Blizzard reiterates something that most gamers already knew: Diablo IV is meant to be a never-ending live service game, and Blizzard is ready to serve up tons of content year-round.
Yesterday Blizzard confirmed that Diablo IV will two forms of monetization: an optional premium currency used to purchase cosmetic microtransactions, and paid season passes that will give cosmetic rewards. This will fund the most ambitious content expansion in Diablo history with tons of seasonal updates.
Blizzard recently said that it has an "army of developers" ready to bombard players with Diablo IV content. The game will expand with seasonal structure that sees 4 seasons a year. Every 3 months, gamers will get a bunch of new free content to consume and digest including new items, quality-of-life improvements, questlines and characters, and randomized events to make things interesting. Seasons are also like Ladders in Diablo II and require players to restart a brand new character for the 3-month term.
"The scale of Diablo IV Seasons is much more ambitious than what we've done in the past on Diablo III, with a large development team dedicated to Seasons after launch," said Diablo IV director of product Kegan Clark.
"Diablo IV will be supported by an army of developers for years to come."
Here's a quick breakdown of the info:
- No pay-to-win
- Season Pass - Free and paid season pass, free version will offer "gameplay boosts" and cosmetics, paid version is cosmetic-only
- Season Pass rewards - Premium currency, cosmetics, and gameplay boosts like XP bonuses (free only)
- Seasons last for 3 months and there will be 4 seasons a year
- Premium currency required to purchase cosmetics from in-game store
- "Cosmetics in Diablo IV create new ways for players to express themselves and never provide advantages in-game"
- Transmogs confirmed
- Cosmetics exclusive to specific classes, but can be used by all created characters of that class
"We will also be constantly adding new legendary and unique items, paragon boards, glyphs, and more that will continually refresh the meta and create new build opportunities."
Seasons include:
- New gameplay features
- New questlines - Challenges, mysteries, etc
- New characters
- Meta refreshes (build changes, skill tweaks, nerfs & buffs)
- Quality of life adjustments
- New seasonal live events
- Season Journeys (objectives to complete)
- Season Journeys are free for all players
"We feel it is at its best when you get a clean slate to start from in a season, picking a class, customizing your build, and chasing down items that support it along the way. This affords us several advantages and chief among them is that we can really shake the box of Diablo IV with each season, creating unique experiences with each of our quarterly releases."
--Joe Piepiora, associate game director of live services
"Diablo IV's Seasons are modeled after those of Diablo III. When a new season begins, all the characters from the prior season are moved to the Eternal Realm, where you can keep playing, leveling up, and collecting loot. To play in the new season, you'll create a fresh character and experience the new seasonal features and content while leveling up alongside other players."
--Joe Shely, game director