Blizzard Entertainment’s Diablo III recently celebrated its sixth anniversary, but the game’s seasons help keep the game as engaging as ever.
Blizzard Entertainment’s Diablo III recently celebrated its sixth anniversary, but the game’s seasons help keep the game as engaging as ever.
Seasons are a recurring feature in Diablo III, offering players the opportunity to start a Normal or Hardcore character from scratch every few months. At the end of a season, your characters will be automatically converted to regular, non-season characters, and you’ll retain access to all items, currency and materials for use in non-Season game modes. The launch of a new season is the perfect time to dive back into Diablo III, meet new people, or gather up old friends—especially if it’s been a while since you’ve played.
The biggest draw to participation in a Diablo III season is the appeal of competing on progression-based Leaderboards which show top progress in Greater Rifts, Season Achievements, and Conquests. The Greater Rift Leaderboard shows the players which have completed the highest tier Greater Rifts, further sorted by their clear time. The Season Achievement Leaderboard shows the top players ranked by their total achievement points earned for completing achievements on their Seasonal character. The Conquests leaderboard is more of a “first come, first served” ranking, where placement is decided solely on the order in which players complete the individual challenges presented.
Seasons also feature exclusive cosmetic rewards, including pets, portrait frames, pennants, transmogrification items, and wings. Additionally, players can unlock additional stash tabs, up to a maximum of 4, by completing tasks in the Conqueror tier of their Season Journey, an in-game progression tracker that spans all nine chapters of the game. This is an incredibly valuable reward if you plan on spending more time with Diablo III—who doesn’t love more storage space?
Getting started in Diablo III’s Season 14
Diablo III’s fourteenth season begins on Friday, June 15 at 5:00 p.m. PDT in North America, 5:00 p.m. CEST in Europe, and 5:00 p.m. KST in Asia. The season will be open until around Sunday, September 16, giving players more than enough time to complete their Season Journey and earn the rewards.
This season is the first to fit in Blizzard’s new themed seasons concept. Season 14 is the Season of Greed—all Treasure Goblin spawns are doubled. This means that every time you encounter a Treasure Goblin of any type (including Gem Hoarders, Blood Thieves, and all of their colorful friends) there will be two instead of one. Goblins encountered via Bandit Shrines, Goblin “Rift” packs, or in the Realm of Greed will not be doubled.
Just like in Diablo III’s non-seasonal play, you’ll have the opportunity to create a Hardcore or Non-Hardcore character. Hardcore players lose their character, along with any equipped gear, when it dies, so if you’re just trying to complete the Season’s objectives and earn the reward, there isn’t really much point to choosing Hardcore—unless you’re hardcore, of course. It’s important to note that the free class set awarded by completing your Season Journey is the only one you’ll get all season, across all characters. Collect those rewards on a Hardcore character that doesn’t make the cut, and you won’t get another chance at that free and easy gear.
Choosing your character and leveling up to 70
When starting a new season character, we recommend leveling up in Adventure Mode rather than Campaign, as the former offers a faster leveling experience and generally better rewards. You can play solo or with friends, though party play is recommended due to increased experience gain based on party size with little to no increase in actual map or monster difficulty.
Get used to running tons of bounties and rifts in Adventure Mode, as they’re pretty much your best methods for farming gear once you hit level 70. Select the Act that features a current bounty bonus and complete the designated tasks to earn significant experience and rewards. Once you’ve completed all of the bounties in an Act, simply switch to the next Act with the bonus currently active. Once you’ve accumulated a bit of gear, you can begin to take on Greater Rifts, which are very challenging and strictly timed, and start working your way up the Leaderboards.
Collect your first class set from Haedrig’s gifts
In the process of completing your Season Journey, you’ll earn reward chests called Haedrig’s Gift upon completing select chapters. Each Gift contains multiple pieces of a specific class set, chosen each season. This will be the first complete item set you’ll be able to get your hands on, so it’s a good starting point to help you accumulate pieces of other sets in case this season’s set and its bonuses aren’t to your liking. You’ll get only one free set for the entire season. If you create additional Seasonal characters, they’ll be on their own. This season’s item sets are:
- Barbarian – The Legacy of Raekor
- Crusader – Armor of Akkhan
- Demon Hunter – Embodiment of the Marauder
- Monk – Inna’s Reach
- Necromancer – Pestilence Master’s Shroud
- Witch Doctor – Zunimassa’s Haunt
- Wizard – Delsere’s Magnum Opus
Complete your Season Journey to earn exclusive rewards
If you just want to take things easy, just focus on completing your Season Journey to earn any of the rewards that may interest you. You can use this helpful online tool to help you track your progress: Diablo 3 Season Journey Tracker. You’ll have three months to work on it, after all. This season, players who complete their Season’s Journey will earn the following rewards:
- Exclusive Conqueror set Boots and Pants for transmogrification
- Tal Rasha themed portrait frames
- Tyrael, the Archangel themed pennant
As mentioned before, you can also earn an additional stash tab if you haven’t yet accrued a total of four tabs over previous Seasons. Complete the following tasks in your Season Journey to unlock the stash tab:
- Complete a level 70 Torment XIII Rift in under 5 minutes
- Complete Greater Rift 60 solo
- Kill Greed on Torment XIII
- Kill the Butcher at level 70 in Torment XIII in under 30 seconds
- Reforge a Legendary or Set item
- Augment an Ancient item with a Level 50 or greater Legendary Gem
- Level three Legendary Gems to 55
- Complete two Conquests
Published: Jun 15, 2018 07:49 pm