****************************************************************************** Diablo III: Reaper of Souls Beginner's Guide to Seasons PS4 Lessons from Season 10, Looking to Season 11 Version 1.2 ****************************************************************************** Diablo 3 recently came to consoles, including PS4. It's been popular on the PC for years. This game can be played solo or with online friends. The company behind the game, Blizzard, has devised an ingenious series of events to keep people involved with the game over years. These events are called Seasons. A Season is like another copy of the game on your console that allows you to start from scratch. In a season, there are tasks and challenges that can give you rewards different from the regular game. You can view these in the Season Journey screen (see below). The Season game is separate from the regular game for the duration of the Season - no trading items or sharing paragon levels or gold with regular game characters. Seasons last about 3 months. Season 10, which ended June 23, 2017, was the first to include console players. Season 11 is scheduled to begin Thursday, July 20, 5pm PDT. There does not appear to be much basic information available about seasons as of this writing (June 2017), probably because PC players have been doing it for so long. They assume everyone knows how it works. To participate in a Season, the player creates a seasonal character. The option for this is prominent on the title screen of the game when a Season is active. A player can create more than one seasonal character. There is also an option to rebirth an existing character. (Consdier rebirth if you've maxed out your characther slots.) Once a seasonal character is created, the player will have access to the Season Journey screen, which outlines requirements for each level of the Season. The player wins ingame rewards for completing levels, with the exception of Chapter 1. In Season 10, the first 4 levels were called Chapters - Chapters 1 through 4. The important rewards came after Chapters 2, 3 and 4. More about that later. Lesser rewards were portrait frames and pennants. Just for Chapter 1, the seasonal character had to level a character from level 1 to 50, and achieve things in Adventure mode. The most difficult in Chapter 1 was probably a solo Greater Rift 20. For a complete list of all requirements for all levels for Season 10, visit http://d3resource.com/journey. To find that information for whatever the current Season is, google "Diablo season " plus the number of the current Season. Rewards The key rewards are called Haedrig's Gifts. They are divided into 3 parts given after the three mentioned chapters (2,3,4). In Season 10, they were divided as follows: -Chapter 2: head and hands -Chapter 3: feet and shoulders or other item -Chapter 4: what's left to complete the set The set is determined by the class of the character. For example, the class sets in Season 10 were: -Barbarian: The Legacy of Raekor -Crusader: Armor of Akkhan -Demon Hunter: Embodiment of the Marauder -Monk: Inna's Mantra -Witch Doctor: Zunimassa's Haunt -Wizard: Delsere's Magnum Opus Based on the closed beta and subject to change, the Season 11 sets might be: -Barbarian: Wrath of the Wastes -Crusader: Roland's Legacy -Demon Hunter: Unhallowed Essence -Monk: Raiment of a Thousand Storms -Necromancer (new character class): Bones of Rathma -Witch Doctor: Helltooth Harness -Wizard: Tal Rasha's Elements Although a player can create more than one seasonal character, each player can receive only one set of Haedrig's Gifts in the normal Season Journey. Each reward is redeemed first in the Season Journey reward screen for the relevant Chapter by hitting the triangle button (button instructions are at the bottom of the screen.) That puts the gift package in your inventory bag. Whatever character class opens the gift will receive the set parts for that class. However, a requirement for the level beyond Chapter 4 is a set dungeon. For this, the character must wear the complete Haedrig's Gift set. So beginners would do best to open each gift with the class they intend to use for the set dungeon, if that's among the player's objectives. Hardcore Mode In hardcore mode, there is no respawn. Once your character dies, that's it. Normal Season Journey is separate from Hardcore Season Journey. If you have characters in both, and complete the tasks in both, you can receive 2 sets of Haedrig's Gifts - 1 in normal, 1 in hardcore. A character that dies in hardcore has stats shown in the Hall of the Fallen. Stats include number of monsters killed, good accumulated, and who slew the hero. FAQ Q: Can you play the entire Season solo? A: Yes. Q: Can you play the entire Season with friends? Not the entire season, and there are restrictions. Certain Chapter requirements must be completed solo, such as the solo Greater Rift 20 for Chapter 1. There is no trading in a Season. You can't use the mailbox to post things to friends. Items your character drops on the ground can't be picked up by another player's character. Q: I'm just starting Diablo. Is the Season worth doing? A: Yes. It can be difficult in the regular game to get a complete item set as you can get with Haedrig's Gifts. General item drops seem to be better in the Season, and unusual items appear. Legendary gems are more likely to succeed in leveling up after a Greater Rift. Access to higher level Greater Rifts seems faster. Q: Do I have to play through the story again? A: Probably not. Adventure mode is unlocked when any of your characters successfully finishes Campaign mode. If you have unlocked Adventure mode in the regular game, it's also unlocked in the Season. Q: Should I start at the beginning of the Season? A: For best results, yes. But if you've been playing for a month or two already, you can get a lot done in just a week. Q: Do Challenges completed with a seasonal character carry over to the regular game? A: Yes. According to Blizzard, "Any Challenges you complete during a Season will automatically be completed for your non-Seasonal characters as well." Seasons also have their own goals called Conquests that add to a player's Season score, which is posted on the Season Leaderboards. Conquests are only available during the Season. Q: Will I get to keep Paragon levels I've earned? A: Not exactly. What you keep is experience points. Since it takes far fewer points for earlier Paragon levels, this amount of experience points will translate into fewer Paragon levels in the regular game. On the other hand, if you are just starting the game, then the Paragon levels should be retained. Q: What happens when the Season ends? A: If you are playing in the Season, you will see warnings beginning a few minutes before the end. When the Season is over, you will be bumped to the title screen. - All seasonal characters will become regular game characters with access to Paragon levels, gold and other items shared among regular characters. - You will keep all items in your character's personal inventory. - Your Season stash will appear in your mailbox as Season Cache. You'll see a glowing Season symbol hovering over the mailbox. When you open the mailbox, you'll see two headings at the top and will be in mail by default. Hit R1 or L1 to get to the section on the right: Season Cache. These items will expire; each one shows how many days are left. - A bug - apparently characters created by different players in a Season cannot play together outside the Season. To see Blizzard's post about Season 10 on console, visit: https://us.battle.net/d3/en/blog/20635661/seasons-on-console-3-20-2017 Thanks to DanBourne, a Hardcore Diablo III player, for comments and corrections on Version 1.1 of this guide. Contact me, gamer-128 through gamefaqs, with corrections, questions, comments.