The Diablo 4 development team is finally offering players some information about when they can expect to see competitive play in the game. The latest installment in the series has only been out for a little over a month, but it’s already developed a large and passionate fan base. Diablo 4 offers hours of content through the campaign and an endgame that’s still developing and being expanded on.

Of course, players are still eager for more and wondering what will be coming next. For its part, Blizzard has been regularly communicating with gamers, keeping them up to date on the latest updates and plans for the future. The dev team has already revealed Diablo 4’s Malignant Heart types for Season 1, and there’s also a sense of the changes that will be coming even later. Now, the team is starting to preview another future addition that fans have been asking for.

During a recent roundtable, Joseph Piepiora, an associate game director for Diablo 4, responded to questions about the addition of true competitive play to the game. It’s true that the game is largely built around PvE and player cooperation, but competition has been a part of the series since Diablo 2 and the dev team even had a funny response when a fan asked for an option to turn off PvP in Diabo 4. As such, players have been asking when a more competitive mode, similar to the Ladder in Diablo 2, would make its way into the game and Blizzard has now revealed that it will be coming in Season 3.

According to Piepiora, a competitive play system is definitely coming but it won’t be rolled out for the first season or even the next. The reason given for this delay is that the team wants to be sure that the system is done correctly and, given how complex it can be, this will take time. So, players have another cool feature to look forward to, but they shouldn’t get too excited for it just yet.

This announcement certainly fits with Blizzard’s approach to Diablo 4 up until now. The team has consistently emphasized that it’s taking a cautious approach to changes and will often look multiple seasons in advance. Diablo 4 may already have a Season 2 start date set, and the dev team has already hinted at plans for that season and later seasons as well.

A Season 3 rollout would likely mean gamers can expect competitive play around the end of this year or the beginning of the next. This may be frustrating for some fans who are eager to start challenging their friends, but there are still plenty of regular updates to keep players occupied until then. A recent Diablo 4 update just shook up World Tiers, and there’s plenty more on the way between now and Season 3.