The Diablo series has long used seasonal progression as a way to get players back into the game to earn new rewards. With Diablo 4, the team is introducing a new wrinkle to the fold with battle passes. Each season, players will have new free or paid passes to work through that earn them new cosmetics that they can use to outfit characters will all kinds of new gear. With the addition of battle passes, many players have been wondering if they’ll need to start a new character from scratch if they want to progress the battle pass since it’s coming alongside each new season. Fortunately, Diablo’s general manager Rod Fergusson finally gave us an answer, but it’s one that will likely leave many players frustrated.
In response to a tweet from Forbes’ Paul Tassi, Fergusson said, “…to take part in the seasonal questline, season journey, and battle pass, you will need to create a new seasonal character.” Unless something changes, it seems that Blizzard will be requiring players to make brand-new characters for every Diablo 4 battle pass, meaning you won’t simply be able to play with your main character and get all of the rewards. As you might expect, many players in the comments of that tweet aren’t excited about this revelation because they’d prefer to stick with their main character throughout their journey through Sanctuary.
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That said, it’s not too shocking of a reveal from Fergusson. After all, seasons have always required you to restart in Diablo. The battle pass is the hang-up though. Sure, games like Fortnite reset every season, but that game isn’t as intrinsically tied to the loot you’re picking up while leveling your main character. It might be a weird example, but every sports game with a live service component resets your season progress, while still letting you play with the team you’ve built up over the course of the year. For most, something similar would make more sense in Diablo 4 because they’ve spent so long with those characters that they don’t want to start over to get the battle pass cosmetics.
Blizzard has shown a willingness to change things already in Diablo 4. Just last week it announced that Gems are going to undergo a major change during Season 2 to help clear up inventory space. Even if it doesn’t change, Diablo 4 remains one of the better games to launch so far this year. Annoyances like these don’t harm the already excellent base game.
