Season 6

[Coldkil]

Given how S5 is at the end and PTR is up already, i think it's time for the new season thread I'm going to list the more notable things that we know already - the PTR labeled things are subject to possible changes.

- new patch looks like a balance patch with no actual new content. Most important thing is that GR 70+ have their monster damage and XP rewards greatly reduced. This has two main effects: the progression at high levels will again slow down and support character will be less needed, favriong more offensive setup. As a side effects, since solo players had to rely on stacking defenses to survive, the difference between multiplayer and solo is again reduced (while mp is still more rewarding).

- sets are not receiving huge changes but mostly damage passes and usually buffs excluding the DMO/ET build, which was clearly broken.

- set dungeons are going to have a fix on "use X skill on Y mobs Z times" objectives, making them more bearable and less RNG reliant

- S6 rewards are a portrait and a pennant (PTR)

- Headrig's Gifts sets are the following (PTR): Marauder, Raekor, Akkhan, DMO, Zunimassa, Inna's. Seems that WD got the short stick this time (but not at S5 firebird level).

- Conquests (PTR): 3 gems to 65, GR75 solo, TX in 2 minutes, 350+ monsters from a cursed chest, all bosses in 20 minutes. Looks like definitely more group-oriented than last season, and also easier since technically you don't need GR pushing this time at all (while 3 gems at 65 can be consedered nearly baseline). The cursed chest one is trickier than it seems: there are at least 2 spawns which will be very likely the spots to farm, but getting to 350 isn't going to be that easy especially in solo.

All in all, pretty standrad stuff and think people will get their season done in less time than S5 - especially because you can do the 3 conquests needed without even putting your foots in GR.

Looking forward to my WD and checking possible builds

[Jellospally]

Sadly we will still see triple support Wiz or Double support Wiz X atm for us who are pushing 100+

[Sunnydee]

- Conquests (PTR) - Looks like definitely more group-oriented than last season, but getting to 350 isn't going to be that easy especially in solo.

God fucking dammit.
They just never learn do they...

Really starting to get upset about the amount of grouping they are shoving down my damn throat.
The progress of this game relys on 4manning, yet the only thing majority care about is solorankings.

[Coldkil]

Sadly we will still see triple support Wiz or Double support Wiz X atm for us who are pushing 100+

Don't think so since DMO/ET is nerfed to the ground on PTR (buff stack only to 8).

Also, damage done by monsters is greatly reduced, while HP is still the same - the real roadblock will be this. I think that every single group will be rocking a support WD for damage buffs, and then 2 or even 3 dps.

- - - Updated - - -

God fucking dammit.
They just never learn do they...

Really starting to get upset about the amount of grouping they are shoving down my damn throat.
The progress of this game relys on 4manning, yet the only thing majority care about is solorankings.

I kinda agree - though it's very clear that running with one more guy makes some of these really easier.

EDIT: i love your character names though i don't understand at all their meaning XD

[Deleted]

probably the reason, why im leaving D3 progression in mid-season all the time, is the requirement having groups. Why cant they just balance it, that solo players have equal progression chances, or somewhat closer to 4 players? The gap is too big, and not everyone farm with 4 people (3 support team - what really sucks and boring), like Chainer does. Playing 4 people every day, more then 3k paragon levels to this day.

Fun? i dont think so.

[Tojara]

You fall into three categories really. Those who play hard and play for maybe a month, or half of the season. Those who play hard and play for pretty much the whole season. And finally those who just hop in and out, don't really care and play casually throughout the whole season hoping to just hit all the conquests by the end of it. I fall into the first category.

Not sure how you balance a game to have equal solo progression to that of a group of four, considering all of the synergies between gems/classes/items that you can obtain with multiple people. Ultimately if you were to equal the progression you would have to make items less interesting, classes less interesting, or artificially buff your class when playing alone. A couple of those ruin some of the fun aspects of the game, and the other is just an artificial tuning thing numbers wise that doesn't make it fun.

Even if solo progression were near equal, it's just going to be the same people in those four party groups who populate things like the leader boards anyway, they will just be playing alone instead of with a group of people lol. Essentially nothing is going to change.

My only real gripe with the game as a whole is that we have had several seasons where at the high level it essentially boils down to 2/4 or 3/4 of your group being support, which in my opinion isn't as fun.

All that said I'm still excited for season 6, even though it's mostly balance and numbers. Hopefully every second patch introduces something new though game play wise, I'd be sorta sad if most seasons was just numbers.

[Deleted]

You fall into three categories really. Those who play hard and play for maybe a month, or half of the season. Those who play hard and play for pretty much the whole season. And finally those who just hop in and out, don't really care and play casually throughout the whole season hoping to just hit all the conquests by the end of it. I fall into the first category.

