Diablo III Season 17 on PTR 2.6.5

With Patch 2.6.4, we started a new process for testing content both internally and externally that worked well for our production schedule and helped ensure that we received focused, actionable player feedback. We’re going to continue using this process for Patch 2.6.5, with a one-week PTR to fully test Season 17.

On the docket are also highly-requested quality of life changes, item changes that should boost some fan-favorite playstyles, and an all-new Season 17 buff that'll help us bring the terror to the Season of Nightmares!

We'll be conducting the Patch 2.6.5 PTR over the course of one week, starting Friday, April 5. During the course of the PTR, there may be periodic maintenances, outages, hotfixes, or minor patches.

There will be two buffs active to help you on your PTR journey: increased Legendary drop rate and double Blood Shard drops. This should allow everyone to acquire any class set items (or supplemental items) that they might need!

Feedback should be provided in the PTR Feedback forum while bug reports should be provided in the PTR Bug Report forum. Clearly separating these tracks allows our designers and quality assurance testers to hone in on the information they need most.

With another new game-impacting Seasonal buff and several beefy boosts to Legendary items, we know it will be very tempting to get your hands dirty with as much as you can! To help guide your focus, here are the priorities in terms of what we’d most like to see tested.

• Players pushing Greater Rifts as high as possible with the new item changes listed below
• Experimentation with the Legacy of Nightmares Seasonal buff, with emphasis on finding builds with unforeseen interactions or bugs

As with our previous 2.6.4 PTR, this testing period will have a short duration. Whether you’re a PTR veteran or newcomer, we thought we’d pass along a few tips to get you started.

• Because of the limited duration of this PTR, we ask that participants pick a particular portion of this update to focus on testing.
  • For example, if you’re primarily a Wizard player, consider what changes impact the Wizard specifically. What you like best, what you think may still need adjustment, and what you'd want to see in the future (even if that may be beyond the scope of this patch) are all good questions to ask yourself.
• Prior to the start of PTR, consider stocking up on items like Puzzle Rings and Bovine Bardiches. Having these available after you import your character can make any necessary PTR farming much faster!
• Try to break things!
  Just tell us when you do so we can make sure that the 2.6.5 launch is as smooth as possible.
• When providing feedback, focus less on a solution and more on your experience. How did the changes make you feel? Was there something "off" that you noticed? Did something seem wrong or insufficient? Suggestions are always welcome but identifying the issues themselves is most important.

• Torment 14, 15, and 16 have been added to the game
• Portals left behind by Treasure Goblins may occasionally lead somewhere udderly ridiculous
• Using an Ancient or Primal Puzzle Ring in Kanai’s Cube will produce a new result
• Party portraits now display if a player’s Cheat Death buff has been recently used (PC Only)
• When a boss is killed in a Nephalem Rift, a permanent ping will mark the location of the boss’ death until the Rift is closed
• The Boss Notification screen has received a rework (PC Only)
• The Greater Rift Notification screen has received a rework (PC Only)
• The Greater Rift Completion screen has received a rework (PC Only)
• Matchmaking no longer prevents players from joining a game while a Greater Rift is already in progress
  • Players who join the game will still be unable to join a Greater Rift in progress
• The progress bar for a Greater Rift is now visible to all players in the game, regardless of whether they are participating in the Rift or not

• Additional stash space has been added for all players
  • PC: 5 additional stash tabs are now available
  • PS4/XB1/Switch: 140 additional stash spaces are now available
• Search functionality has been added to Stash (PC Only)
• All Crafters now have an Expand/Collapse All button for recipes (PC Only)
• Most Bounty indicators are now displayed immediately after entering the Bounty area
• Death’s Breath now drop in Horadric Caches

Developer Comment: With 2.6.5, we’re aiming to address some of the longest standing and most desired quality of life features the community has brought to us. We’ve hit a little bit of everything, from adding additional Torment levels, making Ancient/Primal Puzzle Rings feel rewarding, and rehauling stash space in both size and functionality. Other changes were made to help smooth out overall gameplay, such as making Bounties feel less of a chore and more rewarding and reworking a few of our notification screens. Return to Top

• The Season Journey Journal now displays all chapters, regardless of current progression
• Added the buff for Season 17
• Player’s damage dealt is increased by 750% and damage taken is reduced by 4% for every Ancient Item they have equipped while having no Set Bonuses Active

Developer’s Comment: The Season of Grandeur was by far our most popular Themed Season yet. In the wake of having a free Ring of Royal Grandeur active, we saw a lot of requests to try the same thing with the Legacy of Nightmares set power. We had been toying with the same idea internally, and the community request really nudged us over the edge of giving it a go!

