Diablo 4’s eighth season has arrived, kicking off a series of free updates that will pave the way for the action RPG’s second expansion, scheduled to launch sometime in 2026.
However, not everything is going smoothly within Diablo 4’s highly engaged core community. These players are eager for major new features, system overhauls, and fresh ways to experience the nearly two-year-old game—and they haven’t hesitated to share their feedback with Blizzard. While Diablo 4 certainly appeals to casual players who enjoy straightforward monster-slaying, the game’s foundation rests on dedicated fans who play regularly, analyze build metas, and expect Blizzard to consistently deliver meaningful new challenges.
So it wasn’t entirely surprising when Diablo 4’s recently revealed 2025 roadmap—the first one Blizzard has released for the game—faced criticism. Following the announcement, many players expressed concern about the content planned for 2025, including Season 8, and questioned whether there would be enough new material to sustain their interest.
The online discussion became so intense that a Diablo community manager stepped into the main Diablo 4 subreddit thread to address player concerns: “We included fewer details in the later parts of the roadmap to allow flexibility for features still in development,” they clarified. “This isn’t everything coming in 2025 :)” Even Mike Ybarra, former president of Blizzard Entertainment and an executive at its parent company Microsoft, weighed in with his perspective.
Season 8 launches amid this climate, along with several controversial changes of its own. One of the most talked-about updates is a major overhaul of Diablo 4’s battle pass, aligning it more closely with Call of Duty’s model by letting players unlock rewards non-linearly. However, the updated battle pass now grants less in-game currency than before, reducing the amount players can carry over to future battle passes.
In an extensive interview with IGN, Diablo 4 lead live game designer Colin Finer and lead seasons designer Deric Nunez addressed the community’s reaction to the roadmap, confirmed plans to update the skill tree—a long-requested feature—and explained the reasoning behind the battle pass changes.
