Season 20 theme - Ideas!

For me, the best theme would be another cube slot, with the free selection we currently have.

As many stated here, it would bring some real build diversity, with a lot of fun combinations to test.

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RoRG theme would help any build that is based on class sets. It’s a workaround if implementing a 4th cube slot is technically too difficult. The only drawback, as you stated, is that it would not benefit LoD builds at all. For LoD builds the 4th cube slot would be a better option.

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Some radical ideas:

  1. Add a 4th slot to set a legendary gem effect. The value is set to be equal to if the gem was leveled to 150.

  2. Double the effectiveness of any slotted legendary item.

  3. All slot items are unlocked by default.

  4. Wearing an item will stack the effect of a cubed item.

  5. Add a fourth slot that allows you to pick a single set bonus from any other set accessible to your class.

  6. Add a fourth slot that allows you to pick any passive ability available to your class. Does not stack with passive that you selected normally or have on a hellfire amulet.

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well the season theme shouldn’t be just 1 effect, i mean the pandemonium was kinda in the right direction with the stacks doing something for you and the effect on top
it should be at least 3 things that are centered around a common…theme, like legendary gems, cube, skills, enemies etc
for example a season theme around gems could be:

  • you can wear 1 additional leg. gem in every jewellery slot
  • there are new additional (season only) leg gem affixes on the old gems
  • the unused proc. leg. gems scale with gr lvl (BUT not as hard as pandemonium effects…)

and maybe drop 1-2 new leg. gems as bonus in the patchnotes;)
and yes that would be work

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Something that all S19 players noticed and enjoyed - even if they half-complained that it was OP and broken - was the immense benefit of utilizing the season bonus. It became for every push build THE consideration to make, not just getting the right build but actually skillfully managing the rift with KS count. While I can say that I never really did much to work with this, it allowed the most dedicated and skilled players to solo GR 150 which seemed unthinkable before this.

What I learned from this is that whatever the buff is, it needs to (somewhat dramatically) impact GR pushing and meta play, and it needs to be something which represents a legitimate continuity and discontinuity with the core gameplay. What I mean here is that the game and builds need to play like core Diablo - i.e. gear and spec needs to reflect the normal parameters of GR pushing, etc. not exploiting gear combos to get unrealistic clears - this is continuity. Discontinuity would refer to the X-factor of the “theme” of seasons, the game-changer that makes it fun and new to play. I could be mistaken here, but I think that allowing players to access mechanics which would allow them to substantially gain ground in their progression, which is GR-based for better or worse. This is what season 19 did, somewhat with season 18, and season 17 & 16 (nightmares and grandeur) did in some regard.

That said, I do not think that the idea of combining previous themes is the right idea. The extra slot could easily be a RoRg if you wanted, assuming all slots were still elective. Frankly, I am not sure what can really be added to this season theme to make it “better” - any variations on this theme will simply come across as lackluster and underwhelming after S19.

2 Likes

Hey, I read your post and I realized that I never considered the possibility that Blizz was offering three of EACH slot - that sounds crazy to me. That said, I think your comment about comparing the relative power bonuses of S19 and S20 would shake down to S20 having much less of an effect on GR level - maybe 5-10? I see two problems with three of each slot:

  • While this does allow different permutations, I do not see this actually doing much. For armor, classes will pick Leoric’s crown or Illusory boots mostly, Weps will be Furnace, In-Geom, or Executioner, and Rings will be the usual suspects.
  • from a graphics standpoint, how would 9 slots even work with the current layout of Kanai’s? I am guessing you could just select three in each slot, but how would you undo a choice - simply deselect it? Idk if the D3 interface could handle that well.

My overall concern with this buff, besides it being underwhelming, is that it really doesnt help people learn a playstyle that works in NS. Season 16 and 17 gave bonuses that a ring or a set provided, which could easily be incorporated. The resulting changes were small but significant, and easily replicated in NS for most of the innovative builds. This expo of mix-n-match kanai powers really cannot go anywhere outside S20, and at this point I hope it doesnt even launch live, itll be basically the same as NS to me.

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I personally think the way to do it is to allow a 4th power, but it only works at 50% of its original legendary power.

Other options just to spice things up, please add the double goblin and bounty mat event to this season. They at least add some life to the loot game.

I believe you are looking at it wrong. Any addition to the theme would make it better but IF you are comparing it to season 19 they would have to start over and fully design something truly amazing which I seriously doubt they have the time or initiative to do. My only hope is that through these efforts the developers decide to enhance the already designed season theme. It would be amazing if they redesigned the theme for season 20 but I believe that would be asking for too much at this point. I could be wrong.

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you may be right, I tend to look at this as though - along with their stated intent - they wanted to up the ante each season in some way, trying to outdo themselves in making the seasons something folks want to come back and play. But they’ve also stated a desire to keep good balance and be “creative” - which is basically what category S20 falls into…

My thought had been that they were going more in the direction of S19 with things, but that was clearly wrong. I dont expect a redesign for anything really, but I would like to see a build on this idea to make it interesting, in which case it cannot simply re-arrange things but has to add something new, hence the fourth Kanai slot, etc. I still dont think itll make much difference, so itll just be a run of the mill season for me.

