Season 16 News Post - Key take aways

MVP - Tech, D3, WoW

#1 - Dec. 19, 2018, 2:20 a.m.

Season 15 End: January 6, 2019
Non-Season ERA End: January 8, 2019
Season 16 Start: January 18, 2019

Patch Notes are in the News Blog https://us.diablo3.com/en/blog/22820656/season-16-the-season-of-grandeur-begins-111-12-18-2018

Seems most of the PTR stuff carried over.

-Season 16 Ring of Royal Grandeur buff will be Season Only.
-Cosmetic reward is monarch butterfly wings
-Completing your first GR 70 or higher solo now grants a free Primal AND an Achievement. Makes it easier to verify you unlocked them for that gameplay mode. This is unclear, but it should be per MODE so Non Season HC, Non Season SC, Season HC, Season SC. (Please clarify Blizz if I am wrong).
-Set items should be updated retroactively with the new patch values so you won't need to find them again in Non-Season.
-My guess on patch date is Jan 8th seeing as that is when the Era ends but I could be wrong. The other option would be the 15th but that is less likely.

Nevalistis

Community Manager

#10 - Dec. 19, 2018, 2:42 a.m.

12/18/2018 10:34 AMPosted by Shooter
Assume Jade number in patch notes is typo.

*edit* I should have clarified which number you were asking about; you are right, an extra 0 got added to the 2-piece patch note. Fixing that now.

12/18/2018 10:31 AMPosted by Kirottu
As it was expected, Inna and Tal Rasha 6 piece bonuses got much smaller buffs. They went 1500%->750% and 3000%->2000% respectively.

LoN on the other hand went up, it was 500% per ancient on PTR, live will be 750%.

Can confirm these were the three major changes as a result of PTR feedback and internal testing. We'll be watching performance and any potential bugs very carefully after the patch launches in the new year, but as of right now, these are the final numbers for 2.6.4.

12/18/2018 10:20 AMPosted by MissCheetah
Makes it easier to verify you unlocked them for that gameplay mode. This is unclear, but it should be per MODE so Non Season HC, Non Season SC, Season HC, Season SC. (Please clarify Blizz if I am wrong).

Also accurate; this is locked per mode just like other unlocks, such as Adventure Mode access.

Nevalistis

Community Manager

#29 - Dec. 19, 2018, 6:09 a.m.

12/18/2018 10:45 AMPosted by MissCheetah
Thanks! Will the Achievement (as mentioned in the new News post but not on the PTR) specify which mode? As in there should be 4 different Achievements. That makes it easy for people to check what they have unlocked.

Per development, yes, this should be the way it works. It's similar to how you receive achievements for completing Greater Rift 15/20/25/etc.

12/18/2018 12:42 PMPosted by Mercy
So, how much of a nerf is the 750% from 1500% in Inna Set? How will that translate when pushing GR's? Perhaps in 3-5 less levels than in PTR?

Roughly. It may look drastic on paper, but it's more of a trimming back to be in line with the approximate GRift level other builds were reaching. With the initial PTR changes, we were aiming (roughly) around the upper capacity of builds like Condemn Crusader or Rathma's Necro. Some of those changes exceeded that significantly, even outside the RoRG season buff, so we scaled back the buffs they are receiving for live.

12/18/2018 12:56 PMPosted by Orrion
Current end date for Season 16 is speculated to be March 17th.. which means the Season will only be 2 months long.

Reminder that this is an anticipated end date. There's still a chance that this may change, just as the final dates for Season 15 shifted (due to a variety of factors). Feedback on Season length tends to vary quite a bit and, while we generally aim for three months, this Season Theme is the biggest one we've had yet. We'll be observing data, watching player feedback and reactions, and evaluating how this Season feels as we look to future Seasons.