• (NEW) Bottomless Potion of the Unfettered
  • Become immune to control-impairing effects for 5-7 seconds after drinking this potion
• Akkhan’s Leniency
  • Each enemy hit by your Blessed Shield increases damage of your Blessed Shield by 15-20% 75-100% for 3 seconds
• Bloodtide Blade
  • Death Nova deals 80-100% 300-400% increased damage for every enemy within 25 yards
• Chantodo’s Will
  • Every second while in Archon form you expel a Wave of Destruction, dealing 1000% 4000% weapon damage to enemies within 30 yards. Every time you hit with an attack while not in Archon form, 1000% 4000% weapon damage is added to the Wave of Destruction, stacking up to 20 times
  • Wave of Destruction ticks now scale with attack speed
• The Dagger of Darts
  • Your Poison Darts and your Fetishes’ Poison Darts now pierce and deal an additional [400-500%] damage.
• Iron Rose
  • Attacking with Siphon Blood has a 40-50% 100% chance to cast a free Blood Nova
• Jekangbord
  • Blessed Shield ricochets to 6 additional enemies and has its damage increased by 225-300% 300-400%
• Sage’s Set
  • Now doubles the amount of Death’s Breaths that drop
    • Previous: Increases Death’s Breath drops by 1

Developer’s Comment: With Patch 2.6.4, we focused on making a lot of changes to different class sets to open up build diversity and level out the comparable power between classes. With 2.6.5, we’re continuing that trend through adjustments to (mostly) Legendary powers we feel have a very strong, fun fantasy, but needed some damage bumps.

• Fixed and issue where Xbox One/PS4 Voice Chat within public games was failing to work (Xbox One and PS4 Only)
• Fixed an issue where The Immortal King’s Set Dungeon objective numbers were incorrect
• Fixed an issue where the player counter UI was incorrectly showing 0 players online
• Fixed an issue where Greater Rift 70 first-time completion Primal drops were occurring for players even if they did not succeed at the 15-minute completion time
• Fixed an issue where Bounties that required interacting with an object would not update the next objective immediately after completing one
• Fixed an issue where a second Puzzle Ring tab would be shown in the Kanai’s Cube UI when a Puzzle Ring was equipped (Console Only)
• Fixed an issue where Keywarden icons would not show up on the map in Torment level games (Switch Only)
• Fixed an issue where some subtitles in the Taiwan localization would exceed the screen limit (Switch only)
• Fixed an issue where the mouse cursor may be hidden when launching the client (Mac only)
• Fixed an issue where players would not be blocked from entering Public Games with the Key Warden tag when Key Wardens have already been defeated

To participate in the public test, you must have a Diablo III game license attached to a Battle.net account in good standing (i.e. one that hasn't been suspended or banned). In addition,
you will also need to download and install the Blizzard Battle.net desktop app
if you have not already done so.

Step 1:
Create a PTR account. To create a PTR account, log in to
Blizzard Battle.net Account Management
and double-click on your Diablo III game license; this will bring you to the game management page.
On this page, click "Create a PTR account.

If you've participated in any previous Diablo III PTR, the "Create PTR account" button may not appear. This is because you've already created a PTR account and can therefore skip this step.

Step 2:
Once you have created a PTR account, installed the Blizzard Battle.net desktop, and logged in with your Blizzard Battle.net credentials, select "Diablo III" from the main menu on the left-hand side of the application.

Step 3:
On the Diablo III screen, there is a drop-down menu right above the "Play" button (note that this may say "Install" if you do not have Diablo III currently installed). Select "PTR: Diablo III" from this drop-down menu before proceeding.

Step 4:
You should now have the option to install and play the patch.

The PTR is available in all supported languages, and accounts from all regions are eligible to participate.

The option to copy your existing Diablo III characters from your live account to the PTR will be available and can be done directly through the PTR client. However, only one region per account can be copied at a time. So, if you choose to copy characters from your account in a different region, any previously copied PTR characters will be lost.

Step 1:
Log into the live game and then log out.

Step 2:
Log into PTR client and create a level 1 character. After you're done, return to the main character screen.

Step 3:
Click on the "PTR Copy" button located in the upper right-hand corner. (The PTR Copy button will not appear in-game until you have created a new level 1 character.)

Step 4:
Select your region.

Step 5:
Click "Copy." This will copy all characters on your account from the selected region.

Step 6:
You will be disconnected from the PTR client.

Step 7:
Log back in. Your copied characters will be available for play.

Please note that you can only copy characters from one gameplay region at a time. If you choose to copy characters from a different region, any previously copied PTR characters will be lost. In addition, you can only copy characters over to your PTR account once every 24 hours. Attempting to copy characters before this cooldown is up will result in an error.

As this is a test server, please anticipate uneven game performance, and note that restarts and downtime may occur without warning. Thank you, and we look forward to your feedback

SOURCE: DIABLO 3 Website