Diablo 4 is the franchise’s most alt-friendly game yet, so your second (and third, and fourth) characters will be easier to level

Diablo’s world of Sanctuary is a grim, unfriendly place full of wolves (also werewolves), demons, cultists, undead and the occasional blizzard to watch out for. But what the world may lack affability, Diablo 4 makes up for with its alt-friendly features, which will make leveling subsequent characters just a bit easier. That’s a good thing, because the game’s five classes all play very differently, so you may want to play them all even if you aren’t usually an alt-a-holic. But if you’re one of those players who has to try out every class available, you’ll certainly appreciate what the game has to offer you.

Let’s take a look at the features — or at least the features we’ve seen so far — in Diablo 4 that will make your repeated journeys through Sanctuary a little more enjoyable.

The Renown system unlocks account-wide perks

While you progress in the regions of Diablo 4, you begin to accumulate Renown — basically reputation in the zone —  by doing tasks such as finding waypoints, taking over Strongholds, doing quests, or even just exploring the map. You unlock these naturally as you play, through activities you’re already doing: you won’t need to go out and grind for Renown, you’ll just pick it up as you go. As you gain Renown, you’ll earn rewards like gold and experience (which you can earn individually for each character on your account), but also unlock things like additional skill points, extra health potion slots, or even Paragon if you play at higher difficulty. After you unlock them once, this second category of rewards will be available on every character you create. That means your new Necromancer will immediately have a couple of extra talent points and potion slots — on top of being able to summon an army of the dead right from level one.

The Diablo 4 beta only included the Fractured Peaks zone and Renown track (shown in the screenshot above), but we know this type of reputation system will be used throughout the game. We may see different rewards in later zones, but we will see more rewards, including account-wide perks to help your alts along.

Unlock enchants for all characters on your account

Each dungeon in Diablo 4 awards a specific Aspect on completion. These unlock special class-specific powers which go into your Codex of Power, then you can visit an Occultist to apply those powers to your arms and armor. These powers are a fixed reward that you’ll always get when you run a specific dungeon, and once you get them they’re unlocked for your entire account.

And don’t fret if you’re running a dungeon that awards Druid Aspect but you’re playing your Barbarian — you’ll still collect it when you complete the dungeon, and be able to use it on your Druid character later. You may find it easy to collect these on your highest level, best-geared character, which will allow you to immediately use them on lower-level alts, who will be able to start enchanting their gear shortly after reaching the initial city of Kyovashad.

Alt-friendly features returning from previous games

Like in Diablo 3, your gold and stash is shared across characters. That means a brand new character can head to Kyovashad and immediately open your stash full of armor and gems. Though gear has level limits and you have to get to a certain level to apply gems, but otherwise it’s fair game. If you pick up a dagger you can’t use, just drop it in your stash for your alts, or break it down for parts you can use to upgrade gear account-wide. Gold is shared as well, so every one of your characters has immediate access to the same amount, so your alts have plenty to spend on shopping and respeccing. Just let your max-level Sorcerer foot the bill for your new level 2 Rogue.

After hitting level 50, characters will unlock Diablo 4’s Paragon system. With each Paragon level you unlock, your character gains more power such as increased run speed, health, and damage. These Paragon levels carry over to all of your characters, letting you sprint from the opening cave to the town of Nevesk in no time at all, with a trail of angry worgs in your wake.

With all of these alt-friendly features, getting going with different classes is as easy as red petal cake.

Hardcore isn’t as alt-friendly

But be aware if you’re playing a Hardcore character, there are no shortcuts. Hardcore characters won’t have access to a shared stash or gold, they won’t immediately get Renown rewards (though they can re-earn them), or any of the other bonuses you’ve unlocked for your ordinary alts. Creating a Hardcore character — which is gone forever when it dies — will always be as challenging as ever, no matter how many alts you’ve leveled.