{"id":1182775,"date":"2026-02-15T13:32:22","date_gmt":"2026-02-15T13:32:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.polygon.com\/?p=563740"},"modified":"2026-02-15T13:32:22","modified_gmt":"2026-02-15T13:32:22","slug":"blizzards-latest-major-diablo-4-rework-targets-the-battle-pass","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/blizzards-latest-major-diablo-4-rework-targets-the-battle-pass\/","title":{"rendered":"Blizzard\u2019s latest major Diablo 4 rework targets the battle pass"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When Diablo 4\u2019s<\/em> eighth season<\/a> launches on April 29, the battle pass will look completely different.<\/a> Instead of a linear track, it will be split into categories, or Reliquaries, for you to chase after specific types of cosmetic tweaks for your demon slayer. Like a lot of popular live service games that have introduced more choices in their battle passes, Blizzard\u2019s goal is to make it fit with how people actually play Diablo 4<\/em>.<\/p>\n

There were three problems with the old battle passes, senior manager of game design Dan Tanguay told Polygon in a recent interview: The rewards \u201cdidn\u2019t feel meaningful enough,\u201d they were \u201cintrinsically tied to seasons,\u201d and they had a general \u201clack of agency.\u201d<\/p>\n

In my experience, this is all true. I\u2019d hop into a new Diablo 4<\/em> season, maybe take a peek at the battle pass page, then inevitably forget about it until I felt like clearing the notification telling me something new had unlocked. And a lot of times, the new cosmetic was for a class I wasn\u2019t actively playing, which made me care about it even less.<\/p>\n

\n
\"\" \"\" \"\" <\/div>\n<\/div>\n

That seems to be the kind of experience Blizzard is trying to avoid with Reliquaries, a reinvention of the battle pass that lets you pick the rewards you want first. There\u2019s still a price attached. Three of the four categories have an up-front cost before you can start unlocking their rewards, like mini premium battle passes. But if all you care about is the glowing tiger from the Beasts Reliquary instead of the fancy sword from the Weapons Reliquary, you can just skip it. And players who don\u2019t bother starting a new character every season will now have access to the system on the game\u2019s Eternal Realm<\/a>, too.<\/p>\n

Tanguay said the team felt the old battle pass stuck out in an action RPG that\u2019s all about satisfying decision-making. \u201cYou’re choosing basically all the choices that comprise your build, you’re choosing how you look, and we then have a battle pass that’s just highly, highly linear and very deterministic, and it’s like, \u2018Wow, there’s just not a lot of choice here,\u2019\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n