Blizzard Entertainment hosted a Developer Update livestream on February 28 for Diablo IV. During the stream, Game Director Joe Shely, Lead Systems Designer Meng Song, Lead World Designer Art Peshkov, and Community Lead Adam Fletcher detailed several essential aspects of the game. Some of these aspects include more Open Beta details and how the armor system works. Here’s a recap of the developer livestream regarding strongholds, armor mechanics, and how to get all Open Beta rewards in Diablo IV.
Diablo IV: All Open Beta rewards for playing
Diablo IV has two upcoming betas: an Early Access beta for those who pre-order the game and another Open Beta for everyone:
- The Early Access Beta starts March 17 at 9 AM PT and ends March 20 at noon PT. Only the Barbarian, Rogue, and Sorcerer classes are available.
- The Open Beta starts March 24 at 9 AM PT and ends March 27 at noon PT. All five classes will be available during this Open Beta.
During both betas, players can create up to 10 characters and level them up to level 25. Progress carries over from the Early Access Beta to the Open Beta but not the full release. Both betas have co-op with up to four players, and a World Boss stomps around at certain times.
Here’s how to unlock the rewards for players who play in either beta:
- Initial Casualty Title – Reach Kyovashad with one character.
- Early Voyager Title – Reach level 20 with one character.
- Beta Wolf Pack Cosmetic – Reach level 20 with one character.
Image via Blizzard
Additional developer livestream details
In addition to the Open Beta and its rewards, Blizzard also discussed some crucial features of Diablo IV.
Strongholds
Strongholds are a brand new feature of the Diablo franchise. Peshkov describes them as “places of importance to the world and people of Sanctuary that have been overrun by evil.” Each map zone has several strongholds, each with unique gameplay objectives, bosses, stories, and rewards. They’re private, instanced experiences for one player or party. After clearing a stronghold, they become public spaces where players can see and interact with one another. Conquering strongholds unlocks a variety of content; some become mini-towns, while others can open new paths to areas, waypoints, quests, or dungeons.
Get rewards from playing the Diablo IV Open Beta in March. Image via Blizzard
Strongholds also have minimum recommended levels. While they can be attempted at any level, players too far above or below the recommendation may have too easy or too hard of a time, respectively.
Armor mechanics
Song went into great detail regarding how armor works in Diablo IV. He showed many complex graphs, numbers, and visual aids detailing the relationship between the armor stat, damage mitigation, and player power. The gist of his presentation went into how armor works differently in Diablo IV than in Diablo III. In Diablo IV, armor mitigates incoming physical damage and specific amounts of nonphysical damage based on the armor’s level.
As players increase in level, they can expect more damage reduction from their armor. However, the highest levels see diminishing returns. Monsters and enemies also have a damage mitigation stat in Diablo IV.
Q&A Session
The livestream ended with a short Q&A session with the developers. During the session, they revealed a ton of miscellaneous information players might be curious about. Some of this information includes:
- There will be another similar livestream after both betas regarding character progression.
- Blizzard highly encourages streaming and content creation of the betas.
- Diablo IV has ultrawide and PC controller support.
- Diablo IV has a trading system.
You can preorder Diablo IV on Battle.net. Preordering Diablo IV gives access to the Open Beta, all its rewards, and the Light Bearer Mount.
