Thanks to the expert sluething of dataminers, we now have some pretty compelling evidence that suggests Diablo IV’s first expansion will be called “Lord of Hatred,” and will focus on everyone’s favorite soulstone occupant: Mephisto.
It shouldn’t be terribly surprising that a live-service game supported by three separate development teams will likely be getting some major expansions, especially given how the base campaign’s story set up for future conflict with the Prime Evils of Hell. The timing of this discovery is especially relevant since studio head Rod Fergusson recently confirmed that annual expansions could be in the stars for the ARPG.
But heavy foreshadowing hasn’t stopped dataminers from working around the clock to dig through the game’s code in search of clues.
As reported by WccfTech and YouTuber YbuBaka, Diablo IV’s first expansion will seemingly focus on the Lord of Hatred himself, Mephisto, in the returning region of Kurast, alongside new questlines, gear to grind for, and endgame activities to tackle. There are also some surprising references to a new class called Spiritborn and a Mercenary system that would seemingly allow for NPC companions to fight and level alongside the player.
Of course, as with all datamined nuggets of this matter, whether or not any of this stuff makes it into the game is a separate matter altogether. Blizzard has already proven to be quite willing to reorganize their priorities based on to respond to player feedback, as they’ve done in the past.
Despite some turbulence initially, Diablo IV has enjoyed a wildly successful launch and recently began its second season of content, Season of Blood, which gives our heroes vampiric powers and pits us against a very evil vampire lord.
Travis Northup is a writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @TieGuyTravis and read his games coverage here.
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