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This weekend its Blizzcon, the gathering for all thing World of Warcraft, Overwatch and Blizzard Entertainment. And to the surprise of no one but the relief of many, they finally announced Diablo 4, the sequel to the immensely popular hack and loot fantasy game. A gameplay trailer and a 9 minute long animatic were shown.
The release date is “not soon” though, so looks like we’ll be plowing through Westmarch for a few years more.
The Beat herself is a rather avid Diablo 3 player, so this news is huge for our spare time. And the new game will be an amalgam of all that made the first three Diablos popular:
Game director Luis Barriga took the stage this weekend, and noted that this time around, Sanctuary will be front and center. You’ll find other players out in the world in friendly towns, but you’ll also be able to enter PVP zones. Blizzard wants to combine the sense of dread from Diablo 1, the loot chase from Diablo 2, and the combat from Diablo 3. Diablo 4 will release on PC, PS4, and Xbox One
The big bad this time is named Lilith, yet another blow against the “demon” who just stood up for female equality, but this is video games we’re talking about.
The game takes place many years ago Diablo 3 – does this mean that we’ll never know what happened to Lyndon and his sister in law, or hear Covetous Shen ramble on again?
On the plus side,
DRUID DRUID DRUID!!!
The three announced classes for the game are sorceress, barbarian and druid, the beloved shapeshifter from Diablo 2 gone these long years.
Icy Veins has details of the announce panel, including mounts, less reliance on sets and a return to the rune system.
Blizzard also announced Overwatch 2, but we’ll let someone who knows that game talk about it.
The gaming company also apologized for its most egregious recent missteps – and no we’re not talking last year’s disastrous Diablo Immortal mobile game announcement. Rather, executives tried to explain their decision to ban a gamer who was a Hong Kong protester, which led to protests outside of Blizzcon.
“We moved too quickly in our decision and then to make matters worse, we were too slow to talk with all of you,” said president J. Allen Brack at the kick-off event on Friday. “I am sorry and I accept accountability.”
The American company has come under fire after it banned a Hong Kong player named Ng for shoutingthe popular protest slogan “Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our times” during a livestreamed post-match interview. Blizzard said the actviolated its competition rules. Ng was initially stripped of his potential winnings and bannedfrom competing for the next year.
There’s more breaking news from Blizzcon as the weekend progresses – we’ll recap it as it goes.