Very soon Blizzard will be throwing patch 2.3.0 for Diablo 3 onto the Public Test Realm, and it’s quite an extensive update. Covering many elements of the game, 2.3.0 includes a whole new zone, a new artifact that will be invaluable for crafting, and a bunch of new difficulty levels for those who think Diablo 3 isn’t torturous enough already.

As detailed in Blizzard’s preview, the patch adds the frozen zone Ruins of Sescheron to Diablo 3’s world map. The land is populated by new enemies and environmental hazards, and is home to King Kanai and his ultimate treasure: Kanai’s Cube.

The cube is the artifact you’ll want to hunt down, as it’s able to break down Legendary items and equip its special effect as a player passive skill. It can also convert crafting materials from one type to another, as well as a variety of other useful tricks. An absolute necessity for crafters.

Crafting has also had a bit of an update, and the results of mixing materials will now dynamically adjust to your character’s level to ensure that crafting materials don’t go to waste.

Realm of Trials has been removed from Adventure Mode, but emphasis on exploring Bounties across Acts has been added. Bounty rewards have been improved with Act-specific crafting materials, and Bonus Acts now rewards Bonus Horadric Caches.

A new Season Journey interface will track your progress through Season 4 and subsequent seasons, showing major milestones completed.

Four new difficulty levels have been added to make up for the fact the game becomes less challenging when top-level players are equipped with the best gear. Torment VII, VIII, IX, and X all ramp up the difficulty to crazy levels, and have appropriate reward rates.

A bunch of new Legendary of Set effects are being added, by introducing new items and also revamping special effects on existing items. Items that don’t currently have effects may gain one. This should grant more build options for players to explore.

Combat has had a small overhaul, with experience now provided based on how much time and effort it takes to kill a monster. There’s been some balancing done to the time spent exploring Nephalem or Greater Rifts, and the time spend facing the Rift Guardian. More emphasis will now be placed on your exploration journey. Monsters will now tolerate less crowd control.