Tag: diablo iv

Diablo IV Is Headed to Steam This Month, Just in Time for the Vampire-Themed Season 2

Diablo IV is coming to Steam, merely four months after its multi-platform launch. The devilish loot RPG is headed to Valve’s game storefront on October 17, keeping with creator Blizzard’s promise to bring more of its PC catalogue to the commonly preferred choice of platform. You see, all PC games from Blizzard are restricted to its proprietary Battle.net launcher, making it a nuisance for players to jump between and log into different accounts. It’s a hot topic among the community, who’d much rather have their entire library on Steam, for easy access. The free-to-play shooter Overwatch 2 was the first to break this tradition in August, albeit that ended poorly.

The Steam version is now available for wishlisting, and owners will be required to link/ connect Diablo 4 to a Battle.net account, enabling cross-platform play and cross-progression. That said, the game can be launched natively and there’s no need for you to keep Blizzard’s app installed on your PC. The arrival also brings the niceties of unlockable achievements, alongside smooth access to the Steam friend list, so you can invite others for co-op demon-killing sessions. For now, there is no word on whether existing owners of the game will be getting a discount on their Steam purchase, but the store page listing does feature three editions — Standard, Deluxe, and Ultimate — same as the initial launch. During the developer update live stream, held late Wednesday, the team noted that the dungeon-crawler is playable on the Steam Deck, though they never went into the specifics of graphical settings.

Diablo 4’s arrival on Steam coincides with the upcoming season 2 content, titled ‘Season of Blood,’ granting you vampiric powers to storm through the lands of Sanctuary. The update will introduce a new questline, pairing you with the crossbow-wielding vampire hunter Erys, voiced by Gemma Chan (The Eternals), as you investigate a string of bloodied murders and the Dark Master responsible for it. More importantly, players can access the season 2 content right after completing the Missing Pieces prologue quest, essentially skipping the campaign to fulfil their blood-sucking desires. The update also vastly improves the endgame progression by increasing XP gains after level 50, faster by up to 40 percent. Expect five new endgame bosses, a general balance of skills, and faster mounts for traversal.

As mentioned before, Overwatch 2 was the first Blizzard PC game to make a jump to Steam, with the publisher promising that it plans on bringing over more titles. The shooter’s arrival was instantly blasted with negative reviews, making it the worst-reviewed game on the platform. At the time of writing, it’s got an ‘Overwhelmingly Negative’ review score, due to players’ dissatisfaction with the battle pass system and the cancellation of its long-promised PvE mode. Diablo IV, on the other hand, was received well at launch but slowly fell off with season 1’s release that made the game incredibly unfun to grind. Hopefully, fate doesn’t repeat itself this time.

Diablo IV is headed to Steam on October 17. It is already available to play on PC via Battle.net, in addition to console through PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series S/X.

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Diablo IV Gets Hefty Pre-Season Patch, Upsetting the Community; Blizzard to Address Concerns in Live Stream

Diablo IV’s much-awaited season 1 update is almost upon us and ahead of that, Blizzard has rolled out a new patch for preparation. The hefty 8GB patch 1.1.0a brings a range of balance changes, fixes some bugs, and adds unique items, in addition to making permanent upgrades such as Altars of Lilith unlocks available account-wide when starting as a new character. For the uninitiated, ‘Season of the Malignant’ is set after the events of the main campaign, once you’ve defeated Lilith and unravelled the Tree of Whispers. Diablo 4 season 1 goes live tonight at 10:30pm IST in India/ July 20 at 10am PT in the US, across PC and consoles.

The Sorcerer class — spell-based — has been hit with the biggest nerf in Diablo IV season 1, with the Devouring Blaze ability’s bonus critical damage getting reduced from 10/20/30 percent to 7/14/21 percent. A unique characteristic of this ability is that the damage bonus is increased when enemies are immobilised, though it seems like Blizzard has delivered a blow to it as well. The damage numbers have now been reduced from 25/50/75 percent to 10/20/30 percent. Essentially, all classes have been nerfed, causing the Diablo IV community to be furious, one of whom expressed their frustration on the official subreddit, which at the time of writing stands at 23,600 upvotes. You can check out the entire list of Diablo IV’s latest patch notes on the official website.

