case of poor resource tuning—it’s bad economy design. If the only way to get meaningful amounts of Rawhide is to salvage gear that nobody uses (rare or magic quality), then players are forced into suboptimal and tedious gameplay loops just to meet basic upgrade requirements.
What Needs to Happen
It’s time for Blizzard to take another look at their material economy. Specifically:
Boost Rawhide and Iron Chunk drop rates across all difficulty levels.
Rebalance salvage yields so that dismantling legendaries returns a mix of rare and common materials.
Introduce focused farming options (e.g., dungeons, events, or crafting nodes) that allow players to specifically target Rawhide or Iron Chunks.
Increase Tree of Whispers rewards for common materials in proportion to the player's level and World Tier.
It’s worth emphasizing that this issue isn't limited to a small segment of hardcore players. Anyone pushing into World Tier 3 and beyond, or exploring the masterworking system, will run into the same brick wall. And unless Blizzard acts, the issue will only get worse as more players reach that stage.
Final Thoughts
Diablo 4: Vessel of Hatred brings a lot of good to the table—new characters, zones, systems, and a renewed sense of depth. But behind all the polish lies a major systems problem that’s affecting how people play, and more importantly, how they enjoy the game.
A quick hotfix could be all it takes to alleviate this pressure, and given Blizzard’s response to the Angelbreath issue, there's hope. But until then, if you find yourself chronically short on Rawhide Leathers and Iron Chunks—you’re not alone. Let’s just hope the devs hear us, and soon.
It’s worth emphasizing that this issue isn't limited to a small segment of hardcore players. Anyone pushing into World Tier 3 and beyond, or exploring the masterworking system, will run into the same brick wall. And unless Blizzard acts, the issue will only get worse as more players reach that stage.
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