Diablo 4 expansion already confirmed by Blizzard

Diablo 4 is charging toward us, and though getting the chance to play the game at all is exciting enough in itself, many players have laid focus on something else entirely. And that's how goddamn long Diablo 4 is set to be.

Expecting an 80-hour campaign, 100 hours to beat the battle pass, and even longer to tick off all of the other quests that lie in wait in the game, Diablo 4 looks to keep up the reputation of replayability that the franchise has accrued over the years.

The demonic RPG is likely to set the standard for the series going forward, and fans can't wait to lose their personal lives to the game. Now, it looks like the story won't end with the core game, with Blizzard already confirming a Diablo 4 expansion. 

Diablo IV seems to confirm DLC even before launch

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Speaking with Forbes, it appears that Blizzard has confirmed that paid Diablo DLC will be coming before long. Given Diablo's monetisation potential, this was something that isn't surprising - especially given that paid content has come to Diablo in its previous iterations.

Still, this is the first confirmation we have that a paid Diablo 4 DLC is being kept in mind for the upcoming title. Speaking with the site, Rod Fergusson and Joseph Piepiora reportedly discussed continuing the story of the core game of Diablo IV.

The pair stated that this won't be done with additional seasons, but "that will be saved for future paid expansions." Piepiora explained, "Rather than having seasons play out as a way to extend the story of the campaign of Diablo 4, we're trying to use this as an opportunity to tell stories that we call seasonal questlines."

He describes "self-contained seasonal stories in the world of Sanctuary. We get to use those to reveal the gameplay features for the season, contextualize events and threats and introduce new characters and storytelling opportunities all throughout the season."

Diablo IV will let you skip its campaign

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Diablo 4 might be long as all hell, but thankfully, if you've beaten the game as your favourite character, you won't have to work through it all over again when starting again. This was revealed by a video which fans have pointed out has a specific button on-screen for completely skipping the game's long campaign.

Fergusson confirmed an ultimate goal for a "live" game that will have quarterly seasons and no break between. Yes, that includes leading into  paid expansions. Discussing Diablo 4's expansions already is an interesting addition to the ongoing conversation around how Diablo IV's story will progress.

Now, it seems that it's going to be much, much longer than we initially expected.  It looks like Diablo is respecting players' time, but not enough to keep them from more story after the fact. Kiss your free time goodbye. Have mercy.