D4 public beta in early 2023

https://www.ign.com/articles/blizzard-announces-diablo-4-closed-beta-for-2022

Yeah closed beta here shortly, likely before the holidays. (Probably in the next 4-6 weeks)

It will include nearly all endgame, and paragon trees, so this ain't some demo.

I'd love to get myself into it if possible.

Will try season 2 of D2R early october this year to make the wait feel good.

I'm put off by needing to play "significant amounts of time" playing the end-games of Diablo 2: Resurrected, Diablo 3, or Diablo: Immortal recently. Had my fill of the D3 season after the initial weekend so the idea of investing more time which may not be enough anyway to make the required amount of time doesn't really appeal. Are there any numbers floating around for how much time you need to spend?

Well I got a closed beta invite despite not playing D2R since last year, only playing a couple of hours of DI and my D3 current season character not making it much further than getting their free set from Haedrig's Gift.

Won't lie; I checked in vain.

I want to be surprised at this but am not: Blizzard have nothing else now. WoW is being devoured by FFXIV; RTSes are dead; Overwatch 2 is looking like a bomb. They desperately need a title to hold up and Diablo 4 is pretty much it. They poached devs from all sorts of ARPG studios so they might as well put them to good use. Cleaned house (a bit), replacing WoW-era Blizzard dead weight with young, hungry D2 fanatics (sound familiar?) who absolutely consider D3 a travesty. Microsoft's pending acquisition is a tiny light at the end of a very long, very dark tunnel imo; it could have been another behemoth like Sony or Tencent, both of which would have been less than ideal.

The stars haven't quite aligned for D4 but given the above, I kinda want it to not suck.

I didn't get a closed invite sadly(mostly console play with D3 and D2R), but all the information circulating now is that pre-orders will be up for the holiday season in December, with open beta/access in February.

If its true that D4 will launch in Spring, this is going to be a wild couple of leagues for PoE coming up.

These D4 articles all look quite good, and the developers estimates of endgame content loops in the thousands of hours seem promising. (World Tiers seem interesting also)

Looking forward to this!

"

Foreverhappychan wrote:

I want to be surprised at this but am not: Blizzard have nothing else now.

Eh. Aren’t you only looking at part of the picture here?

“Diablo Immortal, Blizzard's mobile-focused entry in its action-RPG franchise, has now earned over $300 million in revenue, according to reports. For reference, the hugely popular Raid: Shadow Legends made record earnings in 2021, reaching $370 million. This puts Diablo Immortal, which only came out this summer, well ahead of the curve, at least financially.”

Source: https://gamerant.com/diablo-immortal-made-300-million-dollars/

(No; it’s not the best source. But I do consider the claim very believable.)


Then add that mobile Warcraft game we know they have going on, and the fact that they’ve yet to stop milking Hearthstone. I think it’s much more a case of them having nothing else for us - but the blood god shareholders care not from where the blood money flows, only that it does.

^

I'd also add (not to jump into you and the happiest of Chan's convo), that there is this very real divergence of where people signal their dissatisfaction and disapproval publicly, but then privately enjoy the product. A form of virtue signaling that's all the rage nowadays.

I don't know if its cathartic, or flat out hypocrisy, but there is a clearly significant amount of people willing to separate the entertainment factor from the less than desirable management and financial tactics of Activi$ion-Blizz.

Edit: Spelling/Grammar phone OP

"

Sarno wrote:

"

Foreverhappychan wrote:

I want to be surprised at this but am not: Blizzard have nothing else now.

Eh. Aren’t you only looking at part of the picture here?

“Diablo Immortal, Blizzard's mobile-focused entry in its action-RPG franchise, has now earned over $300 million in revenue, according to reports. For reference, the hugely popular Raid: Shadow Legends made record earnings in 2021, reaching $370 million. This puts Diablo Immortal, which only came out this summer, well ahead of the curve, at least financially.”

Source: https://gamerant.com/diablo-immortal-made-300-million-dollars/

(No; it’s not the best source. But I do consider the claim very believable.)


Then add that mobile Warcraft game we know they have going on, and the fact that they’ve yet to stop milking Hearthstone. I think it’s much more a case of them having nothing else for us - but the blood god shareholders care not from where the blood money flows, only that it does.

Ah. Im sorry old pal. I thought the fact that I didnt mention their well known mobile cash sources indicated that when I said they have nothing else, I meant a true tentpole, respected title. A Blizzard Game, if you will.

Rumours that d4 might be out as early as April 2023 reinforce my sentiment. They are desperate to win this little race and have thrown a lot of resources at it. Blizzard do not want to be known as the company that outpunches Plarium. The money is nice but the prestige of a potential triple A....you almost can't buy that. Almost.

Not saying D4 will be that. Just saying I strongly believe that is their goal. A guild wars 2 style financial model (buy to play with paid micros) blending open world, arpg and mmo events and raids. Hell, when one puts it that way it starts to sound a lot like GW2, only in loose isometric perspective. Which is, I believe, what Lost Ark was always gunning for but came with unforgivable Korean p2w baggage.

And fuck it, if dirty DI money funnels into D4 development then eh so much for that out of season April Fools joke.

You are a smart cookie but by bit-quoting me misrepresented my argument and made it your own. Of course I meant "for us". I talked at length about them nicking talent from other ARPG efforts. About the new leads being d2 devotees who openly scorn D3. So where you seem to be disagreeing with or at least qualifying what I said I think you are mostly connecting dots I was either too lazy or too arrogant to do myself. For that I am sorry. :)

Ds44: yes. So much this. So very much. Again, thats what happens when people allow their identity to be formed of tribalism and virtuous appearance. Hypocrisy is inevitable when people commit to an opinion as fact based almost entirely on second hand accounts. There are logical limits here: I will never try hard drugs and am totally content to say I nonetheless have an open mind about their role in society even though I probably don't. But if I decry a form of entertainment before trying it and find out I like it, fuck it. I admit I was wrong and....get on with my life. It is surprisingly liberating when you can do this instead of feeling some weird need to basically lie about a fucking game, tv show or book.

People have forgotten how awesome it feels to be wrong about something that turns out better than expected. I mean, far better than the opposite, and yet that happens much more when you set your expectations too high.

Basically: low-key doubt and skepticism followed hopefully by humility and surprise is the best approach imo. Fucking own your Things, people. We are nerds and geeks. Owning Things others might not like is...or was the entirety of what we were.

I enjoyed DI in beta and didnt give two point four fucks who cared. Didnt like it on release so I deleted and moved on. But those still playing and paying? Shit, that's their business. Those doing that in a closeted sense and openly hating on it? Pathetic.

I love being wrong because I am a very self-aware pessimist. Unfortunately I am not wrong often enough not to be. But since I do not take pride in either of those (what a sad little identity that would be!) I ultimately can just like what I like and...I dunno, I am allowed to change my mind. Especially when something I didnt like gets improved (and per my current sig, that happens a LOT in gaming doesnt it?)

I am allowed to change my mind and so is everyone else. And I think that's beautiful. You are only a hypocrite if you refuse to admit when you were wrong. And what does admitting that cost? Really?

Far less than the cost of maintaining a pointless lie.

Okay I need to stop responding to good folk on my phone but eh playing ps5 atm...or was. Until I checked poe forum. Maybe THAT is what I need to stop doing. My thumbs are killing me!