When Blizzard first announced details for Diablo 3’s Season 21 and the Trials of the Tempests, a major initial concern among the player community was that the seasonal buff offered players nothing unique to set the game apart from non-seasonal play. The PvE buff would provide little more than a damage boost, but gameplay would be reduced to the tedium of non-seasons and its established meta of gear sets and team compositions for Greater Rifts, which has been stale for a while apart from the new sets sprinkled into the game.

Unfortunately, players quickly discovered a quick and easy glitch that trivializes some of the highest levels of Greater Rifts, effectively destroying the competitive ladder for honest players. At first, players thought that the glitch was sure to be removed, and it was also reasonable to assume that players using the glitch might even see a ban for what could be described as an exploit. Instead, Blizzard affirmed that the “glitch” is indeed working as intended when in groups, and players who want to play the game as initially intended have little recourse but to wait until Season 22 to climb the ladder. Talk about ridiculous.

Via: us.forums.blizzard.com

How The Glitch Works

The glitch can be separated into two types, and both seek to stack the seasonal buff to do tremendous damage in Greater Rifts. The first was in solo play, and for some reason Blizzard decided to do the right thing and hotfix the glitch for single players, though the ladder remains untouched. The second is for groups of two, three, and four players, which Blizzard did not hotfix and declared instead to be working as intended.

The way the glitch works in a group of players is simple. Both players begin the Greater Rift, but one immediately leaves and waits for thirty seconds, only then entering and beginning to clear mobs. As stacks of the buff build-up, players inform one another when there are about ten seconds left, and then split up. When the first player has their buff consumed, then the second player returns with their buff stacks intact, which are then automatically shared with the teammate.

The players go back and forth in this way, reaching the maximum levels of stacks and when finally reaching the Greater Rift Guardian, the seasonal buff nukes the boss without consideration to gear, team class composition, or strategy. So long as players engage in this sort of back and forth effect to maintain their stacks, they will likely defeat the boss. Check out the video below for a visual example of what this looks like.

Master The Glitch, Ignore Progression For Gear, Gems, And Strategy

Up until the launch of Season 21, Diablo 3 had been on a roll reach season with buffs that were truly impactful in a way that made the game feel fresh. The seasonal buffs that gave players the power of the Ring of Grandeur, then of the Legacy of Nightmares, followed by a break in the rules for Kunai’s Cube all inspired creativity within the community.

In each of these recent seasons, players were able to experiment and discover entirely new ways to climb the ladder. The Trials of the Tempests was already bizarre in breaking from this pattern, and now it feels far worse than first thought. The Demon Hunter and Necromancer classes each have new gear sets, and yet, it does not matter in the least.

Via: youtube.com (Rhykker)

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Is Blizzard Out Of Ideas?

Season 21 has been live for a little over two weeks, but already it feels old and poorly planned. Even if this ridiculous, game-breaking glitch had not been discovered, the season would likely have felt dull, but now the idea of partnering with friends to climb through the ladder of competitive play seems pointless, unless we want to spend the entire season running back and forth between teammates without regard to how to perfect our actual gameplay.

And yet, Blizzard must be aware that this seasonal buff has been a complete bust. So why not scrap it? The most obvious answer, which is also the saddest, is probably the correct one. The Diablo 3 team runs on a skeleton crew of developers and scrapping the seasonal buff to implement whatever is next in the pipeline likely requires more effort than they can possibly muster.

Unfortunately, for everyone looking to play the game without using the glitch, it seems that the only option is to play alone, without friends, or simply wait until Season 22 in three to four months’ time. Both solutions point to Season 21 being the worst design in the history of Diablo 3.

Source: us.forums.blizzard.com

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