DiabloFans

New Warlock Spell Revealed - Kara Kazham!
Auriel PTR on August 1st, Beyond The Nexus Ep. 6, Medivh Gameplay VODs by Rich
Demon Hunter Q&A, ChinaJoy Trailer, Audio Drama, Director's Cut, Action Cam Removal

Season 7 Countdown

Patch 2.4.2 Roundup

UPDATE - Patch 2.4.2 is now live on the Americas region and on consoles! It should go live on other regions tomorrow. Our Build Tool has also been updated with new data!

We have put together a recap with everything you need to know about the changes made to the game systems, class tweaks and new Legendary powers. Scroll down to check it out!

NOTICE - Our Builder will be soon updated with Patch 2.4.2 data! When that happens make sure to create a NEW build, and not just edit old S6 builds. We will also have a S7 countdown set up in the near future for your convenience.

Patch 2.4.2 in One Minute

Major Patch Changes

Patch 2.4.2 focuses on balancing the six classes' power, improve gameplay and build variety towards the end-game, and change the somewhat stagnant Greater Rift group meta. New Powers are being added to existing Legendary items and new Torment difficulties will be available too.

Also the devs did a pass on gold gains, how crowd control affects enemies and a few other Adventure Mode tweaks. Season 7 - starting on Friday, August 5th - brings changes to the Season Journey and its conquests, and also tweaks at how to earn the Haedrig's Gifts.

Click the banners below to know more!

Patch Notes - 2.4.2

New Card Reveals - Book Wyrm (Dragon), Moroes (Legendary)
Heroes WTF Moments #59, Heroes Funny & WP Moments #77
Demon Hunter Q&A, ChinaJoy Trailer, Audio Drama, Director's Cut, Action Cam Removal

Spirit Generator Quick Reference Guide for 2.4.2

Davlok recently updated his Spirit Generator Quick Reference Guide thread on the official forums with Patch 2.4.2 data. For those looking forward to playing a Monk class in the next season, definitely take some time to check out the very useful charts and comments by him!

Spirit Generator Quick Reference Guide

Finally getting around to updating this spirit generator quick reference guide now that the reigning champ (Fists of Fury) is looking to lose its crown soon. Assuming the massive buff to Raiment 6pc generator damage goes live next week in 2.4.2, there could be quite a few runes making appearances on the leaderboards. These charts should be fairly self explanatory, but I'll add some notes/comments below.

Single Target DPS Chart
http://i.imgur.com/mzVwNds.png

AoE Scaled DPS Chart
http://i.imgur.com/IlSXgAS.png

Spirit Generation Chart
http://i.imgur.com/G2JZcfn.png

Proc Coefficent Chart
http://i.imgur.com/1flApBT.png

Chart Notes:
- The charts are assuming you are using Raiment 2pc, Alacrity, Shenlong, and FD³.
- The Y-axis values are pretty arbitrary and really just meant to show a ranking
- The X-axis value is your Sheet APS. Just take your weapon APS (base 1.4 for fists) multiplied by the sum of all your additive non-weapon IAS affixes/buffs, and then just multiply that result by 2 for Flying Dragon.
- The "jumps" in the chart represent a reduction in frames of one of the 3 strikes of each generator.
- Typically, depending on solo or group, you want to be able to reach the "last plateu" with all your IAS buffs + FD. Additional IAS that would push you past 5APS will help increase FD uptime.
- 5 APS is the highest attack speed you can achieve in D3. Skill specific IAS modifiers like Raiment 2pc and Alacrity will bump your actual APS above that.
- The AoE scale factor is just an estimate using some values extracted from the power files and a little bit of testing in the brawling arena (but are likely not that accurate.)
- The Proc Chart can be summed up by "FoF still best". The runes in red on the chart have slightly lower proc rate, but larger AoE, and are not shown due to laziness.
- The Spirit Per Second chart boils down to Quickening for a mini-Teleport or Rising Tide for density.
- I kept FoF 2.4.1 as a reference, since it is probably the output most folks are familiar with.

