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Patch 2.6.8 PTR Coming Soon!

It was recently discussed on the official forums that the Diablo III Patch 2.6.8 PTR will be making an appearance soon. This comes in addition to a blog post about game balance that is in progress, and should publish before the release of the 2.6.8 PTR!

Which two new class sets do you wish to see in this upcoming patch? Be sure to let us know in the comments!

Originally Posted by Matthew Cederquist (Official Post)

Title…

Will it come:

1. Soon

2. Blizzard Soon

3. Very very soon

Is the year too fresh to ask for it? xD

I guess everyone would like to know what sets+legendaries we will see and what season theme will come to Sanctuary.

Peace

 

Hey Mortred!

 

We’re going to go with Option 1 on this one. We’ll have more communications in regards to PTR in the coming weeks.

 

Thanks

Originally Posted by Nevalistis (Official Post)

Yeah, Matthew, what’s the ETA? stares at the email with the text awaiting review

 

It’s in progress. I did the bulk of the writing before break with some touch-ups after coming back, now it has to go through the multi-phase preparation for release: verifying text with our development team for accuracy and tone (it’s here now), review with our editorial team for grammar and polish, delivery to our localization teams to be translated into all our supported languages, and then re-distributed to all our regional community managers for formatting and publishing. There’s also asset creation and review that happens in tandem, for things like headers and thumbnails or any in-blog images, all which follow a similar structure.

 

Barring any unforeseen circumstances, it should publish before the release of the 2.6.8 PTR.

Quarterly Diablo IV Blogs/Updates

Additional information regarding when to expect the quarterly Diablo IV updates has been detailed by Brandy over on the Diablo Subreddit!

Originally Posted by Nevalistis (Official Post)

I mean, we're 7 days into 2020. For some, the first day back at work from holiday vacation was yesterday. I understand how excited everyone is, but let's set expectations and cover a few points (some reiterated, some that might be obvious but should be said).

 

• Diablo IV very, very early in development. Part of the reason we're aiming for quarterly updates is because there's not a lot right now that's ready to share. If it was ready to show, you saw it at BlizzCon.
• Diablo IV isn't the only project we're working on, though it might be the one you're most excited about (and it's fine if you are). As a reminder, we have patches actively being developed for Diablo III as well as the ongoing work on Diablo Immortal. For both bandwidth reasons on our end as well as avoiding flooding our (currently shared) communication channels, there's strategy needed in pacing out the distribution of information.
• Q1 means sometime between now and the end of March. April would mark the beginning of Q2. I don't have a time estimate for you, but my personal goal is to aim for somewhere in the middle to second third of the quarter. I'm not sure where exactly it's going to land; we've never approached communication in quite this manner before, and sometimes there's changes and schedule adjustments that need to be made. I suspect there will be many learnings for myself and the team with the first update as a result.
• We want to put a lot of time, effort, and polish into these updates because they are so few and we care a lot about our work. However, ultimately, the content will be decided by (1) what's ready to show and (2) what conversations we're ready to have with the community. For example, I wouldn't expect the first update to be about the intricacies of end-game activities. It's still too early (some areas of the game are still in concepting, while others are being actively implemented) - but we do want to make sure we're checking in with you on systems of interest as they come together, concept art, and possibly in-progress models. It's really going to vary. Actually making the game will always be the priority.
• Blogs take a really long time to produce, especially when they are of this caliber and content level. If video is required, even more so (as it adds an entire new team and process for review/approvals). What content we end up showing will drive the production needs, which is part of why it's so hard for me to give you an estimate on arrival.

Making games is complicated. So is supporting and communicating around them. Almost none of it can be done fast if we're going to do it well. We want to make sure the information we're giving is as clear and accurate as possible and, while we want to maintain transparency, we also don't want to risk over-promising and under delivering. This happens all too often by showing features too early.

 

So we are going to take our time. I understand it's hard to be patient; I literally live day to day in a building full of cool stuff I can't share and sometimes it's maddening. You can bet your hard earned gold we'll be sharing what we can as soon as possible, and it's okay to take a break from the waiting if it's eating at you. We'll just be here, hard at work.