Diablo IV Review

The new season was supposed to kickstart a side saga in Sanctuary — a plague that slowly spreads around, turning all living beings into bloodthirsty fiends. When the new content was announced, the developers claimed that by collecting Malignant Hearts from these beings, players would be able to create overpowered “stupid, new broken” builds that let them storm through the map, in a quest that serves the new character Cormand. However, every decision listed in the pre-season patch seems to slow down your character’s progression significantly. The Barbarian class’ Hamstring (bleed) skill now only slows down Healthy enemies, while the Necromancer’s Splintering Aspect Bone Shard damage has been reduced from the original 50–100 percent to 30–60 percent.

“We have observed that the experience bonus rewarded for killing higher level monsters escalates too fast when compared to the relative challenge involved,” a developer note from the patch note reads, essentially slowing down the progression system. During pre-season, besting a monster that’s one level higher grants a +15 percent bonus, going up to +25 percent upon killing enemies that are three levels or more above you. For those playing Diablo 4 on Nightmare difficulty (World Tier III), Helltide events have been made slower, starting with an increase in monster difficulty. The spawning demons would now be three levels higher than your character instead of two, while the Tortured Gift of Mysteries chest’s cost has increased from 175 to 250 Aberrant Cinders. In a hotfix, the studio fixed the reduced drop rate of Abberant Cinders in Helltide, which it claims was originally ‘lower than intended.’

Seeing the community backlash, Blizzard has decided to address it all in a Campfire Chat live stream session, set for Friday, July 21 at 11:30pm IST/ 11am PT in the US. The session will be streamed on the official Diablo YouTube channel, though I wouldn’t expect to see any immediate changes to the new features that make Diablo IV gameplay a ‘slog.’ Elsewhere, Adam Fletcher, community director, confirmed that Blizzard will be removing the level requirement for World Tier 3 (40) and World Tier 4 (60) that were introduced in the pre-season patch.

Diablo IV is out on PC (via Battle.net), PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series S/X.

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Diablo IV Season 1 Release Date Set for July 20: Malignant Quest Line, Broken Builds, More

Diablo IV’s much-awaited season 1 update will release July 20, nearly a month-and-a-half since the game debuted to rave reviews. Dubbed ‘Season of the Malignant,’ the update was shown off during a developer live stream, held early Friday, detailing new quests, items, and further focus on its battle pass. As the title suggests, the upcoming season introduces a brand-new questline where the realm of Sanctuary is slowly getting corrupted by a plague, turning all living things into Malignant Monsters with new powers. The chapter is set after Diablo 4’s main campaign where you bested Lilith, Daughter of Hatred, to rid Sanctuary of evil, and serves as a side story within the open world. The season starts at 10:30pm IST/ 10am PT.

As a festering curse widens its reach across Diablo IV’s Sanctuary, the player will be summoned back to Kyovashad at level 1 to meet a new character Cormand, a former priest from the Cathedral of Light, who assigns us the new task of ripping the infected hearts out the Malignant creatures and using them to raise our power. Elite monsters you find in the world have a chance of spawning as a Malignant version, who upon defeat, drops an exposed Malignant Heart. You can interact with this item to start a ritual that spawns an even more powerful version of the elite enemy, surrounded by a group of corrupted mobs. Once you kill that — yeah, it’s double the work — you earn a Caged Heart, which essentially functions like a gem that can be slotted into rings or amulets to tremendously boost your power. It’s a way for you to create “stupid, new broken builds” that the developers hope are rightfully balanced.

Diablo IV Review

During Diablo IV’s season 1, all ring and amulet drops will come with coloured sockets — red, blue, or yellow — that will only accept similarly coloured hearts’ powers. You cannot pair a red heart in a blue socket, as the game directs players to look for specific colours of items. Maybe if you’re lucky enough on your hunt, you will uncover a mysterious fourth colour of heart, which can be socketed onto any jewellery. There are a total of 32 Malignant Heart powers to collect, albeit you will run into even stronger versions of those as you keep playing the game. Any old, now useless hearts can then be broken down into crafting material that can be used to create Invokers. These can be used once you finish the Diablo IV season 1 campaign, at a Malignant Tunnel, where you can hunt for guaranteed hearts. Remember: Malignant Hearts are quite rare when looking for in the overworld.

