Diablo 4 1.4.0 Update Reveals Changes From Public Test Realm Ahead of 'Loot Reborn' Season

02.05.2024 - 23:13 / ign.com / Joe Piepiora

Blizzard has finally delivered patch notes for Diablo 4 version 1.4.0 ahead of Season 4: Loot Reborn’s launch later this month.

The full list of changes coming to the studio’s latest dungeon crawler arrives immediately after an in-depth developer update livestream. Following a tumultuous beginning for Diablo 4, Blizzard reported how the recent Player Test Realm (PTR) allowed the team to better consider player feedback and implement it into Season 4.

“We think (PTR) went really, really well,” Associate Game Director Joe Piepiora said. “Just having the week of time for players to jump in, crush through all of the content, check out all of the new features, give us a lot of feedback, find a lot of bugs on the way as well was, again, super valuable. It’s been really great for the team. We’ll take a lot of this feedback, look at the tuning, variety of features, and really make sure that we’ve got the best version of the Season 4 experience ready when we get into the launch day.”

While early builds of upcoming content aren’t quite so new for other games, Blizzard used the method to ensure that Loot Reborn will live up to its already high expectations. That means including changes players have asked for since Diablo 4 launched back in June 2023, resulting in what Blizzard feels is a more rewarding, less time-consuming experience for every kind of RPG fan.

As we discovered during our recent conversation with the Diablo 4 leadership team, Loot Reborn pivots away from the usual themed seasonal model many are used to. Though new content in the form of Call of the Wolves and The Pit offers new story and gameplay additions, Season 4 is more about reworking itemization and Diablo 4’s core innerworkings. The changes are meant to help bolster the experience as the team continues to work closer to the release of its first expansion, Vessel of Hatred, later this year.

During a Q&A segment, Piepiora confirmed that PTR has affected the length of Season 4: Loot Reborn, but not by much.

“PTR is not as impactful for the timing here,” he said. “I think it’s a slightly shorter season. I think it’s one week shorter, I need to look at the date.”

He continued: “It’s not that having a PTR automatically means everything is going to take longer to deliver, but there’s a lot of things that we had to set up for the first time for the PTR for Season 4, and I’m really glad that we did.”

While Diablo 4’s first full year on the market rolls on, Blizzard has revealed that it will no longer hold BlizzCon 2024. Although the event’s absence might leave players wanting more, Diablo 4 Season 4 still aims to bring some of the most substantial changes to the formula yet. Many have gone as far as to consider this month’s seasonal update Diablo 5. Series