Blizzard will have a Campfire Chat about the Diablo 4 changes

Diablo 4 global community development director Adam Fletcher revealed the developer will be holding a Campfire Chat tomorrow, July 21, to “talk more” about the player feedback surrounding the class nerfs and other changes that were made in the Season 1 update. The chat will be held at 11 a.m. PT and will feature Fletcher, associate game director Joseph Piepiora, and designer Joe Shely.

The Diablo 4 Season 1 update, which was released on July 18, made a swath of changes in preparation for the start of Season of the Malignant. Of the class nerfs in the patch, the Barbarian Hammer of the Ancients, Druid Werewolf Shred, Necromancer Bone Spear, and Sorcerer Ice Shard were the skills that were hit the hardest. The reduction to the Barbarian skill in particular was felt to make a lot of the class’ endgame builds redundant.

Another of the controversial changes made was to introduce level requirements for World Tier III (level 40) and IV (level 60). A small update made today has now removed that requirement. The patch notes for update 1.1.0b also made it so Malignant Hearts always grant armor that directly maps with their item power.

In the meantime, the start of Season of the Malignant has come with its own issues. Blizzard has reported that players in the Americas have been facing “unusually long queue times” and has been working to get all players into the game as quickly as possible. Of course, long queues aren’t a new problem for the game and are something that should be expected at the launch of a new season.

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Diablo 4 was nearly the best-selling game on PS5 and PS4 on both charts

According to Sony’s chart, Diablo 4 was the best-selling PS5 game on PSN in both the United States and Canada (which are paired together) and Europe during June 2023. While it was also the best-selling game on PS4 in the U.S. and Canada, it didn’t quite manage a clean sweep. The game only managed to get third place on PS4 in Europe behind Minecraft and FIFA 23. This doesn’t come as much of a surprise bearing in mind it made $600 million in its first five days of release.

Final Fantasy 16 came in a solid second place on PS5 in both regions. The game wasn’t released on PS4. However, this is a high performance since the game released on June 22 and only had nine days to claim its spot. FF16 has since become the fastest-selling PS5 exclusive. On the contrary, Diablo 4 had more than three weeks to notch up its sales after it was released on June 5.

Other new games to enter the top PS5 downloads chart include Street Fighter 6 (#3 in U.S./Canada, #6 in Europe) and AEW: Fight Forever (#12 in U.S./Canada). The former also made an appearance at #11 on the PS4 chart for U.S./Canada, but neither managed to chart in Europe.

Elsewhere, Beat Saber continues to dominate the new PSVR2 chart, although it is replaced by Creed: Rise to Glory – Championship Edition on the original PSVR headset. Fortnite, unsurprisingly, remains the most popular free-to-play game on PS5 and PS4.

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Diablo 4 Season 1 adds a new form of corruption

Malignant Monsters will be introduced in Diablo 4 Season of the Malignant, which are caused by a new form of Lilith’s corruption. These creatures have lost their minds and kill at random. Through the new quest line, players will team up with a former priest of the Cathedral of Light called Cormond to stop the Malignant from spreading any further.

Slaying partially corrupted enemies will reap Malignant Hearts that can be captured during a ritual with the Cage of Binding — a new item. These can be placed into special sockets on jewelry instead of a normal gem. The new season will introduce 32 Malignant Hearts in four different categories, each with their own unique bonuses.

As well as the new quest line, there will be the new Malignant Tunnels dungeons and a new boss battle in the form of Varshan the Consumed. New gear will be introduced to the in-game shop.

There’s also the Season Journey, which is broken into chapters. Each has quests for players to complete and earn rewards like new Legendary Aspects, a Mastery Title, and a Scroll of Amnesia, which provides a free Skill Tree and Paragon Board reset.

Another battle pass is going to be part of the season, too, and will offer free and premium tracks with plenty of rewards down each path. The free track will include 27 tiers with rewards like Smoldering Ashes, armor transmogs, and titles. Meanwhile, the premium track will offer 90 tiers of rewards, with additional rewards like the Coldiron Armor Set, Warded Mustang Mount, Coldiron Barding Mount Armor, more armor transmogs, weapon skins, and emotes.

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Diablo 4 revenue exceeds box office revenue of all 2023 horror films combined

In a press release, Blizzard reiterated the significance of video games in the entertainment industry, highlighting that Diablo 4 alone outperformed worldwide box office totals of all horror movies released in 2023 combined.

