It’s perhaps no coincidence that Diablo IV is Blizzard’s fastest-selling game of all time. Given the long wait, the series has broader appeal than Warcraft, Overwatch, and Hearthstone — and a record-breaking release was inevitable.
But every major release brings with it a flood of new players, many of whom have never played a Diablo game before and aren’t necessarily familiar with the series’ ins and outs. Even for longtime fans, seasonal content has always been the domain of the most hardcore gamers, the ones who never stop.
Blizzard has announced that Diablo 4 will be the first game to bring a battle pass to the series with each new season. Suddenly, everyone is paying close attention to the seasons. This is where the problem lies.
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Diablo IV launched in such an atmosphere that any game that even pretended to promise a live service required a battle pass. They exist in free games as well as paid/premium games. Not having a battle pass in the main release would be news these days.
It also means that the battle pass model is fairly standardized. How levels are earned varies from game to game and is often a matter of debate, but the structure (free and paid levels), content (cosmetics and XP boosts), and even runtime are similar across many games. A game with a battle pass.
The battle pass usually rolls out with a new season, roughly every quarter. A new season means new content, depending on the game. But you can expect new maps (if it’s a shooter), new in-game items, new characters, new skins, camouflages, and more.
The concept of seasons in Diablo games is as old as the series itself, but with the Battle Pass it’s the exact opposite. Blizzard decided to integrate the battle pass with its existing season structure, and herein lies the problem.
For better or worse, Diablo 4 is late to the battle pass party. That is, players expect it to play according to the rules that have been laid down. For it to stand out, it needs to offer something that existing battle passes don’t. Call of Duty’s battle pass includes enough currency to pay for it, and Halo: Infinite’s battle pass never expires once purchased.
Diablo 4’s battle pass doesn’t offer anything out of the ordinary, so it makes sense that players would expect it to work the way it does in games like Fortnite, Apex Legends, Call of Duty, and others. Unless, of course, that’s not the case. By combining the existing style of the Diablo season with the Battle Pass, players are now required to play by Blizzard’s rules.
In Diablo Season, you create a new character to earn new season rewards and compete with other players at the highest level. Your existing characters can’t participate in the new content, so you’ll start from scratch. That’s why Diablo seasons are really only events for the game’s most ardent fans, while everyone else just keeps upgrading their existing characters.
In a recent livestream, Blizzard confirmed that this structure will return in Diablo 4, which means all Players will need to start a new character if they intend to participate in the new seasonal content. Unfortunately, this also means that Battle Pass progress can only be done by characters created for this or that season.
This is where the backlash began. Considering the massive audience Diablo IV has attracted so far, the idea of having to start over every season seems unreasonable to many. For one, grinding in Diablo 4 is very slow, especially when you get to level 80-85 and above.
It’s impossible for players to know that a character they’ve invested dozens of hours in must effectively be put on hold so they can progress with a new character each new season. It’s also worth remembering that many existing Diablo players, like myself, never really cared about seasons in past games. Now, if I want to experience new missions and get battle pass rewards (already paid for), I have to.
You can see that sentiment clearly in most of Diablo general manager Rod Ferguson’s replies to the tweet, in which he answered a question from reporter Paul Tassi.
Hey Paul, yes, to participate in Seasonal Questlines, Mechanics, Season Journeys and Battle Passes, you will need to create a new Seasonal Character. Playing the season-featured campaign (if you want or need to complete it) will also advance the Season Journey and Battle Pass.
— Rod Fergusson (@RodFergusson) June 19, 2023
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While you’ll be able to skip a seasonal character’s campaign (if you’ve completed one), and your new character will live on after the season ends, that might still be too much for players. But is that reason enough to be concerned?
I say we need to see the results of it before we panic. There’s still a lot we don’t know about how quickly Diablo 4’s battle pass is progressing. We haven’t seen the payoff yet — or really know how meaningful the new content is.
Diablo IV’s battle pass will last longer than most modern games, so this may end up making it an easier pill to swallow. This idiosyncratic mashup of seasons and battle passes is new to Diablo, so there’s every reason to believe that Blizzard might tweak it, or at least make some concessions, in future seasons.
