Diablo IV: Quarterly Update Details Seasonal Content Post-Launch Plans, and Cosmetics And More

 Blizzard published the third Quarterly Update on Diablo IV for 2022. Unlike the last one, which focused on the Necromancer class, today's is all about seasonal content and the team's post-launch plans. 

The studio says it’s aware fans loved Seasons in Diablo II: Resurrected and Diablo III and have asked for even more seasonal support. The first Seasons will be available in Diablo IV shortly after launch. Blizzard has a dedicated Seasons team that will provide players with up to four seasons each year. Each season will include major new features and questlines. Legendary items will also be available. 

“Diablo IV’s Seasons are modeled after those of Diablo III,” the blog reads. “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 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 allows players to join the game even if they missed it in the previous season. This season design demands that all character power comes from the game. Diablo IV power will not be available for purchase..”

Let’s break down each section of the blog: 

Neue Content

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Blizzard says each new season of Diablo IV will be released with a “fresh new gameplay feature and questline that introduces new challenges, mysteries, and possibilities into the level-up experience.” Each questline will reveal more of the world of Sanctuary and your character’s place in it. Blizzard has the chance to revisit or introduce old characters through these questlines. 

Refreshing the Meta

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Blizzard says it “will always be evaluating the state of the game to regularly revitalize older stomping grounds.” An example of this is the balance between classes, builds, and powers. 

“Diablo is a game that is about creating exciting, overpowered builds, and while we don’t want to balance the fun out of the experience, we don’t want to create situations in which imprecise tuning squashes creativity,” the blog reads. “We will also be constantly adding new legendary and unique items, paragon boards, and glyphs, and more that will continually refresh the meta and create new build opportunities.” 

Improve the Game

The team promises to identify quality-of life features and polish work that can improve the overall experience and invites the community for feedback. Blizzard says the team can’t always switch to tackle problems immediately, but that “you can rest asured that we will be active in improving the quality of the game experience for years to come.” 

Live Events

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Each season of Diablo IV will bring new live events. A warning of an imminent invasion of the Drowned is one example of such an event. It may last an entire weekend. Maybe a stranger peddler will appear in the Dry Steppes. Blizzard says these live events “provide gateways to new adventures and unique rewards.” 

Season Journey

“Alongside our major season releases, we see the return of the Season Journey,” the blog reads. “Players are pushed to explore Sanctuary anew, earning limited-time rewards with each chapter of the Season Journey that is completed. The Season Journey is a difficult task. In the final step, the player must overcome a particularly deadly foe. 

“With future Season Journeys, we are regularly adding pinnacle-level difficulty challenges for players to complete, proving their worth and earning unique cosmetic rewards. All players can enjoy the Season Journey like Diablo III. Completing Season Journey objectives also grants progress toward the Season Pass, a battle pass-style progression system that advances the Season Journey, enabling players to earn even more rewards just by playing. Season Pass includes both paid rewards and free rewards, such as cosmetics, premium currency and gameplay boosts.Cosmetics and premium currency are the only exceptions). 

Season Pass

Blizzard says the game’s seasonal passes will recognize player dedication, with greater rewards unlocking as you play more throughout a given season. You will receive a single track with the Free Tiers. These rewards will not be available for leveling up or playing the game. Premium Tiers do not offer any extra power or advantage in-game over other players. 

“The Free Tiers of the pass will provide gameplay boosts to all players – things which make the journey of leveling up fresh seasonal characters faster and more streamlined,” the blog reads. “In contract, the Premium Tier rewards are focused on aesthetics, providing a huge value in the form of cosmetics and Premium Currency. Many of the rewards embody the season theme, helping players show off their participation in that Season.” 

