The Gauntlet Campfire Chat Livestream just took place. The panel consisting of Joseph Piepiora (Associate Game Director), Adam Jackson (Lead Class Designer) and Adam Fletcher (Associate Director of Community) with special guests MacroBioBoi and AnnacakeLive. The topics included The Gauntlet, class balancing, Season 4 Updates, and Q&A. The Patch Notes will be released tomorrow, March 1st, and go live March 5th. See all the major points below.
Returning Vampiric Powers
Six fan favorite Vampiric Powers are coming back! This time, as compared to Malignant Rings being Uniques, these are returning as Legendary Powers instead.
- Accursed Touch (Offensive)
- Blood Boil (Offensive)
- Hectic (Utility)
- Metamorphosis (Mobility)
- Moonrise (Offensive)
- Undying (Defensive)
Class Balance
The Dev Team went over general balance changes for classes in regard to the Season 3 Theme, as well as true class updates.
Season 3 Updates
A few issues are being addressed to make sure the Gauntlet is as smooth and fair as possible. In order to do so, many instances of Snapshotting have been reported, and the team has made a statement towards removing it from the game as much as possible, if not completely. This can drastically reduce the possible points of exploiting many Skill/Gear/Lucky Hit interactions that could break the game, resulting in certain builds being too powerful.
For the Gauntlet itself, your Gear, Skills, Paragon, etc. are locked once you enter. No funny business of swapping out weapons or the like. This is very similar to what was done for Greater Rifts in Diablo 3.
Lastly, the Rogue Weapon Mastery Passive was double-dipping, so the team got the reports and is fixing the issue.
Class Updates
Many talked about issues and desires of the community are address for each class below.
Barbarian
Druid
Necromancer
Rogue
Sorcerer
The Gauntlet
The long awaited competitive game mode was fully talked about and shown during the campfire.
Key Details
Editor's Note: Several key details were updated with new information, mainly the new Shrines are actually called Pillars along with their effects.
- Once you hit World Tier 4, go to the docks of Gea Kul (capital of Kehjistan) and activate the Horn of Trials to start the Gauntlet.
- New Gauntlets start on Tuesdays at 10:15 AM (PST) and conclude the following Tuesday at 8:00 AM (PST).
- Each Gauntlet run lasts 8 minutes.
- Enemies are always level 124 (Nightmare Dungeon Tier 70 equivalent)
- Monsters, Bosses, Map Layout, Shrines/Pillars, Keys, etc. are ALWAYS in the same location. This is just as much about strategy as it is brute force.
- This is a weekly activity, with different maps appearing from one Gauntlet to another.
- You use your character, so be sure to bring the best gear you can and maybe tweak it to help your Gauntlet specific play.
- Pillar of Proving & Pillar of Glory are Gauntlet specific Shrine-like objects. Proving re-summons all enemies, including Bosses, across the entire map to kill again for more Proofs of Might (your score). Glory gives you a more Proofs of Might from killed enemies and Chests (see below) when active.
- Bosses drop a Shrine (no Pillars) of the same kind each playthrough when killed!
- Elites and Bosses are called out on the mini-map to make locating them easy.
- Special monsters need to be killed for Keys to open special Regular and Golden Chests. These Chests drop Proofs of Might that increase your score, with Golden Chests giving more than Regular. You won't know which monsters drop the Keys prior to entering. The monsters won't change between different Gauntlet runs. Lastly, Chests show up on the mini-map.
- If you die (Hardcore is still Hardcore) you drop, literally, a third of your Proofs of Might. You (or a teammate) can pick it back up where you died.
- You want to collect the most Proofs of Might for the highest score possible to place on the Leaderboard.
- Your score determines your Seal. You start at Seal of the Blooded and work your way to Seal of the Steadfast, then Seal of the Iron-willed, finally earning the Seal of the Worthy.
- You receive a reward, Cache of Trials, when you reach Seal of the Blooded, but you can work your way up to four cache rewards by obtaining Seal of the Worthy. They have a high chance of dropping Uniques as well!
- Rewards can be gained by doing multiple Leaderboards as well! Can get multiple reward caches from several class specifics, group size, or even SC/HC over the course of a week.
Gauntlet Class Gameplay
Click any of the icons to see the Necromancer, Sorcerer, or Barbarian gameplay during the livestream with commentary by MacroBioBoi and AnnacakeLive.
Season 4 and PTR Update
While the Season 2 changes to Vulnerable and Overpower systems was a big task, the amount of effort on itemization changes dwarfs those updates. There are a lot of changes coming, so the Dev Team has stated that there will be a PTR (finally) for Season 4 to test things and get good feedback from players to help make sure Season 4 releases smoother. This is NOT a guarantee each season, so we shouldn't expect it each time.
Community Questions
Are there any changes to craft Uber Uniques?
At launch of the crafting system, you needed 5 Sparks to craft an Uber Unique. When the Patch goes live, it will be reduced to 4. This combined with Duriel along with the dramatic increase in drop rate outside of Duriel should provide a good experience, while not compromising the "Uber" part of them.
Will new Endgame content be coming in Season 4?
Can't talk about it now, watch the Season 4 Livestream for more details, *shifty eyes*
Any Abattoir of Zir content coming?
Season 4 Livestream for more details, *shifty eyes*
PTR Free?
Free to play as long as you own Diablo 4, no NDA, you can stream.
Does the Construct go into the Gauntlet?
Yes, any seasonal theme items or powers will go into the Gauntlet with you.
Getting better cosmetics through the game, Gauntlet, etc?
Nothing to say right now, but it's an active conversation with information coming out in the weeks/months to come.
Where can the Vampiric Power Legendary Powers be found?
They will be normal drops in the world, not tied to the Codex of Power.
Nightmare Vaults are great, will they come back after Season 3?
The team sees how well they have been received and will look into what can be done.
The Gauntlet Doors Open!
...and the Maxroll Diablo 4 Team is here for it! Once we get our feet wet, rest assured we'll relay key tips and tricks to get the most out of each playthrough of The Gauntlet!
With that said, head over to our Discord and select the D4 role in #roles to stay up to date with our content development to make the most of your Season 3 experience!
Written by: Dredscythe
Reviewed by: Tenkiei