Diablo 4 fans will have to wait until July 20 to weed out the Corruption in Season of the Malignant. But some aspects of the season, such as gear drops, will hit the servers a bit earlier than that date, Blizzard Entertainment confirmed in a devstream today.
The seasonal activities as part of Season of Malignance will go live on July 20, including the opening of a seasonal realm and the actual seasonal quest line. The actual patch for the season, however, will debut on July 18—and it will start applying to anything that’s not the seasonal realm, according to an official developer broadcast ahead of season one.
“We are actually putting out the [season one] patch a little bit earlier,” lead game producer Tim Ismay said. Though the seasonal features are scheduled for July 20, the update will launch two days earlier, on July 18.
When the patch drops, “anything that shows up on the Eternal realm is there right away,” according to Ismay. This won’t touch on Malignant enemies immediately, but it will apply to new Legendary and Unique items, as well as balancing updates and potential changes to the reward structures in some of the game’s activities.
Characters in the Eternal realm may not interact with most seasonal content, but players who want to continue leveling their characters from launch will get a couple of days to shake up their time in Sanctuary, with potential new farming goals, synergies, and builds on the horizon before having to start a new character. Once July 20 hits, the seasonal content will be enabled in full, and players will have the option to make a new playable character and kick off the seasonal quest line.
The Eternal realm isn’t entirely pointless, though. Players will inherit some Renown and progress from their main characters, which should be enough to give them a bump when making a new character during a season. Altars of Lilith and discovered areas in the map will have their Renown tied to an account instead of a specific character, meaning your fresh seasonal alt will already have a chunk of Sanctuary unlocked—and some of the Renown rewards that come with.
Related: When does Diablo 4 Season of the Malignant release? Start date and time
For that progress to count, however, players have to log into their other characters before making a seasonal alt, allowing that progress to transfer to the account. If you’re diving into Sanctuary on July 18, don’t forget to log into any other alts you may have to make sure your progress will be shared.
Players can try out Diablo 4’s Season of the Malignant in full on July 20, or dip their feet in it when the patch releases on July 18.
