Diablo 4 fans think Season 11’s awkward release time is because we’re getting a new class shadow-dropped

Diablo 4 Season 11 is going to show up at this year’s Game Awards in some way, shape, or form, but it’s the next season’s start date that’s got fans speculating.

Diablo 4 Season 11 has been on the game’s PTR (Public Test Realm) for a little while, but it’s due to arrive on December 11, the same day as The Game Awards. That’s actually nudged back from the usual timing, and it really does feel as though Blizzard has something it’s keeping close to its chest with regards to the new season.

Is Diablo 4 getting a new class at The Game Awards?

The Game Awards should finish around 11 pm ET, and Diablo 4’s Season 11 will kick off at 11:30 pm ET. That’s… very late for Blizzard staff, streamers and content creators, and, of course, players around the globe.

So, what could we see? Geoff Keighley has shown off Diablo 4 content at events before (I was in the crowd for the Season of Blood reveal at Gamescom). There’s almost no chance a new expansion gets a shadow-drop, though – Blizzard will almost certainly want to build some hype (and preorders) for whatever follows Vessel of Hatred, and the game’s 2025 roadmap showed an expansion coming in 2026.

What does that leave, then? We’re in a strange spot because Season 11, the Season of Divine Intervention, isn’t part of the current roadmap, which runs until Infernal Chaos, and that’s got fans predicting that the next big part of Diablo 4 to arrive would be a new playable class.

Spiritborn was the last class added to the game as part of the Vessel of Hatred expansion, and it was very well-received, but this would, if it happens, be the first time we’ve got a post-launch class that may or may not be tied to an expansion.

Of course, there’s every chance it’s another IP collaboration, but I’m really not sure anyone will be happy staying up all night for that.

Rumors have persisted that the game’s next class will be a Paladin-style character, but given Path of Exile 2’s new Druid launches next week, too, it would be great to have two new classes to play.

Even the name of the season, Divine Intervention, evokes the holiness of the Paladin – here’s hoping.