Blizzard Details Diablo 4 Season 16 PTR With War Plans Overhaul

Blizzard Entertainment has detailed the key features of the Diablo 4 Season 16 public test realm ahead of the update's full launch. The PTR patch notes cover update 3.3.0, which will not include everything coming in Season 16 and focuses on testing new features.

War Plans, the endgame system added with the Lord of Hatred expansion, is being overhauled with two new meta progression parts: War Plan Tactics and Tyrael's Boons. War Plan Tactics ranks up as players complete endgame activities, and points can be invested in a node web that affects offered content and rewards. Up to three points can be put into an activity type such as Helltides, Nightmare Dungeons or The Pit to raise its chance of appearing in future War Plans. The Tactics tree also boosts loot drop chances, with up to three points per loot category including armor, weapons, jewelry, talismans, upgrade materials and activity keys. War Plan Tactics is available in both the Seasonal and Eternal leagues.

Tyrael's Boons and Horadric items

Tyrael's Boons is a separate page for Season 16 and beyond, boosting seasonal reputation and currency and reducing some crafting costs. It can be respecced with gold at five million per point, and Blizzard says it does not replace Seasonal Blessings, which become a static set of five blessings each season.

Tyrael's Boons has four trees for Season 16: Curios Addition, Merchant of Mystery, Scent of Gold and Trash for Treasure. Curios Addition makes the Purveyor of Curiosities cheaper, boosts double-item chances, or raises prices for a better Ancestral item chance. Merchant of Mystery adds a merchant selling caches for Forgotten Souls, later spendable with gems or runes. Scent of Gold gives gold and experience boosts plus better chances for Horadric Cube materials, gem fragments and Legendary gear, while Trash for Treasure lowers transmuting costs and unlocks a Greater Temper recipe that upgrades a tempered affix to a greater one.

Blizzard says maxing point allocation allows investment in up to four of the six available selections within the four available paths. War Plans trees other than Tyrael's Boons can be respecced using a new currency called Marks of Wisdom, earned by turning in completed War Plans. The studio also introduced Horadric items, special Legendary items with an extra affix that modifies a specific Talisman set bonus.