Blizzard said in today's stream that the next season of Diablo 4 will "go beyond the scope" of the massive changes brought to the game in Season 2 last year. And for the first time, players will be able to play with all the new features before the season goes live through a playtest server in a few weeks.

Players have been begging Blizzard since Season 1 to provide a PTR (Public Test Region) for the new season of Diablo 4, just as they did for Diablo 3 and are doing for Diablo 2 Resurrected. Last month's rocky launch of Season 3 was a key example of just how bad Blizzard's internal testing can be when it fails to meet player expectations. Bugs that hampered progress and disappointing season pets meant that no one wanted the new season to start, and Blizzard was of the same opinion.

However, not every season will have a PTR in place, Blizzard explained in today's stream. Adam Fletcher, associate director of community affairs, said, "Depending on the scale of the changes, we definitely plan to have PTR in Season 4."

Details about what will be in Season 4 remain vague, but Blizzard has promised to make some basic changes to the loot mechanics. For now, items are either worth keeping or can be salvaged as crafting materials. It requires training to quickly locate the valuable status of each item, which can take longer than going through an entire dungeon.

The goal for Season 4, as Blizzard has said in previous streams, is to make items valuable regardless of whether they are an upgrade for you. And looking at other action RPGs like Last Epoch and Path of Exile, I think it's safe to assume that it will be some sort of crafting system where you can actually improve the items you care about.

Today's delivery also announced that the Necromancer minion will be significantly changed in Season 4. The Season 3 Spider Pets show how fun it is to have minions whose power actually changes with the character, unlike the skeletons that Necromancers can currently summon. Lead Live Class Designer Adam Jackson said, "Minions are one of our top priorities to make them really good.

"In addition to the changes coming in next week's mid-season patch, Season 4 will bring a lot of changes that we're excited about, and we're excited to be able to share those changes with you.

Blizzard will demo The Gauntlet, Diablo 4's new weekly dungeon with leaderboards, on the same stream, which looks to be an exciting addition to the endgame activities. It will be implemented in a mid-season balance patch on Tuesday.