Diablo 4 will have a seasonal model much like its predecessor, and it seems like there will be a lot of content for players to tackle.
In an interview with PC Gamer, associate game director Joe Piepiora revealed the length fans can expect to complete each season’s battle pass.
“Right now, the battle pass, when you’re figuring in completing the season journey alongside doing other content in the game, you’re looking at roughly 80 hours worth of time invested to complete the entirety of the battle pass,” Piepiora said. “To level a character to level 100 could take a little longer than that based on how you play.”
The interview also shed some light on how the battle bass system will work. Each season, you’ll start with a new seasonal character that begins at level 1. Working through season-specific objectives will move you along the battle pass as you level up your character to level 100.
Like most games with live-service elements, the battle pass will have one free track for all players, and a premium paid track with cosmetic rewards. Piepiora said players who aren’t interested in the endgame seasonal grind can skip it altogether and return when a story update happens without being left behind.
The associate game director also emphasized that Diablo 4 isn’t designed to make players feel “that they must play forever,” saying the game is an action RPG first rather than an MMO.
Welcome back to hell
We got a bite-sized sample of Diablo 4’s live-service elements during the game’s beta, where it became clear that Blizzard is doubling down on the seasonal model that helped give Diablo 3 legs. Blizzard is planning cosmetic-only microtransactions, a more robust clan system, more significant meta refreshes, quality-of-life improvements, and most importantly, new features and questlines each season.
For more on Diablo 4, check out seven things we’d like to see return, the biggest changes in Diablo 4, and our full Diablo 4 beta impressions.
Logan Plant is a freelance writer for IGN covering video game and entertainment news. He has over seven years of experience in the gaming industry with bylines at IGN, Nintendo Wire, Switch Player Magazine, and Lifewire. Find him on Twitter @LoganJPlant.