With the torch and Annihilus charm confirmed again in the Diablo IV Season 16 PTR, there is growing interest in the possibility that last season's farming goals will continue. However, it is important to distinguish between the fact that it exists on the test server and the fact that the scope of the official season has been confirmed. The areas to pay more attention to in this change are War Plans and Horadric Items. I think the fun of Season 16 will depend on how much room there is to choose the hunting path toward the desired rewards and combine gear and amulets together.
Will Torch and Annihilus features return in Season 16?
In the early PTR test materials, torch·Annihilus charm and Tristram related content are confirmed. It is reasonable to expect that existing content can be enjoyed next season as well. Meanwhile, the official announcement is to continue some of the content from Season 15 ‘Season of Hell’s Legacy’, but to provide additional information on specific targets. It is too early to conclude that the acquisition method and performance will remain the same.
What ‘maintenance’ means here is also important. Being able to obtain an item with the same name again, using the same entry materials, and continuing the existing options and rewards structure are different stories. Just because related content opens on the PTR doesn't mean all of these conditions are confirmed. The continuation of season content should not be read as meaning that the existing character's gear will be transferred to the new season character.
The direction of leaving rewards is nice. If the farming path you learned the hard way can be used next season, you can reduce the burden of having to relearn it when you return. However, if you have to get the same essential items every time, familiarity can turn into homework. So, it would be a good idea to check whether it can be maintained, the amount of repetition required to acquire it, whether it can be replaced with other gear, and its relationship with the new system.
How War Plans can steer your farming
The key to War Plans Tactics is to adjust the probability of appearance of preferred activities and rewards. Like Helltide, the structure is to invest in the activities you want to do and get the rewards you need, such as gear enhancement materials or spiritual objects, more often. Here, increasing the probability does not necessarily mean that only the desired item will appear.
This difference is larger than you might think. There is no reason to repeat the same hunt for characters who have gear but lack reinforcement materials, and characters who need to find core accessories first. If you can change your plan to fit your shortcomings, you have room to decide for yourself what to do next. Even if a change increases the menu, the reason for choosing hunting becomes clear.
However, in initial testing, there were observations that the selected activities did not appear as often as expected. This alone isn't enough to conclude that the feature isn't working. There is a difference between having a few bad results and not having probability correction applied. To properly evaluate, you must compare results a sufficient number of times while maintaining the same settings.
Rather, what is more important is the clarity of explanation. To understand the results of your investment, you must determine whether the frequency of the activity changes, the reward items change, or the actual drop amount increases. If a choice is made but it is difficult to know what has changed, the user will end up following the efficiency table set by others. For a choice to be actually fun, you have to be able to see the effects.
Choose Tyrael’s Boons around missing resources
Tyrael’s Boons is a seasonal progression tree. You can invest your points in various ways, such as using merchants, supplying materials, gold coins, and experience points. When viewed together with War Plans Tactics, which controls the direction of activities and rewards, it is good to think about where to go and how to use the resources obtained from hunting.
Rather than copying the tree for the final build from the beginning, it is more reasonable to look at what resources are stopping the progression. The priority is different between a stage where you don't even have gear to strengthen and a stage where you have good gear but don't have enough Tempering materials. Even if the bonus value seems large, if the material is not actually used, the immediate benefit may be small.
The path that enables Greater Temper is particularly noteworthy. This is because, in addition to repeatedly testing your luck, you have the option of collecting certain ingredients and raising them to the level you want. This method has more meaning than simply lowering average costs. Because you can calculate how close the materials you collected today bring you to your next goal.
However, confirmed production is not always beneficial. For gear that will be replaced soon, it may be a waste to spend a large amount of money first, and for gear that will be used for a long time, it may be better to reduce the risk of repeat failure. In addition to ‘Is this the best option?’, you must also decide ‘How long will you use this gear?’ to reduce resource leakage.
Check the Merchant of Mystery’s costs before its rewards
Merchant of Mystery is a structure where you purchase storage boxes with Forgotten Souls. Depending on your investment direction, you can use it not only for gear but also for runes and gems. You have the option to exchange materials for other progression opportunities, but the mere fact that a merchant has been added does not make it a good place to spend.
