Diablo 4’s upcoming Public Test Realm (PTR) is the first time players will have early access to new features in Blizzard’s latest ARPG. There’s a lot to go over and we’ve gathered all the details on itemization changes, new mechanics, and more.
The Diablo 4 Season 4 PTR was announced weeks ago but the development team has finally gone over the finer details in the latest Campfire Chat. The overhaul to the core mechanics of Diablo 4 is so comprehensive that Blizzard has delayed the next season to test them properly.
The PTR itself won’t reveal a whole lot about the theme or seasonal mechanics of Season 4 and will instead focus on tweaking the overall experience of Diablo 4. These include long-awaited changes to itemization, new crafting mechanics, an overhaul of Affixes, and more.
We’re going to discuss all of these Diablo 4 PTR inclusions in a bit more detail below but you can jump to what excites you most by clicking any of the links in this contents section.
Contents:
Diablo 4 Season 4 PTR release date
Players will be able to access the Diablo 4 Season 4 PTR on April 2, 2024. It will run for a week up until April 9, 2024.
The exact times for launch and termination have not been given by Blizzard yet but Community Lead Adam Fletcher did reveal that a comprehensive blog post would offer more information. It’s expected to be posted “sometime next week”.
The PTR will only be available to PC users via battle.net and the aforementioned blog post will give details on how to access it. Fletcher did qualify that the team is exploring ways to bring future PTRs to console players.
Boosting options in the Diablo 4 Season 4 PTR
A week is a relatively short span of time for many Diablo 4 players and there are likely concerns about experiencing the new changes introduced at endgame. I know with my workload, I have no chance in hell at grinding to max level in such a short period.
Fortunately, Diablo 4 devs detailed certain boosting features that would allow players to bypass the grind in order to get a proper feel for the new mechanics. These features are optional and will be available to every PTR character you create.
Boosting options include:
- Instantly leveling your character to level 100
- Access to all associated Skill & Paragon points for max level
- All Paragon Glyphs unlocked and maxed out
- Class Mechanics unlocked and completed
- 100,000,000 Gold and 1,000 Obols
- Map fog cleared and Lilith Alters completed
- A random set of rare gear
- Legendary drop rates doubled
- Mount unlocked
- Campaign completed
You’ll also be able to trade Gold between characters so if you’re particularly pragmatic, and you have enough time, you can create a multi-billionaire.
Diablo 4’s itemization overhaul
One of the primary complaints about Diablo 4 since its launch has been the pitiful inventory space and the flood of useless items that clutter it. More stuff to Salvage is always good but the busy work involved in keeping a clear stash can be a nightmare.
Diablo 4’s PTR will be the first look at a new itemization system that devs say prioritizes “quality over quantity”. This means a reduced drop rate for all gear but a focus on every piece of gear being “high quality” and “useful”.
This includes adding Uniques and Ubers to every World Tier including 1 & 2 so that players can access them earlier. For standard gear, devs want players to take their items on a “journey” and they hope to achieve this with an updated crafting system.
The following mechanical changes and introduction make up this new system.
Codex of Power changes
Diablo 4’s Codex of Power has received a complete rework and while we only have the developers’ explanation to go off, it definitely feels like it’s for the better. For starters, every single Legendary Aspect in the game is now available in the Codex of Power, rather than the select few we have currently.
You also won’t need to go to the occultist to unbind Aspects anymore. Now you can add aspects to your Codex by simply Salvaging them at the Blacksmith. Not only that, Aspects you acquire from Salvaging will no longer be the minimum roll.
Each Legendary Aspect in Diablo 4’s updated Codex of Power has 16 levels and as you salvage Legendary gear with a particular aspect, its level will increase based on the roll range of the item you salvaged.
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This means that once you have found a piece of Legendary Gear with its maximum roll, you can salvage it and then infinitely apply that roll to future gear via the Codex. I cannot underscore what a massive quality of life change this is but if you’re reading this article, you probably already know.
Tempering in Diablo 4
Tempering is a new system that will be showcased in the Diablo4 Season 4 PTR that allows you to add Affixes to Gear. Not just your run-of-the-mill ‘+20% to Ranged damage’ either.
Devs revealed new types of Aspects that could be added via Tempering that do things like increase the number of projectiles (Bone Spear, Twisting Blades, etc.) for Skills or widen their area of effect. To do this, you’ll need to find Tempering Manuals which will drop from most content and won’t require target farming.
Each Tempering Manual has multiple Affixes and using one will assign a random one of those Affixes to a piece of gear. These can be rerolled once with Gold if you’re unhappy with the outcome.
Most gear can only be Tempered once but late-game Ancestral gear can have two Affixes attached to it via Tempering.
Masterworking in Diablo 4
Masterworking is a late-game crafting mechanic that will increase the potency of every aspect on a piece of gear including Tempered ones. Items can be Masterworked a total of 12 times and every four levels, a random Aspect will receive a significant boost.
If you manage to get an item completely Masterworked during the Diablo 4 Season 4 PTR but you’re not happy with which affixes have received the major boosts, you can reset the item. Unfortunately, you will lose all of the materials invested.
While Unique gear cannot be Tempered with new Affixes, it can be Masterworked. This means you can make the most insanely powerful items in the game even more ridiculous.
Greater Affixes in Diablo 4
Greater Affixes are the final element in Diablo 4’s new itemization mechanics that players can experience during the Season 4 PTR. The concept is relatively simple. Greater Affixes will appear on random items and will give a 1.5 multiplier of the max roll of a particular Affix.
Items can be found with multiple Greater Affixes applied including Uniques and Uber Uniques and these pieces of gear will have a distinguishing feature in the overworld to mark their appearance. They also benefit from Masterworking.
What is The Pit in Diablo 4 Season 4’s PTR?
Diablo 4 Season 4 will see the introduction of The Pit but this new type of dungeon can be explored in the PTR. The Pit functions very similarly to Diablo 3’s Greater Rifts and the Abbatoirs of Zir (AoZ) in Diablo 4.
The Pit can be accessed once players have completed a Tier-45 Nightmare Dungeon meaning it will be less challenging than the AoZ initially. They can become progressively more difficult and even eclipse AoZ in the very endgame.
Accessing the Pit requires collecting a new type of Shard introduced in the PTR which drops from Elite enemies. Taking these Shards to the Artificer’s Obelisk in Cerrigar will let you open an Artificer’s Rift and enter The Pit.
Completing a Pit will reward you with unique resources for high-level Masterworking. These are Obducite, Ingolith, and Neathiron.
Those are the major inclusions of Diablo 4 Season 4’s PTR but more content that has yet to be revealed will appear in the full version of Season 4.
If you want to prepare yourself for the PTR or Season 4, check out our Diablo 4 guides to brush up on your skills.
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