I told myself I'd just log in for an hour to peek at Season 12 PTR, then call it a night. That didn't happen. One run turned into five, five turned into "why is it light outside," and my Spiritborn was still sprinting through mobs like it had somewhere better to be. If you've been away, you can feel the devs trying to tighten the basics instead of tossing in another gimmick, and even a quick browse of the Diablo 4 market can't really capture how different the pacing feels once you're actually inside a dungeon chasing momentum.
Killstreaks Change The Rhythm
You'll notice it fast: the new killstreak system pushes you to keep moving and keep winning. No deaths, no long pauses, just chain kills and the game starts paying you back—speed, damage, and noticeably better drops. I tested it in the Pit on a level 100 Spiritborn, not as a "content creator experiment," just a real gut-check. Playing cautious, I was clearing around 9 minutes. Then I switched to full send: no slow pulls, no tip-toeing, always hunting the next pack to keep the streak rolling. Clears dropped to about 6 minutes, and the rewards felt juiced—more materials, extra uniques, the kind of run where you actually stop and stare at what hit the ground. One mistake still nukes the whole streak, though, so it's tense in a way the Pit hasn't been for a while.
Bloodied Gear Feels Like A Fair Deal
The other big win is "Bloodied" items. It's basically a cleaner, more honest way to chase upgrades: do harder content, get a better tier of ancestral-style gear. Running Bloodied Sigils doesn't fix every bit of Diablo RNG, but it smooths that brutal stretch where you're strong enough to push but your drops refuse to match your effort. I'm not pretending every run showers you in perfect rolls—still plenty of junk—but it feels like you're building toward something instead of praying the slot machine lands right.
Build Speed, Balance, And A Few Raised Eyebrows
Spiritborn still sits at the top for speed, and that matters more now because killstreaks reward clean, nonstop clears. Thorns and mobility buffs make it easy to stay in flow; you're not waiting on the map to catch up to you. Barbarians are in a great spot too—Whirlwind's back to feeling like a real farming tool, not a nostalgia pick. Sorcs are breathing again thanks to mana changes, while Druids and Necros can work, but they don't keep pace as naturally when the whole season is whispering "go faster." Also, I did spot PTR notes that sounded a lot like Paladin-ish tech, and yeah, it's hard not to read into that.
Grinding Still Exists, But The Hook Is Back
Masterworking is less of a brick wall, yet perfect rolls still take time, and plenty of players will look for shortcuts when the ladder pressure hits. Some folks will farm everything legit, others will top off missing pieces through trade or services, and if you're the type who just wants to get back to blasting with friends, it's easy to see why a site like u4gm gets mentioned for picking up currency or specific items without living in the Pit all week. Me, I'm sticking with the streak chase for now, because when you survive a sweaty run and a real upgrade drops, it hits different.