d3 Updated - Diablo 4 Supposed to Be Announced At BlizzCon

[Starym 3,800]

 

Update:
Blizzard have denied Kotaku's claims of the planed announcement and Schreier has removed his tweet, but still claims the video was made. Check out the full article on the matter here.

__________________________________________________________________

That's right, it seems Blizzard did indeed have a plan for the opening ceremony of this year's BlizzCon, and all the fallout from the Diablo Immortal announcement wasn't supposed to happen at all, they had it all planned out. According to Kotaku's Jason Schreier, based on info from "two people familiar with Blizzard’s plans" Immortal's announcement was intended to immediately be followed by the announcement of Diablo 4, which would have completely satisfied both the crowd at the convention, as well as the fans watching back home.

You know that whole Diablo controversy? Well... as it turns out, Blizzard planned to put out a video in which Allen Adham announced Diablo 4, but pulled it last minute, sources tell Kotaku https://t.co/QnWX9X7ZPs

— Jason Schreier (@jasonschreier) November 5, 2018

 

So why was this cancelled at the last minute? Well, according to the same sources, the team wasn't ready to announce the game as it's undergone at least two iterations over the past years, with as many different game directors. And so the devs didn't want to announce anything because the game might change again before it's ready to see the light of day.

So, yes, I can confirm there's a new PC Diablo coming. Hopefully knowing that Diablo 4 is in development -- and has been for a while, in various forms, under different directors -- helps comfort any of you who were worried that the series was going mobile-only or something.

— Jason Schreier (@jasonschreier) November 5, 2018

Now the questions becomes will Blizzard change their already changed minds and announce D4 after all, especially after all the negative feedback and fan backlash to Immortal? Well, Diablo's community manager Brandy "Nevalistis" Camel tweeted this today:

I kinda figure it goes without saying, but likely no streams this week.
1) My voice is still very much shot from the convention and it needs rest!
2) I'm back to my nose on the grinder, there's a lot to do, and I can't wait to share more #Diablo stuff in coming weeks. pic.twitter.com/OnSZgorpQ9

— Brandy Camel (@Dayntee) November 5, 2018

If you were in Blizzard's shoes right now, would you just go ahead and announce what everyone has been waiting for, despite the game not really being anywhere near completion, and already having changed so much with the likelihood of changing again?

The (real) Lord of Terror almost showed up at BlizzCon and may show up soon yet!

[Starym 3,800]

Opinion: Blizz leaked this info to Kotaku on purpose to contain the Immortal drama/backlash.

[Rhondis 148]

23 minutes ago, Starym said:

If you were in Blizzard's shoes right now, would you just go ahead and announce what everyone has been waiting for, despite the game not really being anywhere near completion, and already having changed so much with the likelihood of changing again?

Yes and no. While I don't think it was a great idea to announce the mobile title on it's own, it would have sufficed if they actually confirmed that Diablo 4 was in the making. Even before Blizzcon people were skeptical as to what would be announced, whether it was a D2 remaster, the druid, or D4. But I can understand Blizzard not wanting to present anything such as cinematics or gameplay of D4 but it would have been fine if they at least let their core audience know that they have the next title underway. 

As for it taking it's time, there is no rush. While I am rather impatient in how they are presenting news to their community. I really don't want D4 to go the same route as Half Life 3 with so many people leaving and new people coming in. As long as they make this title better than both 2 and 3 I will be satisfied.

[Kaelos 74]

It's way too early for Diablo 4 so at this case I myself don't understand why ppl expect it now. This is Blizzard and Diablo 3 is only 6 years old. We can get Diablo 4 after another 6 years maybe. It may be in works of course but nowhere near being playable. Nevalistis said they are not done with D3 yet.

Edited November 5, 2018 by Kaelos

[solitha 84]

Doesn't fit with the fact that they openly tried to temper expectations, like, a month ago. You don't go and try to stamp out the hype fires if you actually plan to fulfill that hype.

