Official statistics for theDiablo 4open beta reveal that it was the largest ever for the franchise. Two beta periods forDiablo 4took place across March and millions enjoyed a taste of what Blizzard Entertainment’s next release has to offer.Cautious optimism followed a majority who took a chance with theDiablo 4beta, a feeling that turned into a burning anticipation for many of them. In a year stacked with highly anticipated releases,Diablo 4was always a contender to be among the best of them but now seems virtually guaranteed to be one of the biggest launches of 2023.Despite issues with balance and server stability, players found themselves enthralled by the compelling atmosphere, versatile character creator, and engaging combat, more excited than ever for the full release in June.RELATED:Diablo 4 Xbox Series X Bundle Revealed With Mount and Bonus ItemsNow figures have been released that represent just how massive the Diablo 4 open beta was, with a total of 61,560,437 hours played across the beta period. It is unclear if the statistics also include the initial weekend, reserved for those that had already pre-ordered the game, but the image suggests that only the open beta period is counted. Sorcerer and Necromancer were the two most played classes, a fact that is unlikely to surprise many given that they were quickly considered two of the most overpowered characters. The disparity between classes has been one of the most pressing issues to have come out of the beta, with countless videos posted to social media showcasing how Sorcerers and Necromancers can finish boss fights twice oreven three times as fast as Druids or Barbarians.
An official figure for how many people played the beta is curiously absent from the image provided by theDiabloTwitter account, but it is known that 2.6 million Beta Wolf Packs were earned.Given that the milestone was limited to one for each player, nearly 3 million individuals got at least one class to level 20 - a staggering amount of players. Over 29 billion monsters were defeated, but players died nearly 47 million times, with 1.7 million of those deaths attributable to The Butcher. An iconicDiablocharacter, Blizzard decided to make it so that The Butcher could spawn in any dungeon, completely randomly, and at level 25 - conveniently the maximum level one could achieve during the beta.
Ashava the Pestilent, the World Boss that was available for players to test themselves against, killed players 10,163,397 times and was only felled on 107,426 occasions.Diablo 4’s World Boss system seems to work similarly to that found inLost Ark, where a powerful enemy will spawn at a specific location and at a predetermined time.Diablo 4then allows up to 12 players to defeat it within a certain time limit. Just under the Ashava death total is a subtitle that reads “Solo Ashava Kills: Almost 1?” which is a fun reference to whenstreamer wudijo almost defeated Ashava alone, before a Necromancer decided to steal the kill at the last possible moment.
Diablo 4will be available June 6th for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series S/X.