Here’s more of what Blizzard has to say about the Season Pass: 

• Season Pass includes Premium Tiers and Tiers for FreePlayers can get a variety rewards by simply playing. Players can buy the Premium pass at any stage during the Season to unlock the ability of earning Premium rewards tiers with premium currency and cosmetics. 
• Season Pass offers cosmetics: Click the Shop these don’t affect gameplay. Certain cosmetic types are also exclusive to the Season Pass. 
• Season Pass gives you Premium Currency: This currency can be spent by players Cosmetics Available in the shop 
• Season Pass Awards No cost Season Boosts: Boosts accelerate players’ progress for the duration of the Season. Season Boosts can increase XP earned for leveling up multiple characters in a season. Season Boosts can be a free reward for players because they have an impact on gameplay. We want to be clear that players can’t unlock Season Boosts more quickly through purchases – There is no way to receive more boosts or boosts faster than you can by spending money. 
• Players can purchase Tiers, but they won’t speed up getting Season Boosts: Players cna’t upgrade Season Boosts just by purchasing Tiers, because they’ll also have to earn level milestones to apply them. Purchase Tiers to unlock all Tier rewards. In other words, there’s no way to shortcut getting Season Boosts by buying Tiers; they must be earned. 
• Season Pass progression is accelerated by the Season Journey: Any play style is able to progress through the Season Pass. Min-maxers, however, can concentrate on Season Journey objectives in order to get more advanced. 

Shop

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Blizzard writes in the blog post that its primary design goal for the shop was making sure that buying items felt good, before, during, and after the purchase. It also wants purchases to feel like ones that players want to do rather than ones players need to do. The team wants players to know exactly what they’re getting before they choose to buy, with no unpleasant surprises. 

“The Shop’s cosmetics build on top of the foundation of a huge variety of transmogs from weapons and armors players will find in-game,” the blog reads. “It’s also important to us that the Shop is grounded within Diablo’s world, so our cosmetics are holistic fantasies, the individual components of which can be mixed and matched with transmogs from armors acquired in-game for endless customization options.” 

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Here’s more on what Blizzard has to say about The Shop: 

• The Shop offers cosmetics in Premium CurrencyCosmetics offer players more ways to customize the appearance of their characters. The Shop offers no direct or indirect gaming advantage.. These gear may appear powerful, but they do not have in-game abilities. 
• Optional: The ShopAll core and seasonal gameplay features can be experienced by players without having to spend money. We want players to have fun going to The Shop and buying whatever they like. 
• The Shop is transparent: It’s important that players know exactly what to expect before making a purchase. We’ve built preview functionality that enables players to closely examine every detail of the cosmetic on their own characters before deciding to make a purchase.

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• The best-looking cosmetics aren’t exclusive to The ShopDiablo IV will come with hundreds of transmogs, which can be unlocked from in-game drops. There are also dozens upon dozens of high-quality armor sets. There are incredible pieces – Unique and Legendary quality items – for players to find without ever going to The Shop. The Shop has more choices than systematically better options. (Editor’s Note: while we’ll have to wait and see, cosmetics are subjective so you could end up thinking the best ones require that you spend money)
• All characters can use armor transmogs from The Shop.: Many of the cosmetics in the Shop are class-specific fantasies, which wouldn’t necessarily make sense visually on other classes. A cosmetic you unlock from The Shop for one class can be used on any character in that class’s account. Season Pass cosmetics are available that celebrate the Season theme and look the same across all classes.

Below are screenshots of Legendary Armors that can be earned by playing the game (left) or armor cosmetics purchased from The Shop (right).

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“The most important guiding principle behind The Shop and Season Pass is to create something players love, look forward to, and appreciate being part of the game,” the blog post reads. “Cosmetics in Diablo IV create new ways for players to express themselves and never provide advantages in-game. No matter what they spend, Season will offer all the enjoyment. We intend to continue our dialog with players about The Shop and Season Pass, and we’ll always listen and seek out the community’s feedback about it. It is our sincerest belief that we can work together with the community to keep Diablo IV a living, evolving world for many years to come.” 

This concludes the Quarterly Update for Diablo IV. 

What did this Quarterly Update look like? Comment below to let us know your thoughts about the Quarterly Update!

Source: Game Informer

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