The Diablo 4 Season 1 Developer Livestream took place earlier today at 11am (US Pacific). There will be a patch some time today. The Season 1 patch will go out on July 18. However, the Season 1 server will be up on July 20. You can still get the new Legendary and Unique items in the July 18 patch.

A new corruption has emerged in Sanctuary. Diablo IV is a living game that is designed to be evolving and expanding for years to come, and Blizzard is kicking off the start of a long-term content schedule with the very first season of Diablo IV, Season of the Malignant, coming July 20. On the latest livestream, associate game director Joseph Piepiora, lead game producer Timothy Ismay, and associate director of community Adam Fletcher talked about what’s coming this Season, including a brand-new questline with new faces and new enemies, new powers, the first Season Journey, and the first Battle Pass.

Following the tradition of previous Diablo games, seasons give all players an opportunity to start the Season Journey fresh with the new features and gameplay mechanics that have been added. With everyone on an even playing field, players can try out new classes and builds that they have been curious about—or journey through the season with an established favorite class/build—while engaging in the seasonal mechanics for a new experience.

Leveling up a new character doesn’t require starting from scratch, as it brings with it the previous renown gained from discovering the map and the benefits from the Altars of Lilith players have found. If you have the mount unlocked, you will also be able to use it immediately on your new character. After each season concludes, all characters will be migrated to the Eternal Realm, where players will be able to access them permanently.

SEASON 1 DETAILS

A New Adventure Arrives: A dangerous new threat roams the land in the form of Malignant Monsters. Team up with Cormond, a former priest, to stop the spread of the Malignant at all costs.

Fight the Infestation: Destroy these Malignant Monsters by drawing the corruption from them and trapping their Malignant Hearts, which can then be inserted into Rings and Amulets.

No Prior Experience Required: New players will be able to jump into seasonal realms and play through the main campaign as they learn the basics and then go straight into the season content and new systems introduced. They will also be able to progress along parts of the season journey and battle pass as they play. Hardcore players will be able to create new characters and experiment with new builds or classes as they play through the season journey. Seasons add an entirely new way to customize characters and build up their power as they take on end game challenges.

Season Journey: This multi-chapter objective system rewards players for completing each chapter. With multiple Chapter, you can earn Favor from rewards which will progress the Battle Pass.

Battle Pass: By earning Favor through regular gameplay or purchasing optional tier skips, players can earn rewards as they complete Battle Pass tiers. The Battle Pass offers a free tier where everyone can earn Season Boosts to accelerate player progress. If a player chooses to purchase the paid tier, they can also earn exclusive Battle Pass cosmetics.

There is a lot to unpack. Not everything said in the livestream is in this roundup. You might want to watch the video. The first half focused on Diablo Immortal, then switched to Diablo 4 Season 1:

  • Helltide chests will now have a chance to drop Unique Items.
  • Tree of Whispers is clarified to not contain a chance to drop Unique Items.
  • Season 1 patch coming on July 18.
  • The Season 1: The Season of the Malignant starts on July 20.
  • You start Season 1 characters at level 1, but they inherit your main character’s progress and 5 skill points.
  • All elite monsters throughout Season 1, have a chance to spawn as a malignant version with an additional power. Kill the elite, and it drops a Malignant Heart. Interact with the Malignant Heart with a cage of binding which starts a ritual that spawns an even more powerful version of that rare elite and other minions. When you defeat it, it drops a caged heart — which you can place into a jewelry socket (kinda like a gem except it has an overpowered legendary-like affix).
  • There are 32 Vicious Heart powers.
  • There are 3 color-coded sockets. You may want to match a heart to the appropriate color-coded socket.
  • There is a fourth type of heart that fits in any of the 3 color-coded sockets.
  • You can salvage hearts to get crafting materials to craft something called Invokers which are used after the campaign to open a Malignant Tunnel. Sorta like dungeons that appear throughout Estuar. In this type of content, you can actually choose the color-coded heart you wish. So Malignant Tunnels eliminate the randomization you might find in the open world.
  • Season 1 has new Legendary Items and Unique Items that will be available to Season 1 characters and Live Eternal Realm characters.
  • You might not see some of these Season 1 mechanics in Season 1 servers until you complete the campaign in the Eternal Realm (Live) — you can transfer a copy of your progress into Season 1 on July 18 by login into your main character (the one with the most progress unlocked).
  • The developers don’t know yet if Season 1 features will be introduced into the Eternal Realm (Live) in the future, but it is possible for some future Seasons’ features to make it into the Eternal Realm (Live) server. Some even on day 1. Some later.
  • The free Battle Pass track allows players to earn Smoldering Ashes. You can spend these to purchase a Season Blessing. You can upgrade that Blessing up to Level 4 (one Smoldering Ash per level).

Season Blessings require Character Level 40; and Smoldering Ashes are unlocked after the Reward Tier 8.

There are at least 5 Season Blessings to choose from:

  • Urn of Aggression: +X% Boost to XP earned from monster kills.
  • Urn of Barganing: +X% Boost to the amount of Gold earned from vendor sales.
  • Urn of Reclamation: Boost to teh chance of rare materials from salvage.
  • Urn of Prolonging: +X% Boost of the duration of all Elixirs.
  • Urn of Malignance: +X% Boost to the chance of powerful Malignant Heart drops. Hearts drop after completing the campaign.

Watch the livestream VOD here. I uploaded over 20 screenshots here. If I made a mistake in the roundup, let me know via @blizzplanetcom direct message.

You should skip to 00:54:14 to watch the Diablo 4 section of the livestream.