Diablo 4 alpha playtest reportedly running for "friends and family" of Blizzard

A Diablo 4 playtest is reportedly underway for a number of players outside the Blizzard offices, as part of what's described as a "friends-and-family alpha test."

"A bunch of people are playing an early build of Diablo IV right now thanks to a friends-and-family alpha test," Bloomberg reporter Jason Schreier says on Twitter. "Players are under NDA, but I'm hearing mostly positive buzz."

Schreier notes that there are no microtransactions in the alpha build, so players won't yet have much idea what to expect from monetization, though Blizzard has previously confirmed that small Diablo 4 purchases will be cosmetic-only, aside from larger story expansions. The primary criticisms against Diablo Immortal have been leveled at the game's microtransactions.

Fans got their hopes up for a public playtest a few weeks ago, when a beta tab for Diablo 4 appeared on the Battle.net launcher. Diablo GM Rod Fergusson said that "this is an internal only test," but confirmed that the game "will have more public testing in the future."

Sign-ups for those playtests are not yet live, though a support page does suggest that they will be available at some point. For now, the only way to guarantee beta access is to "offer your flesh as tribute" and get a permanent Diablo tattoo. Yes, for real.

Blizzard has revealed a few more details about Diablo 4 over the past few months, including the length of its campaign (about 35 hours) and some details on what to expect from the Necromancer class.

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