Last night was a pretty big night for Diablo 4, if you think reveals and previews of things to come are important. During a recent Campfire Chat developer livestream, Blizzard announced a slew of new details about the future of the game.
The point of the show is to preview some of the big systemic changes coming to the game next season, the ethos behind the studio, and how they will be tested in the real world.
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Starting with the bad news, Blizzard has announced Constructed Season – the game’s third season currently underway, Will end on May 14th. This is nearly a month later than the previous end date of April 16. While this means you’ll have more time to upgrade your Battle Pass (especially if you’re waiting for the game pass to release), it also means everyone will be stuck with a disappointing season for longer than they expected. time.
Now for the good news. The main reason for the delay is to allow Blizzard to resume the Public Test Realm (PTR), giving players enough time to test the new changes and giving developers some room to implement feedback into the game before Season 4 launches. The PTR – which can only be accessed on PC via Battle.net – will run on April 2 to April 9.
Much of the livestream was dedicated to explaining exactly what players would be tested on. For one, all changes are to the base game (the Eternal Realms) as well as the seasonal realms. Of course, itemizing is the headline here, and the goal is to make drops valuable rather than simply provide loot to players. This should also reduce the amount of time spent sifting through loot, most of which will end up being irrelevant to your character.
Blizzard is doing this in a number of ways. For beginners, Dropped items will have fewer but more relevant affixes. The affixes themselves have also been improved so they feel more impactful. To reduce trash, World Tier 3 drops will be Hallowed only, and WT4 drops will be Ancestral only. More broadly, you should see fewer of those very conditional and situational affixes.
Unsurprisingly, this comes with a significant reduction in overall drop numbers, as well as a realignment of salvage and crafting rewards. The gold cost of enchanted items has been capped So they wouldn’t reach today’s outrageous prices. To further reduce waste, crafting materials and herbs will be consolidated so you don’t have to worry about them, although some materials will still be rarer than others.
Blizzard too Make Uniques more accessible earlier, as many can now be dropped in WT1 and 2. Some will continue to be limited to WT3 and 4, but the former now have a chance to drop any of them. Even ultra-rare Uber Uniques can now be dropped from level 55 monsters, and they are currently capped at 925 power.
In addition to loot-specific changes, Code of Strength Will now have all legendary aspects. When salvaging an item with better aspects, the upgraded version will now become the default version in your codex. If you are a long-time player of Diablo 4, you can already imagine how busy this is. one There will be less variation.
This version of Diablo 4 will also introduce its own new system. Tempering is a crafting system that allows you to add add-ons directly to legendary items. The Tempering Manual is a new type of item that drops from all items that allows you to attach an add-on to an item. Affixes can be rerolled to the item’s maximum temper durability. These are essentially recipes and can be used at the blacksmith.
SeikoOn the other hand, it is intended as a way for players to upgrade items later in the game. Essentially, if you find (or refine enough) an item that you really like, you can further upgrade its affixes. There are 12 master levels to pass, and every four levels will greatly increase an affix.
All of this and more will be available for players to test in the upcoming PTR. Details on how to access will be shared next week.