The situation with Diablo 4's seasonal exploit has officially ended in a manner most unfortunate for those who were tempted into participating: Blizzard is dropping the banhammer.
In case you missed it, a dubious Diablo 4 exploit has been doing the rounds that apparently lets you bridge the gap between the Eternal and seasonal realm. The exploit had been letting players in the Eternal realm bag seasonal gear, and was also being used to transfer existing characters over to the seasonal realm. It was sketchy from the beginning, but then things got even worst when players found out how to equip the new seasonal gem, Malignant Hearts, into every item slot.
Seasoned Diablo players wouldn't touch the exploit with a 10-foot pike, but those naïve enough to think they could take advantage of a vulnerability in the system without paying the price are now, well, paying the price. Not only has the loophole been closed, but Diablo 4 is banning players who took part.
"I just wanted to let everyone know that this was addressed a few days ago in our last hotfix and hasn’t been present in the game since," said community manager Adam Fletcher said in a response to player concerns around the exploit (via Blue Tracker). "We have also actioned on select accounts related to this incident. We appreciate everyone for bringing this to our attention."
Over on the Diablo 4 subreddit, a post warns, "PSA - Blizzard IS INDEED banning people for the seasonal expoit [sic] bug," sharing a story about how the poster's friend got the banhammer for succumbing to the allures of the glitch. The general sentiment in the replies, essentially, is that the friend deserves the ban.
"Sounds deserved," reads the top-voted comment.
"Fuck around and find out," reads popular reply.
"As he should have been," another replied.
"Stupid games, stupid prizes and all that." You get the idea.
It's unclear how prevalent related bans are, nor is it clear the duration of the bans, but this is a good lesson regardless for fresh-faced online gamers to always be wary of using glitches, bugs, exploits, what-have-you, to break the rules of the game.
Elsewhere, the Diablo 4 1.1.1 patch notes released earlier this week made a lot of people happy with buffs for every class and no catch included.
