Blizzard Quote [source]

Diablo Patch 2.6.6 Details

What's new in Ptach 2.6.6:

• General
• Seasons
• Items
• Bug Fixes

Note: All changes apply to all versions of Diablo III, including PS4, Xbox One, Switch, and PC unless otherwise indicated.

General

• A pet has been added that will be available for players who pre-purchase Warcraft III: Reforged Spoils of War Edition (PC Only)

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Seasons

• The buff for Season 18, the Season of the Triune, has been added
  • Triune's Will: All abilities have a chance when hitting an enemy to spawn a circle that gives a power. Only one circle can be active at a time.
    • Triune of Love (Power): Players in the circle receive a 100% damage bonus while active
    • Triune of Determination (Resource Reduction): Players in the circle receive a 50% discount on resources spent while active
    • Triune of Creation (Cooldown Reduction): While standing in an active circle, any skills currently on cooldown come off of cooldown more quickly
  • Developer Comment: The last couple of Seasonal buffs have been focused primarily on end-game content. We wanted to try something different this Season with a buff that was more beneficial to players regardless of where they might be in their Season Journey. Triune's Will can come into play as early as level 1 and continue to make an impact on your game experience from the beginning to the end of the Season, and we're looking forward to seeing how players leverage this ever-changing boost throughout their adventures!
  • Developer Comment: In addition, we received feedback from players during the PTR about colorblind accessibility. We've changed one of the blue-tinted circles to a darker, green earth tone that should stand out a lot more for affected players. We greatly appreciate your feedback!

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Items

• Developer Note: There are additional specific notes below, but broadly for 2.6.6, we wanted to introduce a handful of new item powers targeted at two audiences: (1) certain classes with long-standing requests for balance/quality of life adjustments and (2) the broader player base for experimenting with Kanai's Cube. This means fewer class-specific new additions, but more additions that everyone has an opportunity to play with. We also experimented with making some of the craftable sets from Haedrig more appealing for fresh level 70's or players looking to maximize their farming runs. We hope to see some interesting new theorycrafting and tactics out of 2.6.6 and can't wait to see what the community does with this new loot!
• Updated Item Notes: There are a number of notes below clarifying the intention of certain item functionalities. In a couple cases, such as with Flavor of Time, the item wasn't behaving properly during PTR per our intentions (which has been fixed). For others, we just wanted to provide more clarity about exactly how these items behave.
• Flavor of Time
  • New Legendary Power: Pylon effects last twice as long.
  • Note: Only wearers of this item gain this effect. This is intended.
• The Executioner
  • New Legendary Power: Attacks will slay enemies with less than (5-10%) health.
  • Note: This item's power does not work on followers. This is intended.
• Stone Gauntlets
  • New Legendary Power: Getting attacked will slowly turn you to stone... (You gain 50% more armor, but your movement speed is reduced by 15% and attack speed is reduced by 20%. This effect stacks up to 5 times)
  • PTR Update: This item now displays a buff icon and has a clearer in-game description. Thank you for the feedback!
  • Note: Immunity to control-impairing effects can work against the reduced attack and movement speed penalties. This is intended.
• Echoing Fury
  • New Legendary Power: Slaying enemies engulfs the wielder into a Frenzy. (Killing enemies increases your attack speed by 15% and movement speed by 5%. This effect stacks up to 5 times)
  • PTR Update: This item's power now works on kill assists and pet kills. Thank you for the feedback!
• Squirt's Necklace
  • New Legendary Power: While not taking damage, your damage is increased by up to 100% and damage taken is increased by up to 50%.
  • PTR Update: This item now displays a buff icon. Thank you for the feedback!
• Messerschmidt's Reaver
  • New Legendary Power: Reduce the remaining cooldown of one of your skills by 1 second when you slay an enemy.
  • PTR Update: This item's power now works on kill assists and pet kills. Thank you for the feedback!
• Mortick's Brace
  • New Legendary Item: Wrath of the Berserker gains the effect of every rune.
  • Developer's Note: If you played during the Patch 2.2.0 PTR, you'll recognize this as an item that was later removed from the game before it went to live servers. At the time, Mortick's Brace gave too much power for a single item slot. However, the power curve of Diablo III has changed significantly since then and we're comfortable with bringing it back.
  • Developer's Note: We're not done with Barbarians, either. However, this is a change that required less testing and could be easily added to 2.6.6, so rather than waiting for a larger batch of changes, we saw no reason to hold this one back.
• Spite
  • Note: This item can be crafted from the Blacksmith and is not a normal loot drop
  • New Legendary Power: Non-cleaving Gargantuans gain the cleave and chilling effects of the Humongoid rune.
• Legacy of Dreams
  • New Legendary Gem:
    • While you have no set bonuses equipped, every Legendary item you have equipped increases your damage dealt by 3.75% and reduces your damage taken by 2%. (Max level 99)
    • Rank 25: This bonus is doubled for Ancient items.
  • Developer's Note: The end game opened up significantly with Season 17's Legacy of Nightmare's buff (and the community was clear about how much these new options were appreciated), but wanted to make this addition a more permanent fixture in a more streamlined way than simply making it baseline. This Legendary Gem should open that path up even further and at more opportunities than just late game Greater Rift pushing.
• Crafted Sets
  • Note: The following sets have been significantly revised from their existing level 70 counterparts. Items crafted prior to 2.6.6 will continue to exist in their old forms but will not be updated after the patch. In addition, after the patch, the old recipes will no longer be available to craft and all players will need to re-acquire these recipes by finding the plans again through Horadric Caches or by killing Odious Collectors.
  • Sage's Journey
    • A Belt has been added to this set.
    • Haedrig the Blacksmith now automatically learns how to forge this set at Rank 12.
  • Captain Crimson's Trimmings
    • (2) Set Bonus
      • Regenerates 6000 Life per Second
      • Reduces cooldown of all skills by10% 20%.
      • Now also reduces Resource Costs by 20%
    • (3) Set Bonus
      • Set bonuses have been replaced
        • Damage dealt is increased by your total percentage of Cooldown Reduction
        • Damage taken is reduced by your total percentage of Resource Cost Reduction
  • Aughild's Authority
    • (2) Set Bonus
      • Set bonuses have been replaced
        • Reduces damage taken by 15%
        • Increases damage dealt by 30%
    • (3) Set Bonus
      • Reduces damage from elites by 15% 30%
      • Increases damage against elites by 15% 30%
  • Cain's Destiny
    • (2) Set Bonus
      • Attack Speed increased by 8%
      • +50% Experience. (5.0% at level 70) (Moved from (3) Set Bonus)
    • (3) Set Bonus
      • When a Greater Rift Keystone drops, there is a 25% chance for an extra one to drop.

