When Blizzard announced that they were working on Patch 2.1 for Diablo 3, one of the features they announced was Greater Rifts. For those unfamiliar or who might have missed the patch notes, Greater Rifts are essentially a souped up and timed version of Nephalem Rifts. Now thanks to Patch 2.1 made available on the PTR, additional information about the Greater Rifts has been made available.
For starters, the Greater Rifts will only remain open for 15 minutes, so it is really up to the gamer to go through as many levels as possible and fight the Greater Rift Guardian, which is also a souped up and upgraded version of a Rift Guardian. Interestingly enough, it also seems that Blizzard does not plan on allowing users to respec their characters during a Greater Rift.
What this means is that players will have to decide on a spec before entering because once they enter, they’re pretty much stuck with their current spec until they leave. The only thing that can be changed would be Paragon Points. Monsters in Greater Rifts also don’t drop anything, and there won’t be chests or destructibles either. Instead, all the loot will come from the Greater Rift Guardian.
Last but not least, shrines will not be present in Greater Rifts. There will be pylons but they only last 15 seconds, and the Conduit Pylon will not be present due to the fact that they are too powerful. In any case if you’re wondering what Greater Rifts are like, you can check out the video above to see a Greater Rift run.