What you can expect from Diablo 4 patch 2.0, hitting the PTR today

The Diablo 4 patch 2.0 PTR is taking place September 4-11, before the launch of 2.0 on live servers with the Vessel of Hatred release on October 8. As with any 2.0 patch there are a ton of new systems and gameplay tweaks you might want to familiarize yourself with before it launches. The PTR will give you a chance to do experience this yourself, but there is a lot to unpack, so here are the highlights. If you would like to read the whole, entire patch notes yourself, knock yourself out, but I’ll warn you, they’re long — hellishly so. You can find info there on specific bug fixes, UI tweaks, and the litany of class changes and rebalancing, including all the details on the new skill and set of new passives for all the classes.

One major change we’ll expect to see in patch 2.0 is a change to leveling and World Tiers. Since this is Diablo, this also means a huge change to endgame because it also entails a revamp of the Paragon system, and an additional set of difficulties, with Torment I unlocking only after you hit the new level cap of 60. This new difficulty also means a slight change to gearing — Sacred items are no more, and new Ancestral items only begin dropping in Torment I.

A somewhat unexpected, though not unprecedented, addition comes in the form of Runewords — though for the PTR these won’t be available until after September 6. Originally in Diablo 2, Runewords allow you to customize your gear in (hopefully) new and dynamic ways. If you don’t find Runewords that are to your liking, you can also use Runecrafting to smash together the Runewords you have, to hopefully find something better.

And if all that sounds great, but you’re a little nervous about setting off on your own, the new Party Finder should help. There are multiple difficulty settings and activities to choose from, so any activity you want to get up to, the Party Finder should help. It seems a little atypical for Blizzard to give us a helping hand in Sanctuary, but we won’t look a gift horse in the mouth.