Diablo IV: Everything Announced at Blizzcon 2023
Nov. 3, 2023Diablo IV shows off tons of upcoming plans, including quality-of-life, season three, and the first-ever expansion coming soon.
Some of the more meaningful changes include new unique bosses from levels 55-100. Many of them have specificunique(and uber-unique) item drops, making target farming much easier. Character leveling has also been increased by up to 40%, requiring less of a time investment for players to reach level 100.
Lastly, they also take pride in the fact that Renown Rewards (such as Skill Points, Maximum Obols, and Paragon Points) are now account-wide so all characters will gain these perks, be they old or new.
What’s more exciting, however, is what’s next to come for Diablo IV. Coming on Tuesday, November 7th, is Patch 1.2.2 which will bring back somemalignancy. Five unique rings will be added (one per class) that will have powers similar to the most popular Malignant Hearts fromSeason One. Only one Heart Power was discussed, that of theNecromanceras they stated “Corpses will do your bidding just by being in your presence”. This is likely the Caged Heart of the Sacrilegious which makes simply walking near a corpse activate a Corpse Skill, likeCorpse Explosion. That’s a lot of corpses.
About a month later, on December 5th, players will get a much-needed “Enchanting Preview Window”. At the moment, whenever you visit the Occultist NPC to change a property on your gear, you never know what you’ll get unless you use anexternal resource. Now, the Enchanting UI will show you all of the possible affixes that can come up when you enchant your gear, alongside the related stat ranges.
Alongside this would be the Abbatoir of Zir event for Diablo IV. We see the return of Vampire Lord Zir as the terrorizes us once again. This is a replayable pinnacle experience for max-level characters that have slainDurieland will run for about 6 weeks. Players will be rewarded with a Legendary ParagonGlyphthey can socket into theirParagon Boardthat will represent some more sweet vampiric powers.
Coming a bit later will be Diablo IV’s first seasonal event, the Midwinter Blight. This 3-week event will start on December 12 and will transform the Fractured Peaks into an even more hellish winter landscape. The developers have stated that this event will bring new meaning to the term “sleigh ride” (or slay ride). Players will also need to be on the lookout for a red-cloaked terror that’s been roaming the mountainside.
Last on the Diablo IV roadmap is Season of [redacted], which does not have a specific date just yet (though likely to be in late January, when Season 2 ends). This is teased merely by an ominous figure adorned in a broken helmet, and nothing else. The season will bring with it some Leaderboards where heroes around the world can compete for fame and fortune. Top players every week will be immortalized somehow, with their characters and builds being viewable by all.
The developers also formally announced the first major expansion for Diablo IV, the Vessel of Hatred. This is still in line with the plan forquarterly seasons and annual expansions, which was announced early on in the development cycle.
It looks like the story immediately takes place right after the main campaign. We get to hear Mephisto’s ominous voiceover, telling us that we all had a part in what’s about to come. Without discussing spoilers, Mephisto is a huge part of this expansion.
The Vessel of Hatred looks to bring us back to the swamps and jungles of Torajan, which is whereDiablo II’sKurastarea takes place. Perhaps we will even get to visitTravincalagain or face off against those horridvoodoo dollsonce more. An entirely new class “never before seen in the Diablo universe” will also be added, much to the dismay ofPaladinfans.
That’s it so far for Blizzcon, though there is still a Campfire Chat scheduled for November 4th which is sure to elaborate on even more of the upcoming plans. Stay tuned!
In other news, check outExoprimal Introduces Monster Hunter Crossover in Title Update 3, andElden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree Gets Small Development Update.
Auberon
Writer at Fextralife. I really like vanilla ice cream.
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