Diablo 4 Vessel of Hatred delayed hours before launch
Blizzard EntertainmentMere hours out from the Diablo 4 Vessel of Hatred expansions launch, Blizzard announced a delay for an undetermined amount of time.
Diablo 4’s Vessel of Hatred expansion was set for a simultaneous global launch at 4 PM PDT on October 7. Players were gearing up to test out the new Spiritborn class alongside new mechanics like Mercenaries and the Kurast Undercity.
Unfortunately, a last-minute announcement from Blizzard confirmed that Vessel of Hatred will face “a small delay”. Diablo 4’s Global Director of Community Adam Fletcher took to X to explain the situation further.
“We are tackling a small issue on the backend which is going to cause us to miss that 4 PM PDT time,” Fletcher explained. “We still expect things up this evening.”
While an exact time hasn’t been given so far, Fletcher responded to players with a rough estimate. “I’m hoping just a couple hours at most, but we shall see,” he elaborated.
General Manager Rod Fergusson followed up four hours later, adding it’s going to take a little while longer.
“Due to an unfortunate technical issue, it could be upwards of two hours till we launch Vessel of Hatred,” he explained. He also warned those on PC, particularly players on Battle.Net, will need to download a “sizeable new patch” when it goes online.
This delay also impacts the launch of Diablo 4 Season 6 which was meant to arrive alongside the Vessel of Hatred expansion. The Season of Hatred Rising will now launch when the expansion update goes live.
Reactions to Blizzard’s announcement of the Vessel of Hatred delay have been mixed. Many are pointing to previous instances in which the launch for seasonal content has been waylaid and have complained about the inconvenience.
“The most frustrating thing is now we won’t know when it starts and will end up late,” one user on X voiced. “Then we’ll be struggling to get in and started. How many times have we seen this?”
Others have praised Blizzard and Fletcher for the candor with which they have responded to the delay. “You guys are great with transparency,” another X user put forward. “Thank you genuinely for the update.”
At the time of writing, Blizzard has yet to announce a concrete time for the new Vessel of Hatred launch. We’ll update this story with more information as it emerges.