Diablo 4 March of the Goblins is currently underway with an all new set of critters to chase down for loot, and we already know that Season 8 has been delayed until April 29, but what else did we learn from today's Developer stream?
Well not only is Season 8 an ode to Bosses in Diablo 4, we're getting 3 new ones including an "old friend" from Diablo 3. Season 8 will let us wield powers of even the World Bosses and finally get our own back on Lilith with her own ground spike attack.
Here's when the Public Test Realm for Season 8 starts, and everything else we know about Season 8, the season where WE become the boss (literally).
New friends (well foes) as we get new Bosses to fight in Season 8
We've not had any new bosses since Andariel was added to the boss ladder in Season 4, but as we already reported, we're getting Mephisto's 'Harbinger of Hatred' as a new member of the Boss Ladder.
The biggest surprise is the reveal of the 'old friend' teased by Rod Fergusson recently. Belial from Diablo 3 is back!
He will be both a pinnacle boss, and there will be a chance for a form of him to ambush you after fighting other bosses. Fighting the ambush version of Belial will be the only way to access his Supreme form.
Belial appeared as 'The Lord of Lies' and a main fight in Diablo 3, revealed during the story as being in disguise as an ally, you fight his giant form on a huge platform as he tries to take you out in a swarm of stink breath.
It's a huge fight with a huge boss, and I'm excited to see it back.
We'll also get to face off with Urivar again from Vessel of Hatred, though he will only be available to those who own the DLC.
Summoning materials are being scrapped and bosses will essentially be 'free' to summon. However, players will need to create 'Lair keys.'
Materials have been taking up too much space in the bag and this is a great solution. Stygian stones will now be used to craft the next boss's lair key.
Supreme Belial?
It wasn't really clear from the stream what 'Supreme Belial' is, but I'm sure it's terrifying.
Quality of life changes to the Boss Ladder include easier to see boss lair icons, and clear descriptions of which boss is in each lair.
Not only will the lairs be easier to spot, we can now teleport to them immediately. No more going to the nearest fast travel point, yay!
Each boss has also been reworked and may have new mechanics so the fights should feel fresh in Season 8.
Season 8 is an ode to Bosses, and Belial's influence will be all across Sanctuary
Season 8 introduces Apparition Incursions, an exciting, fast-paced boss rush mode.
In this event, you'll face 10 randomized bosses back-to-back, pushing your skills and builds to the limit.
It ends with a thrilling showdown with Belial himself.
I am become (wandering) death
In Season 8, we will quite literally 'become the Boss' and be able to wield the powers of all the Bosses in the game, from Lilith to Wandering Death.
There are 24 Boss Powers to collect. Each Boss Power has 2 effects—a Main and Modifier—that can be activated depending on the Power Slot you equip it to. You can have up to 1 Main and 3 Modifier Powers active at a time.
In the stream, we saw 'Lilith's Hatred' where we can throw down her infamous one-shot kill ground spikes, Duriel's Burrow and Wandering Death's Chest Beam.
Unfortunately, the beam travels around the battlefield and doesn't actually burst from my character's bosom, but I'll be giving the developers feedback on this disappointment.
Examples of Boss powers we can get in Diablo 4
Taken from the Patch 2.2.0 notes, we can see some of the amazing powers we'll be able to wreak havoc with:
- Duriel's Burrow - When you Evade, you now burrow underground, immobilizing surrounding enemies for 5 seconds and dealing 200% on your entry and exit. You deal 200% damage every 0.25 seconds while burrowed. Evade's Cooldown is increased by 4 seconds, and Cooldown Reduction on Evade is 50% as effective.
- Belial's Eye Beams - After you drink a healing potion, gain 75% Damage Reduction for 2 seconds and summon eye beams that Corrupt enemies for 1,750% damage over 3.5 seconds. Then, your Healing Potion becomes disabled for 5 seconds. You may drink your Healing Potion at full health.
- Grigoire's Lightning Square - After you cast a Core Skill, lightning tiles outward for 1.2 seconds dealing 300% Lightning damage per strike.
- Lord Zir's Blood Pool - After you damage an enemy, spawn a pool of blood that deals 400% Bleeding damage per second over 4 seconds. You can have up to 3 active pools.
"Progression in Season 7 has been too fast"
Season 6 time to level from 0-60 was 15-17 hours on average, in Season 7 this was halved to 9 hours on average which is not the intention, but a side effect of the seasonal powers and activities.
The developers do want the process from item 1-25 to be slower and closer to the time it took in Season 6, and also not have normal and rare gear to completely lose meaning.
Players were getting a Legendary every 3-4 minutes within an hour of playing the new season, which makes items no longer 'feel' legendary. Adjustments will be made to reduce the drop rates on these early on.
Adjustments will also be made to Rare and Magic items overall so they are more beneficial in the early game.
- Magic items can have up to 2 affixes
- Rare items can have up to 3
- Legendary is still the best quality at max level
Torment progression was also too fast
The overall progression speed and number of players reaching Torment 4 has more than doubled from Season 6.
The intention is that Torment 4 is top-level content for the top 10% of players, but on average, it's only taking 15 hours from level 60 to hit it, and 50% of players are doing so.
We're adjusting:
- Torment 1 now starts at Pit Tier 10
- Torment (and Pit scaling) is increasing by 20%
- Torment 4 will be equivalent to Season 7 Pit Tier 76
Mid season updates and balance patches
No longer planning on doing mid-season balance updates, the developers want to put more effort into getting it right from day 1 of the season.
Mid-season updates can be frustrating for people who have invested heavily into gear by the time they arrive.
We can still expect reactions to egregious things that pop up early in the season, an example of which was the Eagle-Evade Spiritborn build from Season 6, and the current overtuned Necromancer Bloodwave build in Season 7.
Class changes and balancing
The team discussed further changes for each class, inclluding changes to Ultimate scaling for all classes.
Lucky Hit control effects will be toned down and new terms to describe Damage over Time for different additional damage types.
As usual, each class will receive a new Unique weapon and new Aspect, and you can check out the full list of changes and additions in the Patch notes that followed the stream.
You can read the full Patch 2.2.0 notes here.
When can I play Diablo 4 Season 8?
Season 8 is currently set to start on April 29, however the Public Test Realm (PTR) to test all of these proposed changes starts on 11 March, and runs to 18 March.
The team also shared we will be getting a roadmap before the start of Season 8.
This is something the players have been requesting since World of Warcraft and Diablo Immortal players have one.
How can I play the Diablo 4 Season 8 PTR?
You'll need to own Diablo 4 or have Xbox Game Pass and be using a PC to access the Diablo 4 PTR. It's not currently available for console users.
- Open the Battle.net launcher.
- Navigate to Diablo 4.
- In the bottom left corner, select the dropdown and you'll find Public Test Realm.
- Click Install.
- Click Play and select a test server.
- Create a test character (create a Seasonal one for anything related to the Seasonal themes)
- Skip Campaign if you started anew.
If you are an Xbox Game Pass player on PC, you can access the PTR through the Xbox app and follow the same steps above, all from March 11 to March 18.
