Blizzard is allowing Diablo fans to preload the open beta for Diablo IV, which is scheduled to run for three days this weekend. The preload is 84 GB, or 42 GB without the high-resolution texture pack.
To commemorate the open beta, Blizzard has revealed its World Bosses. The company explained in the PS Blog that World Bosses are filled with new, challenging monsters designed for multiple Diablo players to take on regardless of their class or playstyle. The first World Boss that Blizzard has introduced is named Ashava, a gruesome monster with razor-sharp claws elongating from her wrists.
Grab your allies and get ready. Ashava’s hungry. #DiabloIV‘s first World Boss spawns four times during Open Beta Early Access this weekend. pic.twitter.com/b1dQNUIpuu
— Diablo (@Diablo) March 15, 2023
To refresh your memory on who Ashava is, Diablo IV’s senior encounter designer Candace Thomas spoke about her at BlizzCon in 2019. She described Ashava as an ever-present threat in Sanctuary that can pop up anywhere in the world within a moment’s notice, saying she acts “as like a constant reminder that Lilith is watching and nowhere is safe from the gates of Hell.”
“But to us as developers, I think that she’s kind of like a monument to what Diablo IV is as a game,” Thomas added at the time. “She’s this enormous monster, but she takes more than just you to defeat. People have to come together across all the regions to take her down, because she’s just this giant killing machine.”
Ashava will spawn four times over the course of the weekend. Diablo IV’s open beta starts at 9 a.m. PT on Friday, March 17 and ends at 12 p.m. PT on Sunday, March 19.
Diablo IV will be released on June 6, 2023.
