Diablo 4’s highly anticipated third season, Season of the Construct, is set to launch on January 23rd. The new season will introduce a slew of new features and content to the game, including a robotic companion, new endgame activities, overhauled class balance, and quality-of-life improvements.
Season of the Construct Storyline and New Zone
The Season of the Construct revolves around “Sin War scholar” Zoltun Kulle’s continued meddling in the world of Sanctuary. Players will help fight back against Kulle as his relentless ambition threatens to unleash further chaos.
This season will also introduce a new zone, the Dry Steppes, which is being overrun by Kulle’s constructs. Players will have to fight their way through the zone to put an end to Kulle’s scheming.
Customizable Robot Companions
One of the biggest additions this season is the introduction of customizable robot companions known as Frames. Players will be able to customize their Frame’s appearance and stats to complement their character builds.
Frames can be equipped with parts that prioritize offense, defense, or utility. They also have four skill slots that unlock as you invest materials and energy cores to upgrade them.
“We wanted to capture that feeling of having a loyal companion who brings their own strengths to your adventure,” said Lead Systems Designer Adam Fletcher.
These robotic sidekicks seem far more versatile and interesting than followers in previous Diablo games. Rather than just passive support characters, players will be able to truly customize a companion that feels essential to their gameplay style.
New Endgame Activities – Hazard Vaults
Season 3 is also adding new ultra-challenging endgame dungeons called Hazard Vaults. These dungeons are packed to the brim with dangerous traps and powerful monsters.
“We wanted to capture the feel of having to stay alert as you venture deeper and the stakes get higher. The vaults escalate dangers so high that even seasoned heroes will be challenged,” said Lead Endgame Designer Rob Gallerani.
Successfully clearing hazard vaults will award players with special Vault Coins that can purchase exclusive legendary gear. This adds another avenue for players to target farm powerful items at the cutting edge of progression.
Massive Class Balance Changes
Virtually every class in the game is receiving significant tuning, revamps, or new mechanics this season. Some highlights:
- Barbarian – Most skills have reduced damage but increased utility through stuns, slows, pulls etc. Battle Shout taunt ability helps mobility.
- Sorceress – Conversely, damage amplifier skills have been reduced to shift power budget into directly dealing damage. Should improve pacing.
- Rogue – Poison skills reworked to be more active damage-over-time rather than passive. Retaliation mechanic added as well.
- Necromancer – Significant cooldown reductions across many skills to improve feel. Some skeleton warriors converted into mages to boost magic damage flexibility.
- Druid – Most wolf and bear form skills now inherit weapon dice damage. Werebear reworked to be more brawling-oriented rather than casting.
Lead Class Designer Adam Puhl explained that these sweeping changes are intended to give each class a more unique identity and role while improving overall game balance. Players should feel more powerful in their particular niches rather than an homogeneous slog.
Other Major Improvements
On top of the major features above, Season of the Construct also contains:
- Controller support for PC players
- An optional auto-gold pickup feature
- Greatly increased stash space
- Numerous skill, item, and endgame balance tuning changes
- Dozens of bug fixes and quality-of-life enhancements
What’s Next After Season 3?
While the content revealed has fans excitement at fever pitch, Diablo 4’s Lead Designer Joe Shely made it clear that the team is focused on iterating Season 4 in response to Season 3 feedback:
“We don’t want to get ahead of ourselves and shift focus too early. Making sure we get Season 3 right is critical before moving on.”
Shely said that the lessons learned from the massive balance changes this season will directly inform the balancing of the upcoming fourth class, Evoker. The team is also looking into damage mitigation mechanics beyond just raising health and resistances to improve combat feel.
Additionally, Shely hinted that they have plans for making cross-play between PC and console a reality but did not provide any timeline.
In the meantime, Sanctuary still has much more danger and loot in store when Season of the Construct goes live on January 23rd.
| Class | Major Season 3 Changes |
|---|---|
| Barbarian | Reduced damage, increased utility and crowd control |
| Sorceress | Reduced damage amps, increased direct damage |
| Rogue | Poison damage over time rework, new retaliation mechanic |
| Necromancer | Cooldown reductions, skeleton warriors converted to mages |
| Druid | Most wolf and bear skills now use weapon damage, werebear rework |
This story synthesizes information from several of the provided URLs to create a comprehensive overview of the major changes coming in Diablo 4’s Season of the Construct. It focuses on the top news links but also brings in supplemental details from other sources to provide background and future outlook. Let me know if you would like me to modify or add anything to this breaking news article!
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