New themed events and upcoming support will keep the game around for a while.
It’s hard to believe but Diablo III is more than seven years old now. Blizzard has kept the dungeon crawling RPG title going with numerous Seasoned Events and a plethora of updates up to this point, and it looks like we can expect more of the same. The company has detailed the future of Diablo III in a blog post, as well as what their plans are going forward with the series.
More Seasoned Events are on The Way for Diablo III
When Diablo III first came out it didn’t offer too much besides the initial campaign. Blizzard’s resolution for this was the Seasonal Events, with each one offering new gear to unlock with a time limit. They furthered this by creating special themes for each one, starting with the 14th Season. This took the expected gameplay aspects that we all knew and threw it out the window, essentially making a brand new experience each and every time you played Diablo III.
According to the company, they’ve taken in a lot of feedback on which themes were favored by the fans and which ones weren’t, with the most popular one being Season 16: The Season of Grandeur which was earlier this year. Based on this information, the developers have stated that they will continue to add themed events for each Season. They also mentioned new updates for the base game, although most of these won’t be available right away.
Diablo III Will Continue to use a Condensed PTR For Upcoming Content
Speaking of Season 16, Blizzard mentions that they started something new before they launched it, a condensed PTR. Apparently, this was met with huge success as players only had one week to try out the new builds before they went public. Until this change, Diablo III had a normal PTR where new updates were available weeks before they officially launched for players. The developers have decided to keep this new shorter PTR as opposed to the regular one, with immediate and more accurate feedback being the main reason.
They also want to ensure that the changes made due to the PTR are highlighted in the public server. How this will be implemented is anyone’s guess, but knowing the development team they’ll be sure to show off what alterations they make thanks to the players utilizing the new mechanics.
Blizzard Will Keep Diablo III Going, While Also Preparing for New Things
Lastly, Blizzard wanted to briefly mention what their current intentions are for the franchise. The obvious one being Diablo 4, but the developers are staying quiet on that for the time being. Instead, they stated that this specific blog post is the first of many ways that they will be communicating on the future of the franchise, and that they’ll continue to use the PTR, new forums, and directly interacting with players to determine what the best course of action is.
With the recent news of StarCraft not being on Blizzards list of franchises that they are currently developing, it’s no surprise that the Diablo III team felt that they needed to try and clear the air. Transparency is of the utmost importance right now, and the more they divulge on what they’re creating, the better. Of course they won’t give us everything, especially with BlizzCon 2019 coming up, but those types of announcements are meant for the big stage.
As for Diablo III, Season 17 is almost done, wrapping up on August 18. We sill don’t know when Season 18 will start, but it shouldn’t be too long once the current one finishes up.
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