End of Season 2 / Beginning of Season 3 information recap

Some of the info I was looking for was spread out across a multiple posts, so I decided to consolidate them into one thread in case someone else is looking for the information I was.

Pre Season End: Bonus gold and XP Week!

To celebrate one year of Reaper of Souls (and the community who continues to support us), all heroes who log in to Diablo III this week on any platform will receive a +100% bonus to Gold Find and EXP! As with previous buffs, the bonuses provided will stack multiplicatively with existing in-game bonuses, including those provided by items, Shrines, Pools of Reflection, and Paragon points.
This bonus Gold Find and Experience period begins in the Americas region on Monday, March 23 at 12:00 a.m. PDT and ends on Monday, March 30 at 11:59 p.m. PDT.
**For PC, the buff will start and end at the noted times in each gameplay region according to its local time zone (PDT for the Americas, CET for Europe, and KST for Asia). For console, the buff will start and end in all regions at the same time, listed above. For time zone assistance, click here.

Source: http://us.battle.net//d3/en/blog/18388260

Seasonal Info:
The current plan is for Season 2 to end, Patch 2.2 to be implemented, and then Season 3 to start.

Season 2 End:

• North America: Sunday, April 5 @ 9:00 p.m. PDT
• Europe: Sunday, April 5 @ 9:00 p.m. CEST
• Asia: Sunday, April 5 @ 9:00 p.m. KST

Patch 2.2 implemented: Tuesday April 7 (More or less confirmed)

Season 3 Start:

• North America: Friday, April 10 @ 6:00 p.m. PDT
• Europe: Friday, April 10 @ 6:00 p.m. CEST
• Asia: Friday, April 10 @ 6:00 p.m. KST

Source: Season 2 Ending Soon

Patch 2.2 Info:

Patch 2.2 is changing a lot of things, including:

• New legendary items
• New abilities on existing legendary items (these changes will NOT be retroactive)
• New abilities / changes on existing legendary sets (these changes WILL be retroactive)
• Improved potions
• Balance changes
• Many quality of life improvements including better stacking of items in inventory, new interface for cosmetic items, and improved blood shard cap.

The current expected changes are here.

(Note, this list also includes Season 3 only items, but in these PTR notes they are not marked as season-only. Season 3 info is below.)

Season 3 Exclusive Items

Class Specific

• Dead Man's Legacy (DH) - Legendary power added - Multishot hits enemies who are below 50-60% health twice
• Dread Iron (Barb) - New Legendary Belt - Ground Stomp causes an Avalanche
• Hammer Belt (Crusader, Placeholder Name) - New Legendary Belt - Justice spawns a Blessed Hammer when it hits an enemy
• Ranslor's Folly (Wizard) - New Legendary Bracers - Energy Twister Periodically pulls in enemies within 30 yards
• Little Man's Finger (WD) - New Legendary Ring - Gargantuan instead summons three smaller Gargantuans each more powerful than the original
• Spirit Guards (Monk) - New Legendary Bracers - Your Spirit generators reduce your damage taken by 30-40% for 3 seconds

All Classes:

• Nagelring (rework) - Summons a Fallen Lunatic to your side every 10-12 seconds
• Obsidian Ring of the Zodiac (rework) - Your first hit with each cast of a resource-spending attack reduces the remaining cooldown of one of your skills by 1
• Iceblink (New Legendary gem) - Your Cold skills now apply Chill effects and your Chill effects now slow enemy movement speed by an additional 5%
• The additional movement speed reduction is increased by .4% per rank
• At rank 25 you gain 10% increased chance to critically strike Chilled or Frozen enemies
• Mutilation Guard (Legendary gem) - Gain 10% melee damage reduction
• Melee damage reduction is increased by 1% per rank
• At rank 25 while below 50% life, you may move through enemies unhindered
• Bottomless Potion of Amplification - New Legendary Potion
• Increases healing from all sources by 20-25% for 5 seconds

Source : http://us.battle.net/d3/en/forum/topic/16542805091

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