PTR isn't "open". They might just work on some PTR hardware or software on the server side. They might have started PTR for internal testing and just disabled login from any non-Blizzard IP. Or maybe prepare some stuff for whatever is coming to PTR after Blizzcon. Nobody knows
Sometimes they push random data on CDN that has absolutely no meaning and/or is just for internal tests. The Blizzard developers aren't just sitting in their offices for 6 weeks and doing nothing in between PTR downtime, and sometimes they push buttons here and there that for us (from the outside) makes no sense. But from a development point of view there's just absolutely zero evidence for a PTR, and it also wouldn't make any sense whatsoever.
PTR is down for maint currently, likely adding the tweaks for the season and allowing testing of gift and journey now that they announced each.
I don't think there will be a PTR. There might not even be a patch. Note that Nevalistis just wrote a few weeks ago that it's totally possible that they might start a new season without a patch. I don't think anything needs to be patched; the wings and portrait frames are already in the client data (there's enough portraits in our clients for a few seasons, has been datamined ages ago). So why have a patch? Even if there's a patch, they have enough time between patch day (Tuesday morning in US) and season start (Friday evening) to hotfix, as they have done last season.
Isn't it entirely possible that they have found a way to prevent data mining completely like they were saying? And season 8 could wind up having some small surprises?
A game always needs game data. As long as you can get your hands on that data, it can be datamined. Of course they can keep some stuff on their servers - stuff like drop rates, leaderboards, conquests, Haedrig Gifts, and so on is all server-side. That cannot be datamined. But stuff like the damage% on items and skills, any graphics you see, all of that is client-side. If they want to put anything of that on the server side, it would require a patch and *that* one would've shown up in datamining them (plus it's not something you do on the fly, the code change for this would be similar to an expansion and requires a looong PTR).
So technically they *could* prevent datamining entirely (by turning the game into something similar to On-Live where 100% of stuff goes on on the servers and you basically just "stream" your own game to your home computer). But practically that would be a new game is never going to happen with Diablo 3. In fact, the game already has so many connection issues with lags and stuff that putting even *more* data on the connection between players and server would make it unplayable, so datamining will not go down but actually go up. Plus, there's really no harm in datamining strings and changes as it's usually datamined just 2-3 days before PTR release and official patch notes anyways.
I'm convinced we play 2 different games. You'd be the first person I ever met who gave a shit about eras in any way, shape or form. Eras and nonseason play in general are pretty much completely irrelevant to everyone I know who plays D3. There is a reason that nonseason play is a complete ghost-town, and it is the lack of frequent DB wipes that seasons bring. Honestly, I could see them going to 6 seasons a year, because why not? The game is so devoid of real content that 2 months is more than enough to do it all. In fact people are often bored with the game after a week or two, so there is nothing wrong with monthly seasons.
ARPG games are about getting stuff. They aren't about having stuff. Seasonal play ends up with everybody having everything and not needing anything and not having any desire to play.
Then you've met two people who give a shit about eras.
Honestly, I don't understand why people who play seasons themselves assume that everyone else has to like the same things. Not everyone likes restarts in ARPGs. I personally hate this "reset button" and the only reason why I played seasons is because of the stash. I play the opening weekend, get stash, maybe Guardian, and then quit (and if I play every now and then it's non-season). If S9+ doesn't offer something similar I won't touch seasons anymore, maybe except for a fun opening weekend. But to higlight that NS isn't "dead", let's look at rank 1000 for each leaderboard in each region:
Class
Season-NA
Season-EU
Season-KR
NS-NA
NS-EU
NS-KR
Barbarian
75
77
76
75
78
80
Crusader
76
77
78
75
80
83
DH
79
80
82
79
80
84
Monk
80
84
85
77
81
85
WD
82
85
83
81
85
85
Wizard
81
85
83
77
83
82
2p
86
91
88
85
90
90
3p
90
95
91
88
94
95
4p
97
102
102
95
100
103
As you can see, on average NS is on par with season; in many cases even higher. I'm actually surprised about the numbers in NA - in past seasons NS-NA was a wasteland, but it seems even in NA people have moved to NS. And it's going to be more: many people don't want to give up on their gully-geared characters and run 500+ rifts just to re-gain all the augments they farmed in a previous season. If a season offers new items/a new "top set" that needs to be farmed again, one might be happy with the reset; but I can tell you that I know not a single LoN Bombardment crusader from S6 who tried to get the same stuff in S7. Unless you're in a top clan and a full-time streamer/player, you wouldn't really do that.
Again, if you say NS is irrelevant to anyone you know that's your circle of friends, but it's not the entire community. In general, I think people extrapolate too much from their personal experience. I really with Blizzard releases a new infographic or some numbers at Blizzcon.
didnt see any info about how long this next season will last... although apparently any info they give wouldnt mean much anyway now would it.
