The Diablo team’s new Campfire Chat revealed some big changes that are coming very soon. We have the patch notes for update 1.3.3
In another Campfire Chat on February 29, the development team behind Diablo 4 talked about the near future of the action role-playing game. They talked about the new update 1.3.3, which will be released on March 5 and is intended to spice up the current season, as well as about changes that will only be introduced to the game with the start of Season 4.
Some extremely promising news was revealed. Above all, the team spoke in the livestream about their intention to finally introduce a PTR – at least for Season 4. A change that fans of the predecessors in particular have been longing for since the first season of Diablo 4 started.
We summarize here what was said in the almost two-hour livestream. Of course, you can also just sit back and watch the full video:
New loot system and PTR in Season 4
Although Season 4 was not the focus topic of the stream, the developers still talked a little about what will change in a few months. No details were revealed, but at least two major changes were announced
- New loot system: We don’t know the exact mechanical background yet, but itemization sounds like the biggest construction site Blizzard is currently working on for Season 4. The Season 4 update is set to make significantly more changes to the game than the patch for Season 2 and loot will make up the largest part of it. It certainly sounds like we’re in for some fundamental changes.
- 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 at release. 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 in Battle.net.
The Ranked Dungeon
The loot system and test server will not appear until Season 4, but there is already another major new feature. On Tuesday, March 5 an official leaderboard will finally be added to the game and with it a corresponding dungeon called The Gauntlet.
The aim is to get as many points as possible in eight minutes You do this by flattening as many monsters as you can as quickly as possible. Your score determines whether you qualify for the leaderboard and where you end up in the leaderboard. Loot is not the focus
There are 16 different leaderboards in total. Depending on how big your group is, which class and whether you are playing in Hardcore or normal. The Gauntlet is only available in the seasonal realm, so you’ll need a new character regularly
Midseason patch: What else is changing?
Aside from these major changes, there was also talk of the midseason patch, which will also give Diablo 4 a little overhaul. Here is a brief summary of the most important changes:
- Vampiric Powers: The vampire abilities from Season 2 will return in the form of permanent aspects that grant you one of six familiar powers. These aspects can only be found in the open world and are not part of the Codex of Power.
- No snapshotting: The team is trying to reduce snapshotting as much as possible. This is an unwanted side effect that unnaturally extends skill cooldowns.
- Class update: Of course, there are also plenty of adjustments to the abilities of various classes. What is particularly exciting here is that minion builds such as the necromancer are to be properly buffed. More details will be revealed later in the patch notes. But you can take a look at the planned changes here:
Season 4 will most likely start on April 16, 2024, at least that’s when Season 3 is supposed to end. However, it is not yet known when the PTR will start and whether Season 4 may be postponed as a result
