Seasons
This page lists information about seasons and gamemodes.
Timeline
| Season | Start Date | Length (days) | Details |
|---|---|---|---|
| Season 1 - Awakening | 2020-11-06 | 127 | |
| Season 2 - Transcendence | 2021-03-12 | 133 | |
| Season 3 - Domination | 2021-07-23 | 134 | |
| Season 4 - Enlightenment | 2021-12-03 | 169 (120+49) | Replaced by Crafters Race League while it was active, and resumed afterward until season 5 |
| Crafters Race League #1 | 2022-04-01 | 36 | |
| Season 5 - Ascension | 2022-06-24 | 155 | Non-ladder implemented - characters from previous season (S4) were the first to be transferred |
| Season 6 - Fortification | 2022-11-25 | 155 | |
| Season 7 - Revelation | 2023-04-28 | 148 | Non-ladder characters with maps from previous seasons were made unavailable; first season to co-exist with open beta of upcoming season |
| Season 8 - Depravity | 2023-09-22 | 140 | Non-ladder characters with S7 Open Wounds items were made unavailable |
| Crafters Race League #2 | 2024-02-09 | 63 | |
| Season 9 - Anarchy | 2024-04-12 | 195 | |
| Season 10 - Desecration | 2024-10-25 |
- Season lengths above do not exclude beta-related downtime (typically about 5 days)
Project D2 is updated each season with new quality-of-life features, balance adjustments, and additional content. Seasons are planned every 4-5 months and coincide with ladder resets. Seasonal changes affect all gamemodes except some rare cases mentioned below.
Developer Streams
Prior to each season, there are typically at least 3 developer streams (1 per weekend) where some of the upcoming changes are discussed. The season start date is announced during one of these streams, along with start dates for both the closed beta and open beta. The tentative patch notes are released when the closed beta begins, but before that, "spoilers" from the dev streams are typically compiled and listed on reddit or the wiki's Patch Notes page.
Closed Beta
The closed beta typically begins a week after the final developer stream and lasts for 7-10 days, providing an opportunity for bug fixing and balance tweaking before the game is shown to a wider audience. It runs alongside the season on a separate realm, and both the closed beta and season are shut down around the same time. At that point, ladder characters begin to get transferred to non-ladder and the main realm is prepared for the open beta, which typically begins the next day.
Open Beta
The open beta is a "test run" of the ladder reset on the main realm which acts as a stress test for the servers as well as a final chance to find and fix bugs. It lasts for 2-3 days and is followed by another downtime period which is used for final adjustments and switching the main realm back to its normal mode.
New Season
The final patch notes are shared on stream, which typically starts at 10-11am PST (6-7pm GMT/UTC) on a Friday and goes on for a couple hours. After the patch notes have been shared, the new season begins. If any bugs need to be fixed during the season, an announcement will be made on the discord and a changelog will be provided there as well.
Beta
The closed beta uses a separate realm which has special commands. See: Beta Commands
- Beta keys are given to those who:
- reach level 99 in the current season
- donate $50 total over any amount of time - players are encouraged to only donate if they want to contribute to server costs, rather than just to access the beta
- contribute to the community by creating pd2-related content, making guides, working on the wiki, etc
- some keys are also given out at random on stream after the beta begins (either directly from the dev stream or through other streamers)
- Beta keys are sent via email and will come with instructions for setting up an account and getting started. There are also beta-only discord channels - if you're in the closed beta but don't have access to the beta discord channels, submit a ticket and provide your beta key to gain access.
The open beta is available to everyone and uses the main realm. It does not have special commands.
Singleplayer isn't available on either beta. Once the season ends and while the open beta is the only active version, singleplayer won't be available at all. Players who want to switch back and forth between the open beta for the upcoming season and singleplayer for the previous season will need to either use two game installations or revert their game files to the previous season when going back to singleplayer.
Ladder
Multiplayer has two main gamemodes: "ladder" has everyone's progress reset each season whereas "non-ladder" doesn't and is more suited for longterm or casual play, showing off "trophy" gear from previous ladders, or player-vs-player combat with optimal gear. Ladder is more active and many players play a lot more during the beginning of each season when the reset is fresh and everyone is on a relatively even playing field.
There are no inherent gameplay differences between ladder and non-ladder during most seasons, with one exception. When major new endgame content is included in a season, that content may be restricted during the first part of the season so that it gets to be experienced first by those playing on the ladder.
- Season 4 - Rathma disabled
- Season 7 - Difficulty levels above level 1 for Diablo Clone & Rathma disabled
When a season ends, ladder characters get transferred to non-ladder. Items in the shared stash pages however, do not get transferred. These items can be moved to a character or their personal stash page prior to the season's end in order to ensure they end up in non-ladder instead of being deleted.
In some cases, a new season may mean that certain items get fundamentally altered in a way that makes them incompatible with previous versions. If this happens, it'll be announced ahead of time and players will be encouraged to drop those items beforehand to avoid characters becoming unplayable. For singleplayer, there's also a converter tool which updates those items so they don't have to be dropped, and players can always revert their game to the previous version and drop the items manually if needed.
Fundamentally altered items per season:
- S2: maps, Standard of Heroes
- S3: maps, any item with Enhanced Damage or Maximum Damage per Level
- S7: maps (including dungeons & arenas)
- S8: items with Open Wounds Damage per Second