Comments
- Mangle and Hands of Lightning look to have pulled to the head of the pack.
- Fists of Fury still reigns for any builds that benefit from on high proc coefficents.(Keep in mind I don't subscribe to the theory that Flying Dragon is related to proc coefficients.)
- DPS Buffs from: Assimilation / Foresight / Breaking Wave / Blazing Fists are NOT factored into the charts.
- Extra AoE of: Tsunami / Scattered Blows / Piercing Trident / Bounding Light / Static Charge are not shown.
- WotHF runes have a break point near 5 APS that makes it harder to gear for than CW or DR which have a wide plateau starting at ~4.5 APS.
- FoF's DoT can stack stricken by itself. (but still limited by the ICD)
- WotHF's 2nd strikes sometimes applies two stacks of stricken due to the nature of the min-punching - putting the gem on ICD when the 3rd strike lands. (should be a non-issue)
- WotHF's 2nd strike's interrupt provides a pretty decent toughness boost in melee.
- DR's 3rd strike's knockup effect got the shaft this patch with increased resistance.
- CW's AoE is ~20% more than WotHF. (this seems a bit low, but is what my napkin math came up with)
- DR's AoE is ~15% less than WotHF (I didn't put much effort into verifying the width used)
- FoT is so terrible in density, I replaced it with Thunderclap for the AoE chart just so it would show up.
- Half of Hands of Lightning's damage is concentrated on the 2rd strike which reduced it's DPS x AoE result
- Windforce Flurry's 3rd strike is narrower than DR's strikes., but travels 40 yards.
- I tried to find my Warhammer 40k flame thrower template for the Deadly Reach shape :-D
- I did verify a few breakpoints and hitboxes on PTR, but am sure I made some bad assumptions or copy-pasted an error into it, so if you see anything wrong let me know!
- I will update the OP once 2.4.2 goes live and the changes are confirmed.

Wildcards
- Assimilation with a consistent uptime on ~15+ stacks in super dense maps would be a "win-more" option. (assuming 30% dibs baseline)
- Static Charge at 40% weapon damage would have to be maintained on ~20+ targets along with FoF's DoT to topple Mangle. (Win-most!) ^_^v

Overall, I am curious to see what will happen this season with Raiment 6pc, and which generator ends up on top.... especially if someone can figure out how to#MakeStaticChargeGreatAgain! (ノ ゜Д゜)ノ

Single Target DPS Chart

Spirit Generation Chart

New Card Reveal - Imp of Malchezaar & Raving Grimoire
Auriel ChinaJoy Gameplay & Talent Tree, Auto-Select Options Later, Cooking w/Gul'dan
Legion Developer Q&A - Demon Hunters

New Pylon Icons in 2.4.2

Blizzard tweeted about the new Pylon icons coming in patch 2.4.2, with a preview gif of them in-game. It should be infinitely easier to identify which pylon we're about to get in this next patch. See below.

We're making it easier to look before you click in Patch 2.4.2 with new pylon icons! pic.twitter.com/cqwMIo5kMQ

— Diablo (@Diablo) July 29, 2016

Season 7 Pocket Guide by fst_d3

fst_d3 has put together a very handy Season 7 Pocket Guide, with quick and easy access to the most relevant information about the new patch 2.4.2! He shared it on our forums and over on Reddit, so feel free to drop if you wanna leave him a comment or some feedback. Check it out!

Feel free to leave feedback or submit your own season 7 material to:
http://www.diablofans.com/forums/diablo-iii-general-forums/diablo-iii-general-discussion/210205-season-7-pocket-guide#c1
You can also send a personal message via diablofans if you want to contact me directly: http://www.diablofans.com/members/532197-fst_d3

The Inn is Getting Ready - Karazhan Announcement Event Photos Within!
Auriel ChinaJoy Gameplay & Talent Tree, Auto-Select Options Later, Cooking w/Gul'dan
Harbingers - Khadgar, Upcoming Camera Changes

Rhykker Discusses the D4 BlizzCon Dice Conspiracy

So the craziest theory came up in the past couple days: the BlizzCon 2016 goodie bag came with Diablo-themed roleplaying dice, but the 4-sized die - conveniently called D4 - seems to be both undersized and with a printing error.

