As Blizzard warns Diablo 4's Vessel of Hatred PTR will be more "broken" than ever before, fans deliver with a method to get to level 60 in just 20 minutes
But don't expect it to make the DLC's full launch
It looks like Blizzard's warning that things might be a bit more "broken" than usual in Diablo 4's patch 2.0 Public Test Realm was valid, because mere hours after going live, it's been discovered that you can hit level 60 in just 20 minutes.
In a game like Diablo 4, you're definitely not meant to be able to do that, but content creator and streamer Raxxanterax has demonstrated the entire process in a video on YouTube. It's thanks to some broken Stronghold mechanics currently in the action RPG's PTR, which Raxxanterax shows off at the Omath's Redoubt Stronghold in Kehjistan.
With a group of players, Raxxanterax accepts an invite from one at a time and gets transferred to party leadership before the other player leaves the party. Then, the streamer interacts with the Wanderer's Shrine, which immediately gives four levels on the very first attempt. Repeating this process over and over is an incredibly efficient grinding method, as you can tell by the fact that, again, the content creator went from level one to level 60 in just 20 minutes. You can check out the entire thing in the video below if you want to test the method yourself.
While this might be a viable method for now, we shouldn't expect it to be present in the actual DLC. Over on Twitter, Raxxanterax writes: "Luckily Blizzard watched me do this and it will be patched for the expansion launch." Squashing bugs and ironing out issues is what every PTR is about, after all, so there's no doubt that the devs will be relieved that this has been caught now rather than later down the line.
Diablo 4's Vessel of Hatred DLC is set to launch on October 8, and its devs have already pledged to be "very reactive to the community."
Be sure to check out our guide on how to level up fast in Diablo 4 for some methods to use outside the current PTR.
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I'm one of 12DOVE's news writers, who works alongside the rest of the news team to deliver cool gaming stories that we love. After spending more hours than I can count filling The University of Sheffield's student newspaper with Pokemon and indie game content, and picking up a degree in Journalism Studies, I started my career at GAMINGbible where I worked as a journalist for over a year and a half. I then became TechRadar Gaming's news writer, where I sourced stories and wrote about all sorts of intriguing topics. In my spare time, you're sure to find me on my Nintendo Switch or PS5 playing through story-driven RPGs like Xenoblade Chronicles and Persona 5 Royal, nuzlocking old Pokemon games, or going for a Victory Royale in Fortnite.