[Update #2]: Diablo 4 will be launching on June 6th, 2023 with five classes: Barbarian, Druid, Necromancer, Rogue and Sorceress.

[Update]: Diablo 4's endgame focused Closed Beta will be launching in the near future, possibly in mid-to-late October 2022.

In order to help pass the time until Diablo 4 finally arrives, and to keep the community in the loop, Blizzard has been releasing quarterly updates discussing everything from gameplay details to the finer points of monster design. This months' update, however, is a bit different.

Instead of showcasing the main campaign and its contents, the recently released August update is all about Diablo 4's post-launch plans, seasons, as well as how Blizzard is aiming to monetize all of it. If you've been playing Diablo 3 a lot of this should be familiar, but there's a few new details you'll want to keep an eye out for. Here's a brief rundown of what to expect:

Seasons - When a new season begins all players will need to create a new character and start from zero, much like before. Each season will bring with it a variety of quality-of-life improvements and major balance changes, as well as additional content in the form of new questlines, mysteries and gameplay mechanics. You can also expect to see Live Events appear and disappear throughout the seasons, each one offering new adventures and unique rewards for players that manage to find them.

Season Pass - Much like Battle Passes in other games, the Season Pass in Diablo 4 will come in both free and paid flavors. The free one will focus on making the process of leveling new characters a faster and more enjoyable one, while the paid version will be heavily orientated towards cosmetics and premium currency. The most important thing to note is that the paid Battle Pass will not be a source of player power, only cosmetics.

In-game Shop - In addition to the Battle Pass, Diablo 4 will have an in-game shop that sells a variety of fancy appearances for weapons and armor. These items can be bought with premium currency that can be earned as a part of the free Season Pass, though you'll most likely need to shell out a fair bit of money in order to get some of the more stylish sets. Blizzard has also said that the best-looking cosmetics won't be exclusive to the in-game shop and that some can be acquired simply through playing the game, though I have my doubts that's going to remain the case for very long.

Legendary armor vs paid cosmetic armor

That's the short version. If you're interested in all of the details, as well as the reasoning behind each new addition and change, you can find what you seek over at the developer update.

Enjoy, and I'll make sure to let you know once the next big preview arrives.