While Diablo 3 was first released in 2012, Blizzard has a knack for creating experiences that make players want to stick around. The Reaper of Souls expansion and Ultimate Evil Edition versions of the game for consoles certainly help, but so does a steady stream of patches that keep the game feeling fresh.
Blizzard has been previewing the latest patch — version 2.3.0 — since June, but now it is finally live for everyone. The plan was for the patch to hit the PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One simultaneously, and just as intended the patch has already successfully rolled out on each platform.
Those who have played their fair share of Diablo 2 will remember the Horadric Cube. While that item isn’t coming to Diablo 3, a new item called Kanai’s Cube certainly bears more than a few similarities to the old cube. The item can be used to extract Legendary powers from items, destroying the item in the process. Kanai’s Cube can also reforge Legendary items, re-rolling its stats as if it had dropped for the first time.
To find Kanai’s Cube, players will have to journey into the new zone included in the patch, a frozen wasteland known as the Ruins of Sescheron. “Filled with new enemies, traps, and environmental hazards, you’ll be able to explore the region and learn more about what befell the barbarians of Mount Arreat,” Blizzard’s patch notes read.
The patch also lays the groundwork for the upcoming Season Four of Diablo 3, which starts on August 28. Now players will be able to track their personal progress through the Season via the Season Journey Interface. While the seasons are currently only available to those playing the PC version of the game, this may not always be the case.
“Seasons aren’t really about the leaderboard, but having a fresh start, experiencing the game again and feeling like you’re part of a larger community than yourself where the excitement around Diablo is there,” Blizzard senior producer Rob Foote said in an interview with IGN. “So I think maybe that’s something we need to re-evaluate again. We’ll probably go back and revisit that decision”
For the full list of changes stretches beyond what we can cover here, so for all the changes see the full patch notes for version 2.3.0 on Battle.net.