Some fans have theorized that Blizzard has hidden hints of a Diablo 4 reveal at this year's BlizzCon in the goodie bag! Rhykker went over the reasoning about how this could be possible and drew his conclusions in the video. What do you think? D4 is possible or just a crazy idea?

Randomonium - Tavern Brawl #59
Auriel Hero Trailer & Dustin Browder Reveal, Auriel Screenshots & Talents, New Auto-Select Options
Patch 7.0.3 Hotfixes, Dev Q&A Friday, New WoW Site, Camera Issues, Appearance Unlocks

Bagstone's Season 7 Journey Tracker

Our moderation manager Bagstone has crafted a very handy tool for those planning on playing Season 7 on next patch: a Season Journey Tracker. It will help players keep track of their Journey progress without having to constantly check the in-game screen.

He has also set up a thread with info, some tips and as a place to gather user feedback. Drop by to leave a comment.

Info, Tips & Feedback Thread

 

Super simple concept - just as you doing the Season Journey click on a task to keep an overview of what you have done and what still needs to be done. The status is saved in a cookie. Pay attention to the in-game popups because you can complete many season journey objectives that aren't even visible yet, so this website might help you to keep an overview.

A few observations/PSAs about the season journey in S7:

• If you're only in for the stash tab, do not augment your gear with a rank 30 gem for "Destroyer"; instead, augment a rank 40 gem since you need two of those for "Conqueror".
• Similarly, if you want to go for Guardian, do not augment your gear with anything below rank 50. In fact, you might just complete the entire Season Journey including the solo rift and leveling 3 gems to 65, and in the end put those three gems on your gear - and be done with the season journey. Saves you the additional 38-50 rifts to level the 3 "augment" gems to 50.
• For Chapter II you need to enchant something at the Mystic, and for Chapter IV you need to enchant a socket into a weapon. If you enchant a socket into any rare weapon it covers both (the Mystic can enchant weapons at level 2 which costs only 1000 gold to upgrade).
• I know that some people might be keen on doing massacre bonuses for leveling instead of rifting. Note that if you do that you will definitely not have enough money at level 70 to level up all artisans, delaying your first Gift for quite some time. Your gear will also suck. It's one of the reasons why rifting for leveling is not only easier and more consistent - it also nets much more gear and gold.

As usual, feedback welcome. Also, I have to say a huge thanks to the DFans crew and in particular Monstrous for providing feedback to earlier versions (my inability to create good designs made it look like it was created by a rainbow puking CSS monkey).

To-do list that I might add (if I have time over the weekend):

• Mark lower requirements that are included in an objective (i.e., check off all rifts when completing a T13)
• Add some sort of "Chapter complete" notification when all objectives for one chapter are done
• Add Haedrig's Gift information and conquests if possible

Hearthstone Patch 5.2.2 - Free Packs Event?
Auriel Hero Page & Skills Revealed, Upcoming Balance Update - July 27th
BlizzCon 2016 Virtual Ticket and Goody Bag Now Available

Patch 2.4.2: First Look - Overview

Blizzard released a small blog with a quick overview of some changes coming in Patch 2.4.2. `See below.

Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Our next patch is coming soon! Read on to learn about the new difficulty levels, new and updated items, Adventure Mode updates, and UI changes you’ll see in Patch 2.4.2.

 

New Difficulty Levels

With new power comes a desire to test your strength. If you’ve sharpened your weapons on Torment X and are ready for new challenges, you’ll be happy to hear we’ve added Torment XI–XIII difficulties to the game, and filled them with progressively better loot—so get out there and wreck face, nephalem!

