Blizzard warns of "unprecedented traffic and queue times" ahead of Diablo 4 open beta
Stay a while and listen.
Blizzard has warned of "unprecedented traffic and queue times" ahead of the Diablo 4 open beta, which kicks off this afternoon at 4pm.
"Best to set some expectations early but any issues this weekend are better found now than at launch," Diablo boss Rod Fergusson tweeted.
"Please be patient with us as we expect a lot of players joining to help test our game and infrastructure. Thank you for helping us make Diablo 4 the best it can be!"
Last weekend's early access began with lengthy queue times that eventually cleared.
In a post on Battle.net, Blizzard said there will be "lengthy" queue times during the open beta, particularly on Friday and during peak regional windows.
"This past weekend helped us to forecast the capacity we expect this weekend, and we will be using that capacity to intentionally stress our systems in preparation for launch," Blizzard explained.
"In summary, while we know it can be frustrating, we need queues to properly stress test our services and we are designing to ensure we have them some of the time."
Blizzard added there may be times when the beta is pulled offline so it can issue fixes.
Read Eurogamer's thoughts on Diablo 4 here, and here's a useful guide to the Diablo 4 open beta and everything it has to offer.
In an interview with Eurogamer published this week, Fergusson said "beta has been a twisted word that has become 'marketing beta', which means demo, and for us this was a true beta..."
The Diablo 4 open beta, Fergusson added, "prepares for launch" in June. It's worth remembering Diablo 3's catastrophic launch in 2012, and the infamous Error 37 code that came from it. Over a decade later, Blizzard will be keen to avoid a repeat of that furore.
The Diablo 4 open beta launches amid concerns over incentivised crunch in order to get the game done, and periodic staff walkouts as unionisation efforts seek to tackle unfair working conditions. And, of course, there's the apparently never-ending Microsoft buyout saga looming large.