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Over the last few months, we have communicated details about customization, Endgame offerings, moment-to-moment gameplay, and given players a first-hand taste of Sanctuary through Act I during our Early Access and Open Beta Weekends. But what about the post-launch experience, and how do we plan to increase the heat? We'll answer this question by explaining our approach to Seasons, Season Journeys, Battle Pass, and the Shop, and how they work in unison to enhance and diversify the robust campaign and Endgame offerings available to players at launch. There was also a Diablo IV Developer Update Livestream today (see below) that further expands on the aforementioned areas—give it a watch after reading this blog.
Stoking the Flames of Hell: Seasons
Seasons are quarterly releases that will add additional gameplay features, questlines (with new and old faces alike), Battle Passes, Legendary Items, class balance changes, quality-of-life improvements, and much more. Seasons will introduce fresh concepts and ideas into the world of Sanctuary, for all wanderers to enjoy while simultaneously iterating upon your baseline experience. Above all, we want Seasons to be celebratory moments; something to look forward to and enjoy with your friends and other members of the Diablo community. Season 1 will begin in mid to late July, and to embark on this next chapter, you must first complete the Campaign. Because of this, we recommend you begin your pursuit of Lilith in advance so you can jump into the first Season as soon as it becomes available.
Our latest Diablo IV Developer Update Livestream may have concluded, but you can glean more details about the post-launch experience from the video on demand. Today, we were joined by Diablo general manager Rod Fergusson, associate game director Joseph Piepiora, product management director Kegan Clark, and associate director of community Adam Fletcher. Together, these Diablo experts defined exactly what the post-launch experiences of Diablo IV will bring and held a live Q&A to answer burning questions from players:
Progressing Through the Season Journey and Earning Rewards
If Seasons are the night's sky, then the Season Journey is the North Star, your guiding light. Players can look to the Season Journey for details on the new content available to them. The Season Journey will be invaluable in helping you quickly level-up your Battle Pass, as this is done through completing Chapters that are comprised of Objectives. Completing all Objectives in a Chapter will score you Seasonal rewards, such as useful Crafting Materials and Legendary Aspects for your Codex of Power.
Each objective also rewards an amount of Favor, the resource used to level up through the Tiers of the Battle Pass. Favor can also be obtained from completing quests, slaying monsters, participating in events, and more.
Injecting Variety with the Optional Battle Pass
With each Season comes a new Battle Pass for you to earn rewards from, containing 27 Free Tiers and 63 Premium Tiers. You can earn Cosmetics and Smoldering Ashes from the Free Tiers just by slaying demons as you normally would. Smoldering Ashes are a resource that can be spent on Season Blessings, which provide you with a bonus to earning XP, Gold, or Obols depending on which Blessings you spend Ashes on.
Players can have more than one Season Blessing active at a time and can use additional Ashes to upgrade the bonus they receive. The bonuses gained from Season Blessings only last until that respective Season ends. Since Season Blessings affect gameplay, you must meet certain Character Level requirements to claim the Smoldering Ashes needed to apply Blessings. This ensures they are earned by achieving gameplay requirements and there is no advantage gained from purchasing Tier Skips.
To earn rewards from the Premium Tiers, a player must purchase the Premium Battle Pass. This upgraded track of the Battle Pass will not provide any in-game power, but instead unlocks tiers that provide Cosmetics unique to that Season and the Platinum currency. Platinum can be spent in the Shop to acquire new Cosmetics that sculpt you into the wanderer you wish to become or put towards the purchase of future Battle Passes. Platinum can only be acquired using real currency, such as USD.
Overall, there are three versions of the Battle Pass available. The Free Battle Pass, simply called Battle Pass, the Premium Battle Pass, which will cost 1,000 Platinum (equivalent of $9.99 USD), and the Accelerated Battle Pass, which includes all perks of the Premium Battle Pass, 20 Tier Skips, a special Cosmetic, and will cost 2,800 Platinum (equivalent of $24.99 USD).
