Is a pre-order still a pre-order if you can play the game immediately? Isn't that just an order? Well, whatever the case, the full version of Diablo 4 is playable in "early access" now for anyone who's pre-ordered the $90 Deluxe Edition or $100 Ultimate Edition, while owners of the $70 Standard Edition won't be able to start playing until June 5 at the earliest, depending on their time zone (see our breakdown of the Diablo 4 launch times for details).
I pre-loaded Diablo 4 and jumped in a moment ago, and good news: There's so far no sign of the infamous connection problems that scarred the words "Error 37" onto the minds of the first Diablo 3 players all those years ago. There was no queue time at all when I launched the game from California, though some other PC Gamer writers were slowed up by 5 minute waits. The player population is bound to increase into the evening Pacific time, so we'll keep an eye on it.
