Diablo 3 Season 25 comes on the heels of the launch of Diablo 2 Resurrected, so the franchise is enjoying a bunch of renewed attention from fans. And adding in the Diablo franchise’s 25th anniversary, you’ve got a recipe for a lot of returning players. The key in who comes back depends entirely on what the game puts in for new and returning content.
When does Diablo 3 Season 25 start?
Season 25 will be working out its bugs on the Diablo 3 PTR from November 4-18. After that, Season 25 will come shortly after. The time it takes it to crawl out of the fiery pits will depend entirely on how big the bugs are that need to be squashed.
So what’s coming in the new season? Two words, Soul Shards.
What are Soul Shards?
Soul Shards are a new augment system that will be added for Season 25 that will apply unique buffs to the player. You will need to farm the augments from the bosses they’re attached to to get them. As Blizzard describes it, the system is designed around 7 new items that offer players unique buffs. Season 25 will also allow them to be upgraded with a special resource. They come in two varieties, Prime Evil and Lesser-Evil—with players being able to use one of each kind at a time.
As the patch is tested on the PTR, Blizzard has revealed that they want players to get involved. The update post announcing the details includes some interesting details on what buffs to expect, “There will be three PTR-unique buffs active to help you on your journey: increased Legendary drop rate, increased experience gains, and double Blood Shard drops.”
Diablo, Mephisto and Belial will be the big bads in Season 25, with their own Soul Shards. Duriel, Azmodan, Belial and Andariel will be the lesser variants. Each Soul Shard has unique effects based on where you get it from.
There will also be normal rewards beyond Soul Shards like new gear set rewards for each class. Players can also get their claws into some new seasonal cosmetic items.
