You know, I don’t know why, but April 29 is like a date that just sticks in my head. Maybe like a cosmic reminder or something. But anyways, ah, Diablo 4’s eighth season — it’s getting a bit of a makeover with its battle pass. Picture this: rather than just grinding along a straight line like a hamster in a wheel, it’s gonna be all about choice now. They’re calling these things “Reliquaries.” Cool name, feels kinda mystical. Basically, you can chase after the stuff you really care about for your demon-slaying character. Blizzard, of course, like every other game out there, wants this to jive with how folks actually play. Sensible? I suppose so. Or they’re just throwing darts at a board.
So, here’s the scoop: The old battle passes had issues. Dan Tanguay — he’s a senior manager of game design or something official-sounding like that — spilled the beans to Polygon. He says there were three significant hiccups. First, rewards were kinda “meh,” you know? Then they were too tied to seasons and lastly, there was like ZERO room for personal decision-making. I mean, is there ever a worse combo in gaming? Yeah, probably, but let’s stick to the point.
From my little corner of the universe, I get it. Totally. Dipped my toes into a Diablo 4 season or two, and I’d peek at the battle pass like it owed me money, then just, I dunno, forget it existed until the game would nudge me with that annoying ping about something new being unlocked. And more often than not, the prize was like a new hat or something, for a class I wasn’t even dabbling in. So why should I care? Exactly. I didn’t.
This move with Reliquaries — it’s like Blizzard went, “Hey, we hear ya. Choose what you want, pal.” But hey, don’t get too excited. There’s a catch, naturally. Except for one, the other categories have this upfront cost — kinda like tiny premium passes tucked inside. If all your heart desires is the glowing tiger from the Beasts Reliquary, go for it. Forget the rest. Oh, and another nugget? Players who aren’t starting fresh characters every season get to mess around with it in the Eternal Realm too. Two birds, one stone?
Tanguay tossed out this idea of how the old battle pass felt like an odd duck in an action RPG focused on satisfying choices. I mean, think about it: you fiddle with your build, meticulously decide on your look… then they slop a one-track battle pass on you. Like, really guys? So, more choice — definitely the name of the game here.
Oh, and get this — the fancy new currency to buy the shiny things with is called “Favor.” Yeah, you’ll need to slice through monsters for that. You can splurge it on cosmetics from the freebie Reliquary for the entire season. There’s also something about Event Reliquaries showing up sparingly, like an old friend who now “travels a ton for work.” They’ll demand a special currency — because why not make things a tad more confusing, right?
Tanguay was tight-lipped about whether events will bring back their unique Reliquaries, though they’re apparently chatting about it. The team’s shoehorned in more stuff too, like this free set of challenges called Season Journey. It’s all simple, until it’s not. Tanguay wants folks reaching for the stars as they tackle later chapters. I even glimpsed a challenge where you gotta smack an endgame boss using only a specific seasonal power. How do you even do that? Guess Diablo 4’s not letting us rest on our laurels this season. Can’t wait. Or… you know, I can. But let’s see how this shakes out.
