The Diablo 4 (open in new tab) beta over the weekend was, in the eyes of many fans, including myself, a return to form for Blizzard. But it was also rough around the edges in many notable ways. The reason for this is simple, as Diablo general manager Rod Fergusson told Eurogamer (opens in new tab), "It was a real, real beta test: it was a real beta test.

"'Beta' has become a twisted term for 'marketing beta,' meaning demo." Ferguson said. 'So Friday was a little rocky, but we think the problems we're finding now are problems that will be smoother when we launch. And this weekend was to prepare for next weekend, and next weekend was to prepare for the launch.

That's a fair point, and as an old-timer myself, I sometimes find myself frustrated. In the past, being in beta meant that the game was close to being finished, but not quite, and the point of testing was to put boots on the game and find out what still needed to be done. In recent years, however, beta testing has become more of a marketing tool: it is essentially a free trial event for a finished product. So many people are not accustomed to seeing a game in its actual beta state.

The good news is that Fergusson said the beta test accomplished what it was intended to do: Blizzard was able to address server stability issues with "six really big hotfixes" and will be able to handle the flood of more players at full release We're confident we can do it.

"We wanted to test the server, so we had a goal of how many people would be playing," he said. Ferguson said that while they do not have a final player count, it is "well over a million," and Blizzard hopes to bring it up to "millions" in an open beta later this week.

"Part of the reason we're doing this kind of testing, I mean, is we want to make sure people get hands-on and see if it's a great experience, and fortunately, the last two days have been phenomenal in terms of positive feedback as we go into Saturday," Fergusson said. Fergusson said, "But beyond getting it into the hands of the players and having them try it out for themselves and getting the balance feedback and other feedback that (game director) Joe Shelley received, it's really important to make sure it can perform under load."

From my perspective, the beta went very well. Queue time on Friday was pretty rough and I was booted directly from the game once or twice, losing a little bit of progress each time. However, on Saturday morning there was basically no wait time and I was able to play for hours without any problems. The game itself also made a very good impression overall: as one redditor put it, Diablo 4 "looks like Blizzard is back to its old self (open in new tab)."

Those who missed out on the first Diablo 4 beta, which was limited to those who pre-ordered or received promotional invites, can jump into the open beta (opens in new tab) this weekend: the action starts March 24 at 9am PT/12pm ET. It will begin, and you can start preloading the game two days earlier on March 22 at 9 a.m. PT/12 p.m. ET.