Diablo 4’s new battle pass system, Reliquaries, is off to a shaky start

Diablo 4 Season 8 is a significant one for a variety of reasons, but one of the biggest is the introduction of Reliquaries, which replace its old battle pass system. Taking inspiration from fellow ActiBlizz franchise Call of Duty, it splits seasonal rewards into different pages and gives you the freedom to unlock available rewards in whatever order you please. That all sounds marvelous, but unfortunately its debut isn’t going quite as planned. Not only has Blizzard acknowledged that there’s a bug charging people for the premium Reliquary pass and not giving it to them, but many Diablo fans are expressing their general displeasure at the new system online.

Let’s tackle this bug first. Basically, if I were you, I’d steer clear of buying any of the premium Diablo 4 Season 8 Reliquary pages until Blizzard confirms it’s fixed the issue, because it’s charging players the correct cost in Platinum (Diablo 4’s paid premium currency) but then not granting them what they purchased. In a post on the RPG’s forums, community manager ‘filthierich’ says: “Hey folks thanks a ton for sharing. We’re investigating this issue with Reliquaries not showing/functioning properly at this time. Apologies for the inconvenience, we’ll keep you all informed asap on any updates.”

However, there may be some more long-term problems for Blizzard to iron out, because there are a lot of vocal fans on the forums and on Reddit criticizing the new Reliquaries. While they are still, in my opinion, fairly reasonably priced for a premium battle pass (buying all three premium Reliquary pages at once will set you back 1,000 Platinum, which equates to $9.99 / £8.39) fans are pointing out that you’re now getting fewer rewards in this new system.

Excluding the bonus armor set and pet you get if you buy the more expensive Deluxe battle pass, completing all four pages of the premium pass will get you 34 items in total. The old battle pass had 90 tiers, although some slots were taken up with Platinum and bundles of Smoldering Ashes.

In Blizzard’s defence, it has removed some of the smaller rewards like titles and emotes to mainly focus on armor, weapons, and mounts in Reliquary pages, and some of these rewards are full armor sets rather than individual armor pieces. However, the main gripe is that you’re left with just 200 Platinum after completing the entire pass, which is considerably less than the 700 Platinum you could earn from the old linear battle pass. This excess Platinum can then go towards reducing the cost of next season’s pass.

This reshuffle of rewards, and the cut in Platinum that a premium Reliquary pays back, has led to some frustration and disappointment. “Reliquaries are a massive downgrade born from pure greed,” says one user comparing the before-and-after rewards. Another says that the new system “almost puts me off playing this season honestly.”

So, despite the increased flexibility and the fat-trimming, this new seasonal rewards system isn’t being as universally well-received as I expected it to be. It’ll be interesting to see how Blizzard responds to the criticism, and if it will spark any change in next season’s Reliquary – or the system as a whole.

While there are plenty of redeeming qualities in Diablo 4 Season 8, if this new battle pass system makes you think twice, here are some other great co-op games you should try.

You can follow us on Google News for daily PC games news, reviews, and guides. We’ve also got a vibrant community Discord server, where you can chat about this story with members of the team and fellow readers.