From the moment Blizzard announced Diablo IV in 2019, it teased the ability for players to ride mounts. This would be a series first, and it seemed like a cool feature to include. But now, Blizzard has confirmed that you actually won’t get to ride a mount right away in its upcoming loot-filled Diablo adventure.
Blizzard announced Diablo IV in November 2019, and even back then it was talking about how big the new game’s world would be and how mounts would help players traverse it. We duly mentioned mounts in our preview back then. And in the recent beta, mounts were again teased but were not available to use, as the playable test was just a small taste of the full action-RPG. In short, Diablo IV’s mounts have been known for some time, and seem pretty cool! However, Blizzard has recently confirmed that you won’t get to ride any horses (or other mounts, for that matter) in Diablo IV right out of the gate.
In a blog post from Blizzard on April 24, the company revealed new information about how players will be able to customize their characters and skills in Diablo IV. And when talking about mounts, Blizzard revealed that you’ll need to progress through the main questline until an unspecified quest is completed with at least one character to gain access to a rideable friend.
Thankfully, once you unlock a mount with one character you’ll be able to use it with all your other characters in all other game modes. And once you do gain access to a cool new mount you’ll be able to customize it with different armors and trophies.
Blizzard tells Kotaku the reasoning behind unlocking the mount “later in the campaign” comes down to a design philosophy at the company. They have a certain way they want players to “explore the world of Sanctuary” in Diablo IV.
“While we want our players to be able to get to where they want to go,” Blizzard explained to Kotaku.“There are so many meaningful encounters to experience from local events to strongholds to dungeons that we don’t want players to miss.”
Understandable, but I do wonder if at some point down the line Blizzard will give people mounts sooner, maybe after a few years or so. We’ll have to wait and see.
Classic items coming back to Diablo IV
Blizzard’s blog post also shared more information on loot, explaining how legendary items that you don’t pick up due to a disconnection error or because you don’t spot them will be added to a special section of your stash. (This special storage area will fill up quickly, so players will need to check it regularly.) The studio confirmed that some classic items from past Diablo games, like Windforce, will have a chance to drop in the new game, too.
Blizzard also talked about how respeccing will work, mentioning that it will not be as free and open as Diablo III’s version of the endgame system but will be less rigid than how it was implemented in fan-favorite Diablo II.
Diablo IV launches June 6, 2023, on PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, and PC. For those who can’t wait, Blizzard recently confirmed another beta will be happening in May.
Update, 4/27/23, 12:35 p.m. ET: Blizzard has clarified that it made an error in its original post. The story has been changed to reflect that.