Season Journey

Season Journey access button.

The Season Journey (SJ) was added to the game exclusively for Seasonal characters in Season Four with Patch 2.3 in August 2015. The SJ is an enhanced system of Achievements which grant cosmetic rewards including new profile borders and even a virtual pet. Season Journey achievements are grouped so that players tend to earn them roughly in sequence while leveling and gearing up, and the SJ functions as something of a "how you should be playing" tutorial that's very useful for new or inexperienced players.

The Season Journey is accessible only to Seasonal characters, and is shared account-wide (but not between hardcore and softcore.) Each Season gets a new Season Journey, and when a season ends the rewards roll over into the full Era account.

While most players find it enjoyable to earn the achievements, the Season Journey is optional and does not add to a character's power or abilities; the rewards are entirely visual and cosmetic. (This changed slightly in Season Five, when an additional stash tab was added as a reward for achieving the Conqueror level. Many players felt[1] that was too steep a requirement, especially for gamers who do not play Seasonal full time.)

Conquests

Conquests are special very difficult achievements. There are only a few of them each season, some of which are new each season, and they generally require special efforts or very high skill and quality of gear to complete. All conquests are identical but recorded separately in softcore and hardcore. (Completing them in Hardcore does not also complete them in Softcore.)

Some of the higher pages of the Season Journey require completing 1, 2, or 3 conquests.

Season 4 Conquests:

• Complete a Greater Rift 60
• Complete a Greater Rift 40 solo without the bonus of a class set
• Level 6 Legendary Gems to level 50.
• Complete a Torment X rift in under 2 minutes.
  • This requires player(s) to kill the Guardian within two minutes. The award will display right then, when the Guardian dies. Players are not required to portal back to town and click Orek to end the Rift.
• Kill all bosses within 30 minutes of the game starting.

Conquests change slightly between seasons, with (usually) one or two new/changed each time.

Season 5 Seasonal Journey

Season Five ran on Patch 2.4, and was the second season with a Season Journey. It began Friday, January 15, 2016, approximately two weeks after the end of Season Four.

The virtual pet reward and visual bonuses were new in Season Five, and of most interest to most players, a bonus Stash tab was awarded for completing the Conqueror page.

The achievements required to complete the Season Journey changed between Season Four and Season Five.

Season Journey, Season Four

Season Journey profile border rewards.

The following were the seasonal journey achievements for the first Season this features was present. Season Four / Patch 2.3. All rewards for the S4 SJ were cosmetic, such as bonus in-game wings, new profile borders, and an ice dog virtual pet.

Season 4: Chapter I

Chapter One, as seen on the PTR.

The first page of SJ achievements are picked up in the early leveling stages of a new character.

• A New Start
  • Complete 5 Bounties.
• Begin Again
  • Complete a Nephalem Rift.
• Socket To Me
  • Socket a Gem in an item
• Like a Boss
  • Slay the Butcher, Belial, Azmodan, Diablo, or Malthael.
• Iron Heart
  • Raise the Blacksmith level to 5
• I Like Jewels
  • Raise the Jeweler level to 5
• Magical Mystical Tour
  • Raise the Mystic to level 5
• Fearless Veteran
  • Reach level 35

Season 4: Chapter II

• Build Me Up Buttercup'
  • Craft an item at the Blacksmith
• Hard
  • Complete a Nephalem Rift on Hard difficulty or higher
• Drop the Boss
  • Slay the Butcher, Belial, Azmodan, Diablo, or Malthael on hard difficult or higher.
• Friends with Benefits
  • Fully equip one of your Followers.
• A Life with Meaning
  • Raise the Blacksmith to level 10.
• Just a Hobby
  • Raise the Jeweler to level 10
• Valuable Vecin
  • Raise the Mystic to level 10
• Hero of Sanctuary
  • Reach level 60.

Season 4: Chapter III

Chapter Three, as seen on the PTR.

• Change Clothes
  • Transmogrify an item at the Mystic.
• The Rock
  • Craft a gem of imperial or greater quality at the Jeweler.
• All Over the World
  • Slay the Butcher, Belial, Azmodan, Diablo, or Malthael on Master difficulty or higher
• Forged Credentials
  • Raise the Blacksmith to level 12.
• Run the Jewels
  • Raise the Jeweler to level 12.
• Maximum Myriam
  • Raise the Mystic to level 12.
• Above & Beyond
  • Reach level 70.
• Hey There Kadala
  • Spend Blood Shards at Kadala.

Season 4: Chapter IV

Virtual pet in character select screen.

Earn the blue dog virtual pet for completing Chapter 4.

• Penchant for Enchants
  • Replace a property on an item with Enchanting at the Mystic.
• Cubed
  • Extract a Legendary power using Kanai's Cube.
• I'm On Fire
  • Slay the Butcher, Belial, Azmodan, Diablo, or Malthael on Torment 1 or higher.
• Key Decisions
  • Slay Odeg the KeyWarden at level 70 on Torment 1 difficulty or higher.
• Key Wee
  • Slay Sokahr the KeyWarden at level 70 on Torment I difficulty or higher.
• Keeping it Low Key
  • Slay Xah'rith the KeyWarden at level 70 on Torment I difficulty or higher.
• The Key to Success
  • Slay Nekarat the KeyWarden at level 70 on Torment I difficulty or higher.
• The Great Divide
  • Reach Greater Rift level 10 solo.
• Up All Night To Get Lucky
  • Equip all Inventory slots with Legendary items that have a minimum required level of 70.

