Diablo IV Players Are Getting Banned For Transferring Characters Between Realms

As Blizzard had decreed, there were to be two Realms in Diablo IV: Seasonal and Eternal, the former for characters built during each season, the latter for retired Seasonal characters. s Those born in the Seasonal Realm could transition to the Eternal, but never the other way, lest you incur the wrath of Blizzard’s ban hammer.

Every new season, Diablo IV characters are expected to build a brand-new character who, for the duration of the season, will go about their questing business in the Seasonal Realm. When that season expires, said characters will go to the Eternal Realm, where the character will live on. Since Eternal Realm characters already have made some meaningful progress, they’re not meant for the Seasonal Realm. But some players have a way to cross this barrier—and that’s caught the attention of Blizzard, which has already taken action against them and sealed the nexus point between both realms with a recent hotfix.

Diablo IV players could cross realms by unplugging their internet

Before the hotfix, getting your Eternal player to cross over to the Seasonal Realm wasn’t so tricky. All it required was receiving and accepting an invite from another player in the Seasonal Realm, then literally unplugging your gaming machine from the internet, and then reconnecting to find your Eternal character now capable of loading into the Seasonal Realm.

Aside from the thrill of pulling off something you’re not supposed to do, there were some benefits, like getting Seasonal Blessing XP gains for your Eternal character and Seasonal item aspects.

Blizzard fixed the issue and has since issued bans to offenders

That thrill was short-lived, however. Diablo IV community manager Adam Fletcher notified players in a forum post that this specific method of Realm-hopping got the kibosh in a recent hotfix and “select accounts related to this incident” had been “actioned” against. That’s code for getting banned.

As with many exploits, it’s not unusual to see players continue to find ways to break the system even after a patch. Still, the recent fix and bans of players manipulating the game in such a way ought to be a warning: The Realms are not to be breached.