Very much a 3rd category player myself!

This season I played Wizard and Demon Hunter. A question for players who've played WD/Crusader/Barbarian classes (I have a Monk in non-season). What 2 classes would you recommend to play next season from the 4 I didn't pick this season? Which would you chose for the free set?

[Coldkil]

My only real gripe with the game as a whole is that we have had several seasons where at the high level it essentially boils down to 2/4 or 3/4 of your group being support, which in my opinion isn't as fun.

Agree with this - it's the reason behind the damage/xp nerf of GR70+; the progression will slow down again for groups while being more or less the same for solo players. I suggest to read THIS THREAD on Dfans. Basically they're switching the roadblock on high GR heavily from monster damage to monsters hp, so offensive setups are more rewarding.

I am a mostly solo player (apart the season start when everyone logs in friends included) and the objective i have is to complete season journeys - i played a lot less first seasons since i needed only the 70 and 400 achievement points for the rewards.

Also one point to make clear: most people think that playing casually is going to bring them far - it simply isn't the case. Either you play full throttle and have a chance at competing, otherwise you're out. No options, no excuses. Your personal progression is not hindered by people running 106GR noboss exp runs, your progression is yours only.
You want top spots on leaderboards? You need to get on another level of playing which probably doesn't even entertain you.

Remeber the D2 days: all seasons were utterly dominated by RUSSBarb and GERBarb, which were basically teams of 20+ people sharing the same account to "win" the seasons - no other people had a chance at competing if not doing the same. Which no one else did. And also no one complained about.

In d3 it's slowly becoming the same, with ZE clan and some dedicated players who just run 100% optimal setups 18+ hours a day. You want the same, you need to do the same.

EDIT: another really important thing it's not mentioned enough - DMO/ET wizard is currently horribly broken in terms of damage output. It's literally the only reason why a 3sup setup is viable at the current cleared levels. IF its damage was on par with other classes, it's very unlikely that we would have seen anyone clearing 100+, 95+ would have been the point.

[Daedius]

Season 5's over, wat?

It's only been like... what, 2 months ?

[Coldkil]

Very much a 3rd category player myself!

This season I played Wizard and Demon Hunter. A question for players who've played WD/Crusader/Barbarian classes (I have a Monk in non-season). What 2 classes would you recommend to play next season from the 4 I didn't pick this season? Which would you chose for the free set?

Depends on what you plan to do. I'm going with WD even with it apparently being "average" - though i'm pretty confident i'll have no issues with the journey playing it solo. I'm not sure if we will need at least 2 chars like last season: we don't have to run GR55 with multiple sets as conquest.

You wanna be OP? DMO wiz and Barb look like in a good place, aswell as Ina's monk. However i'd play the class i find more entertaining, it's easy to reroll anyway.

- - - Updated - - -

Season 5's over, wat?

It's only been like... what, 2 months ?

Nearly 3 months - likely finishing mid-April. It was the goal to have seasons last around this duration.

[Deleted]

Depends on what you plan to do. I'm going with WD even with it apparently being "average" - though i'm pretty confident i'll have no issues with the journey playing it solo. I'm not sure if we will need at least 2 chars like last season: we don't have to run GR55 with multiple sets as conquest.

You wanna be OP? DMO wiz and Barb look like in a good place, aswell as Ina's monk. However i'd play the class i find more entertaining, it's easy to reroll anyway.

I played DMO Wiz and Marauder DH this season, so I am happy to pass on them next. My only goal is to complete the journey, and while the DMO wizard allowed me to complete this (getting the 3 lvl 65 gems) I actually found it a bit boring, and much preferred playing the DH (both Unhallowed set and Marauder). I think I might play Barbarian next season, and consider the Monk or WD, I leveled a Crusader to 70 in hardcore for the Journey but found it so boring, so I might give it a miss this time around.

I want to do 2 classes per season so I slowly but surely complete the Set Dungeons masteries to get the wings.

[Deleted]

Still hoping to get a Tal'Rasha channel build working, sadly there's just no defensives built into that set.
If the 4-set gave armor as well i'd be so happy, or like 12,5% damage reduce per stack

[Deleted]

Still hoping to get a Tal'Rasha channel build working, sadly there's just no defensives built into that set.
If the 4-set gave armor as well i'd be so happy, or like 12,5% damage reduce per stack

I was able to level 65 Grifts with Firebird channeled set. I used the Halo ring (with Crystalise) to buff my melee damage reduction and armour and I used Arcane Torrent - Flame Ward as my channeled spell to further reduce damage. I found the build to be quite tanky despite Firebird having NO defensive bonuses in it. (the build)

I don't know what channeled spell you could use with Tal'Rasha, because you have to also cast other spells to keep the buff up. It would be good if you could use Etched Sigil to get all your damaging spells cast automatically for the Tal'Rasha bonus.

