As Diablo 4’s Season 11 slowly winds down, something about the game’s upcoming schedule is starting to feel a little bit off. Not broken, not dramatic, but just oddly put together. And with Blizzard’s next spotlight stream coming up in February, this is probably not a coincidence.
Right now, the in-game Reliquary timer shows that Season 11 still has around 44 days left. That alone points toward a Season 12 launch sometime in mid-March, most likely around March 10, which also lines up nicely with Blizzard’s usual season starts. So far, so normal.
The problem is what comes after that.
A Timeline That Does Not Quite Add Up
Blizzard’s previously shared roadmap already confirmed that Season 12 is planned for March 2026. That matches the Reliquary countdown and does not raise any red flags on its own.
However, things get weird when you factor in the upcoming expansion, Lord of Hatred, that is scheduled to release on April 28.
Traditionally, Diablo 4 expansions do not just drop randomly. They usually arrive alongside a new season, acting as a new starting point with more systems, balance changes, and progression resets. If that pattern holds, April would normally be the start of a new season.
But as mentioned by Cliptis in his latest video, the roadmap does not mention a new season in April.
That leaves Blizzard with a few awkward options:
- Season 12 could be extremely short, lasting barely a month.
- The expansion could launch in the middle of Season 12.
- Or Blizzard could be planning a timeline change that they simply have not explained yet.
None of these options feels especially clean, and that is why players have started to wonder what is going on.
Why Does This Feel So Off
A strangely short season or an expansion landing mid-season would affect more than just theorycrafters and hardcore grinders. Seasonal pacing actually impacts a lot of things:
- Reliquary and Season Journey progression – Such a short season means casual players have to put in more time over a shorter period of time to complete the reliquary and season journey. People who are not content creators and have daily jobs typically finish the season over a couple of months. Some might not have the possibility to play for unending hours during only a few weeks
- Seasonal mechanics and rewards – A short season means less time to fully experience the seasonal mechanics before they are gone again, and at the same time, an expansion dropping mid-season also means a ton of players are already done with it and might not come back just because a couple of things got added with the expansion
- Balance changes linked to season resets – An expansion mid-season would mean the second new class gets added after the seasonal balance changes, and might be even less optimized compared to the rest of the classes
- How much time do players realistically have to engage with new systems
Right now, it is not clear how Blizzard plans to handle that transition, and that uncertainty is exactly what is making the current timeline feel uncomfortable.
February 11 Might Be the Missing Piece
Fortunately, we might not have to wait long for answers. Blizzard has already confirmed that Diablo 4 will be featured during its Spotlight stream on February 11. At the very least, this should be where Season 12 is properly revealed, including its theme and main gameplay mechanics.
But given how odd the current schedule looks, Blizzard may also use the stream to clarify how Season 12 and the Lord of Hatred expansion are meant to coexist.
What Blizzard Will Likely Address
Without going into wild speculation, there are a few things that you can expect to be covered during that stream in February:
- How long Season 12 is actually meant to last
- If the expansion launches with a new season or integrates into an existing one
- How major system changes will be handled going into Lord of Hatred
The stream could also bring additional expansion teasers, such as:
- More details on the upcoming class additions
- System reworks linked to progression or skills
- A clearer picture of how endgame content evolves post-expansion
At the moment, nothing is officially wrong, but it is just unclear. Diablo 4’s current timeline feels like a puzzle missing a few important pieces, and Blizzard is clearly holding those back for a reason.
If anything, the February spotlight stream feels less like a routine update and more like a necessary checkpoint. Until then, Season 12’s place in the larger picture remains one of the bigger unanswered questions hanging over Diablo 4.
Hopefully, we will not have to wait much longer for things to finally make sense.
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