‘Diablo 3’ Season 3 Preview Detailed Ahead Of Next Week’s Start Date

PC players enjoying Diablo 3 are about to wrap up work on their Season 2 characters. On April 5, the second season will end and seasonal characters will move over to the non-seasonal pool of characters. On April 10, though, Season 3 will start and players will be tasked with starting over with fresh characters. This week, Blizzard Entertainment offered up a preview of what is coming to Diablo 3 with Season 3 including new legendary items, new achievements, new rewards, and much more.

The highlight of a new season is probably the addition of completely new legendary items for Diablo 3 players to enjoy. Brand new pieces, updated items, and even fresh legendary gems will be added when the season starts. For instance, Iceblink and Mutilation Guard are two new legendary gems players will be able to earn on seasonal characters that complete greater rifts. Iceblink makes a player’s cold skills slow enemy movement by an additional percentage and at level 25, the gem makes Diablo 3 users have a 10 percent increased chance to critically hit frozen or chilled enemies. Mutilation Guard reduces the wearer’s incoming melee damage by a percentage while at 25 players using the gem that are under 30 percent health can walk unhindered through foes.

A number of existing legendary items in Diablo 3 will be updated with new legendary affixes as well. The Nagelring, for example, will grant a new function that summons a fallen lunatic to the wearer’s side every 12 seconds. New items like Dread Iron give barbarians a way to cast Avalanche when Ground Stomping.

Players with Season 2 characters should note that those characters move over to the non-seasonal selection of their characters on April 5. Gold, blood shards, items, and achievements also move over. Players that reached 70 with at least one of their Diablo 3 characters will be rewarded with a few new transmogrification pieces while players that earned certain achievements will earn new banner details. Even Paragon Points transfer over, although they do not simply add to a player’s existing level.

“The total amount of Paragon experience earned is the amount that rolls over, not your raw total amount of Paragon levels gained. For example, if your Seasonal heroes reached Paragon 300, but your current non-Seasonal heroes are already Paragon 400, your new non-Seasonal Paragon level will still be less than Paragon 700 since higher Paragon levels take more experience to earn.”

The Inquisitr recently recounted on the end of Diablo 3‘s Season 2 when reporting on a recent event buff. The 2.2 patch was also discussed which is likely the patch that will accompany the start of Season 3. Since seasons do not appear on consoles, Xbox and Playstation players can expect patch 2.2 at the same time or some time near the release of PC’s Season 3. The new legendary items found in Season 3 of Diablo 3 will be available when 2.2 launches on consoles. Season 2 legendary items will be available in non-seasonal PC play once Season 3 has started.

Are new achievements and a few transmogrification items enough of an incentive for you to start completely over in a new season for Diablo 3?

[Images via Battle.net]