Hi there! I’ve been playing Diablo since the first one, have done a bunch of the seasons of D3 and figured I wanted to try this PTR before going to D4.
I read that you guys really want to know how it feels, so here we go: it felt awesome! After so many years of D3 the progression on the altar continually feels like getting a small nitro boost in your playstyle, going ever faster through the content we all know really well by know. I love that you lean into that feeling with both the dmg and QoL boosts, at the final tiers it felt like the gameplay became a clean distillation of what D3 is at endgame. Most of the hassle-clicks are gone, its just meditative blastin through with an optimal version of your build.
And at first it seemed longevity would go out of the window, but for the first time the really high GR’s are in sight for a casual gamer like myself. Which is also awesome.
The only thing that felt off to me, were the requirements for the last levels of the altar. In the end I’d greatly prefer lore (or tongue in check) demands for the last ones. Right now it’s the Staff of Herding first (which is funny and a great challenge) and then GR 110. I’d prefer it the other way around. Make the lore parts the final parts. Getting the staff will feel waaaay better than reaching 110, especially because that is a level I intend to go way beyond.
If this is, for all intents and purposes, the final season, lets have some more fun with the final requirements. Make them less dependent on the power curve and more on the fun stuff. Which the powerplayers probably have less of a problem with anyway, because you can easily miss a node or two.
Heck, you could even put in a campaign-related demand, or add in the D2 remembrance dungeon, which was also looooooads of fun to go through.
A best-off season, how cool is that!
Anyway, good luck with the tweaks and looking forward to 28/D4.