Season of the Infernal Hordes Livestream Recap: August 1st

We’re liveblogging the August 1 livestream dedicated to Diablo 4’s upcoming Season 5! Check back often for updates!

This stream is hosted by Marcus Kretz, Community Manager on Diablo.

Highlights

The following section contains highlights from the stream.

PTR Learnings

The second Diablo 4 PTR for Season 5 was well received and the team shared some of their learnings.
They are looking into making testing easier for players in the future by designing better tools.

Infernal Hordes Updates

Improved access to the Infernal Hordes: Compass drop rates updated so players earn around 4-5 per hour.
Compass Tiers 4-8 drop naturally in higher-tiered activities.
Compasses are craftable at the Occultist with Sigil Powder and Forgotten Souls
The First Compass that drops from the Eternal Quest better matches a Player’s Level.

Improved pacing of wave combat.
It’s easier now to pick up Burning Aether.

Rewards from the Infernal Hordes have been improved across the board.

What’s New for Players in Season 5?

There’s a reputation system similar to Season 4 in the upcoming season. It works a bit differently now. You will gain reputation by defeating powerful lieutenants of hell. It’s no longer limited to Helltides.

When you pick up reputation, you will also pick up XP boosts.
Hitting certain tiers of the reputation system unlocks seasonal quests.
The reputation system will reward you with class-specific uniques to help you with your first build in the season.

Seasonal Quest Details

There is a seasonal questline that introduces you to the Infernal Hordes. It unlocks in World Tier III. It’s available in both Eternal and Seasonal.
There is an additional questline called Of Lambs and Wolves. It’s very close to the tone of the Iron Wolves, but it will be a bit more expansive than that.

Helltide Changes

Baneful Hearts drop rate has been increased. You will learn more about that here.
Fewer cinders are required to open Tortured Gifts in World Tier I and II. 100 -> 75.
You will earn all 10 grim favors in one subzone.
Profane Mindcages are returning in Season 5. These will stack up to 3x in Season 5. This is seasonal only.

Game Updates

Legendary Drop rates – They are boosting this post level 100 in HT, NMD, and Infernal Hordes.
Enchanting – No longer costs Angel’s Breath, instead uses the respective Legendary Salvage Armor Coiling Wards, Weapon Baleful Fragments, and Jewelry Abstruse Sigils.
Crowd Control – Overall reduced CC durations (2.5s average to 1.5 sec average). You can now use potions while crowd-controlled.
World Bosses now have resilience, damage is effectively normalized in this shared world content.
Bosses – Pit Boss damage has been reduced by 66% across the board.
Shadow Pit Boss affix now applies a stacking debuff up to 3 times – 3rd stack is the final stack and damage will be the same as Loot Reborn.
Remove some of the one-shots and allow for more flexibility.
The debuffs increase your damage taken.
Pit material rewards in group play will always be 100% for all players and no longer just 100% for the party leader!

Endgame bosses can be resummoned immediately by clicking an altar after you kill them, eliminating the need to leave and reset the dungeon.
Beast in Ice – No longer requires a sigil and it’s much closer to the entrance. No more Sigil Dust for summoning. Eternal players can use leftover sigils to immediately resummon without needing material costs.
Varshan only requires Malignant Hearts. Eternal players can convert their old body parts to Malignant Hearts at the Alchemist.
Boss Ladder doesn’t drop Rare Items, just additional gold now.

Class Changes

The team is now going through the class changes. You will find them all in the patch notes that will be available soon after the stream. We already covered most of the upcoming class changes, feel free to visit the links below to learn more!

Q&A

The Paragon system will be reworked, but they are not ready to talk about it right now.
Improvements to social features are coming, but they are not ready to talk about the details.
Infernal Hordes is a permanent game feature that will be improved in the future.
Mythic Uniques are Uber Uniques, they have been rebranded and now have a new beam and sound when they drop in Season 5.
For Infernal hordes, you only need 1 compass per group to get in.
No dungeon reworks they can talk about today.
Season 5 has more than 50 legendary uniques.
More details about Vessel of Hatred will be available at Gamescom in August.

That brings us to the end of the livestream.

Stream Link

You can watch the stream below.