Reinforcing Your Character's Fantasy: The Shop
Through slaying demons across Sanctuary, you can acquire hundreds of transmogs, weapons, and pieces of armor, including dozens of armor sets, all available to players at launch. The role of Shop Cosmetics is to provide greater breadth in customization options, allowing you to reinforce the fantasy of choice for your character—none of the Cosmetics sold in the Shop provide anything greater than aesthetic variety. Diablo is a dark, gritty, fantasy game, and its purchasable Cosmetics will reinforce this theme. In comparison to the Class-agnostic Cosmetics earned from the Battle Pass, the Cosmetics offered in the Shop are meant to reinforce class-specific fantasies, so there will be some Cosmetics unique to particular Classes. The Shop is intended to be an avenue of self-expression for our players, and they can interact with it as much or as little as they desire during their time in Sanctuary.
The Cosmetics sold in the Shop will rotate on a consistent basis and must be purchased with Platinum. Once you have purchased a Cosmetic for a Class, it will be usable for all characters of that Class on your account. Diablo IV also contains a cross-purchase feature, where any Platinum or items acquired with Platinum are tied to your Battle.net account and can be accessed on any platform where you play the game. The Shop has been built for transparency; using the Preview function, you can thoroughly inspect any Cosmetic you're thinking of purchasing to ensure it feels right for you. Our Shop is also intelligent; using your playstyle and aesthetic preferences, it will recommend Cosmetics that support the wanderer you want to become.
HELP US PREPARE FOR LAUNCH DURING SERVER SLAM
Server Slam runs from May 12, 12 p.m.-May 14, 12 p.m. PDT. Everyone can take up arms against the armies of the Burning Hells to help us test the durability of our servers on Windows PC, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, and PlayStation 4—along with couch co-op for consoles and cross-play and cross-progression for all platforms.
For information on Server Slam's contents, rewards, and how to Early Download it now, visit our Server Slam blog.
BE PREPARED TO ENTER HELL'S GATES
Are you ready to pass through Hell's gates on June 6? If you have not already pre-purchased the Diablo IV Ultimate Edition for your platform of choice and want up to 4 days of Early Access to launch, and the Accelerated Seasonal Battle Pass—includes 20 Tier Skips—and the Wings of the Creator Emote, visit the shop.
And remember…
Hail Lilith, Blessed Mother!
View at TechPowerUp Main Site | Source
Stoking the Flames of Hell: Seasons
Seasons are quarterly releases that will add additional gameplay features, questlines (with new and old faces alike), Battle Passes, Legendary Items, class balance changes, quality-of-life improvements, and much more. Seasons will introduce fresh concepts and ideas into the world of Sanctuary, for all wanderers to enjoy while simultaneously iterating upon your baseline experience. Above all, we want Seasons to be celebratory moments; something to look forward to and enjoy with your friends and other members of the Diablo community. Season 1 will begin in mid to late July, and to embark on this next chapter, you must first complete the Campaign. Because of this, we recommend you begin your pursuit of Lilith in advance so you can jump into the first Season as soon as it becomes available.
Our latest Diablo IV Developer Update Livestream may have concluded, but you can glean more details about the post-launch experience from the video on demand. Today, we were joined by Diablo general manager Rod Fergusson, associate game director Joseph Piepiora, product management director Kegan Clark, and associate director of community Adam Fletcher. Together, these Diablo experts defined exactly what the post-launch experiences of Diablo IV will bring and held a live Q&A to answer burning questions from players:
Progressing Through the Season Journey and Earning Rewards
If Seasons are the night's sky, then the Season Journey is the North Star, your guiding light. Players can look to the Season Journey for details on the new content available to them. The Season Journey will be invaluable in helping you quickly level-up your Battle Pass, as this is done through completing Chapters that are comprised of Objectives. Completing all Objectives in a Chapter will score you Seasonal rewards, such as useful Crafting Materials and Legendary Aspects for your Codex of Power.
Each objective also rewards an amount of Favor, the resource used to level up through the Tiers of the Battle Pass. Favor can also be obtained from completing quests, slaying monsters, participating in events, and more.