Season 4: Chapter V: Slayer

• It Was a Good Day
  • Extract 10 legendary powers using Kanai's Cube.
• The Realm of Discord
  • Slay the King of the Dead and the Merciless Witch on Torment 1 difficulty or higher
• The Realm of Chaos
  • Slay the Vile Executioner and The Foul Desecrator on Torment 1 difficulty or higher.
• The Realm of Turmoil
  • Slay The Savage Behemoth and The Undying One on Torment 1 difficulty or higher
• Great Expectations
  • Reach Greater Rift 25 solo.
• Tear Down These Walls
  • Finish a level 70 Nephalem Rift on Torment VI difficulty or higher within 7 minutes.
• Gems the Breaks

Level a Legendary Gem to level 25.

• We're All We Need
  • Fully equip one of your followers with Legendary items that have a minimum required level of 70.

Season 4: Chapter VI: Champion

Chapter Six: Champion, as seen on the PTR.

There are only five achievements to complete this page, but they are much harder to achieve than the previous chapters.

• Check Yo Self
  • Extract 25 Legendary powers using Kanai's Cube.
• You Gotta Pay the Troll Toll
  • Slay the Soul of Evil on Torment VI difficulty or higher.
• The Longest Road
  • Reach Greater Rift level 30 solo.
• Something Something Champs
  • Finish a level 70 Nephalem Rift on Torment VII difficulty or higher within six minutes.
• Up And At Gem
  • Level 3 Legendary Gems to level 30

Season 4: Chapter VII: Destroyer

Completing Chapter Six of the Season Journey requires considerably more time invested and character advancement.

• You Can Do It
  • Extract 50 legendary powers using Kanai's Cube.

• Easy
  • Complete 1 conquest this season.

• Take You There
  • Reach Greater Rift level 40 solo.

• Destroyer of Rifts
  • Complete a regular Level 70 rift on Torment VIII within 5 minutes.

• Insane in the Gembrane
  • Level 3 Legendary Gems to level 40.

Season 4: Chapter VIII: Conqueror

Chapter Eight: Conqueror.

• Cow and Cheese Connoisseur
  • Extract 75 legendary powers using Kanai's Cube.

• All I Do Is Win
  • Complete 2 conquests this Season.

• A Little MOre
  • Reach Greater Rift 50 solo.

• 4 Minutes To Save The World
  • Finish a level 70 regular rift on Torment 9 within 4 minutes

• Gem of My Life
  • Level 3 gems to level 50

Season 4: Chapter IX: Guardian

Chapter Nine: Guardian

The final chapter of achievements all require extremely powerful characters, built through long and expert play.

• Kanai's Excellent Adventure
  • Extract 100 Legendary Powers using Kanai's Cube.

• Flawless Victory
  • Complete 3 season conquests

• We Don't Stop
  • Reach Greater Rift level 60 solo

• Guardians of Sanctuary

Complete a level 70 regular rift on Torment 10 with within 3 minutes.

• Gem Fatale
  • Level 3 Legendary Gems to level 60.

• The Hardest of the Core
  • Reach level 70 in Hardcore.

• Money Ain't a Thang
  • Slay Greed on Torment VI or higher

Season Journey Development

Season Three rewards.

The Season Journey debuted in Season Four, but had been under development for months before then. Starting in Season One, all achievements reset, so players could re-earn most of the same achievements from non-seasonal when they created a Seasonal character. The same system carried into Season Two, but more was added in Season Three, when players could earn a special Pennant and Portrait Frame for completing an easily-reached amount of Achievements.

When confirming those new rewards in May 2015, Blizzard mentioned the upcoming Season Journey system, as something under development by developer Don Vu.[2]

You get the Pennant at 100 Seasonal Achievement points and the Portrait Frame will be 400 Seasonal Achievement points.
Also worth noting that Don Vu redid all the seasonal achievements this season! So these aren’t just repeats of the non-seasonal achievements, nor the achievements from Season 2.

Ease of Seasonal Achievements

Blue Dog S4 SJ reward.

Reaching the initial achievement plateaus to earn cosmetic rewards in Seasons 1-3 was simple, and when the Season Journey first went live in Season Four, some players expected more of a challenge, and thought the prizes were too easy to pick up. Especially the Ice Dog virtual pet, which was awarded for completing Chapter IV, which required only than that a player reach level 70 and gear up sufficiently to solo in Torment I.

Compared to that reward, completing the much harder and higher level achievements in Chapters 5-9 earned nothing but some profile portraits, which seemed wrong to some players.[3]

Shouldn’t the pet be the end tier reward? Makes more sense to have an epic reward to be at the end.

...The first 4 chapters are designed to be accessible to everyone, with a bit of work, so everyone can get the basics. The fancy cosmetic portraits on the other hand are going to be a lot more work.
Tyvalir: Pretty much this.

We want the cosmetic pet obtained through the Season Journey to be within reach of most players, so we placed it at the end of the Chapters part of this new feature. If you love to test your mettle, that’s where Tiers and their exclusive portrait frames come in. These provide a degree of prestige not found elsewhere, meaning other players who see your character portrait will immediately know what you’ve achieved.

Gallery

Various images associated with the Season Journey.

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  Season Three pennant award.

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  Chapter 1, S4, PTR.

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  Chapter 2, S4, PTR.

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  Chapter 3, S4, PTR.

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  Chapter 4, S4, PTR.

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  Chapter 5: Slayer, S4, PTR.

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  Chapter 6: Champion, S4, PTR.

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  Chapter 7: Destroyer, S4.

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  Chapter 8: Conqueror, S4.

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  Chapter 9: Guardian, S4.