Progress from Diablo 4's previous betas won't cross over to its May Server Slam
Unfortunately, it looks like players are going to have to start from scratch for the next Diablo 4 beta.
Good news came this week for those who have been desperately wanting to get back into Diablo 4 with confirmation of another beta coming in the May Server Slam. However, it comes with a few caveats, one of which is that unfortunately the character you made in previous betas is gone. Progress won’t cross over from the previous betas and you’ll have to start a new character for this upcoming beta, and then that character will be gone before the full game releases.
Activision Blizzard confirmed as much in the finer details of the Diablo 4 May Server Slam beta. One of the bullet points under the “What To Expect During Server Slam” topic spells out pretty clearly that there will be no progress crossover.
“Any character progress made during the Early Access and Open Beta weekends will not carry over to Server Slam. Additionally, any character progress made during Server Slam will not carry over to launch.”
Source: Activision Blizzard
This may prove disappointing to some players, especially those who grinded out and made it to the end-game challenges of previous betas and lived to tell the tale. Unfortunately, you’re going to have to grind for Level 20 again, as well as rewards that would unlock when the main game launches in June if you get there. On one hand, this becomes a suitable challenge for the rewards at the end and previous beta players can’t just score it in a jiffy. You’ll have to work for it. The end-beta items that will unlock in the main Diablo 4 game once it launches are as follows:
- 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.
- Cry of Ashava Mount Trophy: earned by defeating Ashava with one Level 20 character.
With the new beta confirmed for mid-May 2023, we’ll look forward to seeing what kind of shenanigans we can get up to. Ashava is a nasty challenge that awaits at the end of this beta’s run in the Burning Hells and felling her is supposed to be quite the challenge, especially since we have to raise a character from Level 1 to do it.. As we get closer to the beta dates, stay tuned for more details and updates on Diablo 4, right here at Shacknews.
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replyTJ Denzer posted a new article, Progress from Diablo 4's previous betas won't cross over to its May Server Slam
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So what’s this slam thing, exactly? They’re just testing server capacity again? (Why wouldn’t the first open beta have told them what they need to know?) Or is there some other goal?
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Server durability. Recall that Diablo 4 went gold between the last beta sessions and this next one. It seems they want to make sure their final copy of the game will run stable when millions of players are pushing its servers to the limits.
Pretty much a last stress test with the most complete version before it all goes live.-
But if the game is gold and they find issues during the slam, what can they even do about it? (Maybe a day-one patch?) If it’s still just a server capacity issue, they should already have an idea of how much bandwidth or whatever they need, no?
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Much of the code/configuration for the live aspects of the game is on their backend/infrastructure, and they can still update that despite the client code being completed.
During such a test they can compile and analyze detailed server metrics, A/B test different server configurations / infrastructure tweaks, etc. with millions of players in the game.
There's no substitute for real user load when planning for and testing this stuff, so doing such a test makes it much more likely that they'll have a successful launch when the game releases. -
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Physical copies for Xbox and Playstation have mainly functioned as physical authentication for ownership since the 2013 consoles. In some cases they don't even have much game data, mainly the license. Either way there will be a patch for physical copies that push out, just like for most other games.
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day 1 patches can be integrated into the installation process too so I don't think "going gold" freezing is really a thing anymore
even console games distributed on dvd's or physical media have installation to HD as part of the startup process and you can't start it without going online to fetch the latest versions.
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I did a Druid last time, what should I do this time?
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Necro was super OP last beta so I expect that to change. Barb was disappointing. I didn't put too much time into Rouge but what time I did was pretty fun. Sorcerer will be my choice this next go.
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You like big smashy or casty?
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I like kill.
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Even in dungeons?
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Was any of that in D3 early on? I can barely remember. I thought D4 dungeons were instanced such that you only had game data sent to you about you and your tiny party.
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