5021

After running a poor man’s Bombardment for the GR45 conquest I can say it isn’t for me. Powerful, but more passive than I’d like.

5022

Maybe this is a dumb question, but I was trying a Hardcore Seasonal character yesterday and I couldn’t set the difficulty above Expert - T1 had a tooltip saying I had to have a character complete Act IV, and T2+ had tooltips saying I needed to hit 60 first. Do you need to unlock those difficulties by playing through the story in hardcore (as opposed to softcore unlocking everything for both SC and HC)?

5023

I’m not sure of the exact mechanism but I didn’t play through the story mode in HC and have done up to T10 now. It probably unlocks when you get a hardcore character to 60 or 70.

5024

There is a cow level.

5025

After a few days of playing I agree. At first it was interesting trying to line up Iron Skin+Bombardment/Consecrate with the Convention of Elements physical damage rotation but it wasn’t enough to keep me interested over the long term.

I’ve now unlocked the stash tab, and only have the solo 70 rift to achieve the Guardian tier, but it feels quite a ways off as I can only reliably solo 65 at this point. Progressing further would mean I need to grind gem levels or grind bounty mats so I can reroll my weapon for an ancient version. I’m not sure it’s worth it, and I may be mostly done for Season 5 now.

5026

And here it is:

7RC7MbX.png984×358

5027

There’s been a cow level for a long time now, this is just a special one where a NPC named after one of their artists that passed away will join you, as a nice tribute.

5028

PTR notes updated.

I wonder if 2.4 was the last of the major patches? Perhaps the game is where they want it to be before the (fingers crossed) next expansion? I played a few days of this season, but don’t really see myself playing again barring another major patch/expansion.

5029

I took the Gem of ease & leveled a wizard to Torment 3 by the time I went through the campaign (hit level 70 about Act II). I’m just not feeling the need to do anymore. For one, my cache is too small to hold gear for both the wizard and the crusader, and 2, I’m just not sure what I’d do except feel awesomely powered like I do with my Crusader, and I already have that.

I should try the class dungeons again, but I need to be in the right frame of mind.

5030

John Yang moved to WoW, and Leonard Boyarsky leaves for Obsidian. D3 subreddit puts on a brave face with today’s top post: “Is Diablo 4 replacing Diablo 3’s Second Expansion?”

Given Blizzard’s penchant for the wholesale scrapping of projects, it’s becoming easier to accept the hypothesis that all the major 2.x changes are scraps from a scrapped expansion. If 2.4.1 signifies (as some have speculated) that d3 is now on ‘life support,’ I can only congratulate Blizzard for their post-launch d3 support.

If d4 really is a glimmer in Blizzard’s eye, I hope it emphasizes innovative & cooperative exploration of a dark world a la Dark Souls and The Division(sorta).

5031

So late to the party question - what exactly is a season?

5032

The short of it – remember ladders from Diablo 2? Basically those with more defined objectives and rewards.

Seasons are 3 months in length now, and everyone starts from scratch at the beginning. At the end of the season, all your characters, loot, etc. are transferred over to non-seasonal play, there’s a month cooldown period, and then the next season starts. The main draws of seasons are a fresh start and what they call the Season Journey – a set of tiered objectives that unlock cosmetic rewards and as of last season an extra stash tab.

A new season usually coincides with a major balance patch and new legendaries (used to be season exclusive, but now available for all). Currently seasons are a PC-only thing.

5033

Is there an xp and loot bonus in season play?

5034

Nope, just a chance to start fresh =)

(i.e. no longer having to worry about a full inventory…)

5035

Seems plausible. All the post RoS features taken together are definitely expansion-worthy.

5036

Was thinking about checking out seasons, but looking through the D3 subreddit, it sounds like a real hassle with the seasons and gear grinding. Do seasons really add something interesting that I am missing? Grinding for gear and then starting from scratch a couple of months later sounds pointless.

5037

It’s really not that bad. A few systems were added to actually improve the progression - like steps to get given full set gear after you hit 70, which drastically accelerates your foray into torment levels and GR’s. Getting to 70 is also pretty easy and fast anyway - trivial if you get someone already there to power level you. Farming for gear and crafting mats is much more fun and rewarding once you clear T4 with ease. Mid-way through S5 I have full gear for every Crusader set, mostly in ancients.

There are still classes and combinations I have not tried, so it is just an excuse to jump back in for a few weeks.

Also, as of S5, seasons add the carrot of earning an additional stash tab, should you achieve a number of tasks.

5038

I love that the little pet runs around picking up gold for you. I wish he would pick up gems and materials too. :)

In the one week I played this season, I accumulated more gold and paragon levels than I previously had in regular play. I guess I should play more.

I’ve enjoyed the time I’ve spent in seasons so far. My mistake in season 4 was for some reason deciding to start hardcore. I wiped three times during the season before deciding to run a regular hero.

5039

It takes <30 minutes to get powerleveled to 70, you just need to wait a couple days after seasons start to do it. Like Sharaleo said, you get a full class set after hitting 70 and a couple fairly easy milestones, and then you’re deep in the gearing up game again.

5040

Unless you do it on hardcore, in which case it takes a bit longer :)