Blizzard reveals Battle Pass pricing
As Diablo IV inches closer to its June launch date, Blizzard has unveiled the pricing for its battle pass system and provided details on how the RPG will handle its seasonal content. In its latest livestream, the company outlined the Diablo IV season basics with a breakdown of rewards and progression.
Diablo IV Season Details
The first season is set to begin in mid to late July, with four seasons planned per year – one per quarter. Each season will last for three months.
Seasons in Diablo IV are not designed to expand upon the main narrative; that is being left to expansions. Instead, the seasons will focus on separate, themed content that iterates on the base game and introduces fresh concepts and ideas into the world of Sanctuary. These concepts include new gameplay mechanics, characters, questlines, items, and balancing tweaks.
With each season, Diablo IV adds seasonal questlines and self-contained stories to the mix. These quests guide players through new gameplay events tied to the RPG’s latest themed experience.
During the stream, Diablo general manager Rod Fergusson emphasized that this separation from the core campaign’s story allowed the team to create quests and mechanics “not bound by the campaign.”
“You’re basically creating questlines in the open world that can be completely different and not constrained to it has to be about the narration level of story,” Fergusson said. “It can be about anything that’s interesting you want to play into in the open world.”
Seasonal Progression and the Battle Pass
Diablo IV’s quarterly updates are intended for post-launch adventuring, so players will need to complete the base game before jumping into the seasonal content. After playing through once, each new character can skip the campaign and begin the seasonal update immediately. Seasons will require a new character, and while older characters remain accessible, they cannot participate in the seasonal additions.
Each quarter will introduce a seasonal journey to support players through Diablo IV’s new additions. These journeys include challenges and rewards that work towards completing the battle pass using its experience point system, Favor. Blizzard’s seasonal pass offers a free path to completion, along with paid routes and additional perks.
Battle Pass Breakdown
The free battle pass is available to everyone, adding 27 tiers with rewards like Smoldering Ashes and other cosmetics. Ashes can be redeemed for seasonal blessings (buffs) for experience points, gold, potion extensions, or Obols. Blizzard noted that paid pass rewards do not include additional Smoldering Ashes, and players will need to hit certain character milestones before claiming goodies that affect gameplay.
Diablo IV’s paid battle pass options include:
- Premium Pass (~$10):
- 63 additional tiers
- Two full cosmetic armor sets for each class
- Weapon and armor cosmetics
- Seasonal mount and mount armor
- Accelerated Pass (~$25):
- All perks from the premium pass
- Immediately unlocks 20 tiers
- Wings of the Creator emote
The accelerated pass is geared toward players who start the season late, retroactively unlocking tiers for a boost. Some perks unlocked through the season, like unique items and powers, remain available in Diablo IV’s base game after the season ends. Alongside its monetized battle pass tracks, Blizzard has also confirmed that it is planning a rotating assortment of gear for Diablo IV’s cash shop. Items purchased in the shop are purely cosmetic, and class cosmetics are available for all characters account-wide.
Looking Ahead
Diablo IV Season 1 has not yet been given an exact date, and Blizzard’s developer panel stated that details surrounding its theme would be discussed after the game’s launch on June 6, 2023.
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