With the effective replacement of E3 by Geoff Keighley's Summer Game Fest, game companies no longer need to hold their information for third-party shows or interviews like E3 Colosseum and can instead create their own carefully curated streams internally.

Diablo 4 Players Discover Two More Malignant Hearts For Season 4

Blizzard's own livestream effort with Diablo seems to have missed the mark for some fans. The stream, featuring Franchise General Manager Rod Fergusson alongside several developers, aimed to dole out information about Season 4 of Diablo 4, named Season of the Malignant, as well as provide details regarding the new Blood Knight class arriving in  Diablo 4 Items Diablo Immortal. While it did accomplish that, some fans were displeased about the structure of the stream.

Reddit user redosabe voiced their disappointment, citing the opening 20 minutes spent on Diablo Immortal and speculating that it was a move to get Diablo 4 fans' eyes on the mobile title. Another commenter under the post criticized the stream for a lack of clarity when differentiating between Diablo 4 and Immortal, joking about being excited for the new Blood Knight class coming to Diablo 4, which is actually coming to Diablo Immortal.

While the stream did have a distinct break when switching over to its Diablo 4 segment, there was still a small amount of inevitable pre-existing confusion regarding the Blood Knight prior to the stream. It's clear that Diablo 4 is the more popular title, and there were likely many fans who showed up to watch the stream that don't have any interest in Diablo's mobile offering.

It's hard to say whether Diablo will hold separate streams for Diablo 4 and Immortal in the future. While doing so would help squash confusion and streamline the flow of information to fans, there is an appeal to having everything Diablo all in one place. Nevertheless, with the Blood Knight arriving in Diablo Immortal on July 13 and Season of the Malignant coming to Diablo 4 on July 20, fans of the franchise should be able to put this stream behind them as they look ahead to the new Diablo content.

Diablo 4 is introducing Malignant Hearts to the game in its first season, and some keen-eyed players have already unearthed two additional examples in the recent developer livestream. Those in the community who have played Reaper of Souls will see the similarity between Legendary Gems and Malignant Hearts, and if they were a fan of the mechanic in Diablo 3, chances are they'll enjoy the Season of the Malignant in Diablo 4 once it launches on July 20.

The gist of how the new gimmick in Diablo 4 works is simple: players will have a chance to obtain a Malignant Heart from Elite mobs that happen to spawn with the new Malignant affix. They will be able to target specific Hearts by going into Malignant Tunnels found in the open world.

However, Malignant Hearts in Diablo 4 can only be slotted into jewelry that manages to spawn with the new Infested affix, which gives them a unique socket of a random color, and players will have to match the color of the socket to the corresponding color of their Malignant Heart. Unlike regular gems, players will not be able to remove Malignant Hearts from an item, which developers hope further adds to the decision-making.

While the Diablo 4 team showcased a few Malignant Hearts in the Season of the Malignant livestream, a played by the name Tipep- managed to catch a glimpse of two additional Hearts that briefly appeared in the video. The developers confirmed that 32 Malignant Hearts will feature in Diablo 4's first season, and while some will apply universal bonuses, a fair few will be restricted to a class.

The first example discovered by Tipep- is a Wrathful Heart that offers the Malignant Pact power, while the other one is a Vicious Heart that gives Focused Rage. Both of these powers seem strangely situational, which has caused some Diablo 4 Gold criticism from the community who already believes Diablo 4's itemization is over-reliant on situational bonuses.