[Coldkil]

Still hoping to get a Tal'Rasha channel build working, sadly there's just no defensives built into that set.
If the 4-set gave armor as well i'd be so happy, or like 12,5% damage reduce per stack

Well, the nerf in GR damage is an indrect buff to offensive builds. You won't need as much toughness - try to complement your build with defensive offset pieces and/or other skills.

[TEHPALLYTANK]

Season 5's over, wat?

It's only been like... what, 2 months ?

They did say that they intend to have shorter seasons with more time in between them.

[Jellospally]

Don't think so since DMO/ET is nerfed to the ground on PTR (buff stack only to 8).

Also, damage done by monsters is greatly reduced, while HP is still the same - the real roadblock will be this. I think that every single group will be rocking a support WD for damage buffs, and then 2 or even 3 dps.

- - - Updated - - -



I kinda agree - though it's very clear that running with one more guy makes some of these really easier.

EDIT: i love your character names though i don't understand at all their meaning XD

You know Firebirds/Chantodo + Triple Support did 111 on PTR right? It wasn't even optimized versions which people have already done compared to what that clear did and that clear only had lvl 100 gems on the wiz. We will see Wiz + Triple Support or Double and another dps.

WD is even stronger this season because most Additive stuff is now Multiplicative(class passives and legendary gems that werent alrdy multiplicative) which makes the Additive stuff WD brings stronger than before because there is less of them total. So you have to run that.

Barb now literally only brings 25% DR and Falter or a 20% DR and 10% CC.

Monk brings 20% DR, 40% DR, 55% DR(if standing in Sanc), 30% dmg, maybe they will use Overawe if they don't need a DR rune otherwise it will be 20% all res with 35% dodge or 40% more all res on use, and the biggest thing of all Soothing Mist Epiphany.

So it will be Monk + WD + Wiz + X. X could be a support Barb or DH or Sader w/e turns out better or just another dps. Chantodo Firebird is just stupid in terms of output. It can clear 98 solo(after archon dropped from 300% to 30%) with all the group buffs and ability to just face tank and not kite like a bitch(its really squishy solo) it can clear pretty high the output is unreal from that spec.

[zito]

I missed the crowd control changes. What happened and isn't CC pretty much trash now?

[Gadzooks]

Nearly 3 months - likely finishing mid-April. It was the goal to have seasons last around this duration.

Ah, okay. Haven't had much time to play, I logged on last night for the first time in weeks, finished up chapter 3 of the season, I should be able to get the rest done this weekend. I guess I'll forget leveling a demon hunter until the next season, which is fine.

[Coldkil]

So it will be Monk + WD + Wiz + X. X could be a support Barb or DH or Sader w/e turns out better or just another dps. Chantodo Firebird is just stupid in terms of output. It can clear 98 solo(after archon dropped from 300% to 30%) with all the group buffs and ability to just face tank and not kite like a bitch(its really squishy solo) it can clear pretty high the output is unreal from that spec.

While i expect people finding a new dream team, i really hope it doesn't turn out like this again. This said, still it doesn't affect me as filthy casual since i run mostly solo for the journey (hell i still have to break 700 para in season and also on non season XD)

- - - Updated - - -

I missed the crowd control changes. What happened and isn't CC pretty much trash now?

Crowd control has been changed like 2 seasons ago iirc - basically there's no more perma stun/freeze and stuiff like this. S4 was all about the provided insane monk hp regen; S5 it's been about reduced damage and globe generation, which is going to be nerfed if not simply removed.

CC is good for kiting classes/builds, otherwise you facetank everything when gear/paragon is good enough.

[Coldkil]

Dates for new season officially confirmed:

Season 5 End & Season 6 Start Dates:

There will be a period of time between when a Season ends and the next begins. During this time, you’ll be able to sort through your rollover rewards and review your progress on the Leaderboards. 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 5 will be ending at the following dates and times for each region:

North America: Friday, April 15 @ 5:00 p.m. PDT
Europe: Friday, April 15 @ 5:00 p.m. CEST
Asia: Friday, April 15 @ 5:00 p.m. KST

Season 6 will be starting about two weeks afterwards at the following dates and times for each region:

North America: Friday, April 29 @ 5:00 p.m. PDT
Europe: Friday, April 29 @ 5:00 p.m. CEST
Asia: Friday, April 29 @ 5:00 p.m. KST

For time zone assistance, click here. We look forward to seeing you in Season 6!