Diablo 4 Season 5 is the final big update ahead of the ARPG’s first expansion, Vessel of Hatred. With the fifth season set to be a little shorter than previous installments in order to line up its schedule for the DLC, you might be considering skipping out on this season. Speaking to PCGamesN, Blizzard developers agree that taking time away can be a great idea – but hint that you won’t want to miss what it has in store this time around.
The fifth season of Diablo 4 is built primarily around its wave-based survival mode, Infernal Hordes. While this new feature is the focus here, however, it will actually become a core part of the game moving forward, so you’ll still get to see it if you decide to hold off on playing the RPG. With that said, associate game designer Antonio Watson and lead game producer Timothy Ismay tell us why you’ll probably want to check in anyway.
“I’m biased, obviously – I love Diablo 4,” Ismay says, “so for me just the reset of the season is always a fun experience, and everything else added on top of that [like new modes and changes to items] just makes it more fun. But if there are some players who think ‘I’ve got to take a break for a while and I’ll come back in the future once there have been more changes,’ that’s cool. Whatever makes the game more fun for you, honestly, there’s no offense taken on my end.”
“For us it’s always important to make sure that no matter when people pick up and play, that there’s always fun stuff to do, that there’s new things for them to see or experience,” Watson adds. “So come for Season 5 because Season 5 is pretty great; Infernal Hordes is pretty great. But, you know, if we see you in the expansion then we see you in the expansion – but also, don’t miss out on seasons, there’s a lot to offer,” he laughs.
Among the changes that Season 5 introduces, Ismay notes, are the new game guide feature – addressing a long-standing request from players to go back and read old tutorials and help windows that they might have missed originally or forgotten about. There’s also the reclassification of the somewhat nebulously defined ‘uber uniques’ into a new tier – Mythics – which come complete with a new color scheme and a dramatic sound and visual cue when they drop so you should never miss one appearing.
Likewise, he continues, “some people called out that that it’s hard to browse aspects because they all kind of share the same icons. So they’re all going to have new unique icons now in Season 5. [Players] also mentioned that the process of adding things at the Occultist felt a little bit tedious, so you can actually favorite aspects now – so if there’s an aspect that you’re consistently putting on legendaries, you mark it as a favorite, cool, you don’t have to go looking for it any more.”
Early on in the first couple of seasons, Ismay says, the priority was on “making unique experiences, which wasn’t a bad thing and we continue to have that as a value going forward.” But in newer seasons the team has “opened the doors a bit to say, hey, maybe we should actually be spending some of our time working on foundational updates to the game.” That resulted in Season 4’s Loot Reborn, and now we’re seeing it again with Infernal Hordes.
“It is something we’re seeing our players saying they would like to see coming out of seasons – I’m not saying that’s going to happen every season, but it is now an option we have on the table.” As such, Ismay remarks, taking a break could make those smaller changes seem even more dramatic.
“A lot of things have been going in season to season that are just going to make it a better experience. Once the expansion goes live, I think anybody who’s coming back that maybe has been away for a while is going to be kind of blown away, like, ‘Wow there’s been so much updated and made better in the game.” Ismay emphasizes, however, that the team still wants “to continue making unique new experiences in every season.”
“I think with seasons, one of the things as designers that we have learned is to highlight and accentuate the most fun things about the season and really work towards pumping those up to 11,” Watson concludes. “If we have something that is really fun to do that feels like it hits with players, they will come back and just engage with that because it’s fun.”
“We’re going to really make sure these systems are integrated well so that players can do this for a prolonged period of time – so that not only are they enjoying themselves, but that it doesn’t feel like once I’ve gotten to the end of a seasonal quest line that that’s all I have to do. I can go and do these other things just because they’re enjoyable for me as a player.”
The Diablo 4 Season 5 developer update takes place Thursday August 1 at 11am PDT / 2pm EDT / 7pm BST / 8pm CEST. You can watch via the official Diablo YouTube and Twitch channels. The Diablo 4 Season 5 start date is Tuesday August 6.
Head into the next season with the best Diablo 4 builds, and learn all about the new class coming with Vessel of Hatred, the Diablo 4 Spiritborn.
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Interview conducted by Alex McHugh for PCGamesN.