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Even though the franchise is incredibly popular, Diablo 3 stumbled out of the gate due to restrictive online requirements, an auction house fueled by real world money, and even a game breaking bug. Thanks to a number of updates, well-made console ports, and a very well-received expansion in Reaper of Souls, Diablo 3 was able to get back on track and has since seen a lot of success, even arriving on current gen systems last summer.

With the player base continuing to expand, Diablo 3 constantly rewards the fanbase by releasing new content for players to explore. The latest is patch 2.3 which adds a number of new features to the dungeon crawler including a Horadric Cube like device and a huge new area to fight in.

Outside of the new loot and tweaks to the popular adventure mode, the biggest addition in this patch is with a new item called Kanai's Cube. Based off of the very popular Horadric Cube from Diablo II, this updated version of the cube is able to create new gear when items are added and combined just like its predecessor. However, Kanai's Cube is also able to reforge legendary items, giving the gear completely new stats and abilities. Not only that, the cube is able to extract power from legendary gear, letting the player equip the extracted power to items within the weapon, armour, or jewellery category.

Players looking for new area to explore should note that the update includes a new zone called The Ruins of Sescheron. Based on a fallen Barbarian kingdom, this zone introduces brand new enemies to players to fight against.

Blizzard has also added additional difficulty levels, pushing the vaunted "torment" difficulty up to level 10. In order to access these higher difficulties, players will need to gain a particular paragon level first. The breakdown is as follows:

  • Torment VII requires a Paragon level over 100
  • Torment VIII requires a Paragon level over 150
  • Torment IX requires a Paragon level over 200
  • Torment X requires a Paragon level over 250

The update also kicks off Season 4 for players starting on August 28 with a new Season Journey feature that will allow players to track their individual progress through the Season.

Currently, the patch is only available on PC for players in the America territories. PC players in Europe and Asia will need to continue to wait until Blizzard roles out the update in those regions. In addition, there's no word on when this massive update will hit console versions, but considering how successful they've been, it's only a matter of time.

With the user base still going strong and in an effort to celebrate Diablo 3's third anniversary, Blizzard brought the very popular Diablo 2 Easter Egg, the cow level, to Diablo 3 for players to enjoy. Known as the Cowpocalypse, players fought against swarms of polearm-wielding cows and had greater opportunities to find great loot. While the event has since passed, Blizzard frequently adds in these events to help mix things up for players.

If you're still playing, what do you think of the updates? If you've stopped playing, does this entice you to come back? Let us know below in the comments!

Diablo 3 is now available on PC, Xbox 360, Xbox One, PlayStation 3, and PlayStation 4.

Source: Blizzard