I play eternal for 10 min a season transfering all my mythic uniques. I think I will have a full stash tab of purple when the season ends.
This is how it has always been, even before seasons were a thing.
The āend gameā is exactly that. The end of the game. Make a new character. 
The only reason to keep going in, say, Diablo 2, was because the XP gain dropped off so hard that you had to keep playing forever if you did want to reach max level (I never did)ā¦ and chasing the impossible dream of finding the rarest items in the game, with a 0.000000000001% drop chanceā¦
Having a compelling āend gameā experience is obviously a very hard problem to solve without ongoing content. Once you have gone as far as you can or want to go with whatever long term progression is left after max level, itās always going to be much more fun to roll a new character.
D3 had no season until about 1 year or longer after ros was released.
I never played seasonal stuff in guildwars and everquest.
Granted mmorpg is a totally different genre.
I just see no retained value for your time playing seasons if you stay playing seasons.
Especially with such a long loot find we have now where 3 ga and 2ga are like primals and ancients.
I may do a season here and there but that would only be to play with friends.
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Thatās the only reason you play? Blizzard just started the sparks last season.
One thing I forgot to add, itās impossible to keep most of the Eternal characters anyway, since they must be deleted to free up character slots.
The real answer from me, I play generally 1 seasonal character and then go play my Eternal characters. Current season I did not becuase of resplendent sparks gimmick.
But Eternal is generally more fun becuase they donāt have the seasonal gimmick power so the game provides a litte more challenge.
You have your familiar characters that you took time to make and nuture.
Your other friends on eternal that you can play with.
And pace, there is no rush.
Seasonal is fine just to play the gimmick and if you want the BP cosmetics. But it is really not that much content that you need to do more than one character on it.
Thatās the only reason why I kept my eternal character
I like to minmax characters. I farm/trade the items on season, and give it to my main eternal character for higher tier pushing. As I mentioned, I am playing eternal on S5. This was how I played D2R. Same reason, minmax.
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Yes i would do seasons for spark farming but its just easier to farm torms.
They donāt always drop there. My Tormented Duriel did not drop one.
Still annoyed.
Usually I:
- Accumulate Obols (so when interesting aspects come I can have easy access to them).
- Review my build (I am not a meta fan, so I am working on my 1st char until now).
- With S4 needed to refarm some stuff (so I played S4 for sparks), but now I am back and looking for items with GAs.
- Ow, when some freebie is given on season BP (as the town portals skins) I am getting them too.
By the way, farm novelties and waiting for the expansion. 
Supposedly 10 percent drop rate.
I have shako x 2, tyrael x2 (1 with a single ga), ring starless x 2, 1 spear, 1 grand, and 1 selig.
Missing andariels and doombringer.
I could craft for a full set but this was probably less than 50 torm runs but definitely more than 40.
It seems there is at least one such question here per season, and each time the post claims that they were just asking or they were just curious. It starts to make me really curious about the true intention now. Lol. If you do not play in Eternal nor care about the Eternal server, why are you so curious?
To once again participate in answering this question:
- Story progression and character consistency. We can create the exact same character over and over again in seasons, and they will end up in the Eternal. But for me, I know even they look exactly the same, but my Barb from the game release is not his look-alike in S4, and it just matters to me. Lol. I want my main guy, the exact same guy, to continue the journey when the Vessel of Hatred comes out. For that, he needs to be strong and prepared. To me, character consistency is very important when it comes to a RPG game. It does not matter if it is a SRPG or ARPG.
- The character, the naked without any gear at all character, is important to me. I love all my handsome rogues and barbs, and I want to keep all of them. It may sound weird to you, but I see them as my creation, my men. I hate when they get killed in game even though I only play softcore without those rumored scrolls. Lol. I have feelings for them, not an unhealthy obsessive one, but I have feelings for them. Lolol. They are there to also make me feel better that I did not just wasted my time.
- Accumulation. Not just gears, but also personalized story telling. This alone is a fun thing to do. I enjoy the fact that I can continue to build up and accumulate on something without starting over periodically. I also enjoy the campaign story, not because what happened or happens to the campaign npcs, but the journey that the story took me and my men on. You are playing purely the mechanism of the game. I am playing the mechanism as well, but on top of that, I am also enjoying the life of my characters and their journey in the Sanctuary. They may get old as well one day, and they will still be there to help me remember the good and the happy memories that the game has given to me.
- Feeling of completion and acchievement. I am not talking about end game achievement. I am talking about having a proof there that shows what I have done in the game.
- Convenience to revisit different builds. They are all there once I have played and built up a new build. I can move on to try some new builds. I can also go back to the Eternal to have fun with old builds AT ANY TIME! Iād like to keep the options open at any given moment.
I guess to put it in a simple way, it is because I take D4 as a RPG game and I am not overly focused on the A or S before the āRPGā, whichever category that you think D4 belongs to.
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The fact that I can take my time. If I feel like pulling a toon out, I can do that and just enjoy it for a little bit. Maybe go find some boots for my Sorc, etc.
Seasons are like pressure mechanics to get a character ādoneā in a certain amount of time. Doesnāt feel relaxing to me. Can seasons be fun? Sureā¦but I dont always enjoy rushing and pushing.
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I prefer eternal, but dabble in seasonal.
My preferred way to play is to min max all 5 classes, and to try different builds. A big reasons I want an armory is to have several builds to play and update with new seasons. Then I can theory craft and choose one class that I think will do the best for the season, if the season seems worth playing3.
Iāve played seasons so far to level a new class, but skipped season 3 because of the state of the game. Right now Iāve just been working on getting all five classes leveled and geared. Just have rogue left to get to 100, and plenty to do right now with the loot reborn. But I hope to not have to rework my characters so frequently, and can just craft new builds as new gear is introduced.
There is zero point in even having an Eternal Realm for a seasonal game. Sorry they have confused so many people, but this is how ARPGs are mate.
I see it as thereās no reason for seasons when we have an eternal realm.
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S3 and S4 I went back to eternal after finishing the journey. I slowly work on each class there. Max out glyphs, keep the best versions on uniques.
If I like the seasonal gimmick enough I stay playing the season.
Eternal realm is where I kill my characters (deleting them)ā¦ so yeah it is a graveyard.
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As of season 4, the Eternal realm is dead. All gear is legacy gear, and comparative to the season 4 stuff, weak and underpowered.
Before that, my seasonal char I would get the build maxed the best possible and dress it up with only the gear on it for the final build at seasonās end and flush all the rest, save for ubers, at the blacksmith. When things are slow in the season or I donāt feel like grinding or I am waiting for the rest of the team to show. I would log into Eternal and run a few things to reminisce about the season that was.
But with season 4 nerfing all the pre-season 4 items, and I canāt be arsed to farm replacement gear, my Eternal realm chars will just be virtual mannequins.