Diablo IV’s open beta will be messy at first

before tomorrow Diablo IV Open Beta Blizzard warns that – as was the case this past weekend – players will likely suffer from long wait times and other server issues, as more people queued this past weekend to try and play the super sequel.

In case you missed it, yes, the dungeon crawler action RPG Diablo IV king Closed beta last week, and it did really well, providing the kind of loot-driven action I crave. But to access last weekend’s test, players needed a code that could only be received by pre-ordering the game or by purchasing a Kentucky Fried Chicken sandwich. (We live in a strange world…) But things were made difficult by the long waits many players faced right out of the gate, and the sluggish gameplay once they got in. Even worse, some have reported that after waiting in a queue for an extended amount of time they get kicked out after a few minutes of play. In the end, the experiences got better. But with more people expected to participate in the fully open beta this weekend, Blizzard is warning people to expect more issues.

What to expect this weekend in Diablo IV beta

on charge Diablo forumsAdam Fletcher, Blizzard’s Community Manager, posted the “Expectations” players have to enter into the second beta weekend. First, Blizzard wants people to be prepared for “long waits,” especially on Friday when the servers come online for the first time. The company is expecting a lot from people this weekend, since the beta is completely open to everyone, and it reminded folks that while these issues can be “frustrating,” it’s all part of the process.

Fletcher explained, “Last weekend helped us anticipate the capacity we should expect this weekend, and we’ll use that capacity to intentionally stress our systems in preparation for launch. In short, while we know it can be frustrating, we need queues to confirm our services properly.” Right and we’re designing to ensure we have it for a while.”

Fletcher also explained that because Blizzard monitors how many people play the beta and any issues with the game they may encounter, there may be times when the company will “pause the game” to fix things.

In general, Blizzard wants to make it clear that this is a beta version and that means that it is possible that various aspects will not work correctly or at all. The game will break, the servers will melt. This is all part of the process and while it can be annoying, Blizzard says these betas are “extremely beneficial” to the team working on the game.

“It allows us to test things on a scale that we can’t test on our own, like server capacity, class balance, usability, accessibility, and so on,” said Fletcher. “This information is invaluable, ensuring that your experience upon launch is as smooth as possible.”

You can download a file Diablo IV Open the beta now, before the servers go live tomorrow, March 24th. Meanwhile, the full game is still a few months later. It won’t launch until June 6th.