[GameSpot] - Is Diablo 4's Season 1 Battle Pass Worth Buying?

[343iBot]

Diablo 4 Season 1 has finally arrived and players can now take on the Malignant corruption by accessing the Seasonal Realm with a new character. The Season 1 update introduced a slew of new content into the game, which is highlighted by the first battle pass in Diablo 4. For those unfamiliar with how battle passes work in Diablo, all you need to do to progress through the tiers is play the game on the Seasonal Realm between now and when Season 1 ends on October 17.

You can complete the Season 1 questline, slay both old and new enemies, and pretty much do anything else that you can find on the map. Of course, before you venture into the new season, you might be wondering if you should buy the premium version of the battle pass or stick with the free track. The Premium version costs $10 for those who did not preorder the Digital or Ultimate Edition of Diablo 4. Below, we go into whether it's worth the cost.

The contents of the Diablo 4 Season 1 battle pass

For starters, the battle pass mostly contains cosmetic items, meaning almost nothing you unlock on the pass will give you an advantage when it comes to gameplay. The only exception to this is the Smoldering Ashes, which are available on the free track of the battle pass.

Smoldering Ashes are a huge part of the battle pass.

Smoldering Ashes are unlocked at different intervals along the battle pass and require players to be at a certain character level to start using them. Once you are at the right character level, you can equip a specific Smoldering Ash, which gives your character a gameplay buff. These buffs come in different forms, with one giving you a boost to XP through killing monsters and another boosting your chances of earning rare materials through salvaging.

Aside from the Smoldering Ashes, though, every tier on the battle pass is a cosmetic item. You can complete the Coldiron Armor set through several different tiers and also earn Platinum, the in-game currency used to purchase items at the Shop. Both of these rewards are exclusive to the premium track, as are most of the other cosmetics. The free track still offers some decent cosmetics, though, including an axe skin, a style of breaches, and more.

Is the premium battle pass worth buying?

There are a couple of factors to consider when attempting to answer the question of determining the premium pass is worth it or not. The first that came to our minds is how much Platinum you will receive by completing the battle pass. If you could earn enough Platinum to purchase the Season 2 battle pass or buy a cool-looking armor set from the Shop, then that alone could make the entire battle pass worth purchasing. Unfortunately, you will only earn 666 Platinum by progressing through all 90 tiers of the premium battle pass.

For reference, the battle pass each season costs 1,000 Platinum, and the cheapest item for sale in the Diablo 4 Shop goes for 800 Platinum. This means the 666 Platinum is virtually useless unless you purchase more of it. Of course, it might reduce the cost of the next battle pass in Season 2, but this will still require a purchase on your part.

The next thing to consider is what exactly you are receiving from the free track of the battle pass. Here are all of the free tiers on the battle pass that you will earn if you spend zero dollars in Season 1:

• Artisan’s Tunic chest
• Balanced Sword one-handed sword
• Smoldering Ashes (unlocks at level 40)
• Artisan’s Knickers legs
• Balanced Axe one-handed axe
• Smoldering Ashes (unlocks at level 53)
• Smoldering Ashes (unlocks at level 56)
• Artisan’s Boot feet
• Balanced Dagger
• Smoldering Ashes (unlocks at level 62)
• Smoldering Ashes (unlocks at level 66)
• Balanced Mace one-handed club
• Artisan’s Bracers hands
• Smoldering Ashes (unlocks at level 71)
• Balanced Wand
• Banner of the Malignant Mount trophy
• x2 Smoldering Ashes (unlocks at level 78)
• Eldritch prefix player title
• Smoldering Ashes (unlocks at level 80)
• Smoldering Ashes (unlocks at level 82)
• Smoldering Ashes (unlocks at level 86)
• Smoldering Ashes (unlocks at level 89)
• Smoldering Ashes (unlocks at level 90)
• Smoldering Ashes (unlocks at level 90)
• Monster suffix player title
• x2 Smoldering Ashes (unlocks at level 97)
• x3 Smoldering Ashes (unlocks at level 100)

If we look at all of the content you receive from the free track, it starts to make the premium version look weak by comparison. The biggest bonus the premium version has over the free version is the Coldiron Armor set, which looks fantastic. This set comes with every piece of armor and several weapons that players can equip via the transmog system.

The Coldiron Armor set does look incredible, but is it worth the entire premium pass?

From our point of view, it only makes sense to purchase the premium battle pass if you want the Coldrion Armor set. You can look at it as you are paying $10 to purchase this armor set and then everything else on the premium track is a bonus. Of course, this $10 can only go so far depending on how much time you put into Season 1 of Diablo 4. Reaching tier 90 to fully complete the Coldiron Armor set will take hours and hours of gameplay.

For anyone that doesn't really care about the Coldiron Armor set, though, we would say no, the premium battle pass in Diablo 4 Season 1 is not worth purchasing. You already gain so much content from the free track, including all of the Smoldering Ashes, and the premium track doesn't even offer you enough Platinum to purchase anything in the game. While the Coldiron Armor set looks fantastic, we don't think it's enough to salvage the entirety of the premium pass.

View the full article