What you need to know
- Diablo 4 developers have released a statement detailing more about the imminent closed beta.
- The closed beta will focus on the end game Diablo experience as not to ruin story developments.
- The closed beta will be available on PC, Xbox, Playstation with cross-play and cross-progression.
- You have until October 11 to update your Blizznet preferences to be in with a chance of receiving an invite.
Hot on the heels of Diablo 4 footage being leaked from the friends and family closed beta, the developers today released a statement detailing the next stages of their testing phase, a closed beta focused on the Diablo 4 end game.
In the above video, the developers emphasized how the upcoming closed beta will focus on the end game, and what players can expect following the completion of Diablo 4's story. In their blog post, they acknowledged that this is where most Diablo players spend their time, and it's also not their intention to spoil plot points from the main Diablo 4 campaign. To fully put the end game beta through its paces, Blizzard is selecting players with a significant amount of time spent in the end game of Diablo to be invited to this testing phase.
Blizzard went on to detail what we can expect from the end game beta:
- Helltide will be a region-wide event available to players who have reached the Nightmare difficulty in World Tier Three, and sounds very akin to the Terror Zones that have recently been added to Diablo 2: Resurrected. In Helltide, defenders of Sanctuary will fight enemies of an increased difficulty and spawn rate, in return for higher level loot. Enemies will also drop "Cinders" an in-game currency that can be used to open Helltide chests throughout the affected region. Death will result in the player dropping their Cinders and being required to reclaim them.
- Nightmare Dungeons are Diablo 4 dungeons of, you guessed it, Nightmare difficulty. Players must first locate a Nightmare Sigil which will lead them to the dungeon location in Sanctuary. The sigils will add modifiers to the dungeons, and so far sound rather like Legendary Crests in Diablo Immortal - adding a layer of difficulty to the challenge and increasing the quality of loot dropped from your enemies. There will be increasing difficulties of sigils available in the game upon players completing progressively more difficult Nightmare Dungeons.
- Whispers of the Dead appear to be side quests, which Blizzard has said will not be available until players have reached a certain point of the main quest. However, they will be made available to all players for this testing phase. On the World Map, Whispers will be visible giving tasks to complete for rewards of XP, gold and "Grim Favors". Grim Favours are a currency that can be exchanged for loot at the Tree of Whispers.
- Fields of Hatred will add PvP gameplay to Diablo 4, and are described as cursed areas of the map created by Mephisto- Lord of Hatred. Players will need to destroy their enemies to collect Seeds of Hatred to deliver to the Altar of Extraction. Seeds of Hatred are converted into "Red Dust" which will be exchangeable for PvP cosmetics.
- Paragon Boards will be unlocked at character level 50, and can be used to unlock further skills and legendary powers for your character. The paragon board upon progression will also unlock access to sockets, which are tiles that contain Glyphs. These are items that can be found throughout the World Map and give various benefits.
How can I take part?
So how do you get a spot on the closed beta? Blizzard has revealed they will be using gameplay data to select players who have spent significant time in the end game of Diablo 2: Resurrected, and Diablo 3. Though passion for the game alone won't get you an invite, you need to make sure your preferences are updated on the Battle.net website or through the launcher so Blizzard has permission to contact you.
Click your username in the top right of the launcher or website, go to "Account Settings" and make sure the Privacy & Communication tab is updated. Specifically, you need to update your preferences to receive news and communications from Battle.net.
This needs to be done by October 11 to be in with a chance of receiving a Closed Beta invite. Invites will be received by November 18 so if there is nothing in your inbox by this date, you'll need to wait until next year for the next testing phase.
Most interestingly, unlike other testing phases with the previous games, this closed beta will be available on consoles as well as PC.
The end-game closed beta will run on PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and Playstation consoles. Make sure you follow this link to update your Battle.net preferences for your invite to Sanctuary.
For more on what we know so far about Diablo 4, check out our run down of the last quarterly update.