My vote is that these "two people familiar with Blizzard's plans", aren't.

[Aernath 173]

39 minutes ago, Starym said:

If you were in Blizzard's shoes right now, would you just go ahead and announce what everyone has been waiting for, despite the game not really being anywhere near completion, and already having changed so much with the likelihood of changing again?

Yes... Yes  I would, there is a mountain of difference with ending that presentation with that dull feeling of frustration and instead showing even one logo of "Diablo IV" then you know how all would be forgiven and those poor guys who are trying to introduce the mobile game would feel also as good as other game presenters.

(Hire me Blizz! ;b)

Edited November 5, 2018 by Aernath

[SMOrcMan 76]

Do you know how many years I waited for sc2 legacy of the void knowing it's name and everything? They should just announce it, they're practically announcing it via tweet anyway

[Ylothrian 14]

Quote

 the team wasn't ready to announce the game as it's undergone at least two iterations over the past years, with as many different game directors. And so the devs didn't want to announce anything because the game might change again before it's ready to see the light of day.

From what I saw on the Q&A they didn't have much to say about Immortal either... Not ready to tell/don't know/we will see/whenever it's ready were some of the responses IIRC....

[Ylothrian 14]

Quote

 showing even one logo of "Diablo IV" then you know how all would be forgiven and those poor guys who are trying to introduce the mobile game

As soon as they saw the reaction on stage they should have just SAID not even shown on a slide that "D4 is in the works. It's early even to announce this but don't lose hope yet" to help us swallow the controversial news.

[Boothyp 48]

17 minutes ago, Kaelos said:

It's way too early for Diablo 4 so at this case I myself don't understand why ppl expect it now. This is Blizzard and Diablo 3 is only 6 years old. We can get Diablo 4 after another 6 years maybe. It may be in works of course but nowhere near being playable. Nevalistis said they are not done with D3 yet.

Not done with D3. Where did she say this? (hopeful ? )

[Kaelos 74]

15 minutes ago, Boothyp said:

Not done with D3. Where did she say this? (hopeful ? )

On interview with Rhykker 00:18:00

She also said we can expect "news" for next D3 season

Edited November 5, 2018 by Kaelos

[Dejo93 1,023]

And of course this comes from the biggest shills out there, Kotaku.

What a shitshow. This all could have been avoided if they did the same as Todd Howard did on E3

[Rhondis 148]

12 minutes ago, Ylothrian said:

From what I saw on the Q&A they didn't have much to say about Immortal either... Not ready to tell/don't know/we will see/whenever it's ready were some of the responses IIRC....

Yea... I thought it was odd that they didn't have an exact time for when Immortal would be released.

16 minutes ago, Aernath said:

there is a mountain of difference with ending that presentation with that dull feeling of frustration and instead showing even one logo of "Diablo IV"

Exactly! They don't even have to show actual game play or cinematic. Just as long as they confirm that it's underway.

[Lampanelli 75]

19 minutes ago, Kaelos said:

On interview with Rhykker 00:18:00

She also said we can expect "news" for next D3 season

I'll put it like this: If the next season thing is the Druid, Bllizzard will suddenly gain a lot more leeway from the fans. If it's just some new cosmetics or a new season reward pet, people will still fill the forum with enough salt to rival the Dead Sea.

[Boothyp 48]

1 hour ago, Kaelos said:

On interview with Rhykker 00:18:00

She also said we can expect "news" for next D3 season

Cool, hope it's good ? 

[Balil9742 0]

1 hour ago, Starym said:

Opinion: Blizz leaked this info to Kotaku on purpose to contain the Immortal drama/backlash.

Exactly!!!

What is obvious to me is the intentionality of this event. Blizzard knew the fan base wanted to hear about Diablo on PC and to give them a game that is not on PC and not about Diablo 3, essentially says this is what we’re doing if you don’t like it tough shit. We will give you something later but I won’t tell you when, though it has been a couple years since we had any real new content. Deal with it. Instead, enjoy our new mobile game but It’s only Mobile, Muhahahahahah aren’t you a fool for spending thousands of dollars on your PC, Don’t you have a cell phone? 

