Diablo 4 Season 7 Update: More Loot, Less Backtracking, and Exciting New Features Revealed

This week, Blizzard unveiled the commencement date for Diablo 4 Season 7: Season of Witchcraft, and today they hosted a live broadcast with developers to delve deeper into what players can anticipate from this new season, set to begin on January 21. Although most of the stream recapped information already given in the blogpost, we did glean some intriguing additional details, which I’ll outline below.

Rootholds will be used to hunt Headrotten

Rootholds serve as compact dungeons teeming with Headrotten entities. To enter one, you need a Whispering Wood Sigil, found in the same tab as Nightmare Dungeon Sigils and obtained from Whisper Caches or Silent Chests. Inside these Rootholds, you’ll encounter Rites and Ceremonies – interactive elements that escalate the Roothold’s challenge level, granting better rewards in return. They resemble Hell Breeches from Season 5’s Hordes theme, but with the added option to choose multiple effects.

At the culmination of the Raid, you’ll encounter a formidable enemy who should potentially yield the most lucrative loot (fingers crossed for a trophy head).

Tree of Whispers quality of life improvements

In the lore of Witchcraft’s Season, the developers are enhancing the overall gameplay experience of the Tree of Whispers, impacting both Seasonal and Eternal dimensions. Exciting updates include a revamped town with additional NPCs, vendors, and a new armory feature. During your Headhunts, you will discover a ‘Raven of the Tree’ in each zone, making it easier to deposit your Whispers without returning to the tree itself. Additionally, there’s now a chance for Ancestral Caches to drop from the Tree of Whispers, guaranteeing at least one Ancestral item.

Improvements to the Season Journey for casual players

Early Chapters have been reworked to help more casual players get to the endgame.
Later Chapters, especially Chapter 7, have been reworked to provide more aspirational challenges.
Earn Dorian the Raven from completing Chapter 7. Dorian is the first avian pet (and I’m still calling him the Diablo Pigeon).

Changes made following PTR 2.1

Feedback received from the Public Test Realm (PTR) has been incorporated into both the Headhunt/Seasonal theme as well as all class and unique items. The specifics can be found in the Patch 2.1.1 release notes.

More info on the Armory

As a fellow Diablo 4 enthusiast, I’ve certainly found myself in the predicament of completely respeccing my character, only to regret it and revert back. Thankfully, the developers have introduced an Armory feature that might alleviate this issue.

With the Armory, you can save, load, and even name your preferred builds. These loadout slots are character-specific, meaning each unique character like a Spiritborn or a Necromancer will have their own set of slots.

The best part? Switching between these loadouts won’t cost any gold. Moreover, you can access the Armory at every significant city within Sanctuary, the Citadel, and the Tree of Whispers, ensuring convenience whenever you need to adjust your character’s build.

Paragon earned within the Season will now roll over to your Eternal character

In this setup, your Paragon progress in each season is carried over to your Eternal character. Therefore, if you’re not actively playing on that server, reaching Paragon Level 300 becomes slightly more achievable, and you will still earn the cosmetic reward for accomplishing it.

Completing your Codex will be easier in Season 7

In Season 6, the loot system was updated so that an item could either be standard or Ancestral (which always comes with a superior affix). When you destroy an item, the level of its legendary property is recorded in your codex. The update to the loot system meant that only the best possible outcome for a specific affix could be found on Ancestrals, although this isn’t necessarily a problem because Ancestrals are quite rare and could also have lower values.

This change made it take much longer than in previous seasons to get the maximum roll in the Codex. To address this issue, the rolls will be more biased towards higher ranks starting from Season 7. In other words, Ancestral items are expected to drop more frequently and will have a greater chance of rolling at the top end of their ranges.

Class quests will no longer need to be repeated

In order to unleash their full potential, all characters must embark on a unique class mission at some point during their progression. For instance, Sorcerers gain access to Enchantment slot 1 at level 15. Once you’ve completed this quest on one character, it no longer needs to be repeated for other characters starting from Season 7. This change is retroactive, meaning if you accomplished it in any previous season, you’re all set!

Should you choose to undertake the Class Quest, your character will receive an Archetype cache as a reward. These caches can also be obtained through the Season Journey.

Additionally, the Archetype cache will adjust to the player’s level, ensuring that if you complete the Class Quest at a later stage, it will drop at your current character level.

Q&A

During the Q&A portion, we learned:

The will be a mid-season patch as with other seasons.
Summons will be able to benefit from Thorns, Burning, and Poison damage.
The Armory is a new work in progress, so feedback on this is welcomed.

After the live stream, the comprehensive and detailed update notes for patch 2.1.0 were immediately posted online, and you can access them directly on Blizzard’s website. Additionally, the entire Developer Livestream can be found here.

When does Diablo 4 Season 7 start?

The seventh season of Diablo 4, titled “Season of the Witch,” will commence officially on January 21 at 10 a.m Pacific Standard Time or 1:00 p.m Eastern Standard Time.

2025-01-17 00:09