A cheeky Tweet last April 19th by the official Diablo Twitter account seemingly agreed to more Diablo IV game time. Fans all over social media went abuzz with this extremely simple message. Many others dismissed the Tweet as having likely been a message for Early Access to those who purchased the Deluxe or Ultimate editions. Others clung to hope that Blizzard would let us revisit Sanctuary just one more time.

Well, Praise Lilith! She has heard the cries of mortals and has invited us yet again to slay the legions of Hell. Welcome back to Sanctuary, heroes.

Diablo IV will get one final testing period just a few weeks before the live release. All players on all platforms will be able to play between May 12 at 12 PM to May 14, 12 PM Pacific Time. Those who missed out on one of the franchise’s biggest betas ever will also get the chance to earn various cosmetic rewards.

This Server Slam period is also meant as a final stress test for Blizzard’s servers. Early Diablo III players should be all-too-familiar with the infamous “Error 37” that plagues the title’s early days. Hopefully, come launch the sequel to this error doesn’t rear its ugly head with this stress test.

The Diablo IV Server Slam will give everyone a fresh start this time around. All of the heroes created during the previous two betas will no longer exist. As expected, the characters created during the Server Slam will also not be forwarded to the full launch.

Players will also have access to almost everything from the previous beta periods. The biggest change is that the level cap will only be 20 instead of 25. It isn’t clear why this is, but that’s what is going to happen. Legendary Item drop rate will also be drastically reduced in order to be more in line with the launch numbers.

This will pose a challenge, especially if players are set on trying to defeat The Fractured Peaks’ world boss, Ashava. As player level will be much lower this time around, she will pose an even bigger threat. But with great danger comes great rewards. Those who fell the beast at least once will be granted the Cry of Ashava Mount Trophy. This is a cool-looking warhorn that you can mount on your horse.

Ashava will also spawn more often this time, with 3-hour intervals starting on May 13th, 9 AM.

Lastly, Blizzard did confirm though that all of the feedback gathered will be implemented during this server slam. This means that we have a lot of tweaks and changes to look forward to. The more tanky Barbarians will be quite a nice touch.

This Server Slam event was actually announced during a developer livestream with the folks over at Blizzard. They took the time to explain some of the changes they’re implementing based on the feedback, as well as some endgame systems and itemization.

First, the Beta Feedback. Melee builds were in the most need of help, hence the multitude of buffs for the Druid and Barbarian. Boss AoEs made it more difficult for melee characters to maneuver. Necromancers are also being converted into a more “active” playstyle when it comes to their summons. It looks like they are leaning away from “summon and forget” styles and prefer corpse management to play a bigger role.

Onto the itemization, we still haven’t seen Sacred, Ancestral, and Unique Item types yet. Sacred and Ancestral items are similar to legendaries in power but are much stronger. It isn’t unclear yet what these are, but some speculate that they may be similar to Diablo III’s Ancient and Primal Legendary items. That is to say, legendaries but with higher stat ranges.

Unique items will start dropping in World Tier 3. These are extremely powerful items that can literally define a character’s build. Uniques are also extremely rare in Diablo IV, and it is said that players will only get a few during a full 3-month season.

The Diablo IV Server Slam will also be the release version of the game, though limited in what players can access. Diablo IV recently went Gold and is thus ready for release. Be sure to check out the developer Livestream as they also have an in-depth Q&A session, and much, much more on the Endgame Systems. They even touch upon the exciting Paragon Board that wasn’t in the beta periods.

Be sure to check out our Diablo IV Wiki for more on the game.

In other news, check out Blasphemous 2 Officially Announced for Summer 2023 and Xenoblade Chronicles 3 Caps off Season Pass with the Final DLC.