Blizzard is opening a portal into the future of Diablo 4. This is what awaits you.
In another Campfire Chat am 29. Februar the development team behind Diablo 4 spoke about the near future of the action role-playing game. They talked about a new update that is supposed to spice up the ongoing season, as well as changes that will only be introduced into the game with the start of Season 4.
Some extremely promising news was revealed. Above all, the team talked about in the livestream, finally wanting to introduce a PTR – at least for Season 4. A change that fans of the predecessors have been longing for since the first season of Diablo 4 started.
Here we summarize what was said in the almost two-hour live stream. Of course, you can also just sit back and watch the entire video:
Link to YouTube content
New loot system and PTR in Season 4
Even though Season 4 wasn’t the focus of the stream, the developers still talked a little about what should change in a few months. No details were revealed, but at least two big changes were announced.
- New loot system: We don’t know the exact mechanical background yet, but itemization sounds like the biggest construction site that Blizzard is currently working on for Season 4. The Season 4 update will make significantly more changes to the game than the patch for Season 2 and loot will make up the majority of it. It certainly sounds as if some fundamental changes are coming.
- New test server: And precisely because the changes are so fundamental, a test server will be set up before Season 4. Fans have been clamoring for this feature for months, especially since Season 3 had massive flaws when it was released. The PTR (Public Test Realm) is intended to help identify such problems in advance. In Diablo 3, this procedure was normal for every season, but in Diablo 4 the PTR will only be available before selected seasons. Season 4 is one of them. The test server will only be available on PC on Battle.net.
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The ranked dungeon
The loot system and test server will not appear until Season 4, but there will be another big innovation next week. On Tuesday March 5th an official ranking list is finally brought into the game and with it a corresponding dungeon called The Gauntlet.
The Gauntlet is a very special dungeon is not randomly generated. This applies to the layout, but also to each individual monster in the dungeon. You and everyone else have the exact same challenge every time. At least within a week. The dungeon will then be revised for the next week.
The aim is, to get as high a score as possible in eight minutes. Simply by crushing as many monsters as you can as quickly as possible. On the one hand, your score determines whether you qualify for the rankings and where you end up in the rankings. Loot is not the focus.
There are a total of 16 different rankings. Depending on how big your group is, which class and whether you play in hardcore or normal. The Gauntlet is only available in the seasonal realm, so you’ll need a new character on a regular basis.
What else is changing?
Aside from these big innovations, there was also talk about the midseason patch, which also reworks Diablo 4 a little. Here is a brief summary of the most important changes:
- Vampiric powers: The vampire abilities from Season 2 are set to return in the form of permanently available aspects that give you one of six well-known powers. These aspects can only be found in the open world and are not part of the Code of Power.
- No snapshotting: The team is trying to reduce snapshotting as much as possible. This is an unwanted side effect that causes skill cooldowns to be unnaturally extended.
- Class update: Of course, there are also a lot of adjustments to the abilities of different classes. What’s particularly exciting here is that minion builds, such as the Necromancer, should be properly buffed. More details will be revealed later in the patch notes. But you can take a look at the planned changes here:
The next big patch will be released together with the ranking list and the Gauntlet on March 5, 2024. The patch notes should be published before that. Season 4, in turn, will most likely start on April 16, 2024, or at least Season 3 should end on this day. It is not yet known when the PTR will start and whether Season 4 can be postponed as a result.
