Diablo IV is in it 'for the long run' with plenty of endgame content, say devs

You probably will be playing Diablo IV for a long, long, time.

Speaking to Yahoo Southeast Asia in an interview earlier this week, Diablo general manager Rod Fergusson confirmed that plans will "go out quite far".

"We have a lot of content plans already about how to tell, continue the story and how to think about seasons and those sorts of things. So we're planning for the long run," said Fergusson.

"But the actual, like how far is gonna be really determined by the players and their engagement."

Set in the world of Sanctuary where Heaven and Hell are battling for control over the world, players will explore a new world with five hero classes, the Sorcerer, Rogue, Barbarian, Necromancer, and Druid.

It is the fourth game in the series and (not counting Diablo Immortal) the first in 11 years and set to release next year in 2023 with a first-ever non-linear storyline.

And to make sure players will stay engaged, there's plenty to do.

In fact, Blizzard is already beta testing endgame content to make sure it will be fun. There are world bosses that will have players battling it out, Nightmare Dungeons, and Hell Tide – a mode where monsters that spawn are much stronger and offer better loot.

And speaking of loot, Diablo IV's loot system is going to offer players plenty of options to choose from.

Rare items can be upgraded into legendaries, and legendary items will allow players to pull out their affixes and apply them to other legendaries to allow for different combinations of effects.

"Let's say you have a helm that has a really cool affix that you really love, and then you get another helm and it has a different affix that you really love too. Well, no problem. You can just pull that affix off one of the helms, put it on something else, and now you have those affixes," said Joe Shely, Diablo IV's game director.

And to encourage hunting, these affixes will also have a range – while you may be able to get a base version of an affix through clearing dungeons, legendary affixes will have a maximum range higher than the base for even more performance.

Build better

This will also allow players to be able to play a build that works for them.

For example, if your character build relies on having an affix that gives you a water shield, then you can just use the base version and not have to struggle to find it first.

One thing that's apparently quite different though from previous Diablo games is a more persistent fixed world.

Unlike previous games where the map would be randomly generated each time you start a new game, Diablo IV has an open-world map that's fixed, including where dungeons are located.

"Let's say that you're going to a venue to see a concert. There could be any number of concerts that play in that venue, even though you're going to the same place. And that's how we think about the dungeons and the Overworld," said Shely.

Shely added that you can experience dungeons normally, and then try it out in Nightmare with additional modifiers.

Fergusson compared it to Diablo III's Greater Rifts for the variety, adding that there are over 140 dungeons for Diablo IV.

"Part of it is having a little bit of sense that it's just not like this one door that always is random. On the other side of it is that I want to have a sense of a place and I wanna have a sense of world, but there are dynamic elements to each of the dungeons once you go into it," said Fergusson.

Diablo IV is set to be released on PC and consoles sometime next year. In the meantime, check out our hands-on of the first Act of the game.

Aloysius Low is an ex-CNET editor with more than 15 years of experience. He's really into cats and is currently reviewing products at canbuyornot.com

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