The Diablo 4 Developer Live Stream has come, and we have learned a lot of key information about the game and the upcoming Beta weekends. This update was given to us by Joe Shely (Game Director), Meng Song (Lead Systems Designer), Art Peshkov (Lead World Designer) and Adam Fletcher (Community Lead).
Specifications for PC
We have finally learned the minimum and recommend PC specifications. It was also noted that Ray tracing will be supported after release and wide screens and ultrawide screens are supported up to a resolution of 3:1.
Minimum Requirements for PC*
Settings to run the Diablo IV Open Beta at 1080p native resolution / 720p render resolution, low graphics settings, 30 fps.
- Operating System: 64-bit Windows 10
- Processor: Intel Core i5-2500K or AMD FX-8100
- Memory: 8 GB RAM
- Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 or AMD Radeon R9 280
- DirectX: Version 12
- Storage: SSD with 45 GB available space
- Internet: Broadband Connection
*Diablo IV will attempt to run on hardware below minimum specifications, including HDDs, dual-core CPUs, and Integrated GPUs. However, the game experience may be significantly diminished.
Recommended Specifications for PC
- Operating System: 64-bit Windows 10
- Processor: Intel Core i5-4670K or AMD R3-1300X
- Memory: 16 GB RAM
- Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 or AMD Radeon RX 370
- DirectX: Version 12
- Storage: SSD with 45 GB available space
- Internet: Broadband Connection
Beta Info
Dates and Times
- Early Access to the Open Beta begins March 17 at 9 a.m. PST and concludes March 20 at 12 p.m. PST.
- Early Download begins Wednesday, March 15 at 9 a.m. PDT
- The Open Beta begins March 24 at 9 a.m. PST and concludes March 27 at 12 p.m. PST.
- Early Download begins Wednesday, March 22 at 9 a.m. PDT
What classes can I play?
- First weekend is only Barbarian, Rogue, Sorcerer.
- Second weekend includes all 5 classes (adding Druid and Necromancer).
What can I do?
- Go through and complete the Prologue and the entirety of Act 1 (Fractured Peaks).
- Play up to Level 25.
- Fight the Ashava World Boss in groups of 12 during four set times on both Saturdays.
- Saturday, March 18 at 10 a.m., 12 p.m., 10 p.m. and midnight PDT
- Saturday, March 25 at 10 a.m., 12 p.m., 10 p.m. and midnight PDT
- Clear out Strongholds throughout the Fractured Peaks.
- Progress transfers from the pre-purchase Beta weekend to the Open Beta weekend. Progress does NOT transfer to the released version of the game.
How can I play?
- Pre-purchase the game to play both weekends, or wait for the second one.
- Can pre-download the game one week prior to be ready to play.
- Couch Co-Op is available for console.
- Can make up to 10 characters per Battle.net account.
Rewards for playing?
There are three rewards for playing the Beta and they all transfer to the live game on launch.
- Initial Casualty (Title) - Earned by reaching Kyovashad with one character.
- Early Voyager (Title) - Earned by reaching Level 20 on one character.
- Beta Wolf Pack Cosmetic Item - Earned by reaching Level 20 on one character.
Armor Details Explained
Armor is the most basic way we defend ourselves from taking damage in Diablo 4. During the course of the blog, we learned some new details on how Armor works.
- Armor has a cap of up to 85% damage reduction for Physical damage.
- Armor grants a minor Elemental (Cold, Fire, Lightning, Poison, and Shadow) damage reduction, capped at only 30%. Making up the difference on other key items.
- There is Diminishing Returns (DR) that requires you to gather more Armor as you level up to maintain your current damage reduction %.
The team showed us graphs to get a general idea of what to expect in the game.
Trading
Trading is a hotly debated topic. The developers are going back and forth deciding what is good for the players, but for the overall health of the game, too. Several remarks were stated on the matter during the livestream:
Trading in Diablo 4 is less restrictive than Diablo 3, but it's by no means wide open trading. We know that there are lots of players that enjoy the game for the trading experience, and that those players would like as few restrictions on trading as possible. So, we want to support that to the extent that we can, but we also want to protect the core game loop of killing monsters and getting loot.
So there are restrictions on trading to further encourage the situation where the best way to get the best loot is to kill monsters. That's the overriding directive. When you think about all the stuff we plan to do with seasons and the game being a live service, we certainly see opportunities for different trading rulesets in the future.
For now, trade will be simple. The future may bring different rulesets, expanding what is possible.
Join Us!
The entire Maxroll Team will be blasting Diablo 4 and we hope to see you there! If you haven't already, head over to our Discord and select the D4 role in #roles to stay up to date with our content development and check out our first Diablo 4 Content on our new Website Branch. Sanctuary here we come!
