Diablo Immortal fans will have to put their hopes of playing the newest iteration of Blizzard’s popular RPG to rest until 2022 since the company announced the game’s release has been pushed to the first half of 2022. The game was supposed to be released sometime this year, with many users already getting to play an early version of the game, but the developers have communicated that there are several changes that need to be made to the game and that these changes cannot be put into place by this year, as was the plan.

Blizzard’s official website stated that the main changes to be made to the game are in the PvP, and endgame content, along with changes to PvE content, as well as additional controller support. Given the vast number of changes that need to be made, it is no surprise that Blizzard has pushed back the date of release, and is now looking to release the game in the first half of next year.

PvP Mode Changes

The changes to the PvP, PvE, and other modes come after a round of Closed Alpha testing, which suggested to the company that certain tweaks to the game are necessary. Although Diablo is an inherently single-player-focused game, Blizzard is looking to diversify the type of content that it provides its users, especially with so many other RPGs vying for attention in the market. This resulted in the PvP mode, which allows players to go up against one another, and form factions to see which faction reigns supreme. The main changes to be made in this mode come in the matchmaking section, with Blizzard wanting to ensure that the game connects users who are equally matched and that no user gets an unnecessary advantage or disadvantage. Other revisions to this mode will include rank earning, class balance, time to kill, and other important elements. The Cycle of Strife mode in the game, which is a PvPvE type raid mode, will also see improvements and changes, as mentioned by the development team.

PvE Mode Changes and Additional Improvements

Helliquary, Diablo Immortal’s PvE raid mode will now be optimized to include bosses as challenges for eight players to overcome. The bounty system in-game is also going to see some changes to make the rewards more exciting and enticing for the users.

Another big update to the game comes to the endgame, which, as reported by one Blizzard developer, is richer than that of Diablo III. The team also mentioned that the Closed Alpha Testing has brought into light the game’s dedicated community and what they would like to see in Diablo Immortal, which is something that Blizzard is also working on since it wants to keep its fanbase happy and satisfied. Making top-tier and legendary gear exciting for users who have maxed out their characters is another challenge that the company faces and is working to address. With regards to this, the company said that it’s, “evaluating more ways to make top tier and legendary gear exciting and sought after, especially for players who’ve surpassed max level on their character(s). After hitting level cap, Paragon levels increase your character’s power. In Diablo Immortal on PC, we want this end-game progression to be worthwhile, offering unique bonuses in the form of stat boosts and special perks. However, having a higher Paragon should also reap better rewards. We are implementing a system that enable players with higher Paragon levels or players taking on higher difficulties to receive more powerful items.”

Controller Support

As mentioned at the beginning of the article, Blizzard is also working to include controller support for Diablo Immortal. While some may think this move to be unnecessary, the reason for this additional improvement is the rising number of gamers who use emulators to play mobile games, which gives them a definite advantage against mobile users since they don’t have to deal with the low specs or the clunky controls of mobile devices. To change this, and to give mobile users a fair chance at playing the game, Blizzard is trying its best to adapt touch screen controls to physical controllers. This in and of itself is a long process and comes with its challenges, which is probably another reason why the game’s release has been delayed until next year.

Since users who play the game on emulators are also able to play the game for longer, Blizzard has also included a weekly XP cap, which will limit players to earning only a certain amount of experience points per week. This addresses both the concern about emulator users and the steady rise in gaming addiction.

Fans of the Diablo series might be dejected at the news of this delay, but they don’t have to wait too long to experience some new Diablo content, since Diablo 2 Resurrected is set to be released on September 23, 2021.