Blizzard takes it seriously and plans to completely overhaul Diablo 4. Important changes are coming that prepare the ARPG for the second expansion

Blizzard has published a list of changes that will soon be available on the Diablo IV test server, and with the new season, they will appear in the base version of the game. Recently, the community manager announced that this would be an "important PTR," and now we know why – it changes very fundamental elements of the fourth installment.

1. PTR 2.5.0 will be available from October 21, 10:30 am PT, to October 28, 11:00 am PT.

Diablo IV – What's New in PTR 2.5.0?

Changed enemies

It seems that the developers want to slightly increase the difficulty level by changing all the monsters. From now on, they'll be quicker to react and adapt during fights, making their behavior less predictable.

Furthermore, enemy affixes will be more powerful, and groups will be more dispersed, making it harder to eliminate them all at once. Elite opponents have also been updated, receiving 20 new suffixes, and their minions inherit some of their attributes.

Changes in items

Another major change concerns the mechanics of Tempering and Masterworking. Say goodbye to the randomness when trying to pick the right affix for your gear – from now on, Tempering lets you choose the exact bonus you want.

Masterworking will no longer increase attribute values but will improve the quality of the item, providing a bonus to basic damage, armor, or resistance. The maximum quality level is 20. Upon reaching this level, there will be an option to upgrade a random affix to a greater affix.

But that's not all—Blizzard is also introducing a completely new improvement system called Sanctification. From time to time, we will have the opportunity to visit the Heavenly Forge, where we will imbue a chosen item with the power of angels. This will lead to a few things, like adding a unique affix, swapping out an existing one, getting rid of the need for repairs, or adding a second legendary power.

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Changes in defense and healing

The character defense system got an upgrade, so now players need to focus more on staying alive. No more maxing out armor and resistance levels and forgetting about them forever. The cap will be removed, and higher values will provide smaller benefits. Moreover, armor will reduce all received damage, and its former role will be taken over by a new type of statistic—physical resistance.

A big new feature is a completely new trait called Toughness. It shows the total amount of raw damage of each type a character can take after factoring in all the ways to reduce it.

The potions have also been changed – their number has been reduced to four. Healing will now be immediate and restore 35% of total health. Potions will also recharge on their own, giving you one use every 30 seconds.

New mechanics in this Season

The new season will focus on Lesser Evils that attacked the Sanctuary. Each of them will be associated with a different gameplay mode:

1. Duriel with Helltides;
2. Belial with The Pits;
3. Andariel with the Kurast Undercity;
4. Azmodan as the new World Boss.

Blizzard

To aid us in the fight against them, there will be (of course!) new seasonal powers, this time called Divine Favors. Each consists of three elements: a reward, a purified gift, and a corrupted gift. The reward kicks in whenever you place a gift in the panel, but whether you get a good or bad effect depends on where you put it.

The latter variant will provide negative effects, such as buffing some enemies or the appearance of worms consuming our potions.

Blizzard

Rest of new features

A new challenge type named the Tower will be added to the game. These are multi-stage dungeons with a time limit, intended for the most experienced players. Blizzard emphasizes that they are currently in beta, which means they will improve in the future.

The Towers are linked to leaderboards, where players with the best completion times will appear. The ranking system will get better over time, and the PTR is just there to test how everything works in general.

Furthermore, the game will introduce a Season Rank, which we can increase by completing recurring "Capstone Dungeons." Each level will provide additional rewards, such as skill points.

Players are... satisfied

The announced new features have been received very positively by the community, which at times seems to surprise even the fans of Diablo IV. Even though some people are a bit skeptical about a few changes, a lot of them think the overall result looks fantastic.

However, some rightly temper their enthusiasm, noting that the new features need to be tested first. Only then will it be clear if Blizzard made the right decisions. It must be admitted, though, that PTR 2.5.0 looks to be one of the more important ones.

Diablo IV

June 6, 2023

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