So far, Diablo 4 is handling its early access launch pretty well. There have been no reports of servers slammed hard enough to start disconnecting players (as happened during Diablo 4's earlier beta tests), and while certain classes and builds seem to need some tweaking, players are reporting fun times slaying the forces of hell once again.
And it looks like those demon-slaying times will continue well into the future. In an interview with Kinda Funny Games, Diablo 4 GM Rod Fergusson revealed how Blizzard is tacking the new Diablo with an eye toward sustainability which includes regular new seasonal content as well as at least two expansions.
"You have to build your team [...] sustainably because you're kind of always shipping in a way," Fergusson explained. "We have to build things in parallel. Right now as I sit here we're about to launch the main game, we're finishing up season one, we're working on season two, we're working on expansion one, we're kicking off expansion two - all that's happening right now. We haven't even launched the game yet!"
Fergusson didn't say just what might be in those expansions, but if past Diablos are any indication, we can likely expect new playable areas, new villains to slay, and maybe even new classes to play. Diablo 4 still doesn't have a Crusader/Paladin class, a Monk, or the toad-throwing Witch Doctor, all of which could appear in an upcoming DLC.
We don't know when these new expansions might arrive or when Diablo 4 will host its first season, but we do know that Blizzard is hard at work patching whatever bugs and balance issues might remain before the game's general launch date. Over the weekend, Blizzard launched a balance patch that nerfed Barbarians, tuned Druids, buffed Necromancers and Rogues, and slightly nerfed Sorcerers, explaining that "some skills and builds are not as effective as we would like" while others "are outside of our bounds for what is reasonable for the health of the game."
Expect more balance patches to appear in the near future. Diablo 4 launches on consoles and PC on June 6.
What will be the real test for Blizzard's new sustainable development will be how quickly it can respond to player concerns. A chief complaint from players is how quickly their inventories are filling up with gems, leading to frequent returns to town in order to keep the loot train rolling. Fans are asking Blizzard for a Gem Pouch to store those found gems to prevent them from taking up half their inventories.