In an in depth Diablo 4 “Campfire Chat” on Twitch and YouTube, Blizzard mentioned, amongst different issues, the neighborhood considerations round server disconnects, and their plans for the primary “actual patch” due earlier than the launch of the sport’s first season.
It isn’t been unusual for gamers to get disconnected from Diablo 4’s servers within the few quick weeks since they started exploring Sanctuary, and whereas solely a minor inconvenience to most, it has been an actual downside for the sport’s most hardcore gamers who play on the aptly named “Hardcore” mode. On this mode, a single character dying ends in that character’s everlasting deletion, and Hardcore gamers have reported shedding these characters as a consequence of disconnects from the server ensuing of their character standing idle till killed.
The panel, which included Franchise Common Supervisor Rod Fergusson and Sport Director Joe Shely, talked concerning the difficulty and their plans to repair it.
“These may be a few of the should irritating conditions for a Hardcore participant, as a result of in lots of instances it is utterly exterior of your management,” Skely defined. “We now have already a mechanism within the sport that enables gamers to flee from boss fights that has very strict controls on it, known as the Scroll of Escape. As a result of it has these controls when it comes to being consumable and being a uncommon drop, that is the place the place we wish to add disconnect safety.”
“Mainly the best way it will work is: should you get disconnected, for any motive, you probably have one among these Scrolls of Escape it is going to set off although you were not there to set off it, and it’ll teleport you to city,” Shely added.
“We have already got a giant ‘actual patch’ coming.”
Skely specified that the group needs this mechanic to be restricted, so it could’t be abused by those that would possibly wish to pull the plug on their laptop each time they discover themselves in a bind, to be consumed solely within the uncommon, emergency scenario.
Since Diablo 4 launched, plenty of hotfixes (11 to be precise) have been deployed to deal with steadiness adjustments, enhance sport stability, and extra, however Blizzard is already getting ready for his or her first “actual patch,” which can require server downtime to carry out upkeep.
“We have already got a giant ‘actual patch’ coming,” Fergusson introduced. “That is one thing that is gone via certification. It is on the market. It may handle a number of issues, together with efficiency points.”
That patch, in accordance with Blizzard, comprises a whopping 13 pages of fixes and enhancements that Blizzard did not delve into on-stream, however stated would get a full set of patch notes as soon as deployed. No particular date for the patch was given, however Blizzard shared it plans to deploy it earlier than season one is launched and it could require server downtime.
Travis Northup is a author for IGN. You may observe him on Twitter @TieGuyTravis and browse his video games protection right here.