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Bug Fixes

• Fixed an error that occurred when reporting a player via a friend request
• Fixed an error that occurred when saving an existing Friend Note without making changes

PTR-Specific Bug Fixes

• Squirt's Necklace
  • Fixed an issue where the damage taken increase was not reaching the 50% cap
• Captain Crimson's Trimmings
  • Fixed an issue where the bonus provided by this class set was subject to snapshotting

Blizzard Quote [source]

Diablo III Patch 2.6.6 & Season 18: The Season of the Triune Begins August 23rd

Blizzard have announced the starting date of the latest season; Season 18 starting August 23. The latest Diablo III patch, discussed later, will be released at the same time. Here we list the details of the all-new Season of the Triune buff, the heap of new Legendary powers, and a few crafted item revamps in Patch 2.6.6!

Table of Contents

• Season 18 Theme
• Season 18 Cosmetic Rewards
• Season Journey Rewards
• Seasonal Conquests
• Haedrig's Gift
• Patch 2.6.6 Notes
• Season 18 FAQ

---

New Season 18 Theme

Season 18 introduced the Season of the Triune, which is a call-back to an ancient cult forged over 3,000 years ago by the Prime Evils of the Burning Hells. Parading as three benevolent deities dedicated to Determination, Creation, and Love, the Prime Evils intended to infiltrate the hearts of men in a bid to tilt the odds in their favor in the ongoing Eternal Conflict. Ultimately defeated by Uldyssian during the Sin War, the survivors of the Cult of the Triune still operate today as the more widely-known Coven, whom continue the work of Adria and Magdha even after their deaths.

Throughout Season 18, all players will benefit from the Power of the Triune buff, which will periodically summon circles around the battlefield that provide one of three random buffs:

• Triune of Love (Power): Players in the circle receive a 100% damage bonus while active
• Triune of Determination (Resource Reduction): Players in the circle receive a 50% discount on resources spent while active
• Triune of Creation (Cooldown Reduction): While standing in an active circle, any skills currently on cooldown come off of cooldown more quickly

Blizzard aimmed to set up something different in Season 18, and particularly were looking st speed up the gameplay from the instant players begin their journey. This buff alters gameplay from level 1 to level 70 and beyond, and is best played by moving as much as possible around the battlefield to leverage these powerful boosts. Blizzard want to see how well players utilize these ancient powers from their first level to their final Greater Rift push!

