Diablo 4 Season 4: PTR Patch Tests Changes To Next Season

Diablo 4 has had a shaky start but Blizzard is more than willing to make ends meet for fans of the game. There have been lots of improvement made within the last couple of months since the game’s launch. Not all of them are welcomed changes though but at least the developer is still communicating with the community for further changes. With the most recent PTR, it seems like there’s more great things coming to Diablo 4 Season 4.

When Was The Diablo 4 PTR?

PTR stands for Public Test Realm and this is essentially a private server where players can test out potential new and upcoming changes to the game. The changes they see on a PTR server isn’t final and is subject to change depending on the feedback from the players.

The last PTR was made available on April 2 to 9 for those who are playing Diablo 4 on a PC.

When Is The Next Diablo 4 Patch?

The upcoming PTR was made to test the changes to the game coming along with Diablo 4 Season 4. Season 4 was actually supposed to arrive this April but Blizzard delayed the release of it. Now, you’ll have access to the new season on this date and time.

• May 24, 10am PST

• May 24, 1pm EST

• May 24, 6pm GMT

• May 24, 7pm CET

• May 25, 3am JST

Changes Tested In The PTR

Now, we’re going to talk about the changes coming to Diablo 4 Season 4 based on the PTR. Keep in mind however, that these are all subject to change. 

Itemization

One of the most exciting and advertised changes being made to Diablo 4 with Season 4 are itemization changes. With the recent PTR, we now have an idea about what these changes are.

As per Blizzard, there are key three things that they want to focus on for the itemization changes.

First, they want to prioritize quality over quantity so expect to see less loot but better ones at that. Next, they want to make sure that the best items in the game aren’t just one off stuff that you’ll eventually get rid of. Instead, you can improve these further throughout your journey.  Lastly, they simple want to add items that are fun to use for everyone.

Item Updates

On the topic of quality over quantity, Blizzard reduced the number of affixes to 3 for Legendary items and 2 for Rare Items. On the other hand, there are fewer potent affixes in the gme but the relevant affixes which help improve your skills have increased. There are also new affixes in the game: 

• Resource per Second

• Resource on Kill

• Lucky Hit: Apply Vulnerable

• Life per Hit

• Basic Skill Ranks

With the next season, you can expect to see only Sacred Items on World Tier 3, while Ancestral Items are only available in World Tier 4. This makes farming for loot much simpler on the 4th Tier.

Tempering

The PTR also let players test out a new crafting system being added to the game which is Tempering. To put it simply, this will let you add affixes to your items with the help of a new item called Temper Manuals. You can get Temper Manuals from almost all content in the game. What this simply means is that you can further improve your best loot to take them into the latter parts of the game.

The Manuals are arranged much like the Codex of Power with each one being placed into a category like Mobility, Resource, etc. Like the Codex, you can retain these so that you can use them as much as you want to.

Masterworking

Aside from Tempering, Diablo 4 Season 4 will also introduce Masterworking. Whereas Tempering is available all throughout the game, Masterworking is reserved for your late-game exploits. 

Masterworking is capable of enhancing the affixes of your Unique items too. There are 12 upgrade ranks to go through and each time you do a 4th upgrade, a single affix from your Unique item is massively improved. To use this new crafting system, you’ll have to go through The Pit to gather the right materials.

New Affixes

These are new affixes that you can expect to see on Ancestral Legendary and Unique items. While new, these aren’t fully new as they are basically an upgraded version of normal affixes and all of them have a 1.5x multiplier at a maximum roll. Whenever there’s a loot like this nearby, you’ll hear a different audio cue for it. There’s also a roman numeral numbered from I to IV to show how many of these affixes are there on an item.

One thing worth noting about these affiixes is that you can’t enchant them but they can only be found. You’ll have a chance to start finding items with Greater affixes on Tier’s 3 and 4.

Codex of Power

One of the key changes with the Codex of Power feature is that now, all of the Legendary Aspects you see can appear as a codex. This helps you focus more on getting better items instead of solely relying on drops for better Codex. Whenever you have many Legendaries on your inventory, the best one will be added to your storage automatically.