“Those wins are driving the gaming industry to greater heights,” Blizzard wrote. “Pop the hood of the global entertainment and media industry and you’ll find gaming functioning as its engine.” The company also highlighted that 1 in every 3 people around the globe played a game in 2021.

Going back to Diablo 4, Blizzard revealed that players have already killed a total of 276 billion monsters since launch and have died 317 million times. Diablo 4 players have played a whopping total of 276 million hours already, which amounts to more than 30,000 years or “enough time to watch everything on YouTube with 13,500 years to spare,” per Blizzard.

Diablo 4 has also broken streaming records for all previous Blizzard games on Twitch.

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Host of Diablo 4 Q&A addresses allegations of creating fake fan accounts

As spotted by Twitter user Philtacular (via TheGamer), the oddly worded questions were posed by accounts that either didn’t exist, were dormant, or were freshly created. Philtacular’s thread makes for a hilarious read.

Although Blizzard is being accused of creating the fake accounts, it looks like the show’s host may have been more of a culprit here. As pointed out by fellow journalist Jason Schreier, Future Games Show put out a call for community questions but it appears that no one responded. The outlet understandably didn’t want to cancel the Q&A, so they decided to roll with it.

This morning, Future Games Show put out a statement on Twitter explaining their side:

However, this doesn’t explain the fake accounts.

Diablo 4 will release on June 5, with early access kicking off on June 1.

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Diablo 4 microtransactions and Battle Pass detailed

Blizzard said that Diablo 4‘s in-game marketplace, called The Shop, is designed to be “an avenue of self-expression.”

“None of the Cosmetics sold in the Shop provide anything greater than aesthetic variety,” the developer stressed, adding that cosmetics will be rotated regularly.

Diablo 4’s first season will kick off between mid and late July in order to give players time to finish the campaign, which is a requirement to jump into Season 1. Blizzard recommends that players finish the campaign as soon as possible so that they’re able to partake in the Seasons.

Each season will come with a new Battle Pass, containing 27 free tiers and 63 premium tiers. Free tiers grant cosmetics and Smoldering Ashes — a resource that can be used to obtain XP, Gold, or Obols. Premium tiers will provide unique cosmetics and Platinum currency that can be spent in The Shop.

The premium battle pass will cost 1,000 Platinum (or $9.99). Those who want to skip the grind can opt for an Accelerated Battle Pass costing 2,800 Platinum ($24.99) to skip 20 tiers and obtain Premium Battle Pass perks as well as a special cosmetic.

The post Diablo 4 Microtransactions Will Only Be Cosmetic, Blizzard Reiterates appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.

The patent has since been taken out of context, with many equating the Diablo 4 developer to using AI to generate art entirely from the ground up. Complaints have even come from former Blizzard employees. However, that isn’t truly the case, as Blizzard Entertainment President Mike Ybarra explained.

“Blizzard will always strive to maintain Blizzard quality. You’re trying to associate recent AI advances (generative AI) to something completely unrelated,” said Ybarra, addressing AI art complaints from former Blizzard Entertainment associate game designer Eric Covington, who worked for the company in various roles from May 2014 to March 2023. “Our approach at Blizzard is to use machine learning and AI in ways that are additive, empathic, and allow our talented teams to spend more time on the highest quality creative thinking and tasks.”

Is Blizzard using AI art in its games?

Hearthstone Design Manager Brendan Sewell would also clarify what the AI is being used for, while criticizing the article for not linking to the actual patent by Blizzard. As the patent shows, it is using AI to apply the style of an image and create variant textures rather than creating art itself. This is quite different than the AI art seen created by prompts. So the overall concern seems misguided in this case.

“I suspect a lot of this would be cleared up had the patent the article was about actually been linked in the article. This isn’t AI art,” said Seqell. “The ethics considerations of this are about the same as the ethics of a Photoshop filter. It’s a tool to save time creating variant textures.”

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How to play the Diablo 4 beta on PS5 and PS4

To play the Diablo 4 beta on PS5 and PS4, users must:

• Pre-order any version of the game right here to enjoy early access to the beta during March 17-19.
• Play the open beta during March 24-26, without any need to pre-order.
• Gain access through special promotions, like this one taking place at KFC.

Upon pre-ordering the game or entering the beta code, users will be able to pre-load the Diablo 4 beta for early access.