---

Season 18 Cosmetic Rewards

As early as Season 17, Blizzard started to re-introduce previous Seasonal rewards to make them available to players who may have missed them the first time around. This means that in Season 18, awards that were originally available from Season 6 are returning to the Season Journey.

In addition to the Chest and Gloves slots of the exclusive Conqueror Set, Diablo III players will be able to earn a series of portrait frames bedecked with the mysterious beauty of Blood Shards. A ghastly All Hallow's pennant will also be available, allowing you to proudly proclaim your love for all things grim and creepy.

---

Season 18 Journey Rewards

Blizzard note that for players who've been diligently slaying demons for the past few Seasons and reached Conqueror in the Season Journey each time, most will have accrued a few extra stash tabs. In additions players will earn a new tab each Season by finishing the Conqueror tier, up to a maximum of five:

• Guardian of Sanctuary: Finish a level 70 Nephalem Rift on Torment XIII within five minutes
• Gem of My Life: Level three Legendary Gems to level 55
• All I Do IS Win: Complete two Conquests this Season
• Disarm You: Kill Rakanoth at level 70 in under 15 seconds on Torment XIII difficulty
• Money Ain't A Thang: Slay Greed on Torment XIII difficulty
• Take U There: Reach Greater Rift level 60 Solo
• Power Amplification: Use Kanai's Cube to augment an Ancient Legendary item with a level 50+ gem
• Cubic Reconfiguration: Use Kanai's Cube to reforge a Legendary item

---

Seasonal 18 Conquests

Here are the challenges you'll meet if you Want to prepare your Conquest plan for Season 18.

Push your way to Greater Rift level 75 to complete Divinity/Lionhearted. On a Good Day/I Can't Stop guides you to get your Legendary Gem grind on; level three Legendary Gems to 65 to complete this challenge! For the speedy, Speed Demon/Need for Speed requires the fastest nephalem to complete a Nephalem Rift at level 70 on Torment X or higher in under two minutes. For Curses!/Stars Align, pick any Cursed Chest event that requires killing monsters and defeat over 350 or more at level 70 on Torment X or higher. For the fiercest demon slayers, Boss Mode/World's Apart is a speed challenge where you'll need to eliminate the following bosses at level 70 and Torment X in under twenty minutes:

• The Skeleton King
• The Butcher
• Zoltun Kulle
• Ghom
• Cydaea
• Rakanoth
• Diablo
• Adria
• Queen Araneae
• Maghda
• Belial
• Siegebreaker Assault Beast
• Azmodan
• Izual
• Urzael
• Malthael

---

Haedrig's Gift in Season 18

At last, the Class Sets rewarded for completing certain chapters in the Season Journey courtesy of Haedrig's Gift have rotated once more. Blizzard have listed the available Sets below. For those new to Seasons, here's how it works:

Completing Chapters 2, 3, and 4 of the Season Journey will reward you with three of Haedrig's Gifts. Each Gift contains a few pieces from one of your Class Sets. Players can only unlock one Class Set in this manner per Season across Hardcore and Non-Hardcore, so choose wisely!

The set you will receive depends on the class of the character you're playing when you open each Haedrig's Gift. To collect a full Class Set, you'll need to open all three on the same character.

Here are the sets granted by Haedrig's Gift in Season 18:

• Barbarian - The Legacy of Raekor
• Crusader - Armor of Akkhan
• Demon Hunter - Embodiment of the Marauder
• Monk - Inna's Reach
• Necromancer - Pestilence Master's Shroud
• Witch Doctor - Zunimassa's Haunt
• Wizard - Delsere's Magnum Opus

Blizzard Quote [source]

Diablo III Patch 2.6.6 PTR Has Finished

From 1st August the 2.6.6 PTR (Public Test Realm) has now reeached end of life and is officially offline.

In Patch 2.6.4, Diablohub commenced a new precedure for testing Diablo features and content. It seems to have worked well Blizzard's production schedule because it has allowed them to acquire focused, and actionable client feedback. Blizzard repeated the procedure for Patch 2.6.6, with a one-week PTR to test the impact of new features and gameplay in Season 18.

Blizzard have listened to gamers' feedback and have introduced new powers across a number of current Legendaries which previously had none. A brand new, unique Season buff for the Season of the Triune was developed to change the moment-to-moment game play right from level one.

PTR Details

The Patch 2.6.6 PTR started on Thursday, July 25 and ran for a week. During the course of the PTR, there were periodic maintenance outages, hotfixes, and minor patches.

There were two buffs active to help players on their PTR journey: increased Legendary drop rate and double Blood Shard drops. These were designed to allow everyone to acquire any new items (or supplemental items) that they might need for testing!

Patch Notes

Here are the patch notes for the most recent update for Diablo III, Patch 2.6.6.