It’s also worth noting that the Legendary Affixes now range from Normal to Ancestral and most of them have been buffed as well.

Misc. Updates

There are also a few minor updates worth noting. For starters, any Legendary items that you get from enemies 95 and above are always going to have 925 item power which is a good thing as these items will most likely fit your buiild.

As for gems, these are now simpler as they come with core states and conditional bonuses are much simpler to trigger as well. Overall, players might find gems more useful.

Great news for players looking to start building their characters early, Uniques are now going to drop as early as Tiers 1 and 2. Moreover, all of the Uniques in the game will start dropping at 3, while Uber Uniques will drop from monsters level 55 and above.

Revamped Helltide

Even Helltides in the game are going to get revamped next season. It will not have a new system called Threat. The higher the Threat, the more difficuult monsters you’re going to face but this also means better Tortured Gifts as well. If you die within the Helltide, your Threat will reset as well.

As of the next update, there will be three Threat Tiers for the Helltide. Once you reach the third Tier, you’ll become Hell-Marked. This increases the likelihood of being ambushed by a huge horde of enemies. Finishing them off will causes a Hellborne to appear which is very tough monster. Each of the five Hellbornes represent one of the classes in Diablo 4.

Baneful Hearts

One of the new rewards acquired through Helltide are Baneful Hearts. You can get these through the Tortured Gift chests from the Helltide. You can only use the hearts in a new area called the Accursed Ritual.
Each instance of the ritual can be done by depositing three hearts. Once the ritual starts, you’ll be attacked by numerous monsters sa well. Other players can help you out at this time. The ritual ends with a fight against a Blood Maiden who’ll give great rewards upon dying.

Misc. Updates

The new Helltide changes will be implemented starting from World Tier 1 and 2. However, all Tortured Gifts at this level are Mystery Chests but the Helltides are much easier as there’ll be less enemies, no meteors, and no roaming bosses.

The Pit Of Artificiers

You’ll receive a new priority Quest once you reach Tier 4 and it’s going to ask you to complete a Tier 46 Nightmare Dungeon. Once done, you’ll have the ability to get Runeshards through various activities and getting enough of these will let you use an Obelisk located in Cerrigar.

Once activated, the Obelisk will bring you to The Pit. This is basically a horde mode that lasts 10 minutes and the goal is to kill as many monsters as possible. You’ll lose a portion of your timer each time you death. The more you die, the higher the time is deducted from the 10-minute timer.

If you’re able to beat a set amount of monsters, you’ll then have to fight a boss. The boss fight itself is also timed and if you succeed, you can unlock various things such as:

• Materials for Masterworking

• New Tiers of The Pit

There are hundreds of difficulty within the Pit. The harder it is, the better the rewards. You can do this new side activity in groups of four but the player who spent the resources to open the Pit will be given the most rewards which include materials for Tormented Echoes.

Boss Echo Updates

Diablo 4 Season 4 will also introduce the Echo of Andariel who’ll be on the same scale as Duriel. Both have the same drop rates.

The Echo of Andariel will be able to damage you with Fire, Shadow, Lightning, and Poison attacks so make sure that you resistances for all of these are well prepared. To fight this new boss, you’ll have to farm materials from Beast in Ice and Lord Zir.

Additionally, you can now summon Tormented Echoes using Stygian Stones that you can get as a reward from The Pit. If you succeed in beating your first Tormented Echo, you’ll get a Resplendent Spark for a first-time reward.

New Items For Diablo 4 Season 4

With the start of the new season, you’ll gain access to a ton of new amazing gear as well. Here they are and the stats you can expect from them.

Diablo 4 Season 4 Is Looking Great

There’s still a lot we don’t know about Diablo 4 Season 4 but so far, the PTR shows very positive things to come for the game. Hopefully, these changes are improved upon even more but even if they’re not, the players are already happy with everything, especially when it comes to Itemization.