If you have wondered if streamers receive priority access in beta testing queues for massive games (like Diablo 4), here is the answer.

Queue Times Explained in Diablo 4 Beta

Alex Berry

Published: Mar 17, 2023 09:19 pm

Diablo 4 by Blizzard Entertainment is the highly anticipated next entry in the popular action role playing game series and the early access beta has just gone live for it. The first beta is early access for people who pre-ordered, and runs from 17th-19th March. The second beta is completely open and is planned for the 24th-26th of March. This morning there was a mad rush to load up the game and get to playing, only for those excited players with access to be met with multiple-hour-long queue times to get in and play.

Queue Times Explained in Diablo 4 Beta

It’s pretty typical for a beta of a highly anticipated game to run into server load issues, but the queue times for the Diablo 4 early access beta have been much longer than anticipated and frustrating to anyone who’s tried to play. Not only are the queue times long, but there are also connectivity issues going around with players reporting they are encountering error codes and being kicked out, only to have to wait hours in the queue again to get back in. Even streamers with their thousands of viewers fared no better, resorting to watching videos and playing other games while they toughed out the queue times with everyone else.

Blizzard had to tweet out a statement to let everyone know that they were aware of the error codes and disconnection issues that players were having and so they’re “managing the rate of players entering the game” until they can fully address the issues. This likely means even longer queues and that the queues aren’t going anywhere anytime soon until Blizzard have finished sorting out the connectivity issues.

This is very reminiscent of the Diablo 3 beta all the way back in 2011. I remember having a very similar experience when that beta released where I had to wait at least an hour and a half in the queue to start and then after making my character and playing for 10 minutes I found myself disconnected, back at the menu, and at the back of a queue. I guess some things never change!

So if you are one of the people that pre-ordered and have access to this beta event for Diablo 4, just know that you may be spending more time queueing than playing until Blizzard finishes fixing their connectivity issues.

And that’s an explanation of the queue times in the Diablo 4 early access beta.

Diablo IV

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Author

Alex Berry

Alex Berry has been a freelance contributor at The Escapist since January 2023. His coverage ranges from funny takes on the latest games to a whole bunch of guide content on such titles as Honkai: Star Rail, Genshin Impact, and various new games. Alex is a jack of all trades when it comes to games, playing almost every new title that shows promise. From RPGs to shooters, all the way through to sports games, he plays it all, although he does have a soft spot for turn-based RPGs having started out his gaming journey with a copy of Pokémon Red on the original Game Boy. Alex has a master's degree in Business and is fascinated by online game economies, often spending a lot of time finding ways to maximize wealth in these games (but he should really be doing that in real life instead).