Blizzard just held the opening keynote of its first in-person BlizzCon since 2019, announcing numerous updates to its various games and franchises. Among those was Diablo IV, which launched earlier this year. The big news for that game is that its first full expansion will launch in "late 2024."
The expansion will be titled Vessel of Hatred, and it will take players to a new, jungle-like region called Nahantu, which will be about the same size as any one of the five regions that shipped in the game initially. The story will take place right after the main game and will deal with Mephisto, the brother of Diablo and Baal.The announcement was light on further details other than to note that a new class will be added to the game—specifically, one that has not been seen in any prior Diablo game. Some leaks a few days back suggested the new class could be called the Spiritborn, but nothing's certain on that front.
In addition to the Diablo IV announcement, Blizzard rolled out a whole bunch of World of Warcraft stuff, too. World of Warcraft Classic will see the addition of the controversial Cataclysm expansion from 2010. Classic will also get some kind of seasonal mode.
But what about the modern, live game? Well, that one's a doozy. Chris Metzen, the previous franchise leader who returned recently after a long time away from Blizzard, took the stage to announce three expansions, along with a promise of a revised release cadence for them.
(He didn't reveal details about what the new cadence will look like, and it's worth noting that Blizzard has previously tried to accelerate the expansion schedule to no avail.)
Together, the three expansions will be dubbed "The Worldsoul Saga," an epic storyline Metzen said was meant to act as a capstone on the first 20 years of WoW, as the first of those expansions will launch next year, which is the 20th anniversary of the game.
That expansion, World of Warcraft: The War Within, will initially feature four zones, eight dungeons, a raid, and several improvements to the flying experience. It will take place largely in the cavernous heart of the planet of Azeroth, where players will investigate corruption left behind by the demise of the Old Gods.
Blizzard also promised a focus on making the game more convenient for players who play multiple characters, including a feature called Warbands that is a one-stop shop for managing and presenting your accomplishments across all characters. For example, faction reputations will be synced across the entire account. That last tidbit got huge cheers from the crowd at BlizzCon, as players have long complained about having to repeat reputation grinds when playing multiple characters.
The event didn't go into much detail about the two subsequent expansions, World of Warcraft: Midnight and World of Warcraft: The Last Titan.
Regardless, the next Diablo IV and WoW expansions will launch sometime next year.
reader comments
60 with