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Season 14 Public Test Realm Announced with Warlock and System Updates

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Public Test Realm Opens for Upcoming Season

A Public Test Realm (PTR) for the next game season will be available for one week, featuring numerous balance changes to the Warlock class and adjustments to end-game systems. The test period is scheduled from April 14 at 11:00 a.m. PDT until April 21 at 11:00 a.m. PDT.

PTR Overview and Character Templates

To facilitate testing, four pre-made character templates will be available:

  • Miasma Test (Level 15)
  • Flame Test (Level 18)
  • Bind Demon Test (Level 30)
  • Echoing Testing (Level 80)

Each template includes pre-selected talents, all unlocked waypoints, and a shared stash containing provided items.

Warlock Class Updates

Two general changes were made to the Warlock class:

  • The effectiveness of health potions used by Warlocks was increased from 100 to 150.
  • Warlocks can now equip a two-handed weapon in one hand only if the other hand is using a grimoire class item. Shields do not fulfill this requirement.

Demon Skill Adjustments

Multiple skills in the Demon skill tree received modifications:

  • Demonic Mastery: Increasing the maximum demon count now requires investment in base skill points.
  • Summon Goatmen: Attack Speed bonuses from this skill are now capped at 50%.
  • Blood Oath: The Damage Transfer stat is now capped at 50%.
  • Blood Boil: The skill's range was updated to three distinct thresholds: 2 yards (Levels 1-4), 3 yards (Levels 5-9), and 4 yards (Level 10+).
  • Consume: Bonuses granted now vary based on the game difficulty (Normal, Nightmare, Hell) the consumed demon was bound on.
  • Bind Demon: This skill received several changes:
    • Binding different demon types now requires base skill point investment: 10 points for normal, 15 for champion, and 20 for unique or super-unique demons.
    • The synergy chance provided by the Death Mark skill was reduced from 1% to 0.5%.
    • The benefit that a demon's missing health grants to the bind chance was reduced and now varies by demon type.
    • A maximum health cap was introduced for bound demons, which varies by demon type.
    • The Cursed Affix chance to cast Amplify Damage was reduced to 5% from 75%.
    • Mana Cost was reduced to 9 per second.
    • Conviction Aura, Holy Fire Aura, Holy Lightning Aura, Blessed Aim Aura, and Might Aura were removed from the possible aura pool for bound demons. When these auras would have rolled, they are replaced with Fanaticism, Vigor, Thorns, or Concentration. Holy Freeze remains a possible aura.

Chaos Skill Adjustments

Skills in the Chaos skill tree were also updated:

  • Miasma Bolt: A delay was added before the cloud missile spawns. Cloud damage was reduced by 50%, and direct hit missile damage was slightly reduced. A developer note stated the Cloud Explode value was changed from 0 to 1 to prevent double damage ticks.
  • Sigil: Lethargy: The Damage Taken stat was removed from the skill.
  • Ring of Fire: The skill's damage was reduced to be more similar to the damage of Frost Nova.
  • Miasma Chains: The casting delay was removed. An active chain limit of 5 was added. Cloud damage was reduced by 50%.
  • Flame Wave: The skill's damage was reduced by 15%.

Eldritch Skill Adjustments

Two skills in the Eldritch skill tree were modified:

  • Echoing Strike: The damage synergy bonus per level was reduced from 5% to 3%.
  • Eldritch Blast: Life steal and mana steal were made static at 5%.

Terror Zones, Heralds, and Sunder Charms

Significant changes were made to end-game systems involving Terror Zones:

According to developer notes, spawn rates for Heralds and drop rates for Latent Sunder Charms were increased in response to player feedback indicating they felt too low.

  • Colossal Ancient Statues can now drop from act bosses that are not Terrorized.
  • The chance for Worldstone Shards to drop is no longer modified by the number of players in the game.
  • Heralds now spawn and begin hunting players immediately after any monster is killed in a Terror Zone. The chance for a Herald to hunt increases with each subsequent monster killed within the same Terrorized Zone.
  • Latent Sunder Charms can now drop from any monster, Terrorized or not, using the player's Magic Find statistic.
  • The increased chance for a Latent Sunder Charm to drop now starts at Heralds of Dread (Tier 2) instead of Tier 4.
  • This increased drop chance from Heralds is no longer heavily modified by player count.
  • If a Herald fails to drop a Latent Sunder Charm, there is an increased chance it will drop another item, such as a charm or amulet.

The intent is for players to have a high chance of encountering Tier 1 and Tier 2 Heralds in a single Terrorized Zone. Latent Sunder Charms were added to the regular Magic Find drop pool to reduce reliance on finding and killing Heralds, though the charms are intended to remain rarer than their drop rates prior to the "Reign of the Warlock" update.

Colossal Ancients

The Colossal Ancients enemies received two adjustments:

  • Magic Resistance was increased from 50 to 75.
  • Colossal Talic's Whirlwind damage value was changed, and the damage of his Fire Twister and Volcano attacks was increased.

User Interface and Miscellaneous

  • Bindable move directions (often referred to as WASD controls) have been reintroduced.
  • Various bug fixes were implemented for the PTR, though specific details were not listed in the announcement.