Watch The Diablo IV Development Update Livestream – February 28

Blizzard had an amazing Livestream today, talking about Diablo IV. Our friends on Wowhead have summarized today’s broadcast, highlighting the most important informations about the next chapter of the Diablo Franchise.

Open Beta Details

• The Early Access Weekend will start on March 17 at 9 a.m. PST, and end on March 20 at noon.
• The Open Beta Weekend will start on March 24 at 9 a.m. PST, and end on March 27 at noon.
• Playable classes during Early Access Weekend will be Barbarian, Rogue, and Sorceress.
• During Open Beta Weekend, all classes of Diablo IV will be available for testing – Barbarian, Rogue, Sorceress, Druid, and Necromancer.
• The developers have revealed the minimum and recommended system requirements for Diablo IV’s Open Beta!
• Open Beta will be available on Windows PC, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, and PlayStation 4.
• Consoles will have couch co-op available! Both players will need a Battle.net account.
• Progress from the first Early Access weekend will carry over to the second Open Beta weekend.
• Open Beta progress will not carry over to Diablo IV’s launch version.
• Preload for Diablo IV’s Open Beta will be available one week before the start of the Open Beta.
• Open Beta participation will reward players with three rewards: Two titles, Initial Casualty and Early Voyager, and the Beta Wolf Pack cosmetic item.
• The Open Beta will feature the world boss Ashava, ready to be defeated by up to 12 players!
• Ashava will spawn at four different times during both Saturdays of the two beta weekends.
• Raytracing will be a post-launch feature.

Armor System

• Characters in Diablo IV will have five armor slots: Helm, Chest, Legs, Boots, and Gloves.
• Armor scales linearly with item power.
• Compared to Diablo III, armor also grants certain amounts of elemental damage and not only physical damage mitigation.
• For example, if armor mitigates 60% of physical damage, it will also grant half – 30% – non-physical damage mitigation.
• There will be non-physical resistance penalties at higher world tiers.
• There are multiple ways to acquire damage mitigation, especially in the later stages of Diablo IV’s endgame.
• Armor damage mitigation is capped at 85%.
• In Diablo IV, monsters will also have armor. The development team can make use of this as an additional way of tuning enemies instead of just increasing health.

Strongholds

• Strongholds in Diablo IV are a new feature that lets you change the world and your surroundings.
• They are places that have been overrun by evil forces which can and, of course, should be liberated by the players!
• There are multiple unique strongholds within the five zones of Diablo IV’s Sanctuary.
• All these strongholds will provide different rewards like campfires for bonus experience, waypoints, vendors, and much more.
• There are multiple unique strongholds within the five zones of Diablo IV’s Sanctuary.
• Strongholds grant the biggest amount of renown upon liberation!