On April 27, 2026, a launch showcase for 'Diablo IV: Vessel of Hatred' was held at the 'Devils Door' brewery in Seocho-gu, Seoul. The event, held one day before the game's release, featured interviews regarding the expansion and an influencer event titled 'Kitchen Diablo.'

The event began with the statement, "This event was organized to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Diablo series this year, while also providing a space to learn more about 'Vessel of Hatred'." Hong Chang-ui, Head of Publishing at Blizzard Entertainment, briefly introduced the path Diablo IV has taken so far and added that 'Kitchen Diablo' is being planned in three stages to ensure it can be enjoyed by fans across the country, not just in Seoul.

This was followed by a Q&A session focused on the 'Lord of Hatred.' Zaven Haroutunian, Associate Game Director at Blizzard, who participated as an interviewee, stated, "The Lord of Hatred was created based on our team's core philosophy." He added that the goal was to provide players with a more refined gameplay experience as they optimize their builds and explore Sanctuary.

Director Haroutunian added that through 'Vessel of Hatred,' players will experience the story of the Wanderer following the legacy left by Neyrelle after the already-revealed 'death of Neyrelle,' set in the Skovos Isles where she is slowly being brainwashed by Mephisto. Players will also be able to experience the Paladin, who fights with temperance and faith, and the Demonologist, who wields forbidden power.

Director Haroutunian also noted that the biggest change in this expansion is the overhaul of the 'Skill Tree.' While it was previously criticized for being more of a 'Skill Branch' than a 'Skill Tree,' he explained that it has now been redesigned to yield clear results, allowing for more meaningful build customization and distinct class identities.

In addition, 'War Plans' have been added to consolidate endgame content, along with the 'Horadric Cube'—a symbolic system of the Diablo series—and 'Spirit Items and Charms' to fill the void left by set items. Director Haroutunian stated that these systems have made Diablo IV's gameplay significantly deeper and broader than before, and that they will continue to listen to player feedback to refine the game further.

A live interview followed, with questions based on submissions from participating reporters and the community.

The narrative and presentation have improved significantly compared to the previous expansion. Was there any area you focused on more during the planning process?

"We were very conscious of the core themes in this work, such as the contrast between Heaven and Hell and the relationship between Lilith and Mephisto. As this is the fourth Diablo game and its second expansion, we put a lot of effort into making the stage of Sanctuary feel richer.

Will the operation of seasons after the expansion differ from the previous method? I am curious about what differences we can expect in the composition of seasonal content.

"Starting with the first season, Season 13 will see a lot of content added alongside the application of 'Vessel of Hatred,' so we hope it will be a season for adapting to these new systems; separate seasonal content will be relatively minor. The smaller amount of content in this specific season is temporary, and we plan to prepare core content as before starting from Season 14.

For now, we anticipate that 'War Plans' will become the core endgame content for both Seasonal and Standard modes, and we plan to continue improving these plans as seasons progress.

Compared to its appearance in other series, the Demonologist appears in its most powerful form yet. How did you differentiate the Demonologist of this title from those in previous series?

"Looking at the Paladin, while they appear in both Diablo II and IV, there is a time gap, so we only needed to show an improved version. For the Demonologist, since it is being applied to the entire series simultaneously, we chose to maintain only the core concept and present a completely different direction.

With the introduction of the Skovos Isles, many predicted the appearance of the Amazon. Is there a possibility that the Amazon will appear as a playable character?

"I have nothing to say on that right now. However, we are aware of player sentiment that if the Amazon doesn't appear even with the introduction of Skovos, she might never appear. We will monitor the situation and let you know immediately if there is anything more we can share.

With the skill tree overhaul, dungeon reward Aspects have disappeared. Some Aspects have been integrated, and most must be obtained through items. Is there a reason for this change? Also, can you explain the criteria for why certain Aspects were integrated into the skill tree?

"Legendary Aspects have two meanings: strengthening a build and increasing build accessibility. Assigning them as dungeon rewards as we did before was a matter of build accessibility. If you want to try a build, you run dungeons to start that build.

The Aspects included in the skill tree overhaul are those that fall under this 'accessibility.' Now, you secure build accessibility just by picking skills in the tree, and if you want to strengthen it further, you need to acquire Aspects for build enhancement through items.

