important notes so far (ignoring the mobile game lol)
season 1 starts on 20th of july !!
There's a little patch today
this patch adds helltides chests ability to drop unique items. (apparently they cannot do this already.. lol) patch notes coming after the stream. (possible more changes. patch notes coming after the stream, at some point... )
https://news.blizzard.com/en-us/diablo4/23964909/diablo-iv-patch-notes?blzcmp=blizzard-news
patch notes arrive here, but as of now they've not yet been added.
Season of the malignant
read more here: i may have misheard or whatever:
Will feature new special "unique" gems that fit into specific (colored) sockets
Specific types of these malignat hearts (gems) can be found in specific areas (Targetted farming - could be endgame only. "Invoke encounters")
as well as story related to these malignant enemies etc.
july 18th is the day the patch arrives, that contain the changes, balance changes etc etc etc that comes with season 1.
the season 1 does not contain new campaign story, but will feature a "side" story related to these malignant enemies (some sort of corruption)
Season "battle pass content:
contains chapters, with various "challenges", where things can be skipped if you want.
they dont want some content (such as PVP) to be required to complete the battle pass. it'll be an option. not a requirement.
the later levels of battle pass chapters will be tough but grant unique titles, cosmetics etc.
if you play through the campaign during the start of season 1 your character will NOT meet any of the season 1 specific content (malignant enemies, those special gems etc) until the campaign is over, or you create a character and "skip" the campaign from the beginning (which requires having completed the campaign at least once on ANY character)
You will still gain "favor" (the XP of sorts, for battle passes) during the campaign completion.
PAYING for a battlepass just grants you additional cosmetics(+titles?) just like the free one. they share the same progression etc. and if you complete most of it and then pay later, you will still gain these "paid" cosmetics (its 10 dollars btw)
Smoldering ashes, a special item used to upgrade various things. like duration of elixirs (see picture below) they have a level requirement. These are part of the battle pass (But they're part of the free one)
What is kept in season 1 (carry-over)
The explored map carries over
The renown from exploration is also carried over!
Same with alters of lilith. they will be pre-shown on the map and you will have the bonuses and renown from them as well.
Before season start:
complete the campaign, collect alters of lilith and explore the world map. These things will be carried over.
How?
Log into your characters once season 1 patch comes out (the 18th), the ones that have the most progress, in order to "unlock" the things for season 1. their progress is being propagated to the whole account.
this will then spread the progress across to all your characters. including the fully explored map.
More healing potions and stats etc. is a powerful levelling bonus for new characters and its higly recommended!
but remember you still have to go activate way points! (except the capitals in each zone)
Small changes can take time because they have to implement changes into a system that they've designed in a certain way. if they had to include this new feature to begin with, it would have been designed in a different way, making this implementation simpler. because they have to make a new functionality on top of an already existing system, some changes can be difficult to make, in a fast easy manner. this is why some QOL changes have taken a while.
they do say they are aware of what people say, including a lot of these QoL changes.
Q & A time from the stream
any updates on respecing?
they have long term plans on respeccing (the flow of respeccing. lots of mumbling, didnt understand what he tried to say - but something with the gold related to it, and they're looking at how changes could/will affect respeccing etc)
a new item, scroll of amnesia is coming, which will completely "reset" the character (all skills, paragons)
will seasonal mechanics be added to eternal realm, after season ends
no. not planned- but we are reserving the right to add it, if we think it should be part of the game.
some future mechanics from a season might be added right away. others might be added if they're showing to be loved during the season they belong to.
they dont wanna add "too much" at a time.
malignant powers will be powerful enough to unlock new build options
seasons in the future
they want the new players who might buy the game next year, to not be "behind" people who've played from day 1. Thats part of the point of seasons.
This goes for current players who might not play in season 2 or 3, but get back in season 4.
Which cosmetics from battlepass will be transfering between characters (Between seasons)
All cosmetics will be carried over to the next season, and will also be usable on the eternal realm for old characters.
why cant we just teleport INTO the (nightmare) dungeon rather than to the entrance?
we are aware that 2 loading screens is annoying - we are working on optimizing it. the current implementation was a "quick" solution.
Will classes be nerfed/buffed in the middle of seasons, or only in the start of seasons?
when we go into seasonal releases, we do wanna make buffs and nerfs happen on the pre-season patch, except if there are larger issues that should be addressed.
Stash space
We will give players more stash space in the future, but we're not sure how it will be accomplished yet
how much time between seasons?
seasons lasts 3 months (minimum 12 weeks)
they're not answering the actual question, about how much time there is between a season.. lol. (In diablo 3 they do have several days between a season ending, and a new season starting)
new classes for diablo 4
nothing to announce
stream over.
(if youre interested in diablo immortal info you can go watch the stream https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ih-nvMvxV8 or check whatever site talks about that game..)