14 DAY TRIAL // Blizzard has just confirmed that Diablo 3 patch 2.1.0 is now available on the Public Test Realm, meaning all players can join this special test region of the game and give the update a try in order to see how the major changes included in it affect the RPG.
Diablo 3 has received some major patches in recent months, starting with the impressive 2.0.1 that overhauled the dungeon crawling RPG, and continuing with smaller updates that improved things from the Reaper of Souls expansion.
Now, the next major update, 2.1.0, has just been rolled out by Blizzard onto the Public Test Realm, so that the studio can gather feedback from actual players in concern to the major changes included in the patch.
Bear in mind that participating in the Public Test Realm is a bit more complicated than playing Diablo 3 in a regular fashion. In order to help those looking to give the new patch a try, Blizzard has posted a helpful guide on its website.
"To create a PTR account, log in to Battle.net Account Management and double-click on your Diablo III game license; this will bring you to the game management page. On this page, click 'Create a PTR account'."
"If you've participated in any previous Diablo III PTR (including the Reaper of Souls beta), the 'Create PTR account' button may not appear. This is because you've already created a PTR account and can therefore skip this step."
After you complete this, in the Battle.net desktop application, in the Diablo 3 section, the Play button will have multiple entries, including PTR: Diablo 3. Select this option and the game will install the necessary update files for 2.1.0 and start in the Public Test Realm mode.
In case you don't want to start all-new characters on the PTR, you can transfer your existing characters to the test region. To do this, create a new level 1 character and go back to the main menu. A special PTR Copy button should appear and your characters will be transferred from one region of your account (America, Europe, or Asia).
Bear in mind that the process will log you out of the game but, once you log back in, the characters are going to be available for play. You can only do this import procedure once every 72 hours.
Bear in mind that whatever loot you find can't be brought back into the regular game, so don't get too attached to your items.