Diablo Immortal’s new storyline begins with The Writhing Wilds update this month.
Blizzard Entertainment has unveiled The Epoch of Madness, an all-new storyline for Diablo Immortal that picks things up after the defeat of Diablo and runs through the entirety of 2025. The storyline begins with the game’s 11th major update, entitled The Writhing Wilds, which adds a new region, a revamped Battlegrounds experience, and more gameplay changes to the game.
We also talked to Diablo Immortal’s senior narrative designer, Ryan Quinn, about this year’s main storyline in a roundtable interview.
The Writhing Wilds update details
This year, Diablo Immortal is launching an all-new storyline called Epoch of Madness. It all begins in a new main questline included with the game’s upcoming 11th major update, which launches on 21 March, bringing players into the enigmatic Sharval Wilds – a land twisted by the influence of Fey spirits. Players will join forces with Druids and Witches to protect the land’s citizens, but they won’t be the only ones vying to save it from destruction.
The new update, The Writhing Wilds, will also introduce a brand-new Battleground map called Battleground Convoy. This is an 8v8 map with a symmetrical arena, pitting players against one another in three-to-five minute rounds. The objective will be to escort a Zealous Idol from one team’s starting zone to the enemy team’s starting zone, while preventing the enemy team from doing the same.
Three new Legendary Gems are also arriving with The Writhing Wilds update, allowing players to strengthen their characters further. These gems are the Colossus Engine (Five-Star), Specter Glass (Two-Star), and Faltergrasp (One-Star). Players will also be able to collect ores and materials from Elite Monsters to craft Legendary items, thanks to the game’s new crafting changes.
Interview on Diablo Immortal’s 2025 storyline: Epoch of Madness
Blizzard hasn’t revealed all the details on Diablo Immortal’s full 2025 slate, but an earlier-released roadmap teased a pretty packed schedule of updates for players to look forward to. This includes an all-new class, a mystery crossover, and more story updates throughout the year. When we pressed Quinn for details on the new class, and how the team comes up with new playable characters year after year, he said:
“We always want to try and find the balance between class options. We want to look at silhouettes we haven't put in the game around the campfire. We want to look at weapons we haven't used. But I think for us too, there are always more cool classes than we'll be able to release in a given year. So it comes down to, you know, what is the right class for this moment? What is the right class for the story of the Epoch of Madness, for the themes and the tones that we're dredging up, and the gameplay content we're releasing this year. What I can say on that front is the new class is very, very tightly tied to all of those thematic elements. It is, in my view, the perfect class for the third year of Diablo Immortal. ”
As for the crossover, Quinn wasn’t able to divulge too many details – besides the fact that he doesn’t “think there's anything from another realm or another universe that's necessarily off the table. It is more about, you know, the execution.” He said:
"I can't give precise details about the crossover, but what I'll say is we absolutely, absolutely love doing crossovers. We had a lot of fun and generated, I think, a lot of excitement with the Warcraft crossover that we did last year in November. And for us, whenever we do one of these, we're trying to be selective with what we allow into the world of Sanctuary. We're trying to find universes that will blend in in kind of a seamless and an interesting way.
“And then we're trying to be genuine fans of the universes we love, you know, and if we bring something in, ask ourselves questions like, 'Can we do this justice?' Can we do this very, very honestly and authentically and make it so that if you're a fan of Diablo, but not a fan of Warcraft, you would still find something to love in the presence of the Lich King in Immortal? If the reverse is true, then we can tease out something from this franchise that makes you go, 'Oh yeah, this is pretty cool. I'll check it out'.”
To close things out, we asked Quinn to give us a movie poster-like tagline for the Epoch of Madness. After much deliberation, he said “I'd probably just rip off Jaws. I'd probably say: ‘Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the woods’.”
Diablo Immortal’s next update, The Writhing Wilds, launches on 21 March, 2025. Read more about the update on Blizzard's official blog here.