New and Updated Items

As with previous patches, Patch 2.4.2 brings updates to many Legendary and Set Items and also adds a few new items and Legendary powers. Here are some of the items we’ve updated, and don’t forget to check out our PTR patch notes for all the details.

User Interface Updates

Finally, we have a few changes to the user interface. Those who enjoy taking screenshots will soon have a hotkey that hides the in-game UI for cleaner shots. We’re also adding unique pylon minimap icons to Nephalem Rifts and Greater Rifts, and a unique icon for the Menagerist Treasure Goblin.

Adventure Mode Changes

We’re also sweetening Adventure Mode rewards, starting with Nephalem Rifts. You’re now guaranteed a Greater Rift Key when completing any Rift, with a chance to get a second (or even a third) key as you increase the game’s difficulty. We’ve also adjusted drop rates for Infernal Machines, with a 100% drop chance in Torment IV, and an increasing chance for a second machine to drop as you go up in difficulty.

 

New challenges and updated items await you once the patch arrives! We can’t wait to see what builds you'll create and the stories you’ll have to share when Season 7 arrives. Are you ready? Let us know what you’re most excited about, feel free to ask any questions you have in the comments, and GL HF!

Season 6 Rank #1 GR 127 Clear

Empyrian Gaming recently uploaded footage of their 4-man GR 127 clear, which holds the rank #1 spot worldwide on the leaderboards. If you're interested in knowing what was the absolute highest level of play towards the end of Season 6, check it out.

Special Hearthstone Announcement at ChinaJoy - July 28
Auriel Hero Page & Skills Revealed, Upcoming Balance Update - July 27th
BlizzCon 2016 Virtual Ticket and Goody Bag Now Available

Patch 2.4.2 Release Date

A friendly reminder from DiabloFans: the release date of Patch 2.4.2 is still unknown! Only the start date of Season 7 has been disclosed by Blizzard.

There is a very slim chance that the patch is released tomorrow, which is unlikely given the lack of a maintenance message. Most expect the patch to be released next Tuesday, August 2nd. If it's released this week, know that our Builder will be updated and the Patch 2.4.2 Recap will be available!

Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Season 6 End & Season 7 Start Dates:

You’ll be able to sort through your rollover rewards and review your progress on the Leaderboards between Seasons. It’s a great time to reflect on the accomplishments you’ve made and enjoy the culmination of your pre- and post-Season loot hunts! Season 6 will be ending on the following dates and times:

• North America: Friday, July 22 @ 5:00 p.m. PDT 
• Europe: Friday, July 22 @ 5:00 p.m. CEST
• Asia: Friday, July 22 @ 5:00 p.m. KST

Season 7 will begin about two weeks afterwards on these dates:

• North America: Friday, August 5 @ 5:00 p.m. PDT 
• Europe: Friday, August 5 @ 5:00 p.m. CEST
• Asia: Friday, August 5 @ 5:00 p.m. KST

For time zone assistance, click here. We look forward to seeing you in Season 7!

Dunkelvieh's Demon Hunter 2.4.2 Summary

Dunkelvieh has put together a very useful video going over all the Demon Hunter changes coming in Patch 2.4.2, and giving a preview of what to expect for the class in the new Season. If you're looking forward to rolling a DH, definitely check it out!

The Angry Chicken #162
Auriel Reveal in Chinajoy, Mystic Kingdoms Arthas Available, Small Hotfix - July 21st
Can I Mog It? Addon, Fashionista: Shirt Achievement, Blue Tweets, Havoc DH Preview

Play Your Way - Kingdudman's "Raining Dead" WD

This week's Play Your Way build focuses on burying your enemies under undead corpses. While not the strongest top tier build, it's definitely a fun concept worth exploring towards the end of Season 6 and while we wait for Patch 2.4.2. Check it out!

Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Literal death from above. Grasp of the Dead (Rain of Corpses) drops a cadre of cadavers onto your unsuspecting enemies. In this week’s Witch Doctor edition of Play Your Way, Kingdudman#1375 capitalizes on this horrifying display of gravitational destruction to flood your screen with the chaos of death and destruction that only a master of voodoo can bring.

About the Build

This is definitely a piecemeal build that works via the Legacy of Nightmares bonus, boosting damage and survivability across the board. As for the actual skills and mechanics, expect to be dropping Grasp of the Dead left and right by wielding Wilken’s Reach for that cooldown removal, Deadly Rebirth for the free Rain of Corpses rune, throwing out Zombie Dogs via Sacrifice(Provoke the Pack) for even more corpse-tastic fun (and a nice DPS boost), and some hybrid pet support for crowd control, defense, and supplemental damage.

♫ It’s raining dead, hallelujah, it’s raining dead! ♫

There is more than sufficient damage and survivability to not only reliably farm Torment X, but to climb moderately high into Greater Rifts. Kingdudman has taken this up to Greater Rift 65, and there’s something to be said for the pure joy that is decimating your enemies by chucking corpses at them.

The Skills

Here’s a closer look at this build in the skill calculator. Active Skills:

• Grasp of the Dead (Unbreakable Grasp)
• Sacrifice (Provoke the Pack)
• Gargantuan (Humongoid)
• Soul Harvest (Languish)
• Spirit Walk (Jaunt)
• Piranhas (Piranhado)

Passive Skills:

• Confidence Ritual
• Spirit Vessel
• Pierce the Veil
• Grave Injustice

The Items

Required Items:

• Legacy of Nightmares (2 Pieces)
• Deadly Rebirth
• Wilken’s Reach
• Aquila Cuirass
• Swamp Land Waders

Recommended Items:

• Tasker and Theo
• Mask of Jeram
• Lakumba’s Ornament
• Hellfire Amulet
  • Suggested Passive: Midnight Feast

Recommended Legendary Gems:

• Bane of the Stricken
• Bane of the Trapped
• Pain Enhancer

Recommended Kanai’s Cube Powers:

• Homunculus
• Frostburn
• The Short Man’s Finger

Recommended Stats:

• Offense: Attack Speed, +% Cold Damage, +% Physical Damage, Critical Hit Damage
• Defense: Armor, % Life
• Other: Gold and Health Pickup Radius

Tell Us What You Think!

What are you running on your Witch Doctor? Do you enjoy the death and decay side of voodoo, or are you instead a master of pets? Have you rained corpses from above with great success? Let us know in the comments or be sure to send us your build! Next time, we’ll take a look at the deadly and agile Demon Hunter. See you in Sanctuary!

SeatStory Cup 5 Begins this Thursday! $20,000 Prize Pool, July 21 - 24
Auriel Reveal in Chinajoy, Mystic Kingdoms Arthas Available, Small Hotfix - July 21st
CRZ and RP Realms, Legion Comic #4, New Site Design, Hotfixes, Vengeance DH Preview

Blatty's Rank #1 Wiz GR 111 Clear

Blatty recently uploaded a video of his rank #1 Wizard GR 111 clear - watch it below. An interesting fact about the build used is how it focuses on Archon and Energy Twisters, rather than using the Firebird's set and its stacking bug.

Note in the clear how systematic he is in choosing his enemies and handling his skill cooldowns for maximum efficiency. If you enjoy, feel free to check out his stream as well to see more.

SeatStory Cup 5 Begins this Thursday! $20,000 Prize Pool, July 21 - 24
Hotfix Patch Notes - July 20th, Balance Q&A Summary & Recap
Harbingers - The Story of Gul'dan

End of Era 6 Notification

The notification for the End of Era 6 has been posted. As a reminder, Season 7 launches on Friday, August 5th, and Era 7 begins immediately afterwards. Keep in mind the difference between Season 6 and Era 6, which is related to the non-Seasonal leaderboards. Read more below.

Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Season 6 will be ending soon and, following close behind, Era 6 is coming to a close.

In Diablo III, an “Era” refers to a specific period of time in which non-Seasonal leaderboards are active. At the end of an Era, all current non-Seasonal leaderboard standings will be wiped and players will be unable to attain new leaderboard ranks until a new Era begins. As with Seasons, players will be able to view previous rankings in-game and as well as on our website. However, unlike Seasons, Eras do not have a set duration and may or may not occur on or around a patch cycle or in tandem with a Season.

Era 6 will be ending at the same time Season 7 launches on Friday, August 5 at 5 p.m. PDT. Era 7 will begin immediately afterwards.

As Season 6 will be ending shortly, heroes that have become non-Seasonal will be able to participate in both the tail end of Era 6 as well as the start of Era 7. For more information on the end of the Season and the season rollover process, clickhere.

Thank you for participating in Era 6! We look forward to seeing you in Sanctuary.

Desolacer's Leveling Method for S7

Desolacer published a video going over the leveling technique that he's going to use in Season 7. He goes from levels 1 to 70 in 1 hour and 51 minutes, while making use of the massacre bonus. It's worth noting that it seems to be viable for hardcore characters as well.

Idols of Azeroth is Actually this Week's Brawl - Brawl #58
Body Blocking Issues, Wednesday Balance Q&A Reminder, Imperius Digital 3D Fanart
Rygarius Leaving Blizzard, Master Loot Changes, Dungeon and Raid Nerfs, Hotfixes

PTR Maintenance - July 20th

The PTR servers will undergo a short maintenance period today, lasting roughly an hour. Read below and plan your testing accordingly.

Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Hey all,
PTR will be entering a very short maintenance this afternoon, starting at 2:30 p.m. PDT. We anticipate downtime may be as long as an hour.
Should anything change, we'll keep you updated in this thread. Thank you as always for your diligent testing!

PTR Forum Update

As we get closer to the release of Patch 2.4.2, the PTR forums will go offline - on Friday, July 22nd. See below for more info.

Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Greetings, nephalem!

As we wind down broader testing for Patch 2.4.2 and shift our focus to last minute bug fixes, we wanted to let you know of some forum updates we'll be making.

Specifically, the PTR Feedback forum will be going offline on Friday, July 22 at 5 p.m. PDT. Meanwhile, the PTR Bug Report forum will remain open for now; we'll let you know as we approach the end of the PTR about its close date.

We truly appreciate the testing, feedback, and bug reports we've received from dedicated testers during this time. We're looking forward to sharing 2.4.2 with everyone, and can't wait to join you in a few weeks for Season 7.

Thank you for all your testing efforts, and we'll see you in Sanctuary!

Helltooth Garg WD 2.4.2 Insane DPS

Anthony Evans uploaded a video guide of an insane WD build for Patch 2.4.2, capable of doing damage in the trillions. It uses the Helltooth set along with Gargantuan, and is capable of solo clearing GRs of 95 and above. Check it out!

A Wild Hearthstone Test Realm Has Appeared
Heroes WTF Moments #58, Heroes Funny & WP Moments #75
Legion Pre-Expansion Patch Notes

July 18th PTR 2.4.2 Hotfix

A small hotfix was deployed to the PTR servers. See below for the changelog.

Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

The following hotfixes have been applied to the PTR server as of July 18:

Monk

• Fixed an issue where Mythic Rhythm would be consumed by Exploding Palms cast by the Uliana's 2-piece bonus.
  
  • Note: Mythic Rhythm should only apply to Spirit Spenders that are cast manually, not by items or set bonuses.

Items

• The internal cooldown for gaining stacks for Chantodo’s Resolve now dynamically updates with your Attack Speed.

Set Dungeons

• Dungeon of Firebird’s Finery
  
  • Fixed an issue where players would not always get credit for igniting 20 enemies within 3 seconds.

