Blizzard Entertainment has detailed the post-launch content for Diablo IV, including Seasons, Battle Passes, and the cosmetic Shop.
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In an official news post, summarizing and adding to the Developer Update Livestream on Twitch, Blizzard Entertainment laid out the game’s post-launch plans. As with more recent entries in the series, Diablo IV will also feature seasons.
These will add new content every quarter, bringing new features, Legendary Items, balance patches, quality of life improvements, and more. New questlines are also promised, bringing “new and old faces alike.” The first season will start in mid to late July, with content available to those who complete the campaign.
In addition, Season Journey provides further rewards. Completing various objectives within each season’s “Chapters” go towards unlocking subsequent chapters. Seasonal rewards, including crafting materials and Legendary Aspects, are earned for clearing all objectives in a Chapter.
By completing quests, events, or killing monsters, amongst other objectives, players will be rewarded Favor, which helps players level up the Battle Pass. “With each Season comes a new Battle Pass for you to earn rewards from, containing 27 Free Tiers and 63 Premium Tiers,” Blizzard Entertainment explains.
The developer details that players can “earn Cosmetics and Smoldering Ashes from the Free Tiers just by slaying demons as you normally would.” Blizzard further specifies, “Smoldering Ashes are a resource that can be spent on Season Blessings, which provide you with a bonus to earning XP, Gold, or Obols depending on which Blessings you spend Ashes on.”
They also note, however, that Blessings can only used by characters above a certain level, thereby removing advantages from buying Tier Skips.
Those who buy the Premium Battle Pass will not get any rewards that affect their character’s power — a promise Blizzard made following the Diablo Immortal backlash. Instead, players earn cosmetics (unique to that Season) and Platinum to buy more cosmetics and “put towards the purchase” of Battle Passes in the future.
Platinum can only ever be earned through real currency purchases. For example, 500 Platinum is worth $4.99 USD on Xbox consoles.
While there are only two Battle Pass tiers, there are three Battle Passes available. Aside from Free and Premium (the latter worth 1,000 Platinum or $9.99 USD), there’s also the 2,800 Platinum ($24.99 USD) Accelerated Battle Pass. The latter includes the Premium Battle Pass, 20 Tier Skips, and a “special Cosmetic.”
Blizzard Entertainment provided further information on Diablo IV‘s cosmetic-only Shop, declaring that “none of the Cosmetics sold in the Shop provide anything greater than aesthetic variety.” The Shop will feature a rotating selection of Cosmetics, all bought for Platinum, and can be used by all your characters on your account.
While Battle Pass cosmetics are “Class-agnostic,” some of those in the Shop will be exclusive to certain Classes. Along with a Preview button to thoroughly examine any piece players may want to purchase, the shop will even recommend cosmetics based on their “playstyle and aesthetic preferences.”
