2.10: Leeks and Previews

Game news and forum updates
Gato_
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This season I'm going to also be posting previews here to the Forum, not just to the Discord, for those who browse but don't want to join the Discord for any reason.
This thread will be updated whenever a new preview is posted. Feel free to Discuss the previews in the 2.10 Announcement Thread

Preview 1:
Starting off this season with a new versatile Mastercrafted base, the Soulbinder Gloves.

These gloves are a rare drop from either Kurast 3000BA on hell, or from Manoruk in the Legion of the Damned and have the unique ability to roll almost any oskill affix available on any base in the game. This levels the playing field for many oskills that were otherwise locked to class bases or required relics to begin, opening up dozens of new class/oskill combinations as well as simply empowering numerous existing oskill builds.

The gloves almost always roll an oskill every time they're shrine crafted (not always because D2 sure is a video game), so get your shrines and brains ready to craft the perfect pair for your build.

You can get a list of affixes that will appear on these gloves by searching for group 217 in the Affix Page, alongside Nova Charge as seen in the example:
Notable exclusions include stances, shadow refuge, and conquest.
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Gato_
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Preview 2: Trophy Challenges

Today we'll be looking into the new Trophy Challenge system coming in 2.10. This system sees a full overhaul to the way trophy bonuses are accumulated, completely removing the high variance grinding in exchange for a one and done mini-challenge for each boss. These challenges vary per boss, but All fall into one of 3 categories:

1. Timer Challenges: These challenges place a trophy buff on you upon entering the zone, which only lasts a limited amount of time. You must kill the boss and upgrade the charm within the time limit to succeed.
2. Perfection Challenges: These challenges place a trophy buff on you upon entering the area or activating the boss. You must then keep this buff on you for the duration of the boss, while avoiding specific skills or mechanics that remove it on hit.
3. Unique Challenges: These challenges don't rely on a buff placed on your character, and thus have no penalty to dying (unless the zone has a timer lockout), and generally involve some specific mechanic in the boss itself.

Trophy challenge requirements are all readable in game by right clicking any charm with a corresponding trophy upgrade.

Only one charm of each type may be upgraded per player per game, and upgrading a charm now locks it to the class used to upgrade it. This is to force some friction in trophy trading, so that one class that has a significantly easier time with a certain trophy can't simply farm hundreds to flood the market. There will be great value in farming difficult trophies on unspecialized classes. Lab pillar bosses will continue to drop full trophies which do not apply a class lock, giving them unique value for trade or those who play multiple characters.

No system comes without its quirks however, be sure to stick to your current activity if you wish to attempt a trophy upgrade, as beginning another trophy challenge will fail the one currently active. When in doubt, make a new game for a specific trophy.

As I've already seen some worries about the impact of online latency in relation to challenges, all challenges have been tested and completed on our beta servers.

A full list of trophy challenges, as well as a few changes to charm rolls and other mechanics that previously used trophies/fragments, will be available when the patch notes come out next week.
Gato_
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Preview 3: Enchantment Scrolls

Enchantment Scrolls are returning this season. For those unaware, these powerful scrolls let you upgrade a piece of gear with unique effects, many of which cannot be found elsewhere. Only one of these scrolls can be placed on their matching piece of gear, so you'll have to hunt for the ideal ones for your character.

These scrolls drop exclusively from the new Halloween themed event, which will only be available online. You may be wondering more about this event and its gameplay, but for that you'll have to wait until launch. :InsaneChamp:

For now, however, I've assembled 4 scrolls for your viewing pleasure

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Gato_
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Preview 4: The Point Of No Return Rework

Last preview before Patch notes tomorrow: a fully reworked SSSU staff that lets you full embrace the chaotic power of corruption, The new Point of no Return.

This staff starts out pretty barebones, granting a huge movement speed and mana regen bonus, along with the Orb of Annihilation oskill. The trick here is that it only requires level 50 to equip, and may be corrupted repeatedly until you've hit 10 successful corruptions, with each one adding +10 to the level requirement. In addition, each corrupted piece of gear you have on you empowers the built in oskill. This staff has its own pool of boosted corruption outcomes, some of which help boost Orb of Annihilation further, but even more of which can boost other skills, making a well rolled staff compete with Angelic or Crafted staves in certain builds.

Heres a showcase of two separate staves which diverged to fit different builds, one fit for the oskill itself and the other fit for a more general caster build.
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