There is a peculiar moment in every live-service game where playing stops feeling like something you decided to do and starts feeling like something your purchase would very much like you to finish. Some Diablo IV players believe the current Reliquary system is getting uncomfortably close to that line.
A new player discussion argues that the Premium Reliquary grind has become noticeably heavier over the last two seasons. The original poster has played Diablo IV since launch, says they have completed every previous season and Battle Pass, and estimates that they can normally get what they want from a season in roughly 20 hours. Their complaint is that finishing the paid Reliquary now feels like another 20–30 hours of progression on top of that.
The numbers are one player's estimate, not a universal completion time. Other players in the same discussion strongly disagree and point out that a Diablo season lasts around three months. But the disagreement raises a much more useful question than whether one person plays quickly:
How much additional playtime should a Battle Pass require after you have already paid for access to it?
The Reliquary Replaced Diablo 4’s Old Battle Pass
Blizzard replaced Diablo IV's traditional linear Battle Pass with the Reliquary system in Season 8. Instead of climbing one fixed reward track, players gain access to several themed collections and spend Favor Tokens to unlock the rewards they actually want.
The idea itself is fairly sensible. A player interested in weapon cosmetics can prioritize those instead of waiting for 37 unrelated rewards to pass by first. Premium Reliquaries can be purchased individually or accessed through the Premium Battle Pass bundle, while the season also includes a free Reliquary.
Favor is earned through normal gameplay by slaying monsters and completing quests. Blizzard allows players to hold up to 99 Favor Tokens at once, and those tokens can even be carried into later seasons.
So far, so flexible.
The pressure arrives from the other half of the system: the Reliquaries themselves expire. Blizzard explicitly warns that any rewards left unclaimed when a Reliquary ends disappear with it.
That means paying for access does not buy the cosmetics.
It buys the opportunity to spend enough time earning them before the clock runs out.
One Player Says the Grind Now Adds Another 20–30 Hours
The current forum discussion comes from a longtime player who says Diablo IV works best for them as a relatively short seasonal experience. They can jump in, complete the new content over roughly 20 hours and leave satisfied until the next season.
The problem, they argue, is that the paid progression now continues considerably beyond the point where the actual season has stopped giving them reasons to play.
According to their estimate, completing the Premium Reliquary requires another 20–30 hours.
That creates a strange inversion.
The seasonal content becomes the first half of the season.
The Battle Pass becomes the second.
The player says Season 14 may therefore be the first time they simply stop buying the Premium Reliquary.
Other Players Think That Is Exactly How a 90-Day Pass Should Work
Not everyone considers this a problem.
One response points out that Diablo IV seasons run for roughly 90 days. From that perspective, expecting to complete both the season and its entire reward system in only a few days may be unreasonable. A Battle Pass is supposed to provide progression across the season rather than immediately disgorge every cosmetic after the campaign is finished.
That argument has merit.
If Favor arrived so quickly that players could empty every Reliquary during their first weekend, Blizzard would effectively have replaced the old Battle Pass with a shop containing several unusually complicated checkout buttons.
There should be progression.
The difficult question is what that progression is supposed to accomplish.
If players are continuing because they enjoy Nightmare Dungeons, War Plans, boss farming or experimenting with another build, Favor arrives naturally in the background. The Reliquary gives them additional rewards for gameplay they already wanted to do.
If the seasonal gameplay has already run its course and players are now repeating activities primarily because a paid cosmetic track remains unfinished, the system starts feeling very different.
The Problem Is Not Necessarily the Number of Hours
This is where the debate becomes more interesting than simply arguing over whether 20 hours is too much or too little.
Different Diablo players have wildly different seasonal habits. One person plays 150 hours across three characters. Another reaches the endgame, finishes the seasonal objectives and disappears after a weekend. Designing one universal Battle Pass duration around both groups is impossible.
The more useful question is whether Reliquary progression matches Diablo IV's actual seasonal progression.
We recently looked at how quiet Diablo IV has become on Steam late in Season 14. Some decline is completely normal as players finish their goals and wait for the next reset. Diablo is fundamentally seasonal now. People leave. Then Blizzard rings the loot bell and everyone comes running back.
A Battle Pass that meaningfully outlasts the content those players came back to complete can therefore create an awkward incentive: continue playing after you feel finished because otherwise part of the thing you purchased disappears.
That is not technically forcing anybody to play.
FOMO rarely arrives carrying a weapon.
It generally carries a countdown timer.
Diablo 4 Already Has a Better Solution Sitting Inside the Reliquary System
The frustrating part is that Reliquaries already contain several ideas that could make this less annoying.
Players choose their rewards.
Favor can be saved.
Premium collections are separated by theme.
The system is considerably less rigid than Diablo IV's original Battle Pass.
We recently discussed another possible evolution when Diablo IV players asked Blizzard to follow Overwatch and bring old Battle Pass rewards back. A permanent or rotating archive of old Reliquaries would immediately reduce much of the pressure attached to finishing everything during one specific three-month window.
You could still reward active seasonal play without turning every unfinished cosmetic into permanently lost content.
Blizzard has already proven that the Battle Pass is not sacred. It replaced the entire thing once.
It can adjust it again.
Season 15 Will Be an Interesting Test
This discussion arrives at an especially useful moment because Season 15 is almost here. Blizzard is introducing Soul Splinters, Legacy Uniques, Rebirth and several new endgame systems, while deliberately saving additional seasonal content for BlizzCon.
If Season 15 gives players considerably more reasons to remain active throughout the full season, the Reliquary grind may feel much less noticeable. Favor will simply accumulate while people are doing things they already wanted to do.
But if players once again finish the meaningful seasonal content and discover that the paid reward system has another few dozen hours left on the clock, this complaint will probably return.
A Battle Pass should encourage you to keep playing.
It probably should not be the main reason you still are.
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