Diablo Immortal is about to get a fairly substantial visual upgrade.
Blizzard is preparing a new engine update that will rework lighting, shadows, environmental materials and the visual effects attached to almost 100 Legendary Affixes.
The full graphical changes will not actually go live until Diablo Immortal's major September update.
But starting August 24, players can download the engine update in advance.
Blizzard has also provided a fairly convincing reason not to postpone it.
Install the engine update early and you can claim 10 Legendary Crests.
Per character.
Apparently Sanctuary has discovered that the best way to encourage software updates is bribery.
The Engine Update Can Be Installed From August 24
Blizzard announced the upgrade as part of Diablo Immortal's current Darkening Decades update.
Starting August 24, players will be able to update the game's underlying engine ahead of the larger September release.
The important distinction is that downloading it tomorrow does not immediately switch on every new graphical improvement.
Blizzard describes August 24 as an early preparation period.
The actual visual improvements will officially become active with the major September update.
Once that September update arrives, however, installing the new engine will become mandatory.
Devices that have not completed the engine update will no longer be able to launch Diablo Immortal.
So eventually everyone who wants to keep playing will need it.
Tomorrow simply gives you the opportunity to get it out of the way early.
And collect some Crests for being organised.
You Get 10 Legendary Crests for Updating Early
This is probably the part most players will care about first.
Blizzard says anyone who completes the engine update early can claim 10 Legendary Crests through an in-game event.
Even better:
the reward can be claimed once per character.
That wording is important for players maintaining multiple characters rather than concentrating everything on a single main.
Legendary Crests remain one of Diablo Immortal's most useful Elder Rift resources because they guarantee Legendary Gem rewards and interact with events such as Mirrored Jewels.
And the timing is particularly convenient.
Diablo Immortal's 30th anniversary celebration has been running four consecutive Mirrored Jewels periods, with the final one running through August 25/26 depending on server timing.
So Blizzard is effectively handing players another pile of Crest ammunition right as an event designed to consume Crests is finishing its anniversary run.
Ten free Legendary Crests for downloading an update you eventually have to install anyway is not a particularly difficult cost-benefit calculation.
Almost 100 Legendary Affixes Are Getting New Visual Effects
The upgrade is not simply a technical backend migration.
Blizzard says the new engine will rework the visual effects of nearly 100 Legendary Affixes.
That is potentially one of the more noticeable parts of the update during actual combat.
Diablo Immortal now has years of Legendary Essences and Affixes producing projectiles, explosions, summoned creatures, ground effects and various other ways of turning a phone screen into something resembling a magical industrial accident.
Blizzard has recently started changing how it manages that enormous pool of Legendary effects, including retiring older Essences while introducing new ones.
The engine upgrade appears to be another part of modernising that increasingly complicated visual library.
Blizzard also specifically says the update will reduce excessive lighting effects.
That could be especially welcome during large fights where several players are covering the battlefield in overlapping abilities.
Lighting and Shadows Are Being Improved Across More Than 10 Environments
The world itself is also getting attention.
According to Blizzard, lighting and shadows will be improved across more than ten environments.
The studio has not provided a complete before-and-after breakdown for every affected zone yet, but the changes form part of a broader attempt to update Diablo Immortal's presentation rather than simply increasing graphical complexity.
Ground and water materials are also being optimised.
That word matters.
An engine update for a mobile game cannot simply make everything prettier while doubling the workload for the device running it.
Diablo Immortal has to function across an enormous range of phones, tablets and PCs.
So improved visual quality and optimisation need to arrive together.
Otherwise the new water will look fantastic for the five seconds before your phone becomes a hand warmer.
Blizzard Does Not Expect Current Devices to Lose Support Because of the Engine
The original announcement caused some understandable concern.
If devices without the new engine will eventually be unable to launch Diablo Immortal, does that mean older supported phones are about to be dropped?
Blizzard subsequently clarified the situation on its official forums.
Community Manager GhostSignals said the team had spoken with its engineers and that they do not expect devices to be affected by the engine update itself.
In other words, if your supported device runs Diablo Immortal now, Blizzard currently expects it to continue running Diablo Immortal after the engine upgrade.
There is a separate end-of-support change coming for Windows 7 and Windows 8, but Blizzard says that is unrelated to the new engine.
That does not guarantee every old phone will suddenly perform wonderfully with the new visuals.
It does mean this is not being presented as a hardware compatibility purge.
You Do Not Need to Reinstall Diablo Immortal
There is another useful practical detail.
Do not uninstall the game first.
Blizzard says the engine upgrade installs over your existing Diablo Immortal client.
You should therefore be able to perform the August 24 preparation update normally rather than deleting the entire game and downloading everything again from scratch.
Considering the size modern mobile games can reach, that may be the second-best reward after the Legendary Crests.
Challenge Rift Season 20 Also Starts August 24
The engine preparation is not the only Diablo Immortal change arriving on August 24.
Challenge Rift Season 20 also begins tomorrow and runs through November 2.
The new season adds another 50 Challenge Rift levels, bringing the total range up to 851-900.
Levels 881 through 900 become the new highest difficulty bracket.
Blizzard has also reduced the difficulty of the previous Season 19 high-end levels, 831 through 850, to help more players continue progressing.
The server-first race is returning as well, with the previous final-level avatar frame reward being made available again to the first players on each server who conquer Season 20's final Challenge Rift.
So August 24 is turning into considerably more than an optional download day.
The September Update Could Be a Bigger Visual Change Than It Sounds
Diablo Immortal has received countless content updates since launch.
New classes.
New zones.
New bosses.
New Legendary Essences.
And most recently another round of class balancing ahead of Bout of Realms, where six classes are being adjusted while four sit out the current balance pass.
An engine update is different.
It changes the framework carrying all of those systems rather than simply adding another system on top.
Nearly 100 Affix effects being reworked is significant on its own.
Combine that with broader lighting, shadow, ground and water changes and Diablo Immortal may look noticeably different when the September update arrives.
Whether it also runs better will probably be the more important question for many mobile players.
For Now, August 24 Is About Preparation — And Free Crests
The key thing to remember is simple.
August 24 is the start of the early engine update period, not the full visual launch.
The graphical improvements officially activate with the major September update.
But there is very little reason to ignore the preparation period if the download becomes available on your device.
You will need the new engine eventually.
The update installs over the existing client.
Blizzard does not currently expect it to remove support from otherwise compatible devices.
And completing it early earns 10 Legendary Crests per character.
Diablo Immortal has offered considerably worse deals.
Tomorrow, for once, the correct strategy may simply be:
install the update and take the loot.
Sources
Blizzard: Burn Through the Darkening Decades
Diablo Immortal Forums: New Engine Update and Device Compatibility
Diablo Immortal Forums: Burn Through the Darkening Decades Discussion
```
