While it has not launched yet on the Public Test Realm, Blizzard has given details about Diablo 3’s patch 2.3.0 and it looks like this will be a major update. There will be a new zone, Ruins of Sescheron that will be able to be visited. Blizzard says that this area gives a chance to obtain an item called Kanai’s cube, as well as has “mysteries from the lore of the mighty Barbarians.”
The new item is a callback to an item from Diablo 2, the Hoardric Cube. This item served both as a story item and a crafting item. Kanai’s Cube is said to be what this older item originated from, and therefore has more powers. With one, Legendary items can be broken down and then the special effects from them can be equipped as passive skills. Another thing this item can do is convert crafting materials into different types, as well as other things we don’t know yet.
Crafting is being overhauled as well, to make it “easier and more fluid than ever.” One change from this is making it so crafting results scale with levels. This also means that there will be less crafting recipes overall.
These aren’t the only changes, however. There will also be an addition of four new Torment difficult levels, with Torment X being the top level now. There are also new legendary and set items. Realm of Trails is being removed, act-specific crafting materials being added to the reward sin Hoardric Caches, and additional Caches can be granted by completing bonus acts.
2.3.0 will soon be available on Public Test Realms.