Diablo 4, the much anticipated sequel to Diablo 3, is finally getting some firsthand playtime. After being announced at Blizzcon in 2019, Diablo 4 has been the center of a lot of speculation, fueled by official news dripped out during Activision Blizzard's quarterly reports. A series with over 60 million total sales is bound to have a big fanbase, and the current state of affairs paints a picture of a very ambitious game set to be released in 2023 that will likely please fans of the series.
The announcement of Diablo 4 has been followed by a few important details that will hopefully separate the game from its peers and predecessors: the skill tree has gotten a huge revamp, the game will be open world, and it will even feature cross-play across all platforms. Needless to say, players' hopes are high for the first full major platform release of a Diablo game since 2012.
According to Bloomberg's Jason Shreier on Twitter, Activision Blizzard has entered the stage of its development process where it gives out a select few alpha copies to family and friends (via Game Rant). While these current volunteer alpha testers are bound to silence by Non-Disclosure Agreements, Schreier reports that he is hearing positive responses. While hearing news and updates from Blizzard about Diablo 4 is obviously good, it's nice to finally hear from people that are outside of the scope of development. The fact that players seem happy with what they've experienced also bodes well. Even though it's an early build, the apparent fact that all of the major changes made to the Diablo series can come together in a positive way is a good omen for people hoping to get far away from the controversy of Diablo Immortal and its pay-to-win structure.
Diablo 4 Alpha Test Met With Promising Responses
The distribution of this alpha build also shows that development is chugging along at a reasonable pace. The next step would be a wider alpha, followed by the hotly anticipated beta. Surely there are a myriad of fans waiting for what will likely be one of the biggest releases of 2023, if the game doesn't get delayed again. Time will tell if the wait pays off, but this is certainly a step in the right direction.
There's much to look forward to, including the implementation of live service features, such as online play, which probably won't be tested to their full capacity until the full beta is released to the public. As usual, all one can do is wait, and as Diablo 4 approaches, the breadcrumbs of news will hopefully turn into expansive trailers and limited betas that will at the very least satiate fans' hunger until the release date.
Sources: Jason Shreier/Twitter, GameRant
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