With the release of Diablo II: Resurrected, Blizzard brought back the genre-defining action-RPG with a new and impressive 3D visual layer sitting on top of the original classic -- our full review here. That original core was left basically as is, with only minor but very welcome quality of life changes, in addition to adding support for consoles.

And with post-launch support improving issues relating to server-side stuff and even adding a skill bar to the PC version it looks like the team is now looking to the future with the upcoming Patch 2.4.

A future where Diablo II will see balance changes for classes, new Rune Words introduced, Ladder Play (ala Diablo III seasons but a little different), and a rework of Mercenaries and even a batch of Set Item buffs. Yeah, it's pretty substantial and very cool to see. But as we're talking about one of the all time greats, Blizzard is taking the same approach it took with Resurrected's launch. And that is, remaining faithful to the core experience.

"We’re making new changes to expand character build diversity, and retain class fantasy and specialty," writes Blizzard in a new post outlining Patch 2.4. "We want to empower you to be creative with the builds you want to play, but we don’t want to “reinvent the wheel” and steer classes from their core purposes."


Class changes are set to arrive for all seven playable characters in Diablo II: Resurrected, with the goal being to improve viability for certain builds at high level play. For the Amazon this means revisiting and looking at melee skills, giving underused abilities a buff and making changes to synergies. Blizzard is hinting that it's going to look at Bow and Crossbow skills too.

Martial Arts builds for Assassin are going to be improved, alongside the fantasy of Throwing Barbarians. On the Barb front, Leap Attack and Grim Ward have also been highlighted as getting some love. For the Druid the team is focusing on Summons (pets) and Fire Skills for high level play. Necromancer Summons like Skeletal Mages and lesser used Golems will become more effective. Then there's the Paladin's Fist of the Heavens skill, and the Sorceress's armor skills.

This leads into the arrival of Ladder Play, which is a "go in fresh" approach ala Diablo III where the goal is to level and get powerful as quick as you can. With the added incentive of new Rune Words, powerful items crafted via the use of existing Runes, there's also the incentive to jump in as see what brand new items in Diablo II look like after a decade and change. On the item front Set Items are getting buffed, with the idea being to add more viability to lesser used stuff. Basically, what used to be an instant sell will now have value.

There's a lot to get through so be sure to check out the full post for more info. Or, my in-depth look over at IGN with input from the development team. As for specifics, numbers, stats, and all of that good stuff. There's a stream with community content creator, MrLlamaSC, with Diablo II: Resurrected Design Lead, Robert Gallerani and Senior Game Producer, Matthew Cederquist happening tommorow over at: https://www.twitch.tv/mrllamasc.

Patch 2.4 is a pretty big Leap Attack forward for Diablo 2, with Blizzard planning to bring the update to PTR in early 2022. Where it will gauge community feedback and input before rolling it out.