Diablo 4 getting annual expansions is actually a good thing Blizzard EntertainmentDiablo 4 getting annual expansions was news we broke earlier this week. While many in the community are upset, it could ultimately be a good thing. News broke this week that Diablo 4 would likely be getting annual expansions going forward. This came from comments by the franchise\u2019s General Manager, Rod Fergusson in an interview where he talked about the future of Diablo 4 and how far that will stretch. I know this because I was the one in the room interviewing him. Truth be told, I didn\u2019t even really realize what I\u2019d heard until I was transcribing the audio afterward. This is why I didn\u2019t dig further into it at the time. However, I knew it was noteworthy when it clicked. While we\u2019ve had signs this is the way things would be going, with the previous word there were multiple expansions in the works, it was nice to have a confirmation. However, the community reaction has been strong since we published the quote. Some players have come out and called it \u201cembarrassing\u201d, with phrases like \u201cmoney grab\u201d thrown around. I do understand it to a degree. The monetization of live service games has been an increasing issue, especially as the cost of living inflates around the world. I also understand that to Diablo players who\u2019ve been playing since the 90s, this is a franchise they love coming into stark contact with a modern market. However, I do think there are a lot of positives being glossed over in the conversation around the game. There\u2019s nuance here, and there are benefits to an engaged community that could make it worthwhile. And look, before we get into it, I have to admit, I\u2019m a Destiny 2 player. Diablo learning from Destiny is not necessarily a bad thing Destiny 2 has loomed over this conversation like a spectre. It\u2019s not hard to see why either. Quarterly seasons that lead to a bigger expansion roughly every year is a model out of Bungie\u2019s playbook. For some, anything I say from here on forward will be hand-waived as me having Stockholm Syndrome for the model. I can\u2019t really change that opinion. However, while I\u2019ve been a deeply engaged Destiny 2 player since 2014, I\u2019m currently in my longest time not playing. I\u2019ve grown a bit tired of Bungie\u2019s predictable seasons, (though I\u2019m interested to see how they are shaking it up post-The Final Shape). That said, I also have the perspective of seeing the great qualities this \u2018seasons-into-an-annual-expansion\u2019 model has brought over the years. Destiny 2, through that continued support, has improved vastly. The weapons are better, there are more options, there are lots of things to do to the point of being overwhelming, and while famously Bungie has an issue with sunsetting content, there\u2019s a lot of history for a new player to jump in and experience. When Destiny 2 came out in 2017, that was not at all true. In time, this continued incentive for a developer to work on a game closely and intimately does create a superior product. Perhaps best of all though, is that you can form your own communities of friends. My Destiny clan has become an integral part of my life, and while we have on-and-off times with the game, we all still speak daily. Whenever an expansion comes around, everyone comes back and puts time in for the following weeks. That\u2019s always a highlight in my yearly gaming calendar. Getting two of those a year? That\u2019s something to consistently look forward to. The model keeps developers and the community engaged Diablo 4 has already been laying the groundwork for the structure of its rollout with season releases. We\u2019re in the midst of Season of the Malignant now, and Blizzard announced that Season of Blood is coming next. In reality, this road to annual expansions felt somewhat inevitable when we knew Diablo would be having three-month-long seasons. Malignant has been an alright holdover for those looking to continue to play and try out different things, but it\u2019s not felt like it\u2019s been a meaningful progression for the endgame of Diablo 4. It instead offers an alternate way to play, rather than a sense of broader momentum. However, with future seasons and continued support, their meaningfulness and content will adapt to community wants. These releases every three months or so keeps the live team at Blizzard focused and listening to the community. That\u2019s why it\u2019s important to air out grievances, which I do encourage. As someone who covers these live service games, that feedback does shape them \u2013 albeit, eventually. Inevitably different issues come up or bloat happens due to features being continually added, but it keeps both the community and developer engaged. The evolving world of Sanctuary If not most, at least many will probably agree they had fun in the Diablo 4 campaign. Personally, I think Blizzard did a great job with it. It showed restraint in the villains it used, had some interesting nuance with Lilith, and felt like a well-handled next chapter for the franchise. However, then we get to Season of Malignant. It doesn\u2019t really offer a story to build out this universe and explore other aspects of it. It instead acts as more of a gameplay alternative to the base game. Ultimately the problem with seasons, at least for me, is they come with this sense of \u2018starting over\u2019. I\u2019m not continuing the story of my Rogue who beat Lillith. We\u2019re just milling around with another character for a couple of months. It makes it a little harder to get emotionally invested. An expansion, supposedly, will allow you to continue that original narrative. You\u2019ll be able to bring things you earned forward and find out what\u2019s happening in the universe of Diablo. What\u2019s going on with Baal, Diablo, and Mephisto? That\u2019s before you get into potentially adding new classes and the variety of gear on offer expanding too. Blizzard telling a longer-term story where you bring an adventurer through an evolving Sanctuary \u2013 for me, that\u2019s what I want from Diablo 4. I want to see the story of Diablo 4 grow Of course, the root of the issue with all of this is the monetization. If there was a pledge that all of this would be free, as well as skins from the store becoming earnable in-game, people would rejoice. However, we all know that\u2019s likely not the case. Gaming can be an expensive hobby, especially if you keep up with these live-service titles. The value of an expansion, battle pass, or skin is going to be different for everyone. It depends on their situation or what they want from the game. I\u2019ll never begrudge anyone for not wanting to continue to spend on a game they bought. Blizzard has obviously pushed this quite hard in the past too, especially with something like Diablo Immortal. However, having been an engaged player in games with this kind of model, there are also benefits. The game will continue to be supported. It will improve. The issues facing the endgame will be ironed out as the developers have a vested interest in keeping people playing. They\u2019ll be replaced with new problems, but that\u2019s inevitable as improvement begets improvement. These expansions have to be good, of course, and the value has to feel worth it. Right now, we just have no indication as to what the size and scope of a \u2018Diablo 4 expansion\u2019 is. But conversely, this makes this backlash feel like it\u2019s putting the cart before the horse \u2013 though, it\u2019s understandable, as some players may have spent $20 on a skin for that horse. Personally, if an expansion does launch next summer, count me excited to jump into Diablo 4 again. I had a great time with the initial launch experience. If we get a new chapter and we start picking up threads left by the current story, that\u2019s what I want. The gap between Diablo 3 and Diablo 4 was enormous. Now, we\u2019ll get a Blizzard who\u2019s engaged in telling this story for years to come. Even if I\u2019m not playing every season, I\u2019ll certainly be up for jumping into a big expansion release every year or so with my pals. To me, that\u2019s value enough.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Diablo 4 getting annual expansions is actually a good thing Blizzard EntertainmentDiablo 4 getting annual expansions was news we broke earlier this week. While many in the community are upset, it could ultimately be a good thing. News broke this week that Diablo 4 would likely be getting annual expansions going forward. This came from […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41313","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41313","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41313"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41313\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41313"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41313"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41313"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}