Diablo 3 is passing the torch to Diablo 4, as Blizzard Entertainment announces what is likely to be the game's final season before the sequel officially becomes Diablo's flagship title. Though Diablo 3 had a commercially successful launch, many Diablo fans were upset about the game's initial direction, especially regarding its controversial real money auction house. It wasn't until Reaper of Souls released that Diablo 3 finally found its footing, and its seasonal format has allowed the game to stay fresh and relevant for several years since.
With Diablo 4 approaching its June 6 release date, many players have found themselves returning to Diablo 3. The current Season 27 is titled Light's Calling, and arguably its defining feature has been the addition of Angelic Crucibles, allowing players to Sanctify any legendary item of their choice. Sanctifying an item re-rolls its stats to the best possible combination at the highest possible value, as well as adding unique class-based bonuses that have allowed builds such as Fist of the Heavens Crusader to shine even more.
Though it's unknown what Season 28 will entail, Blizzard Entertainment made an announcement on Diablo's official subreddit that the upcoming season will drop on the Public Test Realms at the end of January. Taking into account that Diablo 4 is launching in June, and that Season 27 has launched in August, it's very likely that Season 28 will be the final Diablo 3 season before the release of Diablo 4. While it's unlikely that Blizzard will have something special in mind to mark the occasion, there's a high likelihood that its theme will be related to the sequel in some way.
If one were to extrapolate Season 28's Public Test Realm start, and compare it with the previous Diablo 3 seasons, then that might firmly place the release of Season 28 in early March. Players should be able to provide feedback to Blizzard Entertainment once it hits the Public Test Realm servers, as Angelic Crucibles had their drop rate doubled by the developers for Season 27's launch. In addition to Diablo 3, Blizzard will also be commencing the next Diablo Immortal season, likely in early April.
Even if Season 27 is steadily on the way out, it's still a great time to come back to Diablo 3 in anticipation of its sequel, especially since Diablo 4's open beta seems to be arriving somewhat later than anticipated. Though not much can be done to fix Diablo 3's narrative shortcomings, the game has evolved past its initial mistakes to become a worthy entry to the franchise that defined the hack-and-slash genre.
Diablo 3 is available on PC, Switch, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One.