Diablo IV will be the first game in the franchise to have a paid season pass. Both in Diablo II and Diablo III, each new season has always been completely free, and has not had any payment method that could establish an “artificial” separation between the players, something that was very positive, and that unfortunately is going to change.
That Diablo IV is going to use paid season passes is no coincidence, it is something that other titles have already been exploiting, such as The Division 2 and Destiny 2, for example, and it is a consequence of the leap of the big studios to game as a service model, to the detriment of the classic product model. According to Blizzard, the paid season pass will be complemented by a structural rotation of content, and that it will not hit the market with the first season already activated.
The first season will go live weeks after the game’s launch, which will take place on June 6. The goal of this small delay is so that the Season Pass doesn’t give players who pre-purchase the game much of an advantage. Its duration will be three months. which means that the most active players will have no problem taking advantage of it, but what about those who have very little time to play? Well, they won’t be able to enjoy it at the same level, that’s clear, and that those three months could fall short.
The classification mode, popularly known as “ladder”, will work in a similar way to Diablo II, heor which means that every player who wants to participate in it will start from scratch. Each season pass will have, as we have said, a duration of three months, and each season will have its own paid pass. This will offer some specific benefits:
- We will be able to get cosmetic objects that in theory will not unbalance the game.
- We will get experience by doing specific activities in the game.
- It will be cross-platform, which means that we can buy it on Xbox and access it on PC.
- The season pass will require about 75 hours to complete. It will not be necessary to play hard and daily to get the most out of it.
- Season Pass progression will be fully cross-platform and cross-functional, so we can progress on consoles and PC, and vice versa.
We will not have to limit ourselves to doing specific things to advance in the season pass, since according to those responsible for Diablo IV we will also advance killing enemies, completing dungeons and doing the game quests. We will have more information in the coming weeks.
In another vein, Blizzard has also confirmed that many of the most beloved and important classic items will be present again in Diablo IV. Among the names they have given are the “Wind Force” bow, the “Godfather” greatsword, the “Wizard’s Fist” gauntlets and the fireproof “Harlequin Plume”, also known as “Shako”.
