Blizzard extinguishes Diablo 4 PTR Campfires, promising livestream revamp

Dev streams can be a bit of a slog to sit through at the best of times. Oftentimes I'm watching along, tuning in and out of needless yapping before realizing I've missed an important piece of information that I'd inevitably have to re-read in the patch notes later on. Diablo 4's Public Test Realm Campfires are one of the worst offenders, and players have consistently made it known that Blizzard's efforts aren't delivering the goods. The studio agrees, and has now canned its update livestreams until it can provide something more substantial in return for our watch hours.

Diablo 4 Season 10 is just around the corner, marking the final known major content update on the current roadmap before the next big expansion for one of the best RPG games is set to drop. Infernal Chaos promises the usual suite of seasonal powers and quests, alongside a big switch up to wave-based endgame activity Infernal Hordes. Considering the lukewarm responses to previous seasons, the pressure's on to get this one right.

Ahead of time, this content appears on Blizzard's PTR, giving players a chance to try out and give feedback ahead of it going live. This, in theory, ensures the new season starts without any gamebreaking technical hitches, and that the balance is just right. The PTR Campfire chat is essentially a run through everything you'll see in the patch notes, giving the devs an opportunity to expand on why certain decisions have been made.

Speaking in a new forum post, however, community manager Adam 'PezRadar' Fletcher says that Blizzard "will not be having a livestream for Season 10 PTR as we are focusing on revamping our livestreams going forward starting with the Season 10 launch. There will still be a blog and notes to accompany Season 10 PTR so players can expect news on that soon.

"We have been evaluating feedback from players and internally have been wanting to revamp our livestream formats for quite a while, especially as we head into next year with the new expansion," he continues.

As you can imagine, the announcement that a crucial font of communication between player and dev has now been given the chop may only heighten anxiety surrounding the quality of Infernal Chaos - especially in the wake of Diablo franchise manager Rod Fergusson's abrupt departure from the company. Conversely, considering these livestreams seldom provide more value than simply reading the patch notes, now seems to be the perfect timing to revitalize the format ahead of the new expansion.

Critically, the livestreams aren't going away. Fletcher also states that the timing for the usual Discord Sanctuary Sit Down is being shifted to coincide with the PTR blog drop, so you won't be missing out.

While you're patiently awaiting the next big Diablo 4 content drop, check out more of the best games like Diablo you can jump into right now. Looking to the future, you should also peep the upcoming PC games that'll be vying for your time when the next big expac launches.

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