[GameSpot] - Diablo 4 Season 1 Begins In July, Blizzard Details Seasonal Bonuses And Battle Pass Rewards

[343iBot]

Diablo IV's first season will arrive in mid to late July following the game's launch on June 6, Blizzard has announced. The news came as part of developer livestream dedicated to offering new details related to how Diablo IV's seasons and battle pass will work.

Seasons in Diablo IV will be quarterly (four a year) and will function similarly to how they did in Diablo III, with players looking to complete objectives as part of a Season Journey. Objectives are broken down into chapters, and players will need to complete most, but not all, of the objectives in one chapter before progressing to the next. Completing objectives as part of the Season Journey will contribute towards leveling up the seasonal battle pass, which will feature 27 free reward tiers. Playing and leveling up seasonal characters will also contribute towards battle pass progress.

The free reward tiers will occasionally include a special currency called Smoldering Ash, which is used to unlock and upgrade seasonal perks (called Season Blessings) that will grant various benefits to seasonal characters, ranging from increased XP earned from monsters to having a higher chance of acquiring rare salvage materials. Blizzard re-emphasized that players won't be able to pay for power in Diablo IV by purchasing tier skips for the battle pass to earn Smoldering Ash and immediately make their seasonal characters more powerful, as each Smoldering Ash reward will have level requirements that will need to be met before they can be used.

All rewards that grant some kind of gameplay benefit will be included as part of the game's free battle pass. The premium battle pass reward track, which Blizzard confirmed will cost $10, will instead grant 63 tiers of largely cosmetic items. Players will additionally have the option of purchasing an accelerated premium battle pass with 20 tier skips for roughly $25. In total, the battle pass will feature 90 tiers to unlock. In a previous interview, associate game director Joe Piepiora said that completing Diablo IV's battle pass would take around 80 hours.

Diablo IV's battle pass looks like what you would expect.

As for what new seasons will bring, Blizzard said each season will sport a strong unifying theme that will run through the battle pass and new gameplay features. They will also introduce new seasonal storylines that won't progress the game's core story (that will be saved for future expansions, Blizzard confirmed) but will explore the world of Sanctuary in other ways. New gameplay mechanics, as well as the seasonal storyline, will go away at the end of a season, though Blizzard said there is a chance seasonal content could return down the line. However, new Legendary powers or unique items introduced as part of the season will stick around as part of the core game.

To access seasonal content, players will need to have completed Diablo IV's campaign at least once on any character. From that point forward, players can choose to skip the campaign at any time on subsequent characters in order to dive straight into the new content. Blizzard additionally clarified what unlocks exist on a per-character basis and what unlocks are account-wide. Unlocked Legendary aspects and entries in the Codex of Power, as well as regional Renown levels and discovered Altars of Lilith, will need to be earned on every character and are not account-wide. However, the stat boosts and other rewards from reaching certain Renown levels for each of the game's regions will be account-wide. Once players unlock their first mount as part of Diablo IV's campaign, all subsequent characters will be able to use mounts from the get-go.

Diablo IV arrives on June 6, or June 2 for those who purchase the Deluxe or Ultimate edition of the game. Those interested in taking Blizzard's latest for a spin ahead of launch will have one more chance to do so from May 12-14 as part of the game's free Server Slam beta. Though character progress doesn't carry over to the full game, players who reach level 20 and achieve certain milestones will earn permanent rewards when Diablo IV launches.

View the full article