PTR: Patch Coming Next Week + Character Wipe.
This is because we want to make sure the overall 2.3.0 changes to Adventure Mode are thoroughly tested. However, a bug in the first PTR patch allowed level 70 crafted items to be equipped by low-level characters. This was unintended and skewed progression at the start of PTR Season 4, making a wipe necessary to ensure that it is no longer factoring into the leveling process.
We will be closing and creating a new Focused Feedback thread for Adventure Mode when the patch is deployed to collect feedback untainted by this bug. While we understand that a loss of progression can be frustrating to some, it’s important to remember this is the nature of the PTR. Its intent is to facilitate testing, and we love seeing all your dedicated and thoughtful feedback.
Thank you for all your enthusiastic feedback and testing. We look forward to sharing our upcoming changes with you!
Click through for some follow up Blue replies confirming the full PTR wipe and end of the community buff.
This is correct. As in the past, we’ll continue to activate and deactivate community buffs based on testing needs. Once we get the data we’re looking for on leveling, we may reactivate the buff to facilitate testing other aspects of the game.
Neva, will you wipe non season as well? Everything?
Wanted to double check to confirm this before I answered. Yes, this will be a full wipe, though you will be able to copy over your live characters as always if you don’t plan on testing Season 4. Going to update the announcement thread with that clarification.
I’ve seen plenty of conjecture that we’re prioritizing the 1-70 experience over the level 70 experience. This is not the case, we know a lot of your time is spent at 70 and there will be plenty of adjustments and tweaks in the upcoming PTR patch that are of interest to max level players.
However, the 1-70 experience is valuable for many players, from those who are new to the game to those that enjoy the fresh start of a Season. Many of the changes we’ve implemented, including those made to crafting and upgrading non-Legendary gems, are intended to make the leveling process feel more smooth. That deserves testing too, especially without mitigating circumstances.
I think they’re worrying too much about the 1-70 thing. Yes, a bug let players craft and use high level rare items, but that just made the 1-70 grind a couple of hours faster. It had no impact on anything involving the Cube or play above level 60ish, which is where the Patch changes really began matter.
At any rate, last weekend I complained about the end of the community buff before S4, but played anyway and found the 1-70 and then P1-P200 (before the community buff turned back on this week) very educational. Getting back to 70 was boring, but without the buff it was interesting to see how the economy has been tweaked, how materials are balanced (very well/evenly), how the Grifts and LGems progress (much more slowly), etc. That said, I will not be participating in S4 part 2 next week, because 1) I just did that, and 2) work/busy.
Any of you guys planning to leap in and go from level 1 in Blizzard’s grand re-experiment?