Buy Diablo 4 on Amazon

For those who have early access, the beta will become available at 9 AM PT / 12 PM ET / 4 PM GMT / 5 PM CET on March 17.

Those waiting for the open beta should be able to pre-load it a day or two early, with it eventually becoming playable at 9 AM PT / 12 PM ET / 4 PM GMT / 5 PM CET on March 24.

For more PS How guides, here’s how to use the new PS5 Discord Voice Chat. And here’s how to restore licenses on PS5 and why you would want to.

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Diablo 4 has a Battle Pass?

The details of the Diable 4 Battle Pass are thin on the ground right now, but there will be free and Premium tracks according to the leak from Insider Gaming. The Premium pass will be included in the Digital Deluxe Edition while the Ultimate Edition gets the pass and 20 tier skips.

Dates and details of the open betas are also not available right now as they’re only briefly mentioned in the special editions. This is what’s apparently included in each edition, although it’s worth mentioning that some of this appears to be incorrectly translated from another language:

Standard Edition

• Diablo IV for PS4/PS5
• World of Warcraft “Amalgam of Rage” mount
• Diablo III Inarius Wings & Inarius Murloc Pet
• Diablo Immortal “Umber Winged Darkness” Cosmetic Set

Digital Deluxe Edition

• Diablo IV for PS4/PS5
• World of Warcraft “Amalgam of Rage” mount
• Diablo III Inarius Wings & Inarius Murloc Pet
• Diablo Immortal “Umber Winged Darkness” Cosmetic Set
• Diablo IV Temptation Mount
• Diablo IV Hellborn Carapace Mount Armor
• Diablo IV Seasonal Battle Pass Unlock

Ultimate Edition

• Diablo IV for PS4/PS5
• World of Warcraft “Amalgam of Rage” mount
• Diablo III Inarius Wings & Inarius Murloc Pet
• Diablo Immortal “Umber Winged Darkness” Cosmetic Set
• Diablo IV Temptation Mount
• Diablo IV Hellborn Carapace Mount Armor
• Diablo IV Wings of the Creator Emote
• Diablo IV Seasonal Battle Pass Unlock
• Diablo IV Accelerated Seasonal Battle Pass Unlock (Premium Season Battle Pass unlock, 20 tier skips, 1 cosmetic item)

Regardless of which edition players pre-order, they will get early access to open betas and the Lightbearer Mount in-game DLC. Those who pre-order the Deluxe Edition or Ultimate Edition will also get up to 4 days early access before Diablo IV is released worldwide on June 5, 2023.

The post Diablo 4 Battle Pass, Ultimate Edition, Pre-Order Bonuses Leaked appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.

Diablo 4 closed end game beta playable modes and features

Those selected to be a part of this specialized beta will be the first public testers for several events and dungeons available after the game’s campaign is finished. One of these is Helltide, a region-wide event that occurs while roaming Sanctuary and is unlocked for players who have reached World Tier Three: Nightmare difficulty. Lilith’s minions will be empowered and begin swarming you, but killing them will drop Cinders that can be used to open Helltide Chests.

Once you find your first Nightmare Sigil, you will unlock specific Nightmare-difficulty dungeons that add special modifiers which raise the difficulty but consequently raise the chances for better loot. Defeating these Nightmare Dungeons will grant you even harder modifiers for more difficult run-throughs.

Also scattered throughout Sanctuary will be Whispers that will request you to perform specific tasks. Completing these cycling world objectives and bounties will reward you with Grim Favors that can be traded to the Tree of Whispers for Legendary gear and crafting materials. Beyond that, there are PvP zones called Fields of Hatred, specific areas in Sanctuary cursed by Mephisto, where you compete with other players to turn Seeds of Hatred into Red Dust for cosmetics and mounts. And as expected, there are Paragon boards that provide opportunities for end-game character growth.

To score an invite to the Diablo 4 closed end game beta, you’ll need to head to your Battle.net account and enable the “News and Special Offers from Battle.net” option. (It’s a little odd you have to accept all marketing offers, but anyway…) You’ll also need to have played the end-game content for Diablo II: Remastered and Diablo III recently, though these parameters are rather vague. Invites to this beta will close on November 18, 2022.

In other news, a new PS5 will reportedly be launching with a detachable disc drive within the next two years, and Rockstar has addressed the massive GTA 6 leak and says a delay is not expected.

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