Diablo 4‘s next season isn’t far away, and after a long wait, the developers have finally revealed when the next Developer Update livestream will take place and lift the lid on what’s to come for the ARPG.
To ensure you know how to tune in and learn about Diablo 4‘s third season, we’ve compiled all the details into this guide and what you can expect from this upcoming stream on the next major update for Diablo 4.
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How to Watch the Diablo 4 Season 3 Livestream
The Diablo 4 Season 3 Developer Update live stream will air on Thursday, January 18, at 9 AM PST and will be available to watch on the official Diablo 4 Twitch and YouTube channels.
The live stream will be hosted by associate director of community Adam Fletcher, game design manager Daniel Tanguay, quest designer Madeleine James, and lead class designer Adam Jackson.
Everything Revealed in the Diablo 4 Season of the Construct Livestream
The livestream provided plenty of details on the upcoming season of Diablo 4, as well as a slew of new updates and content coming in the next big update for the game.
We’ve laid out all the key details we learned from the Developer Update so you can get a clear idea of what to expect as we prepare for Season of the Construct.
Seasonal Content – Companions, Vaults, and Arcane Tremors
Season of the Construct will bring with it several new pieces of seasonal content for players to stick their teeth into, starting with the Seneschal Companion. This will act as the season-borrowed power, and with different combinations of Governing and Tuning Stones, you will be able to create a unique combat companion who can aid you as you take on the season.
Getting these Stones will primarily come from completing Vaults, a new dungeon type that will focus on traps and hazards. Players need to avoid whilst making their way through and retaining the Zoltun’s Warding buff, which allows players to open Wardwoven Chests for rewards like Stone and Legendary items. These will also have Nightmare versions once players enter World Tier 3, which will also grant Glyph expereince.
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With all of these pieces of content, the idea is that you will constantly be able to bounce between doing different activities in the game while progressing, instead of being locked into a specific type of gameplay or content.
The Gauntlet
We also got some details on the Gauntlet, the leaderboard-style mode coming sometime into the Season of the Construct. This mode will see a new weekly Dungeon type become available in World Tier 4, with fixed affixes and layouts for fair competition, and will give players the chance to show off their builds and work towards earning a spot on the leaderboards.
There will be rewards assorted with different ranks and positions you acquire, such as cosmetics, Caches, and for those who really want to go for the top, a place in the Hall of the Ancients, which is a permanent reminder of your accomplishment that will remain forever.
There will also be some unique shrines and mechanics with these Gauntlets, and they are a perfect way for endgame and top-level players to compete and work towards another goal.
Balance Changes
Of course, with every season comes the big balance changes, and the Season of the Construct is no different. While the full patch notes will be released on January 19th, we did get some insight into the bigger changes coming to each class and the team’s approach to balancing going forward.
Barbarian will see some fairly big changes, notably to its Charge ability, which will now deal more baseline damage. Additionally, several Key Passives, such as Walking Arsenal, will be getting buffs, and Shouts will see adjustments that make them less of a requirement in builds.
Sorcerers will see Lighting Spear Crits make enemies Vulnerable, some buffs to Legendary Nodes, and Metoer get some buff to compliment the new Unique item, Starfall Coronet. As for the Necromancer, that will see the Blood and Iron Golem attack now Cleave, friendly players and minions will now move through Bone Prison, and Bone Spirit will be getting a buff and rework of some of its Aspects.
Druids will see Spirit Boons getting buffs, Rabies getting some buffs and a new Legendary, and Lighting Storm getting some tweaks to complement the new Unique, Unsung Ascentic’s Wraps. As for the Rogue, they will see buffs to some of their underused Skills, specifically for ranged builds, with the Key Passive Precision also getting a rework. and several uniques, such as Windforce, Skyhunter, and Eaglehorn all getting updates.
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The developers also took a moment to explain their approach to future balancing patches and changes, stating that there will be two planned balance changes a season, one at the beginning and one towards the middle of the season. The launch of a season will also see new Legendaries and Uniques added to the game, the many updates and changes to systems, and the larger updates to the game, such as the massive rework of Resistances and combat math in Season 2 as an example.
The midseason update will be where previous fan-favorite seasonal designs, such as the Maligant Rings, will be added to the game, and bug fixes, as well as the smaller changes with few to no nerfs unless they are really needed.
Quality of Life Improvements
Along with big gameplay changes, there are some quality-of-life improvements coming in Season 3, such as WASD movement, Skill Tree Re-spec mode, Gold Trading UI updates, Higher item scaling in World Tier 4, and some increased drop rates for endgame boss summoning materials. This will also include the changes to Helltides, making them a more permanent fixture in the game.
There will also be some changes to the Seasonal Journey, with PvP objectives being removed, new rewards added, no more roadblocks between the Seasonal Journey and Questline, and three new Seasonal Blessings, including one geared towards the new Tuning Stone rewards found through the new Vault Dungeons.
