New Season, New Diablo 4; Game Launches on Steam [Update #3]
The second season of Diablo 4, dedicated to vampires, begins today. Along with it, Blizzard's game will hit Steam.
Update #3: Blizzard has restored cross-play feature on PC and consoles.
Update #2: After about two hours of Blizzard, the crisis has been contained and Season of Blood started, and the game appeared on Steam (25% off until October 24). The developer points out however, that cross-play between PC and consoles will not work for some time.
Update #1: Blizzard has just informed that it has encountered "some complications," which has forced it to delay the launch of Season of Blood by several hours. Premiere of Diablo IV on Steam thus also suffers a delay.
We are just hours away from the official launch of Diablo 4 on Steam. The release of Blizzard's hit on Valve's platform will coincide with the launch of the game's second season titled Season of Blood, which is dedicated to vampires.
Arguably, the game's appearance on Steam will revive interest in Diablo 4. This also applies to the game's viewership, which has recently taken a dive, reaching a record low on Twitch - lower even than the vintage Diablo 3.
It is worth noting that despite the presence of the latest game on the platform of the Valve corporation, to play Diablo 4 we will still require a Battle.net account, with which the game's servers are closely linked.
While playing the latest Diablo on Steam, we will, however, unlock dedicated achievements assigned to this platform, as well as take full advantage of the cross-play feature..
Steam, vampires and a new patch - all at once
As I mentioned earlier, sales of Diablo 4 on Steam should start with the debut of the game's 2nd season, that is, around 10 a.m. PST. An hour earlier - at 9 - on other gaming platforms and on Battle.net, update 1.20 should become available for download (via Twitter/X).
I will remind you that the patch preceding the start of Season of Blood in Diablo 4, is expected to be the game's biggest update since its June release. As part of the patch, the devs have overhauled:
- resistance systems;
- unique items;
- character builds and classes;
- ways of calculating damage.
It is worth noting that the above changes will go not only to the seasonal server, but also to the so-called. Eternal Realm. For details on the aforementioned patch, I refer you to this news and to the game's official website.
In addition, Blizzard's title will also receive dedicated seasonal content, among which we will find new powers, bosses and smaller opponents. We will also get to know a story centered around vampires haunting the world of Sanctuary (details on Season of Blood can be found here).
Fun also on Steam Deck
Fans of the Steam Deck - Valve's portable computer - who purchase Diablo 4 on Steam, as of today should be able to Diablo 4 on this small device without any issues (until now it was possible, but involved limitations and a bit of brain scratching).
As announced by Adam Fletcher, director of community development at Blizzard Entertainment, the game recently successfully passed the verification process and received the appropriate status ensuring the smooth operation of the game on Steam Deck..
Celebrating season 2 on Twitch
At the very end, I will mention that in connection with the fast approaching Season of Blood in Diablo 4, the developers have provided various cosmetic rewards for watching broadcasts from the game on Twitch.
So-called Twitch Drops can be earned by watching at least four hours of Diablo 4 broadcasts during the week, with drops enabled.
The seasons will last for four weeks, and in each of them we will earn different "skins" for weapons for different classes. For detailed information I refer you to the official website of the event.
Diablo 4 was released on June 6, this year. The game launched on PC, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S, as well as PlayStation 4 and 5.
