The first Diablo 4 Season 4 patch notes clock in at a novel-length 10,000 words of changes

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You'd better get comfortable before reading these

Diablo 4
(Image credit: Blizzard)

The Diablo 4 Season 4 full launch may have been delayed, but its Public Test Realm release is right around the corner, with its patch notes set to drop very soon. Even though we don't know exactly what they're going to contain yet, we do know one thing – they're going to be absolutely enormous.

Blizzard Entertainment's global community development director for Diablo, Adam Fletcher, teases as such in a new tweet, recommending that anyone planning on reading them prepares a drink and some popcorn first. Based on the word count alone, it's fair to say that this is solid advice.

"Tomorrow morning is Diablo 4 Season 4 PTR patch notes day!" Fletcher writes. "Sorry it took a while to get these out. The blog and notes [come] in at over 10,000 words as a lot is changing in the next season."

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According to my very scientific research (copying and pasting these last few paragraphs repeatedly into a document) 10,000 words equates to at least 20 pages of content, and potentially far more depending on how you space everything out. Needless to say, sitting down to check out the changes is going to feel like reading a short novel. For comparison, the patch notes, which were released back in January along with Season 3: Season of the Construct, were around 5,000 words long, so these are set to be around double that.

Fletcher has given very little away about the actual details of the patch notes but notes that they won't reveal the theme of Season 4. This announcement will come "closer to Season 4," so we'll have to wait a little longer for that. 

Season 4's enormity had already been hinted at before, as the size of its loot overhaul is the reason why Blizzard is implementing a Public Test Realm server in the first place, which will run from April 2 to April 9. Consequently, the season's full launch was pushed back to May 14 to give the developers enough time to work on the feedback that will inevitably be gained from it. 

At its launch, Diablo 4's third season was slated by many players as "painfully unfun" and "a great step backwards," so here's hoping that the upcoming fourth one will go down a little better. 

If you want to earn XP quickly, be sure to check out our guide on how to level up fast in Diablo 4.

Catherine Lewis
Catherine Lewis
Deputy News Editor

I'm GamesRadar+'s Deputy News Editor, working alongside the rest of the news team to deliver cool gaming stories that we love. After spending more hours than I can count filling The University of Sheffield's student newspaper with Pokemon and indie game content, and picking up a degree in Journalism Studies, I started my career at GAMINGbible where I worked as a journalist for over a year and a half. I then became TechRadar Gaming's news writer, where I sourced stories and wrote about all sorts of intriguing topics. In my spare time, you're sure to find me on my Nintendo Switch or PS5 playing through story-driven RPGs like Xenoblade Chronicles and Persona 5 Royal, nuzlocking old Pokemon games, or going for a Victory Royale in Fortnite.