Injecting Variety with the Optional Battle Pass
With each Season comes a new Battle Pass for you to earn rewards from, containing 27 Free Tiers and 63 Premium Tiers. You can earn Cosmetics and Smoldering Ashes from the Free Tiers just by slaying demons as you normally would. Smoldering Ashes are a resource that can be spent on Season Blessings, which provide you with a bonus to earning XP, Gold, or Obols depending on which Blessings you spend Ashes on.
Players can have more than one Season Blessing active at a time and can use additional Ashes to upgrade the bonus they receive. The bonuses gained from Season Blessings only last until that respective Season ends. Since Season Blessings affect gameplay, you must meet certain Character Level requirements to claim the Smoldering Ashes needed to apply Blessings. This ensures they are earned by achieving gameplay requirements and there is no advantage gained from purchasing Tier Skips.
To earn rewards from the Premium Tiers, a player must purchase the Premium Battle Pass. This upgraded track of the Battle Pass will not provide any in-game power, but instead unlocks tiers that provide Cosmetics unique to that Season and the Platinum currency. Platinum can be spent in the Shop to acquire new Cosmetics that sculpt you into the wanderer you wish to become or put towards the purchase of future Battle Passes. Platinum can only be acquired using real currency, such as USD.
Overall, there are three versions of the Battle Pass available. The Free Battle Pass, simply called Battle Pass, the Premium Battle Pass, which will cost 1,000 Platinum (equivalent of $9.99 USD), and the Accelerated Battle Pass, which includes all perks of the Premium Battle Pass, 20 Tier Skips, a special Cosmetic, and will cost 2,800 Platinum (equivalent of $24.99 USD).
Reinforcing Your Character's Fantasy: The Shop
Through slaying demons across Sanctuary, you can acquire hundreds of transmogs, weapons, and pieces of armor, including dozens of armor sets, all available to players at launch. The role of Shop Cosmetics is to provide greater breadth in customization options, allowing you to reinforce the fantasy of choice for your character—none of the Cosmetics sold in the Shop provide anything greater than aesthetic variety. Diablo is a dark, gritty, fantasy game, and its purchasable Cosmetics will reinforce this theme. In comparison to the Class-agnostic Cosmetics earned from the Battle Pass, the Cosmetics offered in the Shop are meant to reinforce class-specific fantasies, so there will be some Cosmetics unique to particular Classes. The Shop is intended to be an avenue of self-expression for our players, and they can interact with it as much or as little as they desire during their time in Sanctuary.
The Cosmetics sold in the Shop will rotate on a consistent basis and must be purchased with Platinum. Once you have purchased a Cosmetic for a Class, it will be usable for all characters of that Class on your account. Diablo IV also contains a cross-purchase feature, where any Platinum or items acquired with Platinum are tied to your Battle.net account and can be accessed on any platform where you play the game. The Shop has been built for transparency; using the Preview function, you can thoroughly inspect any Cosmetic you're thinking of purchasing to ensure it feels right for you. Our Shop is also intelligent; using your playstyle and aesthetic preferences, it will recommend Cosmetics that support the wanderer you want to become.
HELP US PREPARE FOR LAUNCH DURING SERVER SLAM
Server Slam runs from May 12, 12 p.m.-May 14, 12 p.m. PDT. Everyone can take up arms against the armies of the Burning Hells to help us test the durability of our servers on Windows PC, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, and PlayStation 4—along with couch co-op for consoles and cross-play and cross-progression for all platforms.
For information on Server Slam's contents, rewards, and how to Early Download it now, visit our Server Slam blog.
BE PREPARED TO ENTER HELL'S GATES
Are you ready to pass through Hell's gates on June 6? If you have not already pre-purchased the Diablo IV Ultimate Edition for your platform of choice and want up to 4 days of Early Access to launch, and the Accelerated Seasonal Battle Pass—includes 20 Tier Skips—and the Wings of the Creator Emote, visit the shop.
And remember…
Hail Lilith, Blessed Mother!
- The Diablo IV Team
View at TechPowerUp Main Site | Source
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