Diablo IV: Vessel of Hatred
A little over a year and four months ago, Diablo IV debuted with a bang, and since then Blizzard Entertainment has been tweaking the game, focusing on the endgame and itemisation. Now, with Vessel of Hatred, the first expansion for Diablo IV is on the horizon, with lots of new content and major revisions, although this time the itemisation has already been overhauled.
Diablo IV earns more than $666 million in its first five days, setting a new Blizzard record. Other than that, no further sales figures have been released, although a LinkedIn post by Harrison Froeschke (Senior Product Manager) revealed that, unsurprisingly, the game has grossed over a billion dollars, with more than $150 million of that coming from microtransactions. While the game's story campaign, visuals, and powerful combat system were widely praised, in the weeks following the game's release, critics were quick to point out the (unnecessary) open world, itemisation, and varying quality of seasons, which were nowhere near as creative as Path of Exile. Blizzard Entertainment responded to the criticism and made many adjustments, especially in the area of itemisation, with Season 4 in May 2024. With the release of Update 2.0 and Vessel of Hatred on 8 October, the level cap will be lowered to 60, Paragon points will be increased to 300, world levels will be converted to difficulty levels, new difficulty systems (Torment) will be added, and classes will receive new active and passive abilities.