Seasons

• The buff for Season 18, the Season of the Triune, has been added
  • Triune's Will: All abilities have a chance when hitting an enemy to spawn a circle that gives a power. Only one circle can be active at a time.
    • Power: Players in the circle receive a 100% damage bonus while active
    • Resource Reduction: Players in the circle receive a 50% discount on resources spent while active
    • Cooldown Reduction: While standing in an active circle, any skills currently on cooldown come off of cooldown more quickly

Items

• Developer Note: There are additional specific notes below, but broadly for 2.6.6, we wanted to introduce a handful of new item powers targeted at two audiences: (1) certain classes with long-standing requests for balance/quality of life adjustments and (2) the broader player base for experimenting with Kanai's Cube. This means fewer class-specific new additions, but more additions that everyone has an opportunity to play with. We also experimented with making some of the craftable sets from Haedrig more appealing for fresh level 70's or players looking to maximize their farming runs. We hope to see some interesting new theorycrafting and tactics out of 2.6.6 and can't wait to see what the community does with this new loot!
• Flavor of Time
  • New Legendary Power: Pylon effects last twice as long.
• The Executioner
  • New Legendary Power: Attacks will slay enemies with less than (5-10%) health.
• Stone Gauntlets
  • New Legendary Power: Getting attacked will slowly turn you to stone... (You gain 50% more armor, but your movement speed is reduced by 15% and attack speed is reduced by 20%. This effect stacks up to 5 times)
• Echoing Fury
  • New Legendary Power: Slaying enemies engulfs the wielder into a Frenzy. (Killing enemies increases your attack speed by 15% and movement speed by 5%. This effect stacks up to 5 times)
• Squirt's Necklace
  • New Legendary Power: While not taking damage, your damage is increased by up to 100% and damage taken is increased by up to 50%.
• Messerschmidt's Reaver
  • New Legendary Power: Reduce the remaining cooldown of one of your skills by 1 second when you slay an enemy.
• Mortick's Brace
  • New Legendary Item: Wrath of the Berserker gains the effect of every rune.
  • Developer's Note: If you played during the Patch 2.2.0 PTR, you'll recognize this as an item that was later removed from the game before it went to live servers. At the time, Mortick's Brace gave too much power for a single item slot. However, the power curve of Diablo III has changed significantly since then and we're comfortable with bringing it back.
• Spite
  • Note: This item can be crafted from the Blacksmith and is not a normal loot drop
  • New Legendary Power: Non-cleaving Gargantuans gain the cleave and chilling effects of the Humongoid rune.
• Legacy of Dreams
  • New Legendary Gem:
    • While you have no set bonuses equipped, every Legendary item you have equipped increases your damage dealt by 3.75% and reduces your damage taken by 2%. (Max level 99)
    • Rank 25: This bonus is doubled for Ancient items.
  • Developer's Note: The end game opened up significantly with Season 17's Legacy of Nightmare's buff (and the community was clear about how much these new options were appreciated), but wanted to make this addition a more permanent fixture in a more streamlined way than simply making it baseline. This Legendary Gem should open that path up even further and at more opportunities than just late game Greater Rift pushing.
• Crafted Sets
  • Note: The following sets have been significantly revised from their existing level 70 counterparts. Items crafted prior to 2.6.6 will continue to exist in their old forms but will not be updated after the patch. In addition, after the patch, the old recipes will no longer be available to craft and all players will need to re-acquire these recipes by finding the plans again through Horadric Caches or by killing Odious Collectors.
  • Sage's Journey
    • A Belt has been added to this set.
    • Haedrig the Blacksmith now automatically learns how to forge this set at Rank 12.
  • Captain Crimson's Trimmings
    • (2) Set Bonus
      • Regenerates 6000 Life per Second
      • Reduces cooldown of all skills by10% 20%.
      • Now also reduces Resource Costs by 20%
    • (3) Set Bonus
      • Set bonuses have been replaced
        • Damage dealt is increased by your total percentage of Cooldown Reduction
        • Damage taken is reduced by your total percentage of Resource Cost Reduction
  • Aughild's Authority
    • (2) Set Bonus
      • Set bonuses have been replaced
        • Reduces damage taken by 15%
        • Increases damage dealt by 30%
    • (3) Set Bonus
      • Reduces damage from elites by15% 30%
      • Increases damage against elites by15 30%
  • Cain's Destiny
    • (2) Set Bonus
      • Attack Speed increased by 8%
      • +50% Experience. (5.0% at level 70) (Moved from (3) Set Bonus)
    • (3) Set Bonus
      • When a Greater Rift Keystone drops, there is a 25% chance for an extra one to drop.

