Next season, theme, and time

Does anyone know when the next season is and what the theme will be. Trying to plan my days off work.

They haven’t announced the next season yet.However S33 started on october 25 so S34 will probably start within a week of january 24.The season will be a repeat of season 22.The theme could be anything but probably not any of the themes they have repeated so far.

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I prefer NS personally… So much better. I do hope you get something new for seasons though ofc.

It would be so much better if they had enable the Altar and Fissures in NS.

Going back to not having these two features is tedious for farming. But they make us reset our progress and we need to set our builds up again every 3 months if we want those features.

It’s this sort of tedious hoop jumping game design that made me not jump on the D4 bandwagon. I didn’t want to pay for such an experience for the next 10yrs+.

At best, I might do the odd season here and there if I have time to set up my economy and builds again.

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A real shame indeed but… i’m over it.

I’m enjoying D4 despite it’s flaws and in act 5 now… real progress again. Just found a cool horse armour actually… bonus! Looking forward to end game content and starting a new character. I might consider trying PoE 2 then too idk.

Eh, I don’t see it starting the last week of January. Diablo 4’s Season 6 ends on January 21, so I’d assume that’s when the next season starts as well. Being a new game, there is no way the latest and greatest game doesn’t get a solid 2 uncontested weeks.

Diablo 3 would either have to start at the beginning of January or it will start sometime in February (or later). I’d have to go with the latter.

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I truly hope they’ve ended development on D3 and never bring that altar or fissures to NS. Either would break NS gameplay. For example, illusory boots would be irrelevant and wallers would no longer matter, which are important gameplay elements. Fissures grant an enormous number of legendaries which are needed for crafting in season to achieve the milestones in three months without making D3 a full time job, unlike too many games nowadays. So it’s a breath of fresh air. D3 is actually exceptionally balanced now and any further tinkering with it would upset that. It should be forever left alone.

But I don’t see the problem. Everyone has what they want. Seasons are continual and the altar and fissures are permanent additions to seasonal play. Unlocking the altar is a critical part of the fun and that can be done every three months which gives an incentive to participate in the seasons, which is a good thing, AND ALL REWARDS AND LOOT TRANSFER TO NON SEASON AT THE CONCLUSION OF THE SEASON, so you keep everything.

There are actually two games here for those that play on console because non season play is fully playable offline. Season feeds my experience and loot pool in non season. On PC an internet connection is required for both modes of play so there’s really only one always online game with two modes. Since you always have to be online, for those who absolutely need the altar and fissures, just stay in the season. What’s the problem?

I think I got it. On PC there are two seasons, and I’ll borrow from the D4 vernacular, eternal season and non-eternal (three month) seasons, because you always have to be online to play D3 no matter what. Only on console do you truly have a non season :wink:

This company really loves their forced online and 30-day login requirements, which made no sense even twelve years ago. It’s bizarre that D2R needs to check in online every 30 days. That’s why I stopped playing it. I was in a hotel and on my handheld couldn’t play it unless I connected it to the public hotel WiFi. Why would I do that? I’ll admit I fell for SC2 so I’m always going to play that, and I have an itch to play D2R so I may jump on that again eventually, but why the online necessities? For everything?

There are so many games that are enormously financially successful with forever available offline singleplayer modes and online heavily monetized modes that I don’t understand the philosophy here. They can give both, and in the end respect the player.

That is not accurate. In D3 on PC there is only the current SEASON or NON-SEASON.

  • Non-Season = Not Season

This is also not accurate. What you’re doing here is the equivalent of using double negatives or double terms. In D4:

  • “eternal  season â€ť  = non-Season (or Not Season).
  • “ non-eternal  seasons”  = Seasons.

In either case, you’re either playing in the current SEASON or you’re NOT playing in the current SEASON.

TL:DR

    D3
    1. Non-Season
    2. Season
    D4
    1. Eternal
    2. Season
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It seems like you’re mixing up a lot of things…
I don’t know D4 but

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I believe Blizzard just decided to give “non-Season” a term of its own, Eternal.

So, Seasons reset ~every 3 months. Non-Season is “Eternal”.  

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Go into a four man high GR with a WD and tell them you want to be the TK, RGK, or the Zdps, and then get back to me on how you were accepted.

Spoiler alert
You will either be laughed at or vote kicked.

The balance is great as long as you play one of the meta builds.

Everyone except those non-season players that want the Altar QOL’s.

Pretty sure 99.99% of non-season players would trade the usefulness of Illusory Boots for auto-looting pets.

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Dude… :joy:

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Exactly. It is fun to see people who simply run the meta or play the game in a vacuum think D3 has good balance.

Hoping for the week before D4 season, so we can get use of Darkening of Tristram for season start. It is fun having mechanics or events that can switch up that 1-70 run.

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You sound like someone who has somewhere between 10K and 20K paragon points on your gaming account.

I’m at 1800 in my non-season. It’s been a slow grind for ten years but I’ve loved every minute of it.

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I don’t play “meta builds” and wouldn’t know what they are, anyway. I’ve stayed away from guides and play what’s fun. If I liked the WD I’d play that and just accept that I’d need 5000 paragon points to compete with the more powerful builds, if I understand you correctly. I would also like to point out that balance, to me anyway, does not mean every class can clear the same. Each has strengths and weaknesses and some asymmetry is unavoidable, and and should actually be baked in.

If you plan your day off around a game you have no life. get outside do something.

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Okay fine then. But in that case the general consensus is that it’s non season that feels broken when coming from season with the full Altar plus a powerful theme. That’s why we have had megathreads (or maybe just one?) asking for the Altar in non season too.
No reason to discuss it much since it ain’t gonna happen :slight_smile:

Which is why you apply to the other side of my statement, “you play in a vacuum”. This is totally fine. People should play the game in which they find fun. I too don’t always play the most efficient way either because I do not find it fun.

The thing is, if you are going to comment on the game’s balance, you need to have a wide perspective on the game. For what you play the game for, balance is not an important factor, so it may seem fine, but in the broad range of the game, class and build balance varies from not too bad to horrible.

Well, by the time you grinded those 5000 paragon points solo as a WD (since you won’t be grinding them in a group as a WD), groups with the same time played are going to be in the 7000-8000 paragon range or higher. On a even paragon playing field, you will be laughed out of a serious group with a WD. With 2000+ less paragon, you definitely aren’t getting in a serious group.

All the players on top of the WD LBs spent most their time playing another class to get their paragon, then just play the WD to push. Having to play a class you don’t like for 500 hours to be able to compete with a class you do like for 10 hours, means the balance is bad.

If the result is not the same, then it would be out of balance.

Each class/build should be different as homogenous builds would be boring and redundant. The thing is, the different strengths and weaknesses need to add up to a zero sum for each build for there to be balance.

Now, I am not advocating the game needs perfect balance, as that is not achievable with as many moving parts as we have. What I am advocating for is reasonable balance, where there is a small 10%-20% difference in power between classes/builds where skill can make up for the power difference. What we have is builds that have 100%+ more power than other builds, and that cannot be made up for with skill.

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