Should You Finish the Diablo 4 Campaign Before Season 1? A Comprehensive Guide
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The question on every Diablo 4 player’s mind as Season 1, the Season of the Malignant, approached was whether or not to buckle down and finish the main campaign. The short answer is a resounding yes, absolutely finish the campaign before diving into Season 1. Here’s why, and everything else you need to know.
Finishing the campaign unlocks the ability to skip it entirely on future characters, including your seasonal character. Skipping the campaign allows you to jump directly into the new seasonal content, optimizing your leveling experience and getting you to the endgame faster. Imagine being able to instantly dive into the Season of the Malignant’s new questline with Cormund, new malignant hearts, unique items, bosses and gear! It’s a massive time saver and lets you focus on the fresh challenges and rewards.
Why Completing the Campaign is Crucial
The most significant reason to complete the campaign is the unlock for future characters, specifically your Seasonal Realm character. Seasonal characters must be created from scratch, and without having completed the campaign previously on the Eternal Realm with at least one character, you’ll be forced to slog through it again.
Here’s a more detailed breakdown of the benefits:
- Skip the Campaign: As mentioned, completing the campaign unlocks the option to skip it on all subsequent characters. This is invaluable for seasonal characters, allowing you to focus on seasonal content.
- Unlock World Tier Access: Progressing through the campaign unlocks access to higher World Tiers. These tiers offer increased difficulty but also significantly improved loot and experience gains. Reaching higher World Tiers early in the season will accelerate your progress.
- Renown Rewards: While Altars of Lilith and map exploration carry over, completing campaign acts is directly tied to unlocking renown rewards in each region. These rewards include valuable skill points and Paragon Points, crucial for character power.
- Experience the Story: Diablo 4 has a compelling narrative, and experiencing it at least once provides context for the world and its lore. The Season of the Malignant story builds upon the main campaign, so understanding the core narrative enhances the seasonal experience.
Maximizing Your Pre-Season Preparations
Completing the campaign is just one piece of the puzzle. To truly optimize your Season 1 experience, consider the following:
- Collect all Altars of Lilith: These statues provide permanent stat boosts across all your characters. Finding them all before Season 1 saves you valuable time later.
- Explore all zones for Renown: Discovering locations and completing side quests contribute to regional renown. Aim to unlock at least the first few tiers of renown in each zone for immediate benefits in Season 1.
- Log in with your main character: Make sure to log in with the character that has the most progress before Season 1 launch. This ensures that your map exploration and Altar of Lilith progress are carried over.
- Level up as high as possible: While Paragon points themselves don’t transfer directly, reaching a higher level allows you to experiment with builds and get a better understanding of your class.
- Gather resources: Stockpiling gold and crafting materials can give you a head start in Season 1.
Diving Into the Season of the Malignant
Once you’ve completed the campaign and prepared your account, creating your seasonal character is the next step. Remember to choose the option to skip the campaign during character creation! From there, you can dive directly into the Season of the Malignant’s unique questline with Cormund, dealing with the spread of Malignant Hearts and the new challenges they present.
New Features to Enjoy
The Season of the Malignant introduced several exciting new features:
- Malignant Hearts: These special gems offer powerful bonuses when socketed into Infested Sockets, providing a new layer of character customization.
- Malignant Tunnels: These dungeons are the primary source of Malignant Hearts and offer challenging encounters.
- New Unique Items and Legendary Aspects: Expand your build options with the latest gear additions.
- Season Journey: A series of objectives that reward players with cosmetic items, titles, and other benefits as they progress through the season.
- Battle Pass: Offers both free and paid rewards, including cosmetics, emotes, and other items.
Mastering the Endgame
Once you’ve reached the endgame in Season 1, the focus shifts to optimizing your character and tackling the most challenging content. This involves:
- Pushing Nightmare Dungeons: These scaled-difficulty dungeons offer excellent rewards and are essential for leveling up your Glyphs.
- World Bosses: Take on powerful world bosses for a chance to earn unique items and materials.
- Helltides: Navigate through these events while collecting cinders for the new malignant hearts.
- Paragon Board Customization: Experiment with different Paragon Board configurations to maximize your character’s power.
Key Takeaways
Completing the Diablo 4 campaign before the start of Season 1 is highly recommended. It unlocks the ability to skip the campaign on your seasonal character, saving you significant time and allowing you to dive directly into the new content. Combine this with pre-season preparations like collecting Altars of Lilith and exploring zones, and you’ll be well-equipped to dominate the Season of the Malignant. Remember you can contribute to the research on learning in video games by visiting the GamesLearningSociety.org and help us better understand game based learning!
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
1. Do I have to complete the Diablo 4 campaign every season?
No, you only need to complete the campaign once on the Eternal Realm to unlock the skip option for future characters, including seasonal characters.
2. What exactly carries over from pre-season to Season 1?
Map progress (uncovered areas) and Altar of Lilith completion carry over. Renown progress also transfers, but only the renown earned from map exploration and Altars.
3. Can I play Season 1 Diablo 4 without playing the campaign at all?
Not unless you’ve previously completed the campaign on the Eternal Realm. If you haven’t, you’ll need to complete it on your seasonal character first.
4. What happens to my pre-season character when Season 1 starts?
Your pre-season character is transferred to the Eternal Realm, where you can continue playing them, but they will not be able to participate in seasonal content.
5. Is the Season 1 campaign different from the main campaign?
Yes, Season 1 features a new questline and storyline centered around the Season of the Malignant, separate from the main campaign.
6. Do Paragon points transfer to other characters in Diablo 4?
No, Paragon points do not transfer. They are earned by leveling past 50 and through renown rewards, which are specific to each character.
7. Will my renown reset in Season 1 Diablo 4?
Partial renown progression transfers from pre-season, but the renown from side quests and dungeons will have to be completed again.
8. What level should I aim to reach before Season 1 starts?
There’s no specific level requirement, but reaching level 50 unlocks the Paragon Board system, giving you a better understanding of endgame progression.
9. Do legendary aspects from dungeons carry over to Season 1?
No, legendary aspects from dungeons do not carry over. You’ll need to re-acquire them in Season 1.
10. Will my Diablo 4 character be wiped at the end of Season 1?
No, your seasonal character will be transferred to the Eternal Realm at the end of the season.
11. What’s the best class to start with in Diablo 4 Season 1?
The best class depends on your playstyle, but Necromancer and Barbarian are often recommended for beginners due to their survivability and ease of play.
12. When should I create my Season 1 character?
Create your Season 1 character after the season officially launches. Before that, focus on completing the campaign and other pre-season preparations.
13. Is Season 1 of Diablo 4 fun?
Fun is subjective, but Season 1 introduces new gameplay mechanics, items, and challenges that many players find engaging. Be sure to manage your expectations and read reviews.
14. Are there any changes to the game mechanics in Season 1?
Yes, Season 1 introduces the Malignant Hearts system, new uniques and legendary aspects, and various balance adjustments.
15. Where can I learn more about the game?
You can learn more about the game by visiting the official Diablo 4 website, reputable gaming news sites, and through community forums. You can also learn about how educational games are being researched by visiting the Games Learning Society website.