 

Let me address the concerns I have about this mobile game. I’m very interested to see how the game will affect the cell phone. How much battery will it consume? What overheating measures have they anticipated? What model phones will not be able to support it? Will there be more incorporated Multi-Touch functionality? I feel, this in part, is why they partner with another company and basically copied, or bought the rights, to save time and money and Blizzard has little to no real experience when it comes to the mobile platform. Which is fine, but don’t use Diablo PC fans as your guinea pigs. Fans spend thousands of dollars on having the perfect PC to play blizzard games and you just told them to use a cell phone.

 

They want the franchise to have more income and at the same time participate in the mobile niche to possibly increase profits. But the question they didn’t even address is why Diablo?  They could’ve made a completely new game to make their mobile idea realized. But we already know the answer right? They knew if they made a new mobile series it would’ve done as well instead they sacrifice Diablo fans and depreciate their value and love for the game in the hopes we, the fans, would understand the company‘s vision to take Diablo into a new threshold while at the same time shitting on their love for the game. It’s completely disingenuous, and apathetic. While most fans will forget about this, I will not. While, in time, Blizzard will recover from this, they also have shown their hand. I hope will people will look at this objectively and understand what’s really going on. This is a blatant disregard for the value(Time, money, and passion) customers and fans give to these companies and their lack of or inability or desire to return with equivalency on their end.   Thanks. 

[Starym 3,800]

53 minutes ago, Lampanelli said:

I'll put it like this: If the next season thing is the Druid, Bllizzard will suddenly gain a lot more leeway from the fans. If it's just some new cosmetics or a new season reward pet, people will still fill the forum with enough salt to rival the Dead Sea.

Of COURSE it's just cosmetics... If we're very VERY lucky it'll be a couple new legendaries and a 2x XP/legendary drop/blood shard/whatever "themed" season. Or something equally as gimmicky (but cool nonetheless) like bosses spawning randomly in the open world acts (although I'd be willing to be they can't really do that cos of tech and or the way bosses are made).

[Starym 3,800]

1 hour ago, Kaelos said:

It's way too early for Diablo 4 so at this case I myself don't understand why ppl expect it now. This is Blizzard and Diablo 3 is only 6 years old. We can get Diablo 4 after another 6 years maybe. It may be in works of course but nowhere near being playable. Nevalistis said they are not done with D3 yet.

Too early? The only reason D3 took 12 years to make (like BOYHOOD!!) is because WoW happened and Blizzard became a totally different studio (and Blizz North left, and they basically redid the entire game from scratch etc etc). They actually HAVE a Diablo team now (or, well, they don't anymore cos they cannibalized it to add even more people to work on WoW), so why on earth would they wait years and years after the last update to D3 when it's bringing them 0.0 money?

[CyronX 0]

so whos the chick in the ryhker video so i can follow her ?

[Stan 5,240]

1 hour ago, CyronX said:

so whos the chick in the ryhker video so i can follow her ?

It's Brandy Camel aka Community Manager Nevalistis and I agree, they should have announced D4 along with Immortal. The backlash would not be as bad.

[Spec 2]

2 hours ago, Rhondis said:

Yea... I thought it was odd that they didn't have an exact time for when Immortal would be released.

Exactly! They don't even have to show actual game play or cinematic. Just as long as they confirm that it's underway.

 

Yeah thats what I don't get, ES6 is a long time away but Bethesda still threw a teaswer together that doesn't really tell anything other than they are making it and it still drove fans nuts in a good way.  Maybe Blizzard higher ups are really shaken by how D3 developed and how POE took off and are super cautious about making sure it will last as long as D2.  Either way just confirming its something thats being worked on but its a long ways off would have helped blizzcon a ton.

