The big negative surprise of BlizzCon 2018 is still under the knife!

Diablo Immortal was announced in late 2018, and Blizzard quickly angered its fans: they announced a new Diablo game… for mobile, even though the franchise was always PC focused (even if the first and the third game got console ports), and the studio’s mentality (they effectively said „you guys have smartphones, right?”) did not help matters either.

Since then, two years have passed, and a year ago, Blizzard also confirmed Diablo IV that gets quarterly news updates. Diablo Immortal is also in development, and Wyatt Cheng, the lead designer, explained on Twitter that the players can test the new Diablo in a limited technical test. „A small number of players, primarily in Australia, will briefly have access to test the game, and help us look at our early levelling experience, as well as our midgame systems,” he explained.

The alpha of the game will feature four classes out of six (barbarian, monk, demon hunter, and wizard – no crusader or necromancer yet). The level cap will be 45, but players can test a Diablo III-like paragon system to continue evolving their characters. Unlike D3, there will be multiple paragon trees that were designed around different playstyles. That game’s randomized dungeon (greater rift) idea will also be used in Diablo Immortal in the form of elder rifts that will need keys to be discovered.

You’ll need to find the legendary items in the game, and you can’t trade them either. There will be an item-levelling system, which will keep older legendaries relevant: you can salvage gear for crafting material, which then can be used to upgrade them. These upgraded legendary items will gain random bonus properties at certain ranks.

Diablo Immortal’s story will be set between Diablo II and Diablo III, and it will begin in Wortham, with Deckard Cain playing a role in it. What about the monetization? „The entire main quest storyline and all future content updates are always going to be free. We are not gonna limit your game time with an energy system and new classes will be accessible to everybody, without requiring an in-game purchase. Diablo Immortal will be free-to-play, with optional in-game purchases available,” Cheng said. These purchases include a battle pass and crests that can modify the elder rifts, which can then be either harder or easier… but they will get you more loot regardless.

You can sign up for Diablo Immortal here.

Source: PCGamer