Ahead of tomorrow’s Diablo IV open beta, Blizzard is warning that once again players will have to wait a long time, as well as encounter other server issues, kotaku reports. One of the reasons for these inconveniences is high traffic from users wanting to play the pre-beta version of the popular game.
To access the game last weekend, players needed a code that could only be obtained by pre-ordering the game or by purchasing a chicken sandwich from KFC. Things got complicated due to the long queues many players faced and the slow gameplay once they got in.
Some users reported that after a long wait in line they were kicked out after only a few minutes of play. Although necessary improvements have been made, even more people are expected to join the full open beta this weekend, and Blizzard is warning people to expect more glitches.
“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. 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.”
explained Blizzard community manager Adam Fletcher .
Blizzard wants to make it clear that this is a beta, and that means various aspects probably won’t work properly or at all. The game will break, the servers will melt. It’s all part of the process, and while it can be annoying, Blizzard says these betas are “extremely helpful” for the team working on the game.
“They allow us to test things we can’t test on our own, like server capacity, class balance, usability, accessibility, etc.”
says Fletcher.
You can download the Diablo IV open beta now, before the servers go live tomorrow, March 24. In the meantime, the full version of the game will be out in a few months. It won’t be released until June 6.