Monk Fix Clarification

It also seems that the wording on the Monk hotfix was confusing at first, so Nevalistis changed it. The previous version did not make it clear that Mystic Rhythm was being wrongly consumed by the Uliana's 2-piece set bonus. Read below.

Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Monk
Fixed an issue where Mythic Rhythm would only apply to one Exploding Palm cast by the Uliana’s 2-piece bonus.

---

@astralapache Working on rewording this - I completely misunderstood the hotfix. Please hold.

Here's the updated version:

• Fixed an issue where Mythic Rhythm would be consumed by Exploding Palms cast by the Uliana's 2-piece bonus.
  
  • Note: Mythic Rhythm should only apply to Spirit Spenders that are cast manually, not by items or set bonuses.

Most of our bugs internally are listed as the issues, not the resolution, so we end up re-writing a lot of them before we post hotfixes. This was bad wording/misunderstanding on my part. Sorry for the confusion!

Popular Decks of the Week for July 17
Ranked System Changes, Zagara's Talent Icons, Twitch Streaming Schedule #2
Marksmanship, Survival, Unholy Spell Animations, 7.0.3 Launch Tuning Hotfixes

Imperius Digital 3D Fanart

Sergey Ponomarenko has recently published an amazing 3D Imperius drawn by him on his ArtStation profile. Check out a preview image and an embeded animated version below!

As a huge fan of Blizzard games and Heroes of the Storm in particular, I thought it would be cool to see another of the Archangels in Hots. So, here is my vision of the Archangel of Valor.

And I've also played with FX for the podium. Here is a link to a GIF :
http://gfycat.com/InfamousPolishedHorsefly

Hearthstone Patch 13740
Ranked System Changes, Zagara's Talent Icons, Twitch Streaming Schedule #2
The Legion Pre-Expansion Patch Arrives July 19

PTR 2.4.2 Hotfixes - July 15th

A couple hotfixes were recently applied to the Patch 2.4.2 PTR - see below for the list of issues fixed.

Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

The following hotfixes have been applied to the PTR server as of July 15:

Items

• Fixed an issue with the targeting behavior of the fireball created by Gyana Na Kashu when Scarbringer is equipped
• The effect of a legacy (pre-2.4.2) Darklight no longer stacks with the effect of the revised Darklight

Torment XIII Explained

Bluddshed made a very interesting video explaining the new highest difficulty level coming in Patch 2.4.2, Torment XIII. He goes over the differences in farming Death's Breaths, Keystones, Bounty materials, while making some interesting considerations. Check it out!

Hearthstone Patch 13714 - Bug Fixes
Mini-Map Skill Casting, Medivh's Portals, Rotation & Sales - July 12th, Squadron's Funny #12
Legion Developer Q&A - World Quests and Demon Invasions, Legion Comic #3

Blue Post on Datamining

Tyvalir replied to a thread with a friendly warning about datamined info. He explaiuns how it might be misleading at times since it does not have the context of a change, and how some changes never actually be implemented. Read below.

Also if you missed the changelog for the latest PTR build, released this last Tuesday, check out our previous post. 

Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Btw, just remember datamines don't capture certain changes or all the information.

"Datamined" information is oftentimes illegible and misleading, so I don't even bother reading it for spoilers.

As these comments suggest, it's important to take datamined info with a lump of salt - especially since data strings can refer to content that isn't in the current patch, or content that's not planned for release (i.e. it's only being used as a placeholder).

For example, some people have noticed a string suggesting a Diablo pet in the most recent PTR patch. Just to make it clear, this pet won't be in Patch 2.4.2.

This is also why we always encourage players to follow our official PTR patch notes to track changes; datamined info may be enticing, but it doesn't tell the full story.

Curse of Tristram SC2 Mod

A while ago we featured a video showcasing a Starcraft 2 mod by egod called Curse of Tristram, meant to recreate the D2 experience. He has uploaded a video showing the latest version and it has improved a lot. There's even some PvP content towards the end - check it out!