Marks of Wisdom replace the old gold-cost respec for War Plan nodes on the Diablo 4 Season 16 PTR: earn them from War Plan activities, then spend them to move Tactics points between nodes. While PTR farming is the direct way to test the system, D4 Gold is a separate live-server option and does not affect Marks or War Plan allocations.

How Marks of Wisdom change War Plan respecs

Marks are the PTR resource for changing your War Plan layout. You earn them by completing War Plan activities, and the test-period cap is about 20, enough to try two or three Gold-focused setups without using character gold for node respecs.

Open War Plans, select Tactics, and find the reward-node section. Before confirming a point move, check that the node you are leaving and the node receiving the point match your plan; afterward, verify the new allocation and note the remaining Marks. The cost shifts from gold to Marks, so a respec is not free just because your wallet stays unchanged.

The PTR window is scheduled for October 27, 2026, at 10:00 a.m. PDT through November 3 at 10:00 a.m. PST. Treat that as a test period, not a change to the live Season 15 economy.

Set up a Gold-focused layout

Gold sits among the reward nodes in the lower half of the tree, while activity nodes are in the upper half. Put all three available reward points into Gold for a focused test; leaving points in Armor, Weapons, Jewelry, Obducite, Salvage, Gems, Activity Keys, Horadric Cube Materials, or Talisman Items makes the result less useful as a Gold-only comparison.

Earn Marks through War Plan activities before changing the layout, then record your starting Mark balance.
Choose the activity you clear fastest. Helltides and Nightmare Dungeons can each receive activity points; at least one point in either line opens a follow-on choice for Greater Helltides or Escalation Dungeons.
Move reward points to Gold until all three are assigned there, and check the displayed layout before starting your timed run.
Record starting gold, elapsed time, route, and ending gold. Include travel, deaths, recovery, vendor trips, and inventory decisions rather than timing only the final fight or chest.

War Plan activities are more likely to pay Gold with the Gold reward node, but that does not guarantee every completion will pay Gold. Compare equal-length runs before and after the allocation, and keep the activity and route consistent where possible. A faster Nightmare Dungeon route can beat a slower Helltide run even when the reward setup favors Gold.

Pair the node with the right farm and avoid wasted changes

For a Helltide test, the PTR preview schedule places base-game zones on the hour and expansion zones on the half hour, with a tide almost always available. Aberrant Cinders are announced to persist between tides, so record what you carry and include travel time when comparing runs; do not assume the old reset pattern applies.

Scent of Gold is the Tyrael's Boons path for monster gold and gems. Pair its monster-gold branch with the War Plans Gold node when measuring total income, but settle the Boons layout first: preview information puts a Boons refund at about 5,000,000 gold per point. That cost is a separate concern from the PTR Marks system.

Keep a consistent sell-versus-salvage rule for junk rares and War Plan caches. Vendor time can cut into hourly returns, while switching reward points to Obducite or Jewelry changes what the run is measuring. If Horadric Cube Materials or Talisman Items are the actual bottleneck, prioritize those rewards instead of chasing a larger gold number.

Use the PTR result only to plan for Season 16; it does not establish live Season 15 income or prices. After your next PTR login, check the current Gold allocation, record a timed run, and compare it with your baseline; for a remaining live-server shortfall, assess buy Diablo 4 Gold separately from PTR testing.