Diablo: Immortal - Tong-Shi’s Renewal Update Live

As part of their Lunar New Year celebrations, Blizzard Entertainment brings us a new content update for their mobile-focused action-RPG Diablo: Immortal. Featuring several in-game events, a new cosmetic set and Battle Pass season, the update also introduces 36 new Legendary items along with a series of feature updates.

Here are a few excerpts from the rather lengthy patch notes:

Happy Lunar New Year, adventurer!

We cannot wait for you to wish blessings upon your friends in the Tong-Shi’s Renewal Lunar New Year event, test out potent builds with a fresh batch of 36 Legendary items, and more.

Due to the upcoming holiday, we will not be releasing a Content Update in two weeks and will instead release our next Content Update about three weeks from now. This Content Update is a real firecracker, so without delay, let’s dig in!

As with previous Content Updates, there will be server maintenance starting on January 15, from 4 p.m.–6 p.m. PST for Oceania, China, East Asia, Southeast Asia, and Europe Servers, and on January 16, from 12 a.m.–2 a.m. PST for servers in the Americas. After the maintenance has concluded, all items mentioned below will be live—specific dates for any content going live afterward are provided below.

FEATURE UPDATES

36 New Legendary Items

With a greater challenge comes access to truly powerful items designed for beating back the tides of Hell. Note that the below Legendary Items are only available in Hell Difficulty VI or higher. We are making this change to the new Legendary Items that are added into Diablo Immortal to give players unique rewards to strive towards as they move upward in Hell Difficulty.

[...]

Legendary Essence Extraction

A new method of Essence Extraction has been discovered! You can enhance your Legendary Attributes to increase their power by extracting the same essences multiple times. Legendary equipment can no longer be salvaged at the Blacksmith, and instead must be extracted. Essence Extraction still provides players with the same Upgrade Materials they would get from salvaging, but now, as you find duplicate Legendary equipment, your overall power will increase too.

When you find a new Legendary item, your first extraction will pull out the Legendary Essence and store it for you to inherit later, as it always has. Further extractions will grant you Essence Energy to increase your Essence Mastery level—however, extracting Essence Energy from a particular Legendary item will become more difficult with each Essence Energy you obtain from it, and eventually you will no longer be able to extract the energy from that Legendary item.

Additionally, you will now receive Upgrade Materials on the first extraction for every Legendary Essence and no longer must choose between gaining a Legendary Essence or Upgrade Materials.

As your Essence Mastery level increases, it will further enhance the power of all your Legendary Attributes. Some skills will receive damage bonuses, while others might receive cooldown reduction, or other effects. You can always view your current power and what bonuses you will get at the next Essence Mastery level at Zamina, the Essence Transfer NPC in Westmarch.

Developer’s Note: We have made this change to aid in improving the experience of finding duplicate Legendary items, and for farmers to gain power slightly faster, but without creating an overbearing obstacle for more casual players. Additionally, we wanted to create increased build diversity, providing players the ability to further specialize their builds if wanted. We recommend taking a look at your essence list to see what new synergies might be available to you now.

Dungeon Set Item Drops

All Dungeons will now drop a guaranteed Set Item after many Dungeon completions in a row that did not result in a Set Item being dropped. Dungeons boosted by the Codex have a lower threshold before a guaranteed Set Item is dropped.

Developer’s Note: As we continue to evaluate the state of Set Items, we identified the need to keep improving the player’s ability to acquire them. Set Item crafting was a great step forward and we believe this additional update will further aid players in acquiring the specific Set Items they want.

Cross-Server Dungeons

When a player is trying to find a Party for a Dungeon, if the Party Finder fails to find other players to join, it will search other Servers to fill the Party. Players can also invite players from other Servers to join the Party.

Immortal System Improvements

Immortals will now receive more information about the Shadows when alerted to Defend the Vault. Immortal Parties in the queue will see the Shadow Party that has queued to defend against them, along with the relative strength of the Shadow Party versus their Party. The Party Leader of the Immortal group will then be able to decide to either accept defending against the Shadow Party or pass, which will give another Immortal Party in the queue the opportunity to defend.

Immortal Party leaders can also automatically pass all Shadow Parties that are relatively stronger than their Party by enabling a new button in the Defend the Vault interface.

Rejoining the Shadows Faction

We are making the experience of rejoining the Shadows after a new Cycle of Strife begins easier. The lottery system has been replaced with a first-come, first-served system. An Adventurer who successfully signs up during one of the three daily recruitment periods beginning at 1:00, 7:00, and 10:00 p.m. server time can instantly embark on the trial to become a Shadow.

To join the Shadows faction, speak with the Mysterious Patron located in Westmarch’s Wolf City Tavern during the above-mentioned recruitment periods.

Treasure Hunter Paragon Tree

The Treasure Hunter Paragon Tree has been updated to remove the restriction of outdoor areas from the Treasure Find, Gold Find, and Lucky specialization skills.

Developer’s Note: As we look for ways to make each Paragon Tree a competitive and compelling choice for players, we sometimes find that the best way to increase the value of a tree means making its viability a bit less niche. This is the course of action we have taken with this update to the Treasure Hunter Paragon Tree, and we hope that it will incentivize you to find new use cases for this tree while still maintaining its core identity as the tree of choice for those looking to enrich their daily adventures in Sanctuary.

Battleground End of Season Ceremony

When a Battleground season ends, players will now receive a summary of their previous Battleground season the first time they talk to the Battleground Captain.

Converting Adventurer Clan

Converting an Adventurer Clan to a Dark Clan will now only cost five Akeba’s Signets.

New Resonance Wings

Two new sets of Resonance Wings have been added at the Resonance milestones of 2,000 and 4,000.

TONG-SHI’S RENEWAL LUNAR NEW YEAR EVENT

Tong-Shi invites you to his Renewal—a call to bask in the fading glow of a finished year and begin the cycle anew—welcoming a new year with open arms and optimism.

From January 16, 3:00 a.m.–February 6 2:59 a.m. server time, players can complete up to three tasks a day to earn festive rewards, such as Red Bags and Tseym.

Players can also receive rewards such as the Divine Framework of Xiansai Portrait Frame and With a Bang Emoji for logging in on the following days: January 18, January 21, January 22, January 25, January 28, January 29, February 1, February 4, and February 5.

If you miss a login reward for one of these dates, do not worry, you’ll be given a quest to complete which will provide you with the missed reward once finished. Note that missed rewards must be claimed in chronological order.

Deliver and Receive Blessings with Red Bags and Tseym

Red Bags are celebratory Tong-Shi’s Renewal rewards that can be gifted to a friend. You’ll not only receive rewards when you open Red Bags sent to you, but you’ll also receive rewards for sending Red Bags to friends. Spread the blessings of Tong-Shi’s Renewal by sending and receiving as many Red Bags as you can get your hands on!

Completing daily event tasks can also yield Tseym. Turn in any Tseym you receive within the Tong-Shi’s Renewal event UI to receive ample rewards. Turning in Tseym has a second effect too—each Tseym will add towards Server-wide milestones, with each milestone met rewarding all players on that Server with a bevy of Battle Points. Players who contribute 88 Tseym will also receive a random Legendry Item for their class.