In Diablo V, cleared ground does not stay cleared

Blizzard has published that Diablo V replaces safe towns with a travelling caravan of survivors. What it had not said is what happens to the land the caravan passes through. In a BlizzCon group interview reported by PCGamesN on 28 September, game director Joe Shely described the caravan as "a point of light moving through the land", and went on:

Once you leave an area, there are still no people there and there are many demons that need to be killed. Those areas can become dangerous again after a while. The role of the player and the caravan is to travel the world and accumulate strength so you can ultimately kick Diablo off the throne.

So you are not liberating Sanctuary region by region. That sits comfortably with what Blizzard has confirmed about the world changing between visits - enemies, rewards and corruption can all differ when you return - but how quickly an area turns dangerous again, and what decides it, has not been described.

After the credits

Narrative director Jennifer Hepler said in the same interview: "We are definitely thinking a lot about the post campaign state." The ending of the main story, she said, "needs to leave you in a position where you feel like you've achieved something but there is still a lot left to do."

That is consistent with what Shely told TechRadar about a complete endgame at launch, and adds nothing to what that endgame is.

How it is filed

Both are developer statements: named developers, on the record, not in a Blizzard post. They are listed in Everything we know under the caravan and under progression and endgame.