I don’t think I remember a longer time between a seasons PTR and the end of the current season. Unless you count the one where they ended up having two PTRs maybe.
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It varies, look at the “PTR lead time” line:
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It doesn’t help matters that the PTR ended right before the holidays…
The staff at Blizzard have every right to enjoy the holiday season as we do…
Patience, Season 30 will be here soon™.
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Combination of it being holidays, and blizzard not giving even a hint of a 
about this game anymore.
Wouldn’t be surprised if S30 doesn’t start until close to end of January
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Just a guess based on that list, we’re probably looking at a similar schedule that happened between Season 15, which ended Sunday, Jan 6th, 2019 and Season 16 which started January 18, 2019.
With salt in hand, if the S29->S30 schedule follows suit, we’d be looking at a Season 29 end date of Sunday, January 7th, and a Season 30 start date of Friday, January 19th.
They sure do, but that is no excuse for pitiful communication. I don’t think a quick “Hey everyone, we are looking at a tentative season end/beginning towards the end of January” would have destroyed anyone’s holiday vacation.
One of the reasons this forum is considered “toxic” is because they made it that way. Terrible or complete lack of communication or community engagement has created this situation.
The last 8 seasons, they have started the new season 5 days after the previous one ended. On top of that, they usually give a full 2 weeks notice before the season ends. It is more likely it will end on the 14th then start on the 19th.
I have a feeling they won’t announce the end of the season until after New Year’s. With that, I am thinking S29 end on the 21st and the new one starting on the 26th.
TBH, they could end S29 5 minutes from now and it will only affect 3 people.
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To be clear, I was more musing than complaining. I am looking forward to starting the month long search for a certain gemstone. /s
There is zero chance of that happening. Season 3 of Diablo 4 starts on the 23rd. This would divide the player base. Sure, Diablo 3 is an old game, but some people will always choose 3 over 4, and that presents lower numbers for 4. After all, the major streamers aren’t the only streamers. From a business perspective, you want your game to look better, not worse after all.
Nor is it like this would lighten the load for Diablo 4 servers, as they probably all work together with 3, so the hardware is still going to be pressed.
Now, coming out on the 19th means that the major streamers won’t put much effort into anything but recycling content for Diablo 3, such as what Wudijo did Season 29 with his leveling video, but this gives them a few days of pressing on 3 before immediately switching to 4. This could make sense if they feel this is a way to get a larger audience to 4. Though, by doing this, they’re practically admitting Diablo 3 is dead and they couldn’t care less about it.
If it’s not the 12th or 19th (and we’re significantly pressed for a 12th date here, unless they break their rule of a roughly 2 week notice), I wouldn’t expect the season to start any earlier than March.
If, for some reason, I’m wrong here, that’s just a ridiculously stupid business decision.
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Ah, didn’t know this as I don’t own D4 and don’t follow it.
Well, it seems if it is Jan., the 19th would probably be it then.
Sadly, this might be the more realistic. D3 has always been there back of the bus game.
Thought it was already confirmed for January on Twitter by Pezradar.
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It was. It was also commented on d4 season starting on tuesdays, and how they were looking into changing that to something more suitable. So d4 season might be 26th and not 23.
I realy wish there was more communication from the devs on both d3 and d4 on end/start dates tho.
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For clarification: PTR lead time = PTR Start Date to new Season Start Date.
To summarize D3 Resource’s information: Just since Season 14, when Themes started, the average time between PTR start date and new Season start date is 36.71 days.
- The longest PTR lead time, since Season 14, is 46 days (Season 16).
- The shortest PTR lead time, since Season 14, is 24 days (Season 28).
Since PTR Patch 2.7.7, started on December 5, 2023, it has currently been 24 days.
@Strix, I wasn’t replying to you. Just using your posted link for reference.
That sounds reasonable. That would put the PTR lead time at 45 days.
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More clarification is always a good idea 
I know I can give information without much information, in a somewhat crude way 
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Thought it was also confirmed on Twitter by Pez that the Altar was coming to non-season. When they make an official post on the forums, I’ll start believing it.
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To be fair, the official post on the forum ALSO stated that until they changed it last minute.
I wouldn’t base the season start on rational thoughts about them not wanting the season start to overlap with D4 S3 launch. They would have to care for that. If they did care they would’ve left the ptr on for longer instead of ending it and going on vacations for 2 weeks right after.
Season 30 is the last season with any changes. Be happy that they are spending extra time trying to make it the best it can be.
That would be a mind blowingly bad business decision though. In a business, when you put out a new product, you don’t want your old product to take away from it. After all, the goal is to push the new as much as possible. Even if the people working on 3 didn’t care about 4, I’d find it hard to believe that the bean counters above them wouldn’t see this is a major problem.
Diablo 3 Season 30 releases more than a week ahead of 4 - no one loses.
Diablo 3 releases within a week of 4 - Diablo 3 loses.
Diablo 3 releases around the same time as 4 or within a couple weeks after 4 - both Diablo 3 and Diablo 4 lose.
If you’re going to harm the reputation of one of your core products, you do it with the old one. You don’t want to harm your flagship latest and greatest title.
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Diablo isn’t really the flagship of Blizzard though.
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