Diablo 4's early access beta has officially begun, but Blizzard servers are already having a tough time keeping up and queues are already starting to form. This is the first of two Diablo 4 betas in March. This weekend's beta is closed, available solely to pre-orderers, pre-purchasers, and those who received a key through giveaways or KFC's Double Down promotion. Yet even with restricted access, it seems Diablo 4's early access beta is struggling due to a wave of excited Diablo fans.
Blizzard fans are well acquainted with frustrating betas and launches from the studio. Diablo 3's launch in 2012 will forever live in infamy. Server issues clashed with Auction House errors, and all grew worse due to progression design limitations. While Blizzard has made dramatic improvements to Diablo 3 in the years since, those who lived through its launch will likely remember it always. Diablo 4 hasn't reached that level of disaster, by any means, but players are certainly frustrated.
Launching at 9:00 AM PDT, the Diablo 4 early access beta initially seemed to be running wonderfully. But as servers quickly filled up, it became clear that the beta wasn't as optimized as some were hoping. Crashes, log-in issues, performance optimization, and more problems impacted those who were able to start the game. But most players never got that far, instead stuck in an ever-growing queue.
As the beta launched, the implementation of a queue was already apparent. Early Diablo 4 logins faced queues of 1-3 minutes. That queue time has now ballooned to over two hours, and will likely grow from there. Blizzard has, to its credit, acknowledged this. It has warned Diablo 4 beta players that they may experience a queue throughout the weekend.
For those trying to get into the Diablo 4 beta, the best advice is not to leave the queue. Sometimes the queue will go up in time, sometimes the queue will last beyond the time shown on-screen, but regardless of what it says, players shouldn't leave the queue. This is a known bug. Blizzard says it should be fixed for next weekend's full open beta.
Why there are queues for the Blizzard early access beta isn't clear. It's possible that Blizzard is stress-testing its servers, or that more players pre-purchased (or ate KFC Double Downs) than expected. As players spread out beyond the opening areas of the Diablo 4 beta, the servers will hopefully allow more players in. This weekend is just one of two opportunities to try Diablo 4 out before it launches in June. Hopefully, Diablo fans don't spend both betas waiting in queues.
Diablo 4 releases June 6 on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
