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Recap ‘Diablo 3’ Patch 2.4 Before It Releases Next Week

By David Stonecipher
Published on: 10:38 PST, Jan 6, 2016

Next week, console and PC players of Diablo 3 will be able to visit Greyhollow Island, test their mettle in Set Dungeons, spend gold on Empowered Rifts, and collect even more legendary items. The brief recap of what is to come can be found on Battle.net and includes an overview on each of the upcoming features.

Patch 2.4 for Diablo 3 includes a new map ready for exploration. Greyhollow Island is delivering a little story to the game’s Adventure Mode with new journal entries and events. New enemies and mystery shroud the island ready for the player to discover them. Find out more about the island and the events that led to its desertion and the myths that surround it by traveling there after the patch releases.

“Miles off the coast of Westmarch lies an island that many believe to be little more than legend. Cut off from the rest of Sanctuary’s developed civilizations, Greyhollow was once the center of a grand empire. Often times, such isolated societies grow and advance at incredible rates, and Greyhollow was no different. Its citizens devoted their cause to a mysterious and, as is often the case in Sanctuary, completely evil being. For reasons still unknown to this day, this unimaginably advanced society collapsed, leaving ruin, chaos, and a lingering curse behind.”

Two existing zones are also expanding with new bounties and events. The Eternal Woods and The Ruins of Sescheron zones can now be explored even further. The Diablo 3 patch also introduces new Set Dungeons designed to challenge characters wearing a full set of their favorite set armor. These dungeons are pre-generated and unchanging, created to challenge the character based on the set that they are wearing. While wearing all six set pieces, a character will need to travel to Leoric’s Library to start their journey toward a Set Dungeon. The recap piece seems to indicate that completing one of these Set Dungeons will reward the player with cosmetic wings.

Empowered Rifts are also coming to Diablo 3 with Patch 2.4. These rifts are just Greater Rifts empowered with gold, giving the player a fourth chance to upgrade their legendary gems upon rift completion. The rift must be successfully completed in order for the fourth chance to appear. According to the official patch notes, the gold cost to empower the rift will vary depending on the Greater Rift level.

Greyhollow Island and company are just a few parts of patch 2.4 in Diablo 3. Many legendary items are being updated with legendary affixes, some sets are being redesigned, and even new legendary items are being added with the patch. As the Inquisitr reported, over 50 legendary items are being added, changed, or updated in patch 2.4. Most notably, the Thorns of the Invoker and The Shadow Mantle sets are being redesigned to be six-piece sets with new power. The Thorns of the Invoker is now a Crusader-specific set with a continued focus on Thorn damage. Abilities like Punish and Slash increase Thorn damage while Bombardment will make the Crusader take 50 percent less damage after being cast. The Shadow Mantle set will give a Demon Hunter increased damage while wielding a melee weapon, a permanent Shadow Power, and a buffed Impale ability.

As previously stated, patch 2.4 is expected to release next week. Current generation consoles and PC will both receive the update next week as confirmed by the Diablo 3 team on Twitter. Like earlier updates, Diablo 3 on consoles will not patch with Season features since Seasons do not run on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. All other content found in the patch notes will come to the console editions, however.

[Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images]

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