TBH they kinda dropped the ball all around imo.  Like they had visual designs in the OW trailer that would have been good for 3 heroes yet they announced only one and folded one of those character designs into Ashe's ultimate.  If she gets reworked a year from now and Bob becomes a hero I wouldn't be surprised.  HOTS honestly had the best announcements for me, between mechanics changes and a cool hero that the team looks like they had a ton of fun making just based on her trailer and animations and stuff.

[Rhondis 148]

2 hours ago, Spec said:

Maybe Blizzard higher ups are really shaken by how D3 developed and how POE took off and are super cautious about making sure it will last as long as D2.  Either way just confirming its something thats being worked on but its a long ways off would have helped blizzcon a ton.

D3 developed into an okay-ish state that it is now. It's definitely far from perfect, but it has it's niche player base that actually enjoys the game along with its other titles. Diablo 1 and 2 were created by a completely different development team (Blizzard North) and who know's how much of the story or systems that were discussed were kept or thrown away whilst making D3. For many people that dislike it, I always tell them that Diablo 3 is a much different game from it's predecessors. But if they really want to make Diablo 4 outdo it's previous title and the revered Diablo 2 then they need to have a hard look at the failures around D3 and D2 and combine the best features of both. 

I'm pretty skeptical about your comment about PoE however... while it has turned out to be a successful game, I really doubt the development team is taken by surprise. ARPG's is an old genre, and Blizzard already knows that once they create a product, many other companies will soon follow suit. Honestly, Blizzard has a strong fan base surrounding Diablo across all titles. I know many many people who still play Diablo 2 that eagerly await Diablo 4. Or people who play PoE that are also wanting to see Diablo 4. Diablo is a franchise that created a community of people who see sentimental value in a game that inspired them one way or another. And deep down Blizzard knows this, otherwise if they were that shaken by PoE's success, we would have had a D4 announcement years ago just so they can compete.

2 hours ago, Spec said:

TBH they kinda dropped the ball all around imo.

I don't think so? I gotta pretty hyped at Warcraft 3 remaster. I am looking forward to replaying The Frozen Throne expansion and relive those great memories, along with playing many many customized maps with my friends. And I am pretty deep into Hearthstone and look forward to Rastakhans Rumble as it appears to be a pretty fun looking expansion!

[Rhondis 148]

5 hours ago, Kaelos said:

On interview with Rhykker 00:18:00

She also said we can expect "news" for next D3 season

Interesting... I am really hoping they expand the Diablo season's into cooler ideas instead of double caches or treasure goblins. But I am really hoping to see Druid. I didn't really care much about the Necromancer, but I really love the Druid back in D2! And we don't have a class that fills the elemental/nature spells and transformations.

[darkinchworm 20]

So let me get this straight ...

people still hold out hope that D3 will get a new expansion when it hasn't had one in four and a half years,

they still think we could possibly see a druid after almost the last year and a half bringing only cosmetic items,

and apparently the only way to console fans eager for more Diablo content is to confirm Diablo 4, despite it having essentially been confirmed in an announcement specifically stating that Diablo 4 itself wouldn't be officially revealed at this year's show.

Oh, and something something Diablo II Remastered, even though announcing that would almost invariably bring out of the woodwork a legion of trolls dedicated to reminding Blizzard at every opportunity that it's just old content and they should go kill themselves, but also Diablo II has a better skill system than Diablo III despite 40-60% of the skills being almost entirely useless after character level 30 and oh my god what else can we be petty bitches about

[Steveson 193]

Well then i have a question - if Blizzard DID had news on Diablo 4 this Blizzcon but couldn't shown us the gameplay....why didn't they just showed us Diablo 4 logo with "Coming soon" right after Diablo Immortal? That would've been enough and none of the current shitstorm would've happened.
So right now it sounds like a last ditch excuse that they've made up just to shut fans up.

If it's not then: 

 

Edited November 6, 2018 by Steveson