If you use Forgotten Souls in boxes, you will have less room to use them for other crafting. If you are still at the stage where you need to refine your gear, you should compare the possibility of winning the box with the value of the reinforcements you can do now. If you use resources only with the expectation that a good product will come out, you may end up not being able to do the work you need.
It is also worth seeing from this perspective that in the initial tests, storage rewards and inventory updates were evaluated as disappointing. However, it is difficult to determine the overall efficiency based solely on the results of opening the box a small number of times. We need to look at the distribution of rewards, the inventory return cycle, and the difference before and after investment. Until the exact efficiency is revealed, it is more persuasive to reserve the materials needed for core production and expand the options with the surplus.
I think that for this merchant to function well, the decision to select the necessary rewards should be more important than the act of frequently logging in and checking the items. Even people who play briefly must be able to meaningfully change the materials they have collected in order to establish a new progression path.
Horadric items change the value of an equipment slot
The part I'm most looking forward to in this reorganization is Horadric Items. Legendary gear has attributes that are linked to the spirit set, and accessories in particular contribute to determining the number of amulets in a specific set. We need to break away from the idea of matching gear and amulet separately and calculate the two components together.
The value of this change comes from the roominess of the combination rather than the simple increase in attack power. If you can save the amulet space needed to obtain the set effect, you can add other effects to the remaining space. There is a possibility to use bonuses that previously had to be given up, or to balance survival and attack differently even if the same main skill is used.
In the early PTR, a method of combining two types of 5-set effects using the Diamond Spirit Crest and Horadric accessories was also presented. However, it is better not to accept this as the answer for all jobs. We need to consider whether both sets are helpful for the main skill and whether the effects overlap or the activation conditions conflict.
In particular, you need to calculate the effect lost by removing existing accessories. Even if you get a set bonus with new gear, you may miss out on existing unique effects or necessary cooldown reductions, which can hinder the flow of combat. What is more important is what problems are solved and what problems arise before and after replacement, rather than the fact that the number of sets has increased.
For this reason, I view Horadric gear's direction of revisiting legendary items as positive. Rather than filling up famous items in order, there is room to choose gear that suits your skills and resource circulation. On the other hand, if you are left with combinations that do not work properly without certain sentences or accessories, the options will only increase superficially. It is important not only to get the highest score, but also to be able to progress even before obtaining key items.
A strong PTR build is not always a good season starter
In the test environment, you can quickly examine high-quality combinations by receiving materials and gear. This is great to see the potential of the new system, but the process of getting to that state with the first character of the season must be judged separately. The fact that you can catch enemies at a high level does not mean that early training will be easy.
For example, if it is a combination that requires a powerful sentence and several accessories to gain strength, you need an alternative to use while collecting those items. Even if the damage is high, repeated farming can be frustrating if the attack frequently cuts out while moving or the speed at which monsters are dealt with is slow. This is why it is difficult to evaluate boss defeat and regular hunting by the same standards.
When choosing a build to start the season, it's a good idea to start by looking at whether it can function without essential items, whether it's easy to maintain resources and survive, and whether it can reliably run through content to get the target gear. When to transition to the final build is the next question. If you only follow the performance of the completed version from the beginning, the time until you obtain the core item may be excessively long.
What to test for yourself on the Season 16 PTR
3.3.0 PTR runs from October 28th to November 4th, KST (UTC+9). To participate, simply install the PTR by selecting it from the Diablo IV game version menu in the PC Battle.net app. When looking at the season system, it is right to start with the season characters.
It is better to narrow down the test goals to one or two. Set conditions for comparison, such as how often necessary rewards are presented before and after changing War Plans, and whether it is worth giving up existing effects by wearing Horadric accessories. If you change the gear and difficulty all at once, it is difficult to know what changes caused the results to change.
What I'm looking forward to in Season 16 is a change that makes it clear why people choose hunting rather than a device that requires a lot of farming. If you can adjust your path toward the materials you need, try new combinations with the gear you've acquired, and target what you're missing as your next goal, repetition will have direction. The value of the news that the torch and Annihilus charm will remain will ultimately be determined within that flow. Even if you pursue the same rewards again, I want to see whether there will be more choices in the process.
