For Blizzard Entertainment and Diablo 4, strife and controversy go hand-in-hand with record-setting sales. Over one month after releasing the game and enjoying the fastest-selling launch in company history all the while dealing with controversies over its microtransactions, Blizzard is faced with a legitimate plight.
After dealing with the backlash following the release of the pre-Season 1 patch, Blizzard still saw the servers of Diablo 4 fill up and force players to fall in line to get a chance to play the dungeon crawler once Season 1 was finally available.
It looks like the earlier threats of the pitchforks coming out and players promising to lay down their weapons weren’t true, as evidenced by the significant queue times displayed on the launcher.
Since Diablo 4’s grand launch on June 5, Blizzard has done a remarkable job fixing the queue times. Now, you’re looking at a wait of about 10 to 15 minutes before you can immerse yourself in the game.
Keep in mind that this wait time isn’t set in stone. The busiest hours will likely fall in the evening, with more gamers eager to explore the update. Before joining, brace yourself for potential error codes from increased server pressure. Do yourself a favor and scan Blizzard’s support Twitter for any prevailing obstacles that may bar your entry into the game.
Looking for shortcuts through the Diablo 4 queue? There aren’t any, I’m afraid. Your best bet is to dive into the game, let it run in the background, and wait for your moment to re-enter your world and resume your gaming journey.
Over time, server congestion should ease and queue times should dwindle. Until that happens, patience is your best ally.
We urge you not to log out and attempt to log back in whilst in the queue. It’s a risky move that’s likely to send you to the back of the queue, prolonging your wait time. If your internet connection is giving you trouble and you’re suspecting local network issues are behind the game’s lag or connection drop, then it might be worth a shot. But in most cases, you’ll need to strap in for a bit more patience.
As Blizzard assesses the actual server population in Diablo 4, there’s hope for gamers. Queue times may shrink considerably or even vanish entirely – unless, of course, a new expansion or significant update rears its head.
Participating in Diablo 4’s inaugural season is as simple as creating a new character. As soon as your character is ready, you can decide whether they belong to the Seasonal Realm or the Eternal Realm, home to your regular characters. Once Season 1 concludes in about three months, your seasonal characters will migrate to the eternal realm, sans any special seasonal attributes.
The fresh questline of Season 1 awaits you post-campaign. If you’re a seasoned player who’s already completed the game’s campaign with another character, feel free to skip ahead. If you’re a newcomer, you’ll need to venture through the campaign first, but worry not – you can do so with a character from the seasonal realm, leveling up and securing battle pass tiers as you proceed.
Blizzard teed up this launch with a substantial patch earlier this week. The new Unique items added by the patch stirred up much discontent, nor have most of the bug fixes, with the alterations to class balance causing quite a stir.
There’s an ongoing dispute over the extent of the impact on each class, and whether the new season’s potent gem-like items – dubbed Malignant Hearts – might offset some of these alterations.
Blizzard has scheduled a dev chat live stream on Friday to delve into the patch and outline its next step.
