A new Quarterly Update blog post out today offers a look at how being a live service game will work in the upcoming Diablo IV.
The first big thing coming to Diablo IV isn’t even a new concept for the series. Seasons will once again return and will be “modeled” after those seen in Diablo III.
With a new season, all the participating characters from the previous season will then be moved to the “Eternal Realm” which will allow players to continue with those characters. However, taking part in a new season will require crafting a brand new character to experience “new seasonal features and content while leveling up alongside other players.”
This, along with capping paragon points in Diablo IV, ensures that your effort and skill—measured by both dexterity and theorycrafting —determine how powerful your character becomes. It also allows players who missed the last season to participate. This season design requires that all sources of character power come from playing the game, so you will not be able to pay for power in Diablo IV.
The idea of seasons being fully separate is then detailed in the blog post further by Joe Piepiora, “the associate game director responsible for game systems and our live service.”
We think it is important that players see that the game is changing in meaningful ways. Each season will be released with a fresh new gameplay feature and questline that introduces new challenges, mysteries, and possibilities into the level-up experience. This is something players should begin to experience before the end of their first hour of play. One of the benefits of our seasonal direction is that it enables fun, new ways to play throughout your character’s progression.
The blog post further reiterates that:
Diablo IV will be a full-price game with a Cosmetics Shop and Season Pass—none of which provide any pay-for-power options. Our goal in designing our in-game purchases is that we want to create beautiful things which add value to players’ experience of the game.
You can find the full Diablo IV Quarterly Update here to see for yourself all the new changes coming to the next installment of this franchise.
