The Diablo 4 devs just made an announcement that tells me they are cooking up something good for Season 5 (2024)

I'm only just peeling myself down from the ceiling after all the incredible Diablo 4 news we have already had in the past few days. From a brand new, and deliciously dark Vessel of Hatred trailer, to the reveal of the Spiritborn class and shadow-drop of pets into the game, it's been a great time to be a Diablo fan.

But Blizzard is not stopping there. Season 4 is still in full swing and still breaking records for Diablo 4 player numbers a month into the season, and just a few hours ago Adam Fletcher aka PezRadar (Community Director) made a blog post detailing more to come from the Diablo 4 team. We've another mid-season balance patch coming shortly with Patch 1.4.3, and in an exciting reveal, we're getting a PTR (Public Test Realm) for Season 5 which is set to start on August 6. But why am I so excited?

To refer back to my interview with Rod Fergusson in April, I posed the question about PTRs. This tool has been used for seasons in Diablo 2 and Diablo 3, but we only saw it from Season 4 onward in Diablo 4, and wow, is the Season of Loot Reborn all the better for it. I asked Rod if we were likely to see the PTR for every season going forward now. He had this to say:

"That's a good question. I think that's sort of a TBD for us. There are pros and cons to PTR. Like Season 4 is such a big change that we definitely needed to get more feedback than usual.

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So what I am taking from this statement combined with todays news, is that the developers have had a conversation about if a PTR is necessary for Season 5, and come to the conclusion that it is. This could mean one of two things: they have seen the benefit of having one for Season 4 and decided to just bring in the PTR every season now, despite earlier comments on it being case by case, OR they are implementing a bunch of exciting things in Season 5 that definitely need player testing. I'm going with the latter for the sake of winding myself into a frenzy of excitement.

Another reason for my theory is that we haven't actually had much in the way of season-specific changes with Season 4, the only exclusively 'seasonal' activities being the Iron Wolves honor board and some season-only consumables such as the Profane Mindcage and Holy Bolts Elixir. The other changes implemented, such as the itemization, Tempering, and Masterworking, and a plethora of other improvements, have been added to the base game for the enjoyment of both Eternal Realm and Seasonal Realm players. Season 5 will be the first actual season of thorough seasonal content combined with these improvements.

We will find out for sure next week, though, as there is a Campfire Chat on Friday, June 21, to discuss what exactly Season 5 PTR is.

Adam Fletcher also let us know that Patch 1.4.3 will drop tomorrow Friday June 14, and give us some insight into the mid-season update coming next week (date to be confirmed). Normally there is also a Campfire Chat for the mid season update, but Fletcher says:

"Originally we had our mid-season update coming after this PTR concluded, but we agreed releasing the mid-season update prior to the PTR would be better for all players.

Jennifer Young

Jen is a News Writer for Windows Central, focused on all things gaming and Microsoft. Anything slaying monsters with magical weapons will get a thumbs up such as Dark Souls, Dragon Age, Diablo, and Monster Hunter. When not playing games, she'll be watching a horror or trash reality TV show, she hasn't decided which of those categories the Kardashians fit into. You can follow Jen on Twitter @Jenbox360 for more Diablo fangirling and general moaning about British weather.