When we predict our time playing Diablo 4 will come to an end

❘ Updated: 2024-01-24T12:27:34

Blizzard Entertainment

Diablo 4 Season 3 is here, but we know our time with Diablo 4 may soon be coming to an end. Here’s why we may only play a few more seasons.

While Diablo 4 was released to positive reviews, just check ours out, Season 1 was a disappointment with many new players either misunderstanding what it was or simply not seeing the point. To those of us who played Diablo 3 to death, this was just the way it was, but as it did with that game, history may be set to repeat itself. This is because, at a certain point, we predict we’ll run out of motivation to keep playing as we begin to see a familiar pattern emerging.

The good news is that Diablo 4 Season 2 was a big improvement on Season 1, and Season 3 also looks like it could be a fun adventure through the vaults of long-dead fan-favorite character Zoltun Kulle. However, the nature of Diablo 4’s seasons means that our time with them is coming to an inevitable end. While we’ll likely return to the game periodically to enjoy the DLC, the game‘s seasonal content is only going to hold our attention for so long.

Will you still be playing Diablo 4 in twelve months?

When will our time playing Diablo 4 end?

We predict that after Season 6 of Diablo 4, we’ll finally lose our desire to keep playing and likely turn our attention to other games – and we suspect lots of other players will also. Don’t get us wrong, we’ll have enjoyed our time in Sanctuary, and hopefully, the annual DLC will pull us back in. Still, this will be to experience the story and new campaign content with our existing characters, not to start a new one as we’ve already done multiple times during the various seasons.

This is exactly what we did in Diablo 3. We had our favorite characters, one of each class, and each set up with our preferred build. When the Diablo 3: Reaper of Souls expansion came around, we happily returned to the world of Sanctuary, pitting our already tried and tested characters against the Angel of Death. We played through the game once again with the tanky Crusader class, but that’s mostly because seasons worked differently in Diablo 3, the campaign was more important and made up the bulk of the content.

It wasn’t quite the “play the campaign once, then skip it next time to get to the seasonal content” situation it is in Diablo 4. We repeated this when the Necromancer class arrived in Diablo 3. This is mainly because we had missed the class since Diablo 2 and were keen to experience it fully, but the main takeaway from this trip down memory lane is that we had already abandoned Diablo 3’s seasons by this point. We also know that’s what we’re likely to do again in Diablo 4.

Why Season 6, you might ask? Well, because by then, we’ll likely have played through the Seasonal Journey with every character class, possibly including whichever new character class is added in the Vessel of Hatred expansion. This is because we suspect Season 6 will coincide, or follow on from, the DLC, although Blizzard hasn’t confirmed this. But whatever the case may be, once we’ve completed a season with every class, we’ll be done with Diablo 4. Likely only returning to play new story content before going on our merry way again – just like we did with Diablo 3.

The Vessel of Hatred DLC could bring lapsed players back.

Time to say goodbye

While we know we don’t speak for every Diablo 4 player, there is a contingent of us who will become tired of starting again every few months. Some of us have become quite attached to our characters; we already look forward to playing as them again when it’s time to take down Mephisto and, hopefully, even Diablo himself. However, until then, Blizzard wants us to engage in the Seasonal Journey again and again, essentially grinding and repeating the same tasks, just so we can enjoy a side story about Malignant Hearts, Vampires, and ancient constructs. We’re not sure we have the time or the inclination.

This is going to become tiresome, and the joy of getting to know a new character class will run out when there are no more character classes to try. “Why not just try a different build?” many will say, and it’s a good question. But why go to the effort of starting again to do that? After all, we can simply respec our existing characters, go and do some Tree of Whispers events, enjoy the build, then respec back to our preferred build. We can do this all without needing to play through the Seasonal Journey again.

Unless Blizzard is going to make the new content (that exists alongside the Seasonal Journey) accessible for Eternal Realm characters, then we really don’t have much motivation to keep returning to Diablo 4’s seasons once we reach this point. Of course, part of our Diablo 4 wishlist for 2024 and beyond is for these seasonal side stories to be added to Eternal Realm eventually, but that’s a separate conversation.

Should every new year bring a new class, then a portion of our motivation could return, but if we’re being honest, the Seasonal Journey will need to strip out the busywork and give us a more compelling reason to jump in. Simply letting us level up our character to level 50 without it, while enjoying the new seasonal gimmicks and quests may be enough. But Blizzard needs to stop locking the good stuff behind mundane and repetitive content. Perhaps let the players choose how we spend our time? The Seasonal Journey is a great way to help new players, but we’re already tired of it, and we’re only on Season 3.

We genuinely don’t mean this as an attack on Blizzard or Diablo 4. It’s possible to have too much of a good thing, and all wonderful games can become boring if you play them enough. As any gamer will tell you, there comes a time with every experience where you have to say, “Thanks for the memories, but it’s time to move on.” We know that time is coming for Diablo 4. Naturally, we’ll check in now and again to explore what’s new, likely once a year when expansions drop, but if the past is anything to go by, it may soon be time to say goodbye.