Blizzard announced today at BlizzConline that Diablo II: Resurrected will be released in 2021, a full HD remaster of the original game and the Lord of Destruction expansion pack with updated cinematics.

Blizzard announced Diablo IV at Blizzcon today.



I especially loved the tiny nod to the original Diablo 1 trailer at the start of the video, with the swinging shutter on the old, decrepit house.

Twenty years, everyone. It's been twenty years. Hello again to all of you who were here in the beginning!

Blizzard Entertainment is celebrating their 25th anniversary and put out a video commemorating the event:

US Gamer has an amazing read posted yesterday entitled In