Fourth Season of Diablo 4 With Big Changes. Blizzard Described Them in 10,000 Words
Blizzard released a list of changes to Diablo 4, which players will soon check out as part of Season 4 testing. It looks like the game is in for a small (?) revolution.
Although we will have to wait longer for the revolution in the Sanctuary than originally announced, Blizzard will allow for early testing of the upcoming fixes. These apparently will be as many as suggested. The devs of Diablo 4 have shared the 4th season's list of changes for the Public Test Realm (PTR), which includes a massive number of improvements and new features.
At least that's what Adam "PezRadar" Fletcher, Director of Community at Blizzard, assured the day before the article was published on the developer's official website (via X). Nonetheless, the scale of changes shows that he wasn't exaggerating at all.
Items like new
Of course, the overhaul of the item system attracted the most attention from players. D4 fans have been frustrated for a long time by the issue of "itemization," and the delay in loot modifications was cited as the main reason for the backlash against the later start of the game's 4th season.
Blizzard based the "renovation" of items on three foundations:
- quality over quantity;
- "journey" of items to increase their power and combat potential;
- satisfaction and excitement from using items.
The remaining changes are expected to stem from these three "pillars," such as decreasing the number of affixes (to 2 on "rare" items and to 3 on "legendary" ones), enhancing the value and utility of affixes, and restricting drops from World Tier 3 and 4 to the Sacred and Ancestral items, respectively. New affixes will appear in the game, including "Resource per Second / Resource on Kill."
The previously announced unlocking of Uniques has also been confirmed. Some items of this kind of equipment will start appearing already in World Tier I.
Blizzard also revealed a new crafting system, which the developers mentioned. It will be based on a new consumable item that we will obtain by completing almost any activity in Diablo 4.
Many changes in Diablo
Changes in items undoubtedly represent the most crucial aspect of updates for players. However, this is just a small part of the entire list of fixes and updates. Blizzard is also getting ready to enhance the Helltide event, as well as mobility abilities (Teleport and Jump will have the ability to transport the player over various distances, depending on factors such as the degree of stick tilt), and numerous other enhancements.
A lot of space was devoted to discussing classes, whose improvements are expected to be much more significant than before. Feel free to review the complete list of changes at the end of the Blizzard article page if you are interested in the specifics. Some of these novelties were already discussed during the recent "Campfire Chat."
Therefore, it appears that Blizzard has indeed made substantial preparations, which accounts for the delay in their implementation into the game. Diablo 4's PTR for the 4th season will start on Tuesday, April 2, and the official season will kick off on May 14.
