Diablo 4's first open beta weekend is putting players through long queues and connection issues, and Blizzard has a word of advice for those still waiting to get in: don't leave the queue.
Wait a minute. Long queue times? Connection issues? Error codes? During the open beta launch of a highly anticipated online game? This all sounds like the plot of a movie about every major video game release date ever.
That's right, Diablo 4's big open beta weekend isn't starting out well. At the time of writing, my client suggests I have 17 minutes until I can get in, but a wordy PSA tells me that timing might not be accurate.
"Please note that the countdown may finish and go beyond the duration listed on the queue timer," reads the on-screen message. "Do NOT leave the queue as this will restart the queue. We will have more accurate timers in place for Open Beta Weekend."
I'm not alone in this, and plenty of other players are reporting far longer wait times.
"You pay money to pre-order because you want to play this friday and during weekend and you get disconnected because Blizzard is incompetent," reads the top post on the Blizzard forums. "Now i have to wait 2 hours to be able to login again, yeah 2 hours… If i knew this would happen i would never pre-order the game. This is absolutely unacceptable."
Other folks are taking the issues in stride, apparently armed with the painful memories of Diablo 3's launch from 2012. "They're capturing the Diablo 3 launch nostalgia perfectly," writes a commenter in a Reddit thread roasting Blizzard for the long queue times. "Do people not realise this has happened with every major blizzard release for like 15 years? Not just blizzard either, almost every major online game launch," says another.
Blizzard has acknowledged the issue not only on the in-game loading screen but across its social media channels. The most recent tweet from Blizzard customer service says the developers are "currently investigating" the issues, while a list of known issues published to the Blizzard forums acknowledges the wait times and connection issues.
Update 3/17/2023 at 1:44pm MST: For what it's worth, I was able to get into the Diablo 4 open beta on PS5 just before hitting publish on this story. In total, I waited about an hour. I was able to watch the opening cutscene, create a character, and am still logged in at time of publication. I'll update this story if anything changes.
If you just can't wait to see the game for yourself, 34 minutes of high-level Diablo 4 gameplay recently leaked online.
