Diablo 4 Open Beta Dates Announced

Diablo 4's open beta is starting next month with players able to get their hands on the game throughout two different weekends in March, Blizzard announced this week. The first of those weekends will be a closed beta, however, which will only be available for those who've preordered the game. But the second weekend I set to be an open beta and is when the majority of people will finally be able to test out Diablo 4.

The release dates for the closed and open betas were announced during IGN Fan Fest, an announcement which was mostly expected from this event based on teases from Diablo lead Rod Fergusson. The closed beta for the game will take place on March 17th and will continue that weekend until March 19th. That beta is only available to those who preordered the game. A week later on March 24th, the open beta will be underway from then until March 26th.

Blizzard also shared a few details regarding what, exactly, players will ba eble to do in these betas. The Diablo 4 previews will be centered in the Prologue and Act 1, Blizzard said, with players able to level up to level 25 throughout both weekends. It wasn't specified whether or not all of the classes would be available in this beta (two classes, the Necromancer and the Druid, were unavailable in our hands-on preview of Diablo 4, for reference), so it's unclear if all the roles will be playable at this point.

The good news is that players won't have to wait until March to learn more about the new Diablo game. Alongside the announcement of the start dates for the two betas, Blizzard also said it plans to host another Diablo 4 livestream soon. This one will take place on February 28th and will feature game director Joe Shely, lead systems designer Meng Song, and lead world designer Art Peshkov. The game's Stronghold and Armor systems were specifically mentioned as key topics of discussion during this livestream as was the topic of the open beta itself.