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Let’s be honest, the D3 is pretty limited at this point and they not gonna come up with a completly new season theme so close to the start of the new season.

So realisticly the best we can hope for are additional cube slots. But I think 1-2 more are enough. That would at least guarantee that every single builds gets buffed and ofc some completely new ones would emerge also.

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S20, season of Whimsyshire
1 full season inside Whimsyshire…

Go and puke

In order not to hinder implementation, I suggest that a small bonus be implemented to the existing one to encourage new builds.
Bonus: for each item of the same type embedded in the cube the player gains 10% damage and 10% damage reduction and 10% resource cost reduction and 10% cooldown reduction.
This will make the players try to make different builds in the cube, because with 3 armors or 3 weapons or 3 gems the player would have 20% more damage, damage reduction, costs reduction, and cooldown reduction.

5 Likes

This is definitely something that could be a bump, but I feel that anything like a flat stat increase will feel kind of blah even if it does contribute to a bump in GR pushing. I’m not really sure what I should be expecting at this point, but my feeling remains the same that this will be a pretty subdued season overall.

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This season every set that doesn’t already have one should get a 7th piece. The belt.

That way it makes mixing and matching sets easier.

That plus the unlocked cube would make for some interesting build combos.

1: It could be having 3 pieces in the bucket, receiving damage or defense or cooldown recovery speed randomly when entering GR.

2 : an extra slot

3 : more… power creep (? xDD

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Stop supporting Blizzard/Activision. They don’t care about there community nor do they care about there player base let alone gamer’s as a whole. their target audience isn’t gamer’s anymore. They show us 0 respect and cant put out a good game to save there lives. Blizzard as we know it is dead. and has adapted the Activision predatory business model. d3 has always had itemization issues which is why no one plays this game anymore Just like they Killed Retail wow and messed up classic and lets not forget the WC3 Reforged disaster. Sadly they wont listen to your PTR feedback They don’t care. They don’t even care about there own employees IE developers, GMs, All of them. J. Allen Brack has ruined this company and continues to do so. I for one wont every buy another blizzard game after WC3 Reforge and for me personally It will take ALOT to earn my business ever again Diablo4 mark my words will suffer from the same itemization issues and piss poor gameplay that Diablo 3 suffers from. and that is there only saving grace at this point. If D4 flops which it will. The gaming industry is a whole is terrible and needs another crash like back in the 80s. games are now over monitized to the point even the devs dont have passion to make games anymore and it shows in EVERY modern game. These companies dont give a damn about you Only your wallet.

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Devs said (in the article about patch 2.6.8) this:

Developer’s Note: As we outlined in our Developer Insight blog, we want to continue to get creative (and maybe a little crazy) with the Season Themes and powers we add to the game. We heard from some players that they preferred themes that made your character directly feel more powerful rather than needing to focus on the environment around you. If that describes you, then the Season of Forbidden Archives should be right up your alley, and we’re really interested to see how this changes the game for Season 20.

The theme of season 20 is about the power of hero instead of the power of environment in the season 19 (the two themes for two different groups of players) + they provided words “creative” / “power” / “little crazy”, so that I still think that the theme of season 20 MUST have the SAME power as the theme of season 19 (not much more less).

About 9 slots - in the second post of the thread I linked, the appropriate solution is already suggested: just 3 Cubes. So no problems you are talking about at all.

Why 9 slots? Because at first you will choose all useful slots and only after that you will choose the any variations of items that do not provide power at all (due to the limited number of such items - the thing that is forgotten by ones who think that each slot of 9 will provide great power) and which is not used usually.

Nope. The theme of season is just for fun.
It should not learn anything, especially in NS.

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you’re right, it’s not about new players learning anything but at this state the season theme isn’t fun either, for most builds it doesn’t change anything (or very little, except when you’re a necro…)

it would have been an ok idea if d3 had enough balanced supporting legendaries, more than just 1 for each slot, you know like we would have a choice what items to wear instead “oh there is just this one bracer with 500% dmg nothing else”

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I’ve actually had quite a lot of fun already, theorycrafting and playing both new and old builds, made possible for wizard alone!

This theme more than ever feels like it has unlocked the hidden potential that certain builds were missing (or just out of reach). Other hybrid combinations that were not possible before now are (even if these are not the most optimal).

I will agree that RoRG locked set builds seems to benefit less from the archives power.

However, I think if more players tried to make use of the theme and realized it’s potential, rather than putting in all efforts to change or dismantle it, as a whole we would be less maligned about the choice of theme.

I don’t mean we should stop putting in ideas and suggestions, I simply mean perhaps examine what is made possible with the theme more closely before dismissing it as completely inadequate.