They said before that every season is going to last about 3 month (give or take). S7 was shortened to avoid having a season end/transition/season start exactly during Blizzcon (which would've happened normally). So unless a similar exceptional reason appears, S8 is going to last 3 months at most. Anything longer is really bad, Blizzard knows this; so S8 is very very likely to last until the end of January.
But even a soft reset into a new season take a lot of resources, something games simply do not do in maint mode, no even close really.
Blizzard has been doing this (soft reset) for 16 years in Diablo 2, so are you telling me Diablo 2 is not in "maintenance mode"? ;-)
The game was constantly patched for 2 years after it's release, then after 2 more years (2005) Pandaemonium was added, and another 5 years later (2010) was another sort of "bigger" patch with 1.13c. D3 might be at a similar state, where we might not see a "bigger" patch like 2.5 for another 1-2 years. Of course I hope I'm wrong and we get some awesome features at Blizzcon. We'll see, it's not too long of a wait anymore
I wouldn't be surprised if we see patch 2.5 with something interesting at Blizzcon and then a PTR one week after Blizzcon, for a 2 month testing period (Season 8-9 transition end of January). But of course could also be completely unrelated, and more likely this is just another sign that Diablo 3 is going into "long-term maintenance" mode and although small features might still come every now and then, development of the Diablo franchise is moving on to something else.
PTR isn't "open". They might just work on some PTR hardware or software on the server side. They might have started PTR for internal testing and just disabled login from any non-Blizzard IP. Or maybe prepare some stuff for whatever is coming to PTR after Blizzcon. Nobody knows
Sometimes they push random data on CDN that has absolutely no meaning and/or is just for internal tests. The Blizzard developers aren't just sitting in their offices for 6 weeks and doing nothing in between PTR downtime, and sometimes they push buttons here and there that for us (from the outside) makes no sense. But from a development point of view there's just absolutely zero evidence for a PTR, and it also wouldn't make any sense whatsoever.
So technically they *could* prevent datamining entirely (by turning the game into something similar to On-Live where 100% of stuff goes on on the servers and you basically just "stream" your own game to your home computer). But practically that would be a new game is never going to happen with Diablo 3. In fact, the game already has so many connection issues with lags and stuff that putting even *more* data on the connection between players and server would make it unplayable, so datamining will not go down but actually go up. Plus, there's really no harm in datamining strings and changes as it's usually datamined just 2-3 days before PTR release and official patch notes anyways.
Honestly, I don't understand why people who play seasons themselves assume that everyone else has to like the same things. Not everyone likes restarts in ARPGs. I personally hate this "reset button" and the only reason why I played seasons is because of the stash. I play the opening weekend, get stash, maybe Guardian, and then quit (and if I play every now and then it's non-season). If S9+ doesn't offer something similar I won't touch seasons anymore, maybe except for a fun opening weekend. But to higlight that NS isn't "dead", let's look at rank 1000 for each leaderboard in each region:
As you can see, on average NS is on par with season; in many cases even higher. I'm actually surprised about the numbers in NA - in past seasons NS-NA was a wasteland, but it seems even in NA people have moved to NS. And it's going to be more: many people don't want to give up on their gully-geared characters and run 500+ rifts just to re-gain all the augments they farmed in a previous season. If a season offers new items/a new "top set" that needs to be farmed again, one might be happy with the reset; but I can tell you that I know not a single LoN Bombardment crusader from S6 who tried to get the same stuff in S7. Unless you're in a top clan and a full-time streamer/player, you wouldn't really do that.
Again, if you say NS is irrelevant to anyone you know that's your circle of friends, but it's not the entire community. In general, I think people extrapolate too much from their personal experience. I really with Blizzard releases a new infographic or some numbers at Blizzcon.
Blizzard has been doing this (soft reset) for 16 years in Diablo 2, so are you telling me Diablo 2 is not in "maintenance mode"? ;-)
The game was constantly patched for 2 years after it's release, then after 2 more years (2005) Pandaemonium was added, and another 5 years later (2010) was another sort of "bigger" patch with 1.13c. D3 might be at a similar state, where we might not see a "bigger" patch like 2.5 for another 1-2 years. Of course I hope I'm wrong and we get some awesome features at Blizzcon. We'll see, it's not too long of a wait anymore
A new season, but no new patch.
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/blog/20275888/season-7-ending-soon-9-30-2016
I wouldn't be surprised if we see patch 2.5 with something interesting at Blizzcon and then a PTR one week after Blizzcon, for a 2 month testing period (Season 8-9 transition end of January). But of course could also be completely unrelated, and more likely this is just another sign that Diablo 3 is going into "long-term maintenance" mode and although small features might still come every now and then, development of the Diablo franchise is moving on to something else.