Diablo 4's upcoming loot update is so large that it's finally getting a Public Test Realm for the first time.
As reported by PC Gamer, Blizzard's developers recently hosted a 'campfire' livestream to discuss new changes and updates for Diablo 4. Chief among the additions for the action-RPG is a Public Test Realm, a separate server which lets players try out some more experimental elements that are yet to debut in the full game.
"It depends on the scale of changes that we have, but for Season 4 we most definitely plan on having a PTR," Diablo 4 community director Adam Fletcher said during the livestream. That implies that not every new season, or seasonal addition to Blizzard's game, will get a new Public Test Realm for players to try out features before they launch.
The implication here seems to be that Season 4 is big enough to warrant a PTR server. We already know that the season will feature a pretty substantial overhaul to how loot works in Diablo 4, and since this is basically the only concrete detail we have of the forthcoming season so far, it's not unfair to guess that it's because of this feature that the PTR is finally coming about.
Blizzard has previously said that it's going to try and make all loot items valuable to the player in some way with the loot rework. Rather than just chucking away all the gear that doesn't give them an upgrade over what they've already got, Diablo 4's devs want you to feel like you're constantly getting some reward from grinding for items that aren't all that powerful.
We don't yet know when the PTR server will launch, and we also don't know Season 4 will be going live in Diablo 4. Fletcher added that a further livestream will shed more details on both these details in "a few weeks," so hopefully there shouldn't be long to wait.
Elsewhere, Diablo 4's devs stuck to their word and said they wouldn't nerf an OP Barbarian build, which is dealing millions of damage per hit. This is a pretty big change from the developer's attitude during the game's debut season, where it went weapons-free with the nerfs and drew the ire of vast swathes of the player base in the process.
One Diablo 4 player bagged a perfect roll on an ultra-rare Ancestral Unique bow estimated at 1-in-175K odds, but declared it was "still crap," proving you can't please everyone.
