Diablo IVCampaign promises dozens of hours of cooling time across multiple character classes, but the action-RPG looter’s true longevity will be based on its seasonal content updates. Blizzard has shared a bit more about how it will work. in a new blog postand the whole post-launch experience feels a lot like one of the rare live game achievements: Destiny 2.
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Years ago, Bungie’s loot shooter went from biannual DLC add-ons to quarterly seasons that expand on sci-fi, introduce new gear, and add more challenges. Diablo IVThe final post-campaign game will apparently be quite similar, with four updates per year that each bring new rewards, have distinct themes, and tell smaller stories set in the dark fantasy world of Sanctuary.
There will be battle passes, cosmetic shops, and even seasonal challenges that can be completed to speed up progress. The heart of this build will be what Blizzard calls the “Season Journey,” a gothic-looking newsletter where you track your progress.
It will consist of chapters with lists of objectives. Completing each chapter will earn you seasonal rewards such as crafting materials, legendary aspects used to upgrade the Codex of Power, a post-game skill tree, and Favor, a special type of XP that ranks up the seasonal battle pass.
Learn more: Diablo IVThe beta of us kinda obsessed with the hell
Speaking of Battle Passes, there will be three. A regular one will be free and will contain 27 rewards spread over 100 tiers. The premium battle pass will cost $10 and will have a new reward for each tier. Finally, a third battle pass, called the Accelerated Battle Pass, will cost $25 and will let you skip the first 20 levels instead of grinding them. You’ll also get a special Wings of the Creator emote.
But wait, there’s more! To dive into the nitty-gritty of battle passes for a second, some rank rewards will contain cosmetics while others will offer a resource called Smoldering Ashes. These can be used to purchase various Seasonal Blessings that allow you to gain additional XP, Gold, or Obols (used to purchase loot from the Purveyor of Curiosities merchant). If you’re a normal person, this probably all sounds a little too much, but if you’re a sick person looking to play hard Diablo IV until your body turns to dust, you’re probably going, “yes, ha ha ha, yes!”
How will be Diablo IVis the work of the microtransaction shop?
Blizzard’s latest dev blog post also shed some light on the microtransaction store. While the Battle Pass leaderboard will include some cosmetics, others will be exclusive to the Cosmetic Shop and cost real money. The studio stresses, however, that nothing of gameplay value will be sold there. It’s all purely for player expression. Diablo IV also has a cross-buy feature tied to your Battle.net account, so any premium currency or money spent on one platform will carry over to the other.
Like the betas we’ve played so farthis is all very familiar to anyone who has played Destiny 2 the last two years. Franchise General Manager Rod Fergusson and Associate Game Director Joseph Piepiora said Paul Tassi of Forbes in an interview that these seasonal updates will occur alongside paid expansions, though it’s unclear whether these will be annual or less frequent.
“It’s not like I can say ‘hey, we stole this feature’, but I think [Destiny 2] is a big inspiration to watch,” Fergusson said. ” They succeeded. You have like a season of Defiance that has a theme and kind of a narrative wrapper and provides context for new mechanics… so that’s the notion that Joe is really focusing on, what the seasonal theme is and how everything reinforces it does he?
Diablo IVThe first season of won’t arrive until “mid to late July”, but the game itself will drop on June 6th with early access from June 1st for those who purchase the Deluxe or Ultimate editions. If you want to start playing sooner for free, however, there’s a final live beta on the weekend of May 12. Of course, it’s the same weekend as The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, but you can multitask, right? You can not ?
