Blizzard is Hiring For an "Unannounced Diablo Project"

Steven Bogos

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Jan 17, 2013
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Blizzard is Hiring For an "Unannounced Diablo Project"


Could we be looking at the reveal of the second Diablo III expansion at Blizzcon?

Blizzard has just posted up a job posting on it's careers website [http://us.blizzard.com/en-us/company/careers/posting.html?id=15000KB], looking for an Art Director for an "unannounced project" in the Diablo universe. So what does this mean exactly for those of us who aren't perspective art directors? It means that Blizzard has some kind of Diablo project in the pipeline, and given the timing, we can only really think of one thing.

Consider these two things. 1: It's now been over a year since Reaper of Souls [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/tag/view/reaper%20of%20souls?os=%20reaper%20of%20souls], the game's first expansion pack, launched. 2: BlizzCon is coming up next month. With World of Warcraft, Hearthstone, Heroes of the Storm and StarCraft II all having just had expansions either announced or released, that only leaves Diablo III (and I suppose, Overwatch) as the Blizzard franchise that's next up for a big announcement. Blizzard has been pouring quite a bit of talent and effort into Diablo III since its less-than-stellar launch, and the game is better than ever, with a consistently growing playerbase, so Diablo 4 is out of the equation. That only leaves a new expansion pack, which is what we think this job posting is for.

Reaper of Souls added a new class to the game, the Crusader, upped the level cap to 70, and added a whole new act. The next expansion will probably do something similar, with lots of people hoping that some of the other "classic" Diablo classes - the Assassin, the Druid and the Necromancer - may make their return.

Story-wise, it seems pretty obvious that Blizzard is setting up Imperius [http://diablo.wikia.com/wiki/Imperius] to be the next big-bad, and with the shattering of the Black Soulstone at the end of Reaper of Souls, we could also see Diablo and his cronies return.

Of course we could be way off and this could be a job posting for Super Diablo Pony Adventure on IOS.

Source: Blizzard Entertainment [http://us.blizzard.com/en-us/company/careers/posting.html?id=15000KB]

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totheendofsin

some asshole made me set this up
Jul 31, 2009
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I'm down, I play on PS4 so I hope whatever it is makes it's way to consoles (I know Blizzard is primarily a PC company)
 

mysecondlife

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Feb 24, 2011
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Diablo could have long lost cousin that needs to be killed or something.
008Zulu said:
Yes! They are finally doing an offline mode for PC!
Like they need to hire for PC port. (sorry).
 

Odbarc

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Jun 30, 2010
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Angels and Demons fusion into faux-Nephalem to take over Sanctuary as unified spirits.
Ghost of Cain breaks his book screaming "His level is over 9000!"
 

LostCrusader

Lurker in the shadows
Feb 3, 2011
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I doubt they will add back in the Assassin or Necromancer, both of their skill sets were used to make the Monk and Witch Doctor. Lets hope that they bring back the Druid so I can maul some demons again.

Steven Bogos said:
Of course we could be way off and this could be a job posting for Super Diablo Pony Adventure on IOS.
I would so play a Diablo themed robot unicorn attack!
 

Fappy

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They should bring in two new classes this time. The crusader is really cool, but the game's been out long enough to warrant more than six classes!

Interested to see what Blizz announces.
 

LordLundar

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Apr 6, 2004
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mysecondlife said:
Diablo could have long lost cousin that needs to be killed or something.
008Zulu said:
Yes! They are finally doing an offline mode for PC!
Like they need to hire for PC port. (sorry).
Well they need someone who knows what offline play is in that office as no one presently working there does.
 

Naldan

You Are Interested. Certainly.
Feb 25, 2015
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Hopefully a huge expansion like with RoS. I'm amazed at how they managed to pull that game around, even though most of it was done with patches.

And this isn't meant as a defense for the always online BS that still is in the game. But honestly, it was a way worse game before.
 

Hawki

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Some points:

-This isn't new news - the job position was revealed ages ago.

-It's likely that an expansion will be revealed at BlizzCon, but I doubt it's the same project. If the game is in a showable state by this point, you wouldn't be hiring an art director this late in the process. So, either it's D3X3, or D4, which has already been talked about.

-I strongly doubt that Imperius is being set up as a "big bad." Only Itherael's role in the Prophecy of the End of Days has yet to be fulfilled, so it doesn't gell for Imperius to become a villain now (condensing things a bit here). That, and as he was cut from the main antagonist role in RoS, I don't see him getting it now, given the original storyline for him.

-It's a fair bet that D3X2 will take place on Skovos, and by way of unused concept art, there's still Xiansai and Ureh. Thematically, at this point in the storyline, I'd say the likes of Inarius or Lilith would be a more logical antagonist.
 

squid5580

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Feb 20, 2008
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Soulstone:Heroes of Diablo, a match 3 game. It's the only money printing game type the haven't cashed in on yet
 

SmugFrog

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Sep 4, 2008
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LordLundar said:
mysecondlife said:
Diablo could have long lost cousin that needs to be killed or something.
008Zulu said:
Yes! They are finally doing an offline mode for PC!
Like they need to hire for PC port. (sorry).
Well they need someone who knows what offline play is in that office as no one presently working there does.
Is this a legitimate thing? I've sworn off always-online single player games but if it changes I'd love to pick it up.

My first thought when I read the title: Oh boy! Diablo 4, the game Diablo 3 was supposed to be. I know I have no room to talk having not played 3 at all, but I was a big fan of #1 and #2 and remember the disappointment a lot of people had on 3's release.
 

Loop Stricken

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Jun 17, 2009
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SmugFrog said:
My first thought when I read the title: Oh boy! Diablo 4, the game Diablo 3 was supposed to be. I know I have no room to talk having not played 3 at all, but I was a big fan of #1 and #2 and remember the disappointment a lot of people had on 3's release.
The release of Reaper of Souls made Diablo III much, MUCH better.
 

Zelderahn

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Feb 19, 2014
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Loop Stricken said:
The release of Reaper of Souls made Diablo III much, MUCH better.
So many times this, magnified. Blizzard practically reinvented the game from the ground up with the patches leading up to RoS, practically nothing was left untouched. It earned serious karma points from me at least, that they put in so much effort.
 

Glongpre

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Jun 11, 2013
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I hope it is Diablo 4. Diablo 3 was dissappointing, even with RoS. I played through with a crusader, got stupid drops (I mean I was doing like 10k dmg in act 1). Finished the campaign, laughed at the terrible story it had. Was confused that there wasn't any difficulty modes (norm, nightmare, hell) and instead some weird torment level system. Tried them, decided the end game was boring. Then I realized I didn't have much fun. It is better than vanilla D3 though, I will give it that.

Back to Diablo 2!!! My zon is coming along well, nearly shit myself when Buriza dropped off nm meph. Was a good day, can finally kill things in hell.
 

Kahani

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May 25, 2011
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Hawki said:
Thematically, at this point in the storyline
Given how little the story and lore of D3 had to do with the previous games, how little sense the story of D3 made, and how somehow RoS managed to go downhill from there, I don't think using logic to guess what's coming next is likely to achieve much.
 

LordLundar

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SmugFrog said:
Is this a legitimate thing? I've sworn off always-online single player games but if it changes I'd love to pick it up.
Calm yourself. I'm taking the piss on Blizzard over the fact that the last offline title they had was Warcraft 3. Everything since then has had some online requirement in some fashion.