Blizzard promises quarterly story and content updates for Diablo IV from Ly082801's blog

Every 3 months look toward new missions, narrative, and game mechanics.

Something to anticipate: Blizzard intends to release new d4 items gameplay mechanics, items, and storylines frequently after its June launch. The studio claims it'll adhere to a good three-month content release schedule. It looks more ambitious than Diablo III's four-month seasons, which have only seen one significant story expansion since its launch in 2012.

Last week, Blizzard dropped a behind-the-scenes video showcasing a number of Diablo IV's end-game content (below). In addition to a sneak peek at Nightmare Dungeons and also the Fields of Hatred, Associate Game Director Joseph Piepiora asserted "Launch is only the beginning," vaguely indicating that actually work on seasonal content had been underway.

The revelation isn't surprising since Diablo III and also the more recently launched Diablo II: Resurrected both have seasonal play. In fact, the D3 team has served up 28 seasons since 2014 – typically 3 seasons each year.

What is surprising is exactly what Piepiora revealed within this month's issue of Game Informer.

Unlike Diablo III, Blizzard intends to deliver fresh story content indefinitely every 3 months. In other words, the storyline is not over once players finish the core campaign. The team envisions Diablo IV's end game for a job, a breathing story that unfolds just like a dark quarterly soap opera.

"[Expect] meaty updates [with] new storylines associated with fresh mechanics and features [coming quarterly]," Piepiora said. He also mentioned they'd have new free and paid Battle Pass options ready soon after launch.

The more frequent and content-intensive updates imply that players may have a reason to carry on playing despite hitting their level cap and entering Paragon play. Each season brings much more than simply a new ladder to climb, and therefore D4 might have even more longevity than Diablo III.

"There isn't going to be a lack of something to complete," promised Producer Ash Sweetring.

But just how much is too much? Diablo IV's game world has already been exponentially more massive than any game within the franchise. The world map encompasses probably most of the eastern continent of Estuar rather than simply a number of scattered cities as with other franchise entries.

Furthermore, Blizzard has indicated that the sport will heavily encourage exploration. I could only explore a fraction of the Act One Fractured Peaks region during 2 days of playing the beta, that is saying a great deal since I was skipping all dialogue to prevent spoilers as I raced to level 20. Add to that four more vast expanses, and it is easy to see that going to the entire map will require quite an extended time (above).

So the bottom game has already been a lot to consume – almost overwhelmingly so. All but probably the most diehard fans will probably struggle to maintain quarterly updates. But then again, nothing says players must complete everything Blizzard needs to throw at them within the next many years. Finishing the single-player campaign may be enough for a lot of them. Occasional drop-ins every once in a while might also become common.

No Man's Sky includes a similar, albeit a smaller amount frequent, update schedule, with players who thought these were done with the sport constantly going back to check out exciting new story content and gear. So Diablo IV will probably experience an identical fan base – a good group of hardcore seasonal players, fans who return to the sport now and then to fulfill their dungeon-crawling urge and take a look at new content, and people who are one-and-done following the main narrative.

d4 items launch on PS5, XBS, and PC on June 6.