With the Diablo IV early beta access sessions starting this weekend Blizzard has now announced what times players will be able to take on the first-world boss, Ashava. Ashava is set to pop up three times on Saturday, March 18th, 2023, and once on Sunday, March 19th, 2023. For those who aren’t aware the early beta access session is set to run from 9 AM PT/ 12 PM ET on March 17th, 2023 until 12 PM PT/ 3 PM ET on March 19th, 2023.
Taking to Twitter, the official Diablo account beckoned players to “grab your allies and get ready, Ashava’s Hungry.”
The scheduled times when players can take on Ashava are as follows:
Saturday, March 18th, 2023
- 10 AM PT/ 1 PM ET
- 12 PM PT/ 3 PM ET
- 10 PM PT/ 1 AM ET
Sunday, March 19th, 2023
- 12 AM PT/ 3 AM ET
When Diablo IV was initially announced back at BlizzCon 2019 a panel including the game’s Senior Encounter Designer, Candace Thomas spoke a little bit about what Ashava represented in the Diablo world.
[Ashava is] like a constant reminder that Lilith is watching and that nowhere is safe from the from the gates of Hell… But to us as developers, I think that she’s kind of like a monument to what Diablo IV is as a game… She’s this enormous monster, but she takes more than just you to defeat. People have to come together across all the regions to take her down, because she’s just this giant killing machine.
Candace Thomas – Senior Enounter Designer on Diablo IV
In a PlayStation blog released on March 15th, 2023 Blizzard outlined their core philosophy behind World Bosses in Diablo IV. They wanted to focus on creating experiences where everyone could contribute and where players would feel grateful when other players would come and join in the fight. Alongside this, Blizzard also wanted to create fights that would be replayable and unique.
If by chance you didn’t pre-order Diablo IV and can’t join in on the early beta access this weekend Diablo IV will be hosting an open beta between March 24th, 2023, and March 26th, 2023. For those jumping in this weekend, you’ll have access to the prologue and Act I of Diablo IV with a character level cap of 25 which will roll over into the open beta weekend but not into the full game.
