How Will Diablo 4's Story and World Expand After Release? Blizzard Explains
The release of Diablo 4 is fast approaching, but what's next? Blizzard representatives talked about plans for further development of the storyl and the Sanctuary universe.
The release of Diablo 4 is less than two weeks away - so it's no wonder that fans are excited for what's coming, but also asking themselves questions about the future of the game and the entire universe. The thirst for knowledge may be satisfied by a recent interview conducted by Eurogamer with Joe Piepiora - deputy director of the game at Blizzard.
The developer outlined plans for the development of the story, which will be split between classic major expansions and seasons.
Diablo 4 - two tracks of development
In Diablo IV, unlike the previous installment, each new season is to bring a kind of separate mini-campaign with a story independent of the main plot thread. The actual story is to be continued through future expansions.
"We have two different types of post-release content for the game. There are quarterly seasonal updated, and then we will have expansion packs. While I won't talk about the latter today, it's important to realize that they are part of the ecosystem of what we will support the game with in the future.
When we think about the story, we know that we want to continue building Diablo 4 and the world of Sanctuary, but we don't want to expand the campaign in seasons and then make them a "must-read" for [understanding the storyline of - ed. note:] the expansions so that everything makes sense."
That's why each of the upcoming seasons will have its own individual theme, as well as locations in which it will be focused (Blizzard doesn't rule out adding new locations in updates, but expanding the Sanctuary map is to remain the domain of expansions, as before).
"Seasons may introduce new characters, bring back old characters, but they are standalone canonical stories set in Sanctuary that will last for a set period of time."
New gameplay mechanics and other things will be introduced and will be available for a three-month period, only to be replaced in the next season, which will introduce a new quest line, a new theme, new gameplay, rewards, monsters, boss clashes, etc.
It looks like the developers will want to focus on seasonal content, whose constant chancing can keep players in the game for a long time.
Recall that Diablo 4 will be released on June 6 on PC, PS5, XSX/S, PS4 and XOne..
