Everything you need to know about tonight’s launch time, pricing and the Season of Reckoning start.
The wait is almost over. Diablo 4: Lord of Hatred, the highly anticipated expansion from Blizzard Entertainment, is set to go live tonight, April 27, at 7 p.m. ET and 4 p.m. PT. While the expansion’s official release date is listed as April 28, players will not have to wait until midnight — servers go live several hours earlier, and the game is already available to preload so fans can jump in the moment everything goes live.
The expansion sends players back into hell to face off against Mephisto, one of the franchise’s most iconic villains, in what promises to be one of the most substantial additions to the game since its original launch.
What the expansion costs and what you get
The standard Lord of Hatred expansion is priced at $39.99 for players who already own Diablo 4, and it comes with access to all of the expansion’s new content. For those who want more, 2 upgraded editions are also available.
The 1st is the Deluxe Edition, priced at $59.99, which includes exclusive cosmetics and access to the premium battle pass in addition to the base expansion content. The 2nd is the Ultimate Edition, which builds on everything in the Deluxe Edition and adds additional armor sets, mounts and 3,000 premium currency for use in the in-game shop toward extra cosmetics and items.
All 3 versions of the Lord of Hatred expansion also include the previous expansion, Vessel of Hatred, as part of the purchase — a welcome bonus for any players who missed that chapter of the story.
The Season of Reckoning starts 30 minutes later
In addition to the expansion launch, a brand-new season kicks off tonight as well. The Season of Reckoning begins at 7:30 p.m. ET and 4:30 p.m. PT, approximately 30 minutes after the Lord of Hatred servers go live. Players who prefer not to run a seasonal character have the option to create an eternal character instead, which can be played immediately at the expansion’s 7 p.m. launch time without waiting for the season to begin.
Blizzard developers are expected to monitor server activity closely throughout the evening and into the coming days to ensure a smooth experience for both the expansion launch and the new season rollout — a standard precaution given the volume of players expected to log on simultaneously.
How to make sure you’re ready
Players who have not yet preloaded the expansion are encouraged to do so now to avoid any download delays at launch. With servers going live at 7 p.m. ET, having the game fully downloaded and ready to go ahead of time is the easiest way to ensure there is no wait between the moment the servers open and the moment you are in the game.
For anyone still weighing which edition to purchase, the decision largely comes down to how invested you plan to be in the game’s cosmetic and battle pass systems. The standard edition covers all of the core expansion content, while the Deluxe and Ultimate tiers are built for players who want to go deeper into customization and in-game progression systems over the course of the season.
Tonight marks a significant moment for the Diablo 4 community, and Blizzard appears to have set the stage for one of the game’s biggest nights since launch.
Source: Men’s Journal