Diablo III Season 16, The Season of Grandeur, Now Live Alongside New Update

Blizzard Entertainment has announced that Diablo III Season 16, The Season of Grandeur, is now live across all platforms alongside a new patch that introduces quality of life improvements and balance updates.

New cosmetic rewards await those who progress through the Season Journey, including The Conqueror Set (Helm and Shoulder slots), brand new portrait frames “themed around the clarion call of adventure,” and The Wings of Tempo – a “cosmically rare” drop.

Patch notes for 2.6.4 – V2.6.4.54724 are as follows:

• General
  • Quality of Life
    • Philosophy
      • For this patch, we wanted to include a few frequently requested Quality of Life changes and focused on better celebrating and indicating Primal Legendary drops.
    • Five (5) additional Armory tabs have been added for all characters, bringing the total to 10
    • Legendary Potions are no longer stored in player inventory and can be accessed or changed by right-clicking on the potion icon in the action bar
    • Greater Rift Keystones are now stored in the Materials tab
      • Any existing Greater Rift Keystones in both inventory and stash have been automatically moved
    • Primal Legendaries are now marked by a red beam when they drop
    • Primal Legendaries on the ground are now indicated by a red pentagram icon on the mini-map
    • Primal Legendaries now have a red border and updated background on their icons
• Greater Rifts
  • Philosophy
    • The gameplay of micro-managing Paragon points during the course of a Greater Rift doesn’t feel like especially engaging gameplay, nor was it consistent with the other existing rules of entering a Greater Rift. In addition, the below change to matchmaking is to make it much easier for all players to find groups for Greater Rifts, as the previous window (only between Greater Rifts) is typically very small.
  • Paragon points can no longer be swapped while a Greater Rift is open
  • Players can now be matched into public games where a Greater Rift is open
    • Players who join in this manner will not be able to enter the active Rift, and players inside the Rift will be able to continue with no additional difficulty scaling until the run has been completed
• Seasons
  • Season 16: Season of Grandeur
    • The buff for Season of Grandeur has been implemented
      • This buff gives all Seasonal players the legendary power from Ring of Royal Grandeur
      • This buff does not stack with additional Ring of Royal Grandeur (either equipped or in Kanai’s Cube)
      • Unlike previous Seasonal buffs, this buff will not apply to Non-Seasonal players
    • When completing a Greater Rift level 70 solo for the first time in a Season, a Primal Legendary is guaranteed to drop from the Rift Guardian
• Class Set Changes
  • Philosophy
    • We are taking another tuning pass across all class sets to improve class and set diversity at higher level Greater Rifts. Some of these values have been adjusted per our observations as well as player feedback during the 2.6.4 PTR. Thanks for testing!
  • All Classes
    • Legacy of Nightmares
      • The (2) Set bonus has been increased from 100% to 750%
  • Barbarian
    • The Legacy of Raekor
      • The (6) Set bonus has been increased from 2800% to 5500%
    • Immortal King’s Call
      • The (6) Set bonus has been increased from 1500% to 4000%
    • Might of the Earth
      • The (6) Set bonus has been increased from 5600% to 20000%
    • Wrath of the Wastes
      • The (6) Set bonus has been increased from 3000% to 10000%
  • Crusader
    • Thorns of the Invoker
      • The (2) Set bonus has been increased from 140% to 350%
      • The (6) Set bonus has been increased from 5400% to 15000%
    • Roland’s Legacy
      • The (4) Set bonus has been increased from 3300% to 13000%
      • The (6) Set bonus has been increased from 50% increased Attack Speed to 75%
    • Seeker of the Light
      • The (6) Set bonus has been increased from 2000% Blessed Hammer damage to 12000%
  • Demon Hunter
    • Embodiment of the Maruader
      • The (6) Set bonus has been increased from 3000% to 12000%
    • Unhallowed Essence
      • The (6) Set bonus has been increased from 100% to 350%
    • Natalya’s Vengeance
      • The (6) Set bonus has been increased from 3500% to 14000%
    • The Shadow’s Mantle
      • The (2) Set bonus has been increased from 1200% to 6000%
      • The (6) Set bonus has been increased from 50000% to 75000%
  • Monk
    • Uliana’s Strategem
      • The (6) Set bonus has been increased from 2100% to 9000%
    • Inna’s Mantra
      • The (6) Set bonus has been increased from 150% to 750%
    • Monkey King’s Garb
      • The (6) Set bonus has been increased from 1000% to 1500%
    • Raiment of a Thousand Storms
      • The (2) Set bonus has been increased from 100% to 400%
      • The (6) Set bonus has been increased from 13000% Dashing Strike damage to 60000%
      • The (6) Set bonus has been increased from 1300% Spirit Generator damage to 6000%
  • Necromancer
    • Trag’Oul’s Avatar
      • The (6) Set bonus has been increased from 3300% to 3800%
  • Witch Doctor
    • Spirit of Arachyr
      • The (6) Set bonus has been increased from 4500% to 9000%
    • Helltooth Harness
      • The (2) Set bonus has been increased from 1500% to 3000%
      • The (6) Set bonus has been increased from 4400% to 9000%
    • Raiment of the Jade Harvester
      • The (2) Set bonus has been increased from 560 seconds to 3500 seconds
      • The (6) Set bonus has been increased from 1650 seconds to 10000 seconds
    • Zunimassa’s Haunt
      • The (6) Set bonus has been increased from 5500% to 15000%
  • Wizard
    • Tal Rasha’s Elements
      • The (6) Set bonus has been increased from 750% to 2000%
    • Delsere’s Magnum Opus
      • The (6) Set bonus has been increased from 3800% to 8500%
    • Vyr’s Amazing Arcana
      • The (6) Set bonus has been increased from 50% bonus damage to 100%

In addition to the above, Blizzard has responded to some frequently asked questions about Season 16 so make sure to head over to the developer’s website if you have any further queries.