By shifting the rewards for Aspects in this way, we felt we reduced the pressure of having to run specific dungeons to create a build. Previously, there was a strange dilemma where you had to add dungeons to add Aspects, and the system overhaul has relieved that burden.

With the change in skill tree structure, it feels like gear dependency has decreased somewhat. Is there a reason for adding more incentive for item farming?

"I don't think gear dependency has decreased, but rather changed. Spirit Items and Charms are definitely elements that encourage farming, and the Horadric Cube is a new system that provides a way to strengthen characters. Since the design lowers 'build accessibility' while making 'build power' the driving force for farming, I don't think the incentive for farming will disappear.

I felt the set effects of Spirit Items and Charms were very powerful. What was the intention behind the design of the set charm effects for each class?

"We designed the set effects to be as versatile as possible rather than specific to one area. We made it so that players aren't forced into a specific build because of a set charm, and so that the charm remains useful regardless of the build chosen.

We also tried to create visual changes with set charms, not just numerical ones. For example, allowing the Druid to choose companions that weren't available before, or changing the mechanics of skills.

I think feedback about them being 'too strong' can only be verified by monitoring actual gameplay. However, this expansion has significantly segmented and increased the difficulty, so I don't think it will be difficult to find the right level of challenge. Also, Unique Charms are just as powerful as set charms, and they allow for new build customization—for instance, by using the Horadric Cube to pull the effects of Unique Weapons into Unique Charms to increase build scalability.

Unique items can now be Masterworked. Why did you introduce this feature, which was not supported before?

"The most important factor was player feedback. We periodically look back to review what went well and what was a mistake, and we judged that Masterworking for Unique items could be introduced through this process. I still believe this was the right decision.

Endgame content has been organized through War Plans. As new content will be created in future seasons and expansions, will War Plans continue to be the center of content?

"First of all, because we believe War Plans will serve as the foundation for endgame content, we have no plans to weaken them as seasons progress. We intend to ensure that War Plans and new content are linked in some way.

Can you provide more specific details about the high-end content, 'Echo of Hatred'?

"Echo of Hatred' is content that can be challenged very, very rarely. The entry ticket itself drops very infrequently, and it is content that carries great risk and equally powerful rewards. The tickets cannot be traded or exchanged, but multiplayer is possible.

Basically, it is content where you must fight endlessly without rest. Upon entering, you can click the object in the center of the stage to start the battle, and if you fail to defeat the monsters in time, they will pile up to the point of being overwhelming. There are four shrines, but they do not refill, so you must strategically choose when to use them. The content ends if the player dies or if too many monsters pile up and overwhelm you; for hardcore gamers, ending it by letting monsters pile up like this is the safe way to avoid death.

Many contents have been added, but 'fishing' feels somewhat minor. What is the significance of fishing?

"First, we wanted fishing itself to be fun, and we added it after thinking about what players could do during gaps in time, such as waiting for friends or waiting for a world boss to spawn.

'Consecration' has been added to the Horadric Cube as 'Transmutation.' There were many other seasonal contents, so is there a special reason why Consecration joined as official content?

"First, the biggest reason for reapplying Consecration is player feedback. The reason we changed Consecration to Transmutation is just a small change to allow it to be enjoyed without a sense of incongruity across multiple seasons. The initial reason for introducing Consecration was to provide satisfaction to gamers while maintaining the power level cap.

In fact, we intended to introduce other content as well, and the Chaos system from Season 10 was partially introduced through Spirit Items and Charms. You can also see parts of previous seasonal content through War Plans, such as the Vampires from Season 2 and the Butcher from Season 12.

Since it is almost certain that the Demonologist will be very powerful, there are questions about balance with other classes. How is the balance being maintained?

"I think this concern stems from the case of the Spiritborn. While it is true that the Demonologist is powerful, it would be more accurate to see this expansion not as adding two classes to the existing 6, but as adding 8 completely new classes. Because so many changes have been made, I believe all classes, not just the Demonologist, have the potential to be 'OP.' It's not just the Demonologist that is strong.

There is no cow level? (Actual question)

"What?

There are many legends in the Skovos Isles. Perhaps the monster on the T-shirt the developers are wearing is one of them.