Blizzard announces Diablo 4 beta, but not everyone is invited

The first Diablo 4 beta is coming in November 2022, Blizzard announced in a new blog post, but the action-RPG’s beta comes with some strict sign-up requirements. The Diablo 4 beta is a closed one, but since it revolves around the endgame, Blizzard only wants players who have extensive experience navigating the complexities of Diablo’s endgame in past iterations.

“We’ll be using gameplay data to invite a limited number of Diablo players who have recently spent significant amounts of time playing the end-game experiences of Diablo II: Resurrected and Diablo III,” Blizzard said in the announcement post.

If you think that’s you, open your Battle.net account, navigate to account settings, and enable “News and Special Offers from Battle.net.” Of course, as always with these closed betas, there’s no guarantee Blizzard may select you, even if you do meet the requirements.

All is not lost if you do miss out, though. Blizzard said Diablo 4 public betas will start up in 2023.

As for what to expect in the closed beta, Blizzard has quite a bit in store. As you roam the Sanctuary – spoiler-free, we should add, as Blizzard promised not to drop any juicy story details in this first beta – you may encounter Helltide. Helltide is a new regional event that unlocks at World Tier 3: Nightmare difficulty and pits you against a wave of Lilith’s minions.

Winning these fights earns you Cinders, which you can exchange for exclusive gear. Cinders drop upon your defeat, though, so mind how you go.

You also get access to Nightmare Dungeons. Gather Nightmare Sigils to access these high-level challenges and get a suite of difficulty modifiers to tinker with as well. Clearing these dungeons gets you more sigils and even more modifiers, along with high-rarity loot.

The beta also includes a PvP area, the Fields of Hatred. Here, you can send out demons to collect Seeds of Hatred. Take the seeds to the Altar of Extraction, grind them into Red Dust, and exchange the dust at the special Fields of Hatred store for exclusive cosmetics.

If you want a head start on your Diablo 4 experience, check out our rundown of the Diablo 4 classes we know of so far and in-depth overviews of the Druid class and Rogue class to get an idea of what to expect when the beta launches.