The season 1 journey will be spread across seven chapters, each with its own set of objectives and rewards, by way of new items and Favor. The latter is crucial to progressing Diablo 4’s battle pass by helping you unlock rewards — the more Favor you earn, the more tiers you unlock. It is also worth mentioning that there are two kinds of battle passes here — a free tier where everyone can earn in-game boosts and a paid Premium Tier, where the rewards are all cosmetics. Upon launch, Diablo IV merely featured an in-game shop that simply contained skins, with the game never luring you to buy any of them. Hopefully, the trend continues as Blizzard Entertainment focuses on expanding the game in the years to come. The studio already has two expansions in active development.

Diablo IV is out on PC (via Battle.net), PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series S/X.

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Diablo IV Already Has Two Expansions in Active Development, Blizzard Confirms

Diablo IV has just launched across all platforms, but that hasn’t stopped developer Blizzard from expanding its legacy. In an interview with Kinda Funny Games, general manager Rod Fergusson confirmed that the studio already has two expansions in development. “As I sit here we’re about to launch the main game, we’re finishing up season one, we’re working on season two, we’re working on expansion one” he said, adding that development on the second major expansion was about to kick off. Diablo IV was designed keeping a live-service format in mind, substantial content will be added over time in seasons. This is a big upgrade compared to Diablo III’s model, released 11 years ago, which was left abandoned over that time.

In an earlier interview with IGN, Fergusson mentioned that Diablo IV’s expansions will feature narrative questlines, with some “richer context” being added around a season’s release, which will also follow a theme, resulting in new cosmetics and gameplay mechanics tailored toward it. The narrative itself will not extend the main campaign in any way and merely serves as extra stories set within the game’s open world. “Because that’s the nice thing about the world is that there are lots of stories you can still tell without having it be the Lilith/ Inarius story,” he said, at the time. In comparison, both Diablo II and Diablo III received one big expansion each, albeit continued support was provided through patches and content updates. The team plans to update Diablo IV for years, even introducing a battle pass that would simply contain cosmetic items.

Currently, Diablo 4 is in its pre-season stage, bringing in a shop with limited inventory for purchase. As season one rolls in, players can expect the battle pass and an even fuller shop that’s aligned towards a theme. The in-game shop is also touted to have an intelligence system behind it, which would largely recommend items based on whatever class you’re playing. The pre-season period will function as a testing period for that, as the team continues working on the major update.

Last week, Blizzard upped the stakes for Diablo IV’s more competitive player base, promising to immortalise the first 1,000 players to reach level 100 on Hardcore mode by engraving their names/ battle tags onto a statue of Lilith. Currently, there’s no word on where the statue will be kept or what they will be doing with it, but I’m assuming it’s in the main headquarters. For the uninitiated, the Hardcore Mode is basically a permadeath mode where your character gets deleted upon death, forcing you to recreate and start from the very beginning. The difficulty is also quite high on this one.

Back in May, the company also highlighted Diablo 4’s endgame progression, which is meant to keep the game enjoyable, long after the main campaign is done. You’ve got a Capstone Dungeon that lets you do repeated runs — in rising difficulties — as a means to collect a whole variety of loot and continue getting stronger. Nightmare Dungeons also return, letting you choose one out of 120+ dungeons in the Sanctuary and turn it into a harsher playfield. These can be activated by finding a Nightmare Sigil, which adds difficult objectives, increased enemy count, and portals that toss in monsters from other realms.

Diablo IV is out now on PC (via Battle.net), PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series S/X.

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Diablo IV Gets Horrific Live-Action Trailer Directed by Oscar-Winner Chloé Zhao

Diablo IV just got a gothic horror-themed live-action trailer, ahead of its release on June 6. The latest ad campaign, dubbed ‘Saviors Wanted,’ is shot by Oscar-winning director Chloé Zhao (Nomadland) and co-directed by Kiku Ohe, capturing the fear and conflict plaguing the lands of the Sanctuary. In this twisted place brimming with monsters, the High Heavens and Burning Hells wage destructive battles, leaving its inhabitants in turmoil. Diablo 4 officially went gold, late last month, suggesting that it is ready for shipping; and more recently, underwent a Server Slam open beta event where the Legendary loot drops were adjusted to reflect the day one version.

