Diablo 4’s Rarest Enemy Also Comes With a Big Asterisk Attached

As a loot-based game, Diablo 4 draws heavily upon elements of chance. This approach isn’t perfect, especially in today’s age of live-services and ethically questionable gacha experiences, but it can help make games like Diablo 4 a lot more interesting, leveraging FOMO to spur players forward and further engage with its mechanics.

But this reliance on chance can be somewhat controversial, and a lot of players, especially those who may prefer more structured or single-player RPGs, may find such randomness more annoying than fun. Nowhere is this conflict clearer than in Diablo 4‘s various Treasure Goblins who, as their name suggests, run amok throughout the map carrying sacks of loot. A slew of new Treasure Goblin types were introduced during this Spring’s March of the Goblins event, including Fancy Old Fedric, AKA the purple Treasure Goblin. Fedric drops Mythic items and a Resplendent Spark, making him an appealing target indeed. The only issue is that he is unbelievably rare—potentially one of the rarest NPCs in gaming history—and few players have actually seen him. This rarity can make hunting Fedric difficult, but it’s not the goblin’s biggest issue.

Although new goblins like Fancy Old Fedric were introduced during the March of the Goblins event, during which they were more common, they are all permanent additions to Diablo 4.

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Diablo 4’s Fancy Old Fedric Is Hard to Spot—Literally

Fancy Old Fedric’s Purple-Ness Makes Him Overly Slippery

Fancy Old Fedric, as previously mentioned, is only part of several new Treasure Goblins added to Diablo 4 this year. The other Goblins, including the purple Curious Murl and blue Gelatinous Syrus, are much more common, and this poses a problem. A player could easily mistake either of these Goblins, but especially Curious Murl, for Fancy Old Fedric, as their hues are remarkably similar. Considering that these Goblins are typically on the move, and have a tendency to show up in mobs of other enemies, this lack of visual distinction is a problem.

Anyone could be forgiven for confusing Curious Murl’s shade of purple for Fancy Old Fedric’s, especially since the latter is so rare; players might not be on constant lookout for him, nor will they have a strong idea of what he looks like firsthand. Remember, Fedric is so rare that most have never seen him, so the overwhelming majority of players probably won’t immediately recognize him even if they do cross his path.

But the problem could be even worse for players hard of sight or colorblind. For these players, the negligible visual differences between Fedric and a Goblin like Murl constitute an accessibility issue. Naturally, not every potential accessibility problem can be fixed, but the case of Fancy Old Fedric seems like an especially egregious one, especially since it would be so easy to fix.

How Diablo 4 Can Make Fancy Old Fedric a Bit More Enjoyable

There are a handful of ways that Blizzard could address the color-related problems of Fancy Old Fedric, the most obvious of which being a simple change in color or design. A Diablo 4 update could change Fedric’s palette, pattern, or size, or add any number of other visual effects or elements to make him stand out from his “colleagues.”

Alternatively, Blizzard could make Fancy Old Fedric less rare. This would make missing him less of a blow, and the demand for attention-to-detail less frustrating. Of course, this would also undermine the community-rooted mythology surrounding the character and the hype around actually discovering him, but discovering him would actually seem feasible. As it stands, a lot of players might write off an encounter with Fedric due to its rarity, or otherwise blow right past him because of his indistinguishability.