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Diablo III Season 16: The Season of Grandeur starts 1/16/19

by: Dan - posted: 12/18/2018 2:12:00 PM
More On: Diablo III
 
With Diablo III Season 15: Boon of the Horadrim is wrapping up on January 6th, that means that Season 16 is on the horizon.  Details were announced today by Blizzard, and it will definitely be a season to get some goodies.  It all starts with seasonal players having the benefit of the powers of the Ring of Royal Grandeur, and while you cant stack this buff with other rings of the like, you will benefit form it without actually having the item.
 
In addition, there will be new cosmetic rewards, Journey rewards and Seasonal Conquests.  While I have included the Patch Notes and Q&A after the jump, go to the official page linked above to see all of the cool updates that will be coming in January.

PATCH 2.6.4 - v2.6.4.54724

Table of Contents:

  • General
  • Greater Rifts
  • Seasons
  • Class Set Changes
    • General
      • Quality of Life
        • Philosophy
          • For this patch, we wanted to include a few frequently requested Quality of Life changes and focused on better celebrating and indicating Primal Legendary drops.
        • Five (5) additional Armory tabs have been added for all characters, bringing the total to 10
        • Legendary Potions are no longer stored in player inventory and can be accessed or changed by right-clicking on the potion icon in the action bar
        • Greater Rift Keystones are now stored in the Materials tab
          • Any existing Greater Rift Keystones in both inventory and stash have been automatically moved
        • Primal Legendaries are now marked by a red beam when they drop
        • Primal Legendaries on the ground are now indicated by a red pentagram icon on the mini-map
        • Primal Legendaries now have a red border and updated background on their icons
      • Return to top
    • Greater Rifts
      • Philosophy
        • The gameplay of micro-managing Paragon points during the course of a Greater Rift doesn't feel like especially engaging gameplay, nor was it consistent with the other existing rules of entering a Greater Rift. In addition, the below change to matchmaking is to make it much easier for all players to find groups for Greater Rifts, as the previous window (only between Greater Rifts) is typically very small.
      • Paragon points can no longer be swapped while a Greater Rift is open
      • Players can now be matched into public games where a Greater Rift is open
        • Players who join in this manner will not be able to enter the active Rift, and players inside the Rift will be able to continue with no additional difficulty scaling until the run has been completed
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    • Seasons
      • Season 16: Season of Grandeur
        • The buff for Season of Grandeur has been implemented
          • This buff gives all Seasonal players the legendary power from Ring of Royal Grandeur
          • This buff does not stack with additional Ring of Royal Grandeur (either equipped or in Kanai's Cube)
          • Unlike previous Seasonal buffs, this buff will not apply to Non-Seasonal players
        • When completing a Greater Rift level 70 solo for the first time in a Season, a Primal Legendary is guaranteed to drop from the Rift Guardian
      • Return to top
    • Class Set Changes

     

    We can’t wait to see what combinations players come up with throughout the course of Season 16 . . . especially when considering the new Seasonal buff!

    Frequently Asked Questions

    Q: When does Season 16 start?

    A: Season 16 begins Friday, January 18 at 5:00 p.m. PST in North America, 5:00 p.m. CEST in Europe, and 5:00 p.m. KST in Asia. For time zone conversion, see this site.

    Q: When do Seasons go live for players on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and Nintendo Switch?

    A: Seasons go live for all console players globally Friday, January 18 at 5:00 p.m. Pacific Time, regardless of which regional version of the game you may have. Please note that Seasonal Leaderboards for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and Nintendo Switch are still separate by hardware platform.

    Q: When will Season 16 end?

    A: We currently anticipate that Season 16 will be ending on Sunday, March 17 at 5:00 p.m. PST in North America, 5:00 p.m. CEST in Europe, and 5:00 p.m. KST in Asia.

    Q: Why is the Season end date an estimate?

    A: Traditionally, we have given players two weeks’ notice prior to the ending of a Season. However, we’ve heard the community’s feedback, so going forward, we’ll be providing more comprehensive Season details in the Season preview blogs. Please bear in mind that this date is an estimate and there is always a chance it may shift. While we will do our best to hit these target dates as closely as possible, we will continue to verify the Season end date at the two-week warning mark.

    Q: When are the non-Seasonal Leaderboards being wiped?

    A: Non-Seasonal Leaderboards are tied to what we call “Eras,” each of which lasts about 6–12 months. The most recent era began November 9 and is scheduled to end January 8. For more information on Eras, please see this post.

    Q: What will happen to older Seasonal and Era records?

    A: Starting with Season 10, we removed old personal bests from Season 1. When Season 16 arrives, we will remove old personal bests from Season 7, and so on. We will be doing the same for personal bests from the previous Era when the next one goes live.

    Seasonal Leaderboard records are not being cleared and will remain archived both in game and on our website.