18 July 2023 , 13:43
1065
0
Season of the Malignant – the first season of Diablo 4 – goes live on July 20 with the actual update rolling out in-game today, and Activision Blizzard community manager Adam Fletcher has given us a rundown of what to expect.
Update: Diablo 4 patch 1.1.0a notes have dropped and Barbarian players won't be happy
Original story: Diablo 4 Season 1 starts this week, with players who have reached the endgame champing at the bit for fresh content. Dubbed Season of the Malignant, the gameplay trailer teases a new boss and Malignant tier enemies that you'll have to thrash for their Malignant Hearts. Of course there's the Diablo 4 Battle Pass and Season 1 rewards to look forward to as well, but bear in mind that the Season 1 reset means you'll need to create a new character.
The last big update was at the end of June, and it ushered in sweeping XP and loot changes. In the run up to the Diablo 4 patch, the game went down for maintenance – and you'd better buckle up because the Diablo 4 update today is being accompanied by more downtime, in a similar vein to Fortnite's biweekly updates.
Activision Blizzard community manager, Adam Fletcher (aka PezRadar on the game's official forum) has teased that the Diablo 4 update today will be another hefty one, weighing in at 6,600 words. And while we have a Diablo 4 update 1.1 wishlist of things we'd like to see in the patch – including more well-rounded character builds if we can't get a new class like Paladin or Crusader – Fletcher has given us a sneak peek at what's in store.
Why Star Wars Jedi: Survivor's six week delay is a good thing
The details are spread across a lengthy Twitter thread but we've listed them all below. In a nutshell, we've got seven new Legendary Aspects, and six new unique items which are for all players alongside balance updates and changes, as Fletcher confirmed.
The Diablo 4 Season 1 specific content will introduce 32 Malignant Hearts across four categories alongside all of the other seasonal content. Fletched has confirmed that some hearts are specific to classes, while others are general and can be used by any of the five classes.
Associate game director, Joseph Piepiora, has also been tweeting out details ahead of the Diablo 4 patch notes today, along with the Diablo 4 official Twitter account so we've rounded up all of the information below.
Early look at Diablo 4 patch notes today
Eternal and Seasonal Realm
- Eternal Realm = Normal and Hardcore characters that are non-season
- Seasonal Realm begins 7/20 w/ Season 1.
- Normal characters on the Eternal Realm will have map/altar progression carry over to normal characters in the Seasonal Realm
- HC characters on the Eternal Realm will have map/altar progression carry over to HC characters in the Seasonal Realm. HC characters must be alive w/ that progression to carry over
- Normal / HC only feed into each other. Not both. They are separate buckets
- After the 1.1.0 patch hits or anytime during the season you can log in with your most progressed character in Eternal Realm to carry that map/altar progress into your seasonal character
- But what happens if 1 character has 10 altars in Scosglen and another has 5 in Kehjistan? You can log on both after 1.1.0 hits and you will then have 15 collected altars on your seasonal character as it is additive.
- Completing the whole map/altars before 1.1.0 will be a nice boost for those that put in the work
Sacred items
- Starting in season one Sacred items have a level requirement CAP of 60 and Ancestral items have a level requirement CAP of 80. So items you find at level 100 will only require a level 80 character in order to equip
Seasonal Journey
- 7 chapters of seasonal challenges
- Complete objectives to earn Favor
- Favor progresses the Diablo 4 Battle Pass
- New boss battle
- 7 new Legendary Aspects
- 6 new unique items
- 32 Malignant Hearts split across four categories (for Diablo 4 Season 1 players only): Devious, Vicious, Brutal, Wrathful
We're expecting to see the Diablo 4 patch notes today when update 1.1 goes live at 6pm BST / 1pm EDT / 10am PDT as per Rod Fergusson, SVP and general manager of Diablo, confirmed on Twitter. We'll update you with the official details as soon as they're live.