Diablo IV players have put in over 1.5 billion hours collectively to date, with the community continuously growing as Blizzard opens Sanctuary’s doors to new players on platforms like Steam. The game’s steady updates and season changes also further spark our love for D4, with fresh faces to take on and new storylines to experience. At BlizzCon 2023, we see the latest Diablo entry expand even more as the behemoth developer reveals the game’s first-ever expansion, Vessel of Hatred.
Many of Diablo 4‘s most dedicated players are long-time fans of the RPG game series as a whole. In late 2024, we will see Blizzard take us back in time to Diablo 2 with a return to Mephisto’s unforgiving jungles of Kurast. As shown at BlizzCon, the game’s first expansion is called Vessel of Hatred and plays on the old, once-renowned capital city of Kehjistan. It also introduces a class that has “never been seen before” in any other Diablo game.
We don’t know much about the new class just yet, but we know that Mephisto, the Lord of Hatred himself, takes center stage in the new Diablo IV expansion. If you recall the events in Blizzard’s older sequel, you may remember that Mephisto is responsible for the destruction of Kurast, once described as “the greatest city in the world.” Following the city’s fall, the dark lord and his demons would run rampant and spur the jungle’s growth.
The Vessel of Hatred is largely mysterious, but it’s exciting to see the dev takes us back to the series’ roots. While you wait to learn more about the Vessel of Hatred expansion, you can browse through our rundown of the best Diablo 4 builds to play right now. Alternatively, have a look around our in-depth guide of the Diablo 4 classes to see which one fits you and your play style the best ahead of the first expansion’s new class’ release.