Diablo 4 has been an absolute blast since its massively successful launch. The game continues to be one of the best game releases of 2023. As players grind their way through an extensive endgame system to try and get the best loot and complete challenge runs, the developers at Blizzard Entertainment are gearing up to release Season 1 of Diablo 4.
While official dates have yet to be announced, Diablo 4’s first season is set to be released around mid to late July. While those who have played other live service games such as Destiny 2, Fortnite, and Warzone are used to seasonal updates, the way it works in the Diablo franchise isn’t exactly industry standard. Here’s everything you need to know about Season 1 of Diablo 4.
Why should you care about a season in Diablo 4?
It’s no secret how many hours you need to sink into Diablo 4 in order to make the most out of all of its systems. About a month after its global release, players have probably seen a lot of what the game has to offer and are starting to slow down on their grind or move on to other titles altogether. Which begs the question: Why should you care about seasonal content coming into Diablo 4?
Whether you are a day 1 player, just recently picked up the game, or have yet to decide whether or not you should jump in, Season 1 of Diablo 4 has a lot to convince you to spend some time in Sanctuary.
Blizzard has been playing it close to the chest when it comes to revealing a lot of details regarding the upcoming seasonal content in Diablo 4 but here are a few things that we know are coming based on developer talks. If you’ve played Diablo 3, some of these might sound familiar.
New Seasonal Mechanics
For every season of Diablo 4, a brand new seasonal mechanic will be introduced. These usually shake things up by providing changes to gameplay systems and previously established meta.
The best thing about this is how it addresses one of the more common criticisms about ARPG titles which is the routine-like nature of the experience. If you really boil it down to its core, all you do in a game like Diablo 4 is click a few buttons to fight through hordes of demons in dungeons. The seasonal mechanics of Diablo 4 are aiming to make sure that each major update is always worth checking out.
Seasonal Quests
The developers have confirmed that part of their new long-time commitment to updating Diablo 4 comes with brand new story content with each new season. While it’s still unclear how extensive this can be, we believe these will work as a build-up to the already confirmed 2 major expansions that are coming sometime in the future.
The seasonal quests will have special objectives that you can accomplish in order to get unique rewards. It’s already confirmed that one of the loot you’ll get is a legendary aspect. No specific details on this but it’s already sounding like a pretty great incentive to go out there and play more Diablo 4.
Brand-new battlepass system
For the first time in the Diablo franchise, a battlepass system will be introduced. While others may scoff at this thinking it’ll go down the pay-to-win route and predatory monetization (which is something Blizzard isn’t exactly foreign to), all signs say otherwise for now.
Aside from a slight XP boost, the Diablo 4 battlepass will contain mostly cosmetics—which is awesome given how fantastic Blizzard is when it comes to designing cosmetics. There will also be a system called “Seasonal Blessings” wherein completing challenges will allow you to level up Diablo 4’s battlepass to give you various boosts, effects of elixirs, and increased chances of obtaining rare materials from salvaging.
Accelerated Progression
Creating a Diablo 4 seasonal character (more on this later) is one of the best things you can do if you’re just jumping in or want to experience a different class. That’s because of the number of changes that will come to the game.
In Season 1 of Diablo 4, it’s already confirmed that XP gained in nightmare dungeons will be buffed, which is huge in it itself, alongside a bunch of other quality-of-life changes.
After each season ends, you don’t have to worry about your seasonal character disappearing. Everything you’ve done and the loot you’ve gained will remain as your character will then transition toward the standard server. Not only do you benefit from significant rewards gained from unique seasonal objectives, but you also enjoy the refinements made in the gameplay systems.
How does Season 1 of Diablo 4 work?
Trying to figure out how to seasonal updates of Diablo 4 can be confusing since the developers haven’t exactly been the most transparent when it comes to details. But here is everything you should expect based on what we’ve been told so far.
You need to create a new character
If you’ve been playing since launch, your decked-out character will not carry over to the Diablo 4 seasons. That’s because a standard server works differently from a seasonal server. Don’t worry, your existing characters will not go anywhere. They just won’t be able to access any seasonal stuff.
For every Diablo season, you’re gonna have to create a brand new character and work your way back up to the top. Any legendary gear you have stashed will not be available for your seasonal character. However, you’re not starting from complete zero.
Your map stays relatively the same
Your map progression from your standard server characters will carry over to the seasonal characters. This means you don’t need to uncover the entire layout once again.
Every waypoint in major cities like Kyovashad, Cerrigar, and Ked Bardu will be unlocked alongside the Altars of Lilith. The only thing you have to re-unlock are all the other minor waypoints across the map.
Your Renown progression is slightly carried over
The content you do in order to progress your Renown such as dungeons, strongholds, and side quests will have to be re-done in your seasonal character. However, the good news is that all of the Altars of Lilith you have discovered will carry over alongside their permanent account-wide stat buffs.
While replaying content you’ve worked hard to complete in your first run may sound tragic, at least you’ll have a much higher advantage in bringing in bigger stats at such an early point in the game.
Diablo Battlepass
Diablo 4 does have battlepasses which we’ll first see for ourselves in Season 1. If you bought the Ultimate Edition, you’ll receive this for free alongside the first 20 tiers immediately.
There will both be free and premium tracks to progress through in Diablo 4’s battlepass. Doing seasonal objectives will let you level up the battlepass faster.
Diablo 4 Seasonal Leaderboards
If you’re a competitive person and like seeing your name on the top ranks, you’re in luck because Diablo 4 will feature the best grinders in the world through a global leaderboard.
However, you shouldn’t really be concerned about choosing what is the best class to use in a Diablo season to be the best. That’s because the way the Diablo 4 leaderboards work is that you’re not exactly competing with everyone else in the world. You’re gonna be competing against others who are using the same class as you. Yes, each class will have its own dedicated leaderboard.
This is not a question as to which class is better or the strongest to use. The Diablo 4 leaderboards are meant to show who are the ones who have a good grasp of a specific class and know how to use them to their fullest potential.
And there you have it! This is pretty much everything you need to know about Season 1 of Diablo 4. Each season will last about 3 months. Blizzard has been very vocal in their desire to continue supporting Diablo 4 for many years to come. There’s already so much to look forward to in Season 1 alone and it’s even more exciting to think about what lies beyond.
It’s gonna be great to see how else Blizzard expands the Diablo 4 gameplay and narrative experience with each new season and eventually, major expansions. We’ll see you in Sanctuary. Good luck out there.