Diablo 4 1.03 Patch Notes, Maintenance Time
Many people were skeptical at full, but Diablo IV turned out to be a fantastic game despite being online only; however, even the best games have flaws. Thankfully, the developers over at Blizzard are dedicated to making the experience in Diablo 4 better by providing regular updates and patches filled with bug fixes, balance changes, and more.
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Patch After Patch After Patch
Since its launch, Diablo 4 has been getting patch after patch, even during its pre-launch stage when early-access players only had access to the game. Aside from the sizeable update we got, the hotfixes after it addressed the smaller, more immediate issues, although you can argue that they’ve not all been innocuous. For example, Hotfix 10 nerfed the heck out of Druids—a class that’s already been weak since Diablo 4’s release. Then, for Hotfix 12, Blizzard decided to nerf the Barbarian’s Hammer of the Ancients.
Expect to Wait While Downloading the Upcoming Patch
The community went understandably livid after the release of Hotfix 12. After all, all we’ve gotten so far are a couple of bug fixes and nerfs—where are the buffs? Luckily, Activision Blizzard quickly deployed Hotfix 13 on the same day Hotfix 12 was released to revert the damage they’d done.
Now, all eyes are on the upcoming Diablo 4 patch the developers discussed during the latest Campfire Chat. According to Rod Fergusson, the general manager of Blizzard, the patch is so big that it has more than 13 pages worth of notes—and counting! He said they’d likely need a maintenance window to churn out all the fixes.
Diablo 4 Maintenance Window: Date and Times
The upcoming Diablo 4 maintenance schedule can be found on the dedicated support website. Initially, the page stated that the game wouldn’t be available to play during maintenance, but it got updated. The page now reads that players may experience service interruptions, such as disconnecting, when the update is ongoing. However, they should be able to log back in when that happens. In any case, it’s best to finish any quests or business you must do in the Sanctuary before it happens.
Here are the date and times for the maintenance:
June 26 (Monday)
- Starts at 9 am PDT / 12 pm EDT / 5 pm BST
- Ends at 2 pm PDT / 5 pm EDT / 10 pm BST
June 27 (Tuesday)
- Starts at 9:30 am PDT / 12:30 pm EDT / 5:30 pm BST
- Ends at 2 pm PDT / 5 pm EDT / 10 pm BST
What Updates Can We Expect?
If everything goes smoothly, we can expect the first proper post-launch for Diablo 4 to be after the maintenance on June 27. Based on what the developers discussed for this heck of a chonky update in the Campfire Chat, we’ve got a giant list of hotfixes awaiting us.
While we wait for the detailed and complete breakdown of the rollout, here are some of the things you can expect:
- The unique drops for Druid and Barbarian will be fixed; the unique drops for other classes will still occur
- Increased material cap
- You’ll now have the ability to teleport to Nightmare Dungeons
- Gain more XP from Nightmare Dungeons
- The Fog of War map will be removed
- Disconnect protection will be enabled for Hardcore players
- Paragon of stats obtained from Lilith statues will remain
- New characters will have Lilith altars and the map unlocked
- You’ll need to finish renown from waypoints, dungeons, and quests each season to unlock Paragon Points, Murmuring Obols, and a third skill point
- Resistances in higher WTs will be made more impactful in Season 2
- Quests will be reset for seasonal characters (this may be changed in the future)
- Renown earned for map exploration and Statues of Lilith will remain between seasons
The standouts from this list are undoubtedly the disconnect protection for Hardcore players, the material cap increase, and the ability to teleport to Nightmare Dungeons. In Diablo 4’s Hardcore mode, characters made by players are permanently deleted when they die. If you die by fighting a boss that’s too powerful for you, fair enough, but if it’s because of server troubles or your internet isn’t cooperating with you, it’s treated as a “player death.”
During the Q&A segment on Campfire Chats, Blizzard also commented that they’ll be adding these improvements in the future:
- More options for character customization
- Buffs to systems/classes; there might be an addition of resource generation for some builds
- Improvements to the journal/what it tracks
Will We Have A Better Version of Diablo 4 Now?
It’s hard to say at this point; I’m crossing my fingers that those 13 pages of patch notes that Fergusson mentioned will cover most of the main issues we’re having with the game. If that’s the case, then it’s the first step to getting Diablo 4 to a more polished state the developers envisioned during their Campfire Chat talks.
