[GameSpot] - Diablo 4 Season 2: Start Date And Everything We Know About Season Of Blood

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After a rocky first season, Diablo IV Season 2 is looking to incorporate many of the features fans have been asking about since before the game's launch, along the way introducing new mechanics for players to sink their teeth into. Called Season of Blood, the next step in Diablo IV's live-service journey debuted as part of Gamescom Opening Night Live, after which Blizzard shared additional details on what fans can expect come Season 2's launch in October. Here's everything we know about what's coming next to Diablo IV.

Diablo IV Season Of Blood Release Date

Blizzard had previously said its goal was to release new Diablo IV seasons quarterly, and it looks to be sticking to that vision. Season 2 will start on October 17. That's also the same day the game's first season will end, meaning it doesn't look like there will be any break in between seasonal rollouts. Diablo IV's major Season 1 patch actually arrived a few days prior to Season of the Malignant's start date, letting players get their hands on class balance changes and quality-of-life improvements ahead of the arrival of new seasonal content. It's currently unclear if something similar will happen with Season 2, but Blizzard has pledged to release patch notes at least a week ahead of an update's release to give the community time to process all the changes.

Diablo IV Season Of Blood New Features And Content

A new season means new gameplay mechanics, and Season 2 will see players embracing vampiric powers and teaming up with a vampire hunter to defeat the latest threat to Sanctuary. The new seasonal questline will introduce the vampire hunter Erys, voiced by actress Gemma Chan in her video game debut. Blizzard has not yet announced what those vampiric powers will look like or how players will unlock and equip them. Alongside a new questline, battle pass, and powers, Blizzard has confirmed that it will add five new endgame bosses. Blizzard has not yet disclosed what all those bosses will be, but said they will include "new and returning foes." A new way to target-farm for some of the game's most coveted Unique and Uber Unique items is also coming, though what exactly that will look like remains to be seen.

Diablo IV Season Of Blood Quality-Of-Life Improvements And Renown Changes

Some of the most exciting changes coming with Season 2 are the myriad of quality-of-life improvements confirmed to be there at launch, many of which fans have long asked for. Gems, for example, will no longer take up inventory space and will be treated like crafting materials. Improvements are coming to the stash as well with the addition of a search feature and the ability to apply item filters.

Diablo IV Season 2 is reducing the seasonal grind by having Renown rewards become account-wide.

One of the biggest changes will be to how Diablo IV's Renown system works. Come Season 2, the need to grind out Renown by completing side quests, dungeons, and Strongholds for each new seasonal character will be a thing of the past. Instead, Blizzard will make it so Renown rewards are account-wide, meaning if a player has reached max renown on one character, regardless of whether it's a seasonal character or a standard character, those rewards will automatically be unlocked for all future characters. It's a major change that will drastically reduce what felt like a mandatory grind in Season 1 for players who had already reached max renown on a non-seasonal character shortly after Diablo IV's launch.

As Blizzard has previously announced it would, updates are also coming to a number of game systems, namely how Diablo IV handles elemental resistances and additional ways to deal damage. Resistances are regarded by many in the game's community as a fairly worthless stat currently, something Blizzard has pledged will be changing. On the other hand, damage-modifying status effects like Vulnerable damage or Critical Strike damage currently play too big a role in a character's ability to dish out damage, something Blizzard will also be addressing.

That's all we know about Diablo IV Season of Blood so far, but Blizzard will no doubt hold another "campfire" chat livestream as it has in the past to discuss more of Season 2's changes in more detail. This post will be updated as we learn more.

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