Blizzard Quote [source]

Blizzard in eSports

Blizzard made an announcement at the BlizzCon last year that they will be coming out with Diablo Immortal, an entirely fresh and mobile-only extension of the well-known PC-based role-playing action game. The launch will be in collaboration with mobile developer NetEase games. eSports has always been a major focus of Blizzard and Diablohub is their only the franchise which isn't involved in it yet.

Keeping in mind that mobile is the most rapidly growing segment in the gaming world, and the fact that mobile eSports are still in the nascent stages, with Diablo Immortal, Blizzard is hoping that they will be able to extend their eSports ambitions to the mobile space as well. Here's more on why Blizzard is creating Diablo Immortal.

Furthermore, anyone who enjoys the rush of eSports and games like Diablo, World of Warcraft, StarCraft and others, should definitely try out live dealer games at some of the most prominent casinos on the internet. In fact, if you are a Canadian, the ideal option for you will be to sign up for the free slots Canada has to offer, at the best online casinos (listed on the linked-to page). Let's now tell you about Blizzard's current involvement in the eSports scene.

StarCraft

This was the first big eSports hit by Blizzard and their current StarCraft II Remastered Edition has successfully ignited the same kind of interest that was garnered in South Korea, during the times of the original Brood War. In fact, the StarCraft II World Championship series has more than $ 2 million to be won in prize money each year.

Heroes of the Storm

This one is Blizzard's alternative for people who love Dota 2 and League of Legends. The MOBA or Multiplayer Online Battle Arena can use characters from all its IP addresses and the Heroes of the Storm Global Championship League (now ended) involved a prize money of a whopping $ 5.4 million awarded in the year 2017. Their competitive card game named Hearthstone has also become increasingly popular over the past few years, with $ 1 million being awarded in each one of its last two World Championship tournaments.

Overwatch

This one is presently Blizzard's most prominent endeavours in the field of eSports. The Overwatch league involves 20 different geo-located teams and there are plans that each one of these teams will establish their home base for multiple local matches, starting from the year 2020. There is an Overwatch World Cup held as well, involving top players of various national teams.

World of Warcraft

World of Warcraft isn't like the other competitive eSports games in the Blizzard's portfolio. This MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game) takes two different approaches to eSports - Speed Running Type Mythic Dudgeon Races and Arena Mode. The former has the potential of "Player vs Environment" type of eSports titles

Final Word

Blizzard currently has different games, with each one having their own eSports scenes. However, in all of them, it's the Blizzard that runs the show. Their Overwatch League is a very good example of Blizzard showcasing their unique approach of running a competitive scene.

Blizzard Quote [source]

Le Monde Reports Blizzard Diablo 4 in France

According to the Le Monde newspaper (article here in French) Blizzard has demonstrated a version of Diablo 4 to developers in France.

According to Le Monde, the demo took place in Versailles but was overshadowed by talk of job cuts as Blizzard tries to cut its workforce in 2019.

Most of Blizzard's current titles, World of Warcraft, Starcraft and Diablo etc are gettin g long in the tooth now but the latest version of Diablo isn't expected until 2020.

Originally released in 1996, Diablo is one of the biggest games in the world, with a massive online community contributing to Activision Blizzard's profit margin.

In 2016, the 20th anniversary of Diablo, two former developers David Bervik and Bill Roper tweeted hinting at an imminent release of Diablo 4;

At the same time there were rumours of an announcement at BlizzCon 2018 with talk of a release date for Diablo 4. This was apparently removed at the last minute and replaced with a version of Diablo for a Smartphone instead. The same article discusses the many different directions the new version has taken whilst in development have caused the current delays.

At the same time fans were left frustrated when a goody bag containing a Diablo4-branded set of dice leading many to speculate that a release of version 4 had been planned but withdrawn at the last minute.

Despite all this controversy and uncertainty at BlizzCon 2018 though, some argue that version 4 is imminent.

What do we know about Diablo 4 then?

Well, again from Screenrant we can assume that expectations are high! We also know that Blizzard is taking as long as it deems necessary to get this version right after the internal disappointment with the release of Diablo 3.

The same article also speculates that the next version will be "dark and more gothic", in contrast with what many people see as the cartoon-like graphics in some parts of version 3; particularly the Gothic World of Sanctuary.

Apparently, v.4 will be designed to be much more social the previous versions, where players will be able to gather and trade online.

What do Blizzard say about Diablo 4?

Some would say remarkably little.

In their announcement of BlizzCon 2019, there doesn't seem to be any mention of Diablo 4, only a promise of "the latest news on everything Blizzard".... Watch this space!!!