[Update #2]: Diablo 4's Season 1 has now arrived, and it's unfortunately quite underwhelming.

[Update]: Diablo 4's pre-season Patch 1.1 has brought with it a massive reduction in player power and survivability.

If you're tired of your current character, or if you're simply looking for new challenges to undertake, you'll be happy to hear that Diablo 4's very first season is nearly upon us. According to the recent developer stream, Season of the Malignant will be launching on June 20th alongside new quests, new types of powerful gems, new (seemingly) endgame boss, new unique items and powers, as well as both a free and paid Battle Pass, the latter of which is filled with exclusively cosmetic items.

In order to acquire the fancy gems, which are by far the most game-changing new addition, you'll have to slay the highly powerful Malignant Monsters. You can find these by beating up partially corrupted enemies and doing a ritual with the Malignant Hearts they drop, or by venturing into Malignant Tunnels which are going to be dungeons teeming with all sorts of corrupted monsters. These tunnels are also where you'll be able to find the catalyst needed to open the path to the newest boss - Varshan the Consumed. Whether there will be any sort of level requirements or if you'll be able to fight him whenever you secure a catalyst, that I don't believe Blizzard has revealed just yet.

Perhaps most excitingly of all, Season 1 will bring with it a fresh batch of seasonal servers that will have everyone start from scratch. Well, almost from scratch as your Altars of Lillith, map exploration and mount will carry over from character to character.

To participate in the seasonal servers you won't need to purchase the Battle Pass or any sort of shop item, though you will need to complete the campaign at least once. Don't worry, however, as your new characters will be able to skip the campaign in its entirety if you don't feel like going through all of that again. That's probably going to be a good idea if you're interested in optimizing your character as leveling through random dungeons will help you boost your Renown back to level 5 and with it unlock a sizable chunk of Paragon Points.

Once the Season 1 update goes live, I'll make sure to let you know. Until then, you can read a few more tidbits and teasers more about the new additions over at the Diablo website.

Enjoy, and I'll leave you with the story focused trailer: