Blizzard are very good at keeping fans waiting, and Diablo 4 was certainly no exception. After a long period of rumours Diablo 4 was finally revealed at BlizzCon 2019, but we were once again left in the dark after that until 2021 when we were given more Diablo 4 information. It felt like the lead up to a 2022 release date, but once again we were made to wait another year. Now in 2023 we can get ready to gear up and protect Sanctuary from the forces of Hell once again, with a particularly prominent antagonist returning to wreak some havoc. The classic Diablo ARPG gameplay with a focus on looting legendaries will return, but there are considerable changes and new gameplay additions that will make Diablo 4 feel different from its predecessors. Here’s everything we know about Diablo 4 so far.
Diablo 4 release date
Diablo 4 is scheduled to release on June 6 2023, and was announced with an epic world premier trailer at The Game Awards back in December 2022. The game will launch on PC via Battle.net, Xbox Series X/S, PS5 and previous generation consoles PS4 and Xbox One. While Activision Blizzard is set to be taken over by Microsoft, there is of yet no planned exclusivity or early release for Xbox for Diablo 4. There was an opportunity to sign up for the Diablo 4 closed Beta testing back in 2022, but that has been closed since November. If you missed out, there will still be an opportunity to test the game early as a September 2022 developer update mentioned that “public testing phases will begin early next year.”, so keep your eyes peeled for that.
Diablo 4 Story
Diablo 4’s story is years after the events of Diablo 3’s Reaper of Souls expansion, which was released in 2014, so you’re forgiven if you need a bit of a recap. Diablo 4 is going to be more similar to Diablo 2 with a darker and gorier setting which certainly came across in the trailers we’ve seen. In the 2019 reveal trailer, we see cultists summoning Lilith, the daughter of Mephisto and one of the creators of the realm of Sanctuary. Lilith was originally a very powerful boss that players fought in Diablo 2’s Pandemonium event, and now that the forces of demons and angels have been depleted following the events of Diablo 3, the the ‘Mother of Misery’ has sensed an opening to fill the vacuum of power created in Sanctuary. In the trailer shown at The Game Awards we catch another glimpse of Lilith at the end, but the focus in that one was on the Angel Inarius, the other creator of Sanctuary. Inarius is surrounded by soldiers as they begin to repel Lilith’s demons, so it seems like the Player and their group will be caught up in this conflict and might end up having to choose whose side they help.
Diablo 4 open world, gameplay, and PvP
The focus on decision making will be a constant theme throughout Diablo 4, as the game promises to not have the linear story-telling that many fans were unhappy with in Diablo 3. One of the biggest changes is that Diablo 4 is more of an open-world action-RPG that keeps its dungeon-crawling roots close to heart. There will be a main quest to follow, but you will be allowed to explore the world as you see fit, with opportunities to take part in world events that you can team up with other players to complete, or side quests to get extra gear. This doesn’t mean Diablo 4 is a full-blown MMO, as game director Luis Barriga said in a developer update that “Dungeons and key story moments are always private,” and that once the player and their group are out of those key instances they’ll see some other players throughout the world as they travel. You’re never going to be forced to party up in Diablo 4, a solo player can easily join a world event and be on their way, but taking some of these MMO elements is a way to help make Diablo 4’s world feel more alive. It will be easier to make a party with your friends as Diablo 4 will support cross-platform multiplayer, whether it be PC, Xbox, or PlayStation, you’ll be able to team up. There’s also an emphasis on 2 player couch co-op, and the game will have controller support for PC. Another MMO element that fans will be excited to see is PvP, which is returning after it was sadly left out of Diablo 3. However, it won’t be like Diablo 2 where the entire world was open PvP, instead it will be an optional experience that takes place in special PvP zones, called Fields of Hatred. Players are rewarded with Hatred Shards for killing other players or bosses, completing events, and opening chests. You lose any unpurified shards you have if you die in the zone, but escape with enough purified shards and you can redeem them for special mounts, weapons, and costumes.
Diablo 4 classes
The most important choice you make in Diablo 4 takes place right at the start, which is choosing what class you’re going to play. Blizzard have really upgraded the different classes and their skill trees, wanting to really give each class their own identity with the capacity to build and play a character in a unique way. The new skill tree is massive, and Blizzard expects players to unlock around 30-40% of the nodes on the skill tree by the endgame, so you can play the same class two or three times and have a completely different experience each time. You’ll need to think about your skill choices carefully, as it won’t be free to respec your points. You’ll have to pay gold to change your nodes, and that gold cost will get more and more expensive the further into the game you get. The reason behind this is because, as Diablo 4’s game director Joe Shely and the Diablo general manager Rod Fergusson told IGN, “we wanted that notion that with each level you progress down a character you’re kind of becoming more and more attached to it. You’re not just going ‘okay I’m level 65, time to change my clothes and become a different barbarian.’” With that in mind, here are the five classes you can choose from at the start of Diablo 4 and how they differ:
Barbarian
The Barbarian is back and ready to hit harder than ever. A class with a focus on powerful melee combat, the Barbarian this time has something called the “arsenal” system, which allows you to swap between four different weapon types each with different customisable skills and bonuses.
Druid
Druids are a class of shapeshifting hybrids that harness the powers of nature to assume the form of a Werebear or Werewolf to perform different attacks and abilities. Instead of the fire magic seen in Diablo 2, storm and earth magic are used this time around. Rather than picking a form to take then using skills, a Druid will shift into the respective form once a skill is used and then stay that way for a moment before shifting back.
Necromancer
The summoners of the undead are back from Diablo 3’s DLC, and they’ll continue their usual role of raising skeletons and various other corpses with Essence - the Necromancer’s version of mana. There is an exciting new feature called “Book of the Dead”, which allows the player to customise their raised minions and evolve them into different specialised versions. Plus you get to wield a Scythe, obviously the coolest weapon.
Sorceress
For those who prefer a more traditional caster character the Sorceress/Sorcerer are there to fulfil all your lightning, ice, and fire magic desires. You can spec into a specific lightning, ice, and fire build or a mix of the three, and as well as having the six skill slots like other classes you also have three Enchantment slots which can turn skills into unique passive abilities.
Rogue
Rogue returns for the first time since the first Diablo game, replacing the Demon Hunter from Diablo 3. Rogues will perform as one would expect, focusing on bows and shortswords for both stealth-focused and speed-focused approaches to combat. Rogues can utilise “combo points” to make abilities stronger with each attack, and they can phase into the “Shadow realm” and drag enemies in there with them to never be seen again.
Diablo 4 Character Customisation and Inventory
Whichever class you choose, you’ll be able to really make your characters your own with Diablo 4’s new Character creator. Previous Diablo games only let you pick which gender your character would appear as, but now Diablo 4 will give players hundreds of componentized armour sets to pick from, body types, personas and more. In a June 2021 dev update Blizzard explained the system: “You will be able to change the face of your character, the hairstyle, the facial hair (beards and eyebrows), and add jewellery (nose piercing or earrings), makeup, and body markings such as tattoos or body paint. “You will also be able to change the colour values of your character’s skin, eyes, hair/facial hair, and body markings. Some elements will be class specific, to support the classes’ unique backgrounds, but many will be shared between classes allowing more possibilities to mix and match.” The inventory system is getting a big overhaul as well. No more playing Tetris in your backpack to get every bit of loot you find back to town, Blizzard have said it wants to “avoid interrupting gameplay with pockets of inventory management.” That’s good news as Blizzard is changing Mythic and Legendary items, and giving players more reason to take Rare and better items by increasing how many affixes they can have. Mythic items will also be replaced by Unique items which are distinctive-looking items with static Affixes and effects that are mainly specific to a single class.
Diablo 4 Microtransactions
Begrudgingly, microtransactions are something we have to talk about, and it’s not even a question of “will Diablo 4 have MTX?” but, “How will Diablo 4’s MTX work?”. After the enormous backlash of Diablo Immortal’s monetisation, fans are rightfully concerned about how Blizzard will approach the issue in Diablo 4. In the August 2022 Dev update, Blizzard confirmed that Diablo 4 will have season passes with paid and free tracks that will earn you cosmetics and a premium currency to use in a special in-game shop. That in-game premium shop will have cosmetic-only items and be fully optional and transparent about what it is offering. Blizzard reassures fans that “There are incredible pieces—Unique and Legendary quality items—for players to find without ever going to the Shop. The Shop offers more diversity of choices, not systematically better choices.” Hopefully this remains and we avoid a repeat of Immortal’s system. We’ll continue to update this page and have more stories across VG247 as we find out more information about Diablo 4 before it is released on the 6th of June 2023. We’ll also have news of pre-order bonuses and where the best prices are over on the Jelly Deals Twitter account, so follow us there in the meantime.
