Get schooled up on how the first Diablo 4 season is set to work prior to its arrival later this month.
The arrival of Diablo 4 Season 1 is a big deal. After all, Activision Blizzard’s hellish dungeon crawler has been out for roughly a month now, and dedicated players that have finished the campaign are already hankering for more endgame content to sink their teeth into. Fortunately, the Diablo 4 Season 1 release date has now been confirmed, and it's sure to satisfy Diablo 4 players.
The Diablo 4 Season 1 release was was announced during a developer live stream on Thursday, July 6. So, we thought it worth discussing how Diablo 4’s debut season is set to work from the knowledge and information put out there so far – including the controversial resets that will force players to create an all-new Diablo 4 character class to take part.
Diablo 4 Season 1: how long is it set to last?
First things first, we’ve known for a while now just how long seasons in Diablo 4 are set to last. In an interview for Game Informer’s cover story back in April (as picked up by GameSpot ) associate game director Joe Piepiora revealed that they will last a total of three months, meaning Diablo 4 is expected to have a total of four seasons per year.
Piepora was hesitant to call each seasonal update an ‘expansion’ but did reveal that the game’s post-launch quarterly updates will see the introduction of fresh storylines and new mechanics, in addition to certain parts of the map resetting (more on that later). Every season will come with its own 100-tier battle pass, some of which won’t require a purchase to unlock. Every new season will bring with it its own battle pass, bringing new cosmetic awards every three months.
Diablo 4 Season 1: why do I need to create a new character?
Much to the surprise of Diablo newcomers, general manager for the series Rod Fergusson recently took to Twitter to announce that players who want to take part in Diablo 4 Season 1 will need to create a new character. “To take part in the seasonal questline, mechanics, season journey and battle pass, you will need to create a new seasonal character,” he said. “Playing campaign with seasonal character (if you so desire or need to finish) will also progress the season journey and battle pass.”
Although this is how Diablo games have functioned in the past, many new players voiced their frustration in the same Twitter thread. Existing Diablo 4 characters don’t get wiped, of course, but only new ones created after the new season’s start can be used to advance through the Seasonal Journey (featuring new stories, questlines, et al) and unlock tiers of the battle pass.
While it’s a tad disheartening for those new to Diablo to hear that they’ll need to essentially start again, don’t forget that you can skip to the end of campaign content providing you’ve at least beaten it once. Then other quality-of-life features like Mounts will also be available for you to access the moment you start Diablo 4 Season 1.
Diablo 4 Season 1: what new content is included in the season?
Activision Blizzard is yet to detail explicitly what new content will arrive alongside Diablo 4 Season 1 (that’s expected to come Thursday) but we do know that never-before-seen storylines and mechanics will be added. Alongside a bunch of additions, however, come resets, which mainly relates to the way Renown is handled. Renown being the way players are rewarded for achieving progress throughout all five of Sanctuary’s regions – this is all set to reset as part of the Seasonal Journey.
You achieve Renown in Diablo 4 by completing the following objectives throughout the world:
- Unlocking Waypoints
- Beating Strongholds
- Completing Side Quests
- Areas Discovered
- Completing Dungeons
- Unlocking Altars of Lilith
When Diablo 4 Season 1 arrives in “mid-July” all your map progress and altars of Lilith (which dish out permanent upgrades) will remain, but everything else from all the above will reset. This means if you’ve maxed out your level of Renown for all five regions, you won’t have by the time you jump into the Seasonal Journey with a fresh character class. This, coupled with the new storylines, mechanics and side quests are the primary way you’re expected to enter this world anew.