The live-action trailer for Diablo IV essentially serves as a tour of tragedy, starting with a wide shot of an aged man mourning over a stretch of dead horses in the icy tundras of Sanctuary. “Whatever you can do. We beg you,” he pleads, turning to the camera — essentially speaking to the players who would save their lands from ruin. It then continues cutting back and forth between cries for help from other poor unfortunate souls and epic shots of our heroes fending themselves against hordes of demons. The heroes, of course, represent the five classes in Diablo IV — Barbarian, Sorcerer, Druid, Rogue, and the new Necromancer, who can summon and command corpses to perform their bidding. The trailer ends with a shot of Lilith, the Queen of the Succubi, emerging from the skies — waging war against her bitter enemy angel Inarius and in the process, rule over Sanctuary once more.

“Working with Blizzard, we had the wonderful opportunity to bring the dark, thrilling and imaginative world of Diablo IV to life,” Zhao said in a prepared statement. “Diablo fans are very passionate, and many have been with the game for over two decades. We want to do right by the fans, honour the game’s rich lore and visceral world-building while evoking the strong emotions the players feel while immersing in the game.” As mentioned before, Zhao won the Oscar for directing 2020’s Nomadland, which also bagged an award for Best Picture and Best Actress (Frances McDormand), that year. The filmmaker then branched into blockbusters like Marvel’s Eternals and is now attached to direct an adaptation of Hamnet, which imagines the story of Agnes, William Shakespeare’s wife.

Last month, Blizzard Entertainment detailed Diablo 4’s endgame progression, noting how it plans to keep you hooked for hundreds of hours after the main story is done. It begins with a Capstone Dungeon that lets you do repeated runs — in rising difficulties — so you can collect a whole variety of loot and continue getting stronger. Nightmare Dungeons are returning as well, letting you pick one out of 120+ dungeons in the Sanctuary and turn it into a harsher playfield. These can be activated by finding a Nightmare Sigil, which adds difficult objectives, increased enemy count, and portals that pour out monsters from other realms. Unfortunately, you have no control over when the portals open up, so be prepared.

Diablo IV releases June 6 on PC (via Battle.net), PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series S/X. Early access for Deluxe and Ultimate edition pre-orders begin on June 2 in India/ June 1 in the US.

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Diablo IV Open Beta Begins in March, Blizzard Confirms: Details

Diablo IV is getting a pair of beta test sessions next month. As per developer Blizzard, those who pre-ordered the title gain early access from March 17–19, granting a deeper look into the early game, which includes the Prologue and Act 1. In the following week, from March 24–26, all players can participate in the open beta period and experience the might of the Burning Hells, albeit levelling will be capped off at 25. The upcoming Diablo 4 also bears a battle pass system focused on cosmetics and is slated to release June 6 on PC and consoles.

Both beta periods will offer a first taste of the Diablo IV campaign, as players will get to explore the snowy tundras of the Fractured Peaks and face numerous demons prowling in the dark. While there is no specific mention of how long this region will take to clear, Blizzard claims that Act 1 content will be present in its entirety. Though, since it’s a beta, better expect minor performance issues and outages. All feedback collected from the open beta periods will be evaluated to make final tweaks for when the game launches. During IGN’s Fan Fest event, the studio also dropped a cinematic that served as a peek into the secluded, icy ranges, on which a custom-created weary traveller stumbles onto a mysterious, bloodthirsty foe. Blizzard also iterated that any progress made during the beta will not be carried over to the full purchase.

According to IGN, any custom character you create will be featured in multiple cinematics in exact likeness, depending on what cosmetics and appearance you set in the character creator screen. As stated before, Diablo 4 includes a battle pass system, covering a variety of clothing choices, tattoos, weapons, hairstyles, and emotes. However, it is divided into two parts: Free and Premium. The former is open to all and provides gameplay boosts to all players, depending on what challenges you complete. The Premium version costs $10 (about Rs. 827) worth of in-game currency and is solely focused on aesthetics. That said, Blizzard hasn’t revealed if one could use any gameplay-unlocked currency to purchase further versions of the battle pass.

These items can be unlocked within three months since they first show up on the battle pass, after which Diablo IV begins its new season. This implies that each season will run for three months — a fairly common practice. The latest instalment in the Diablo franchise also adds a new Necromancer class, wherein players can summon and command corpses to perform evil deeds on its vast, semi-open-world map and face demons such as Lilith, the Queen of the Succubi.

Diablo IV releases June 6 on PC (via Battle.net), PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series S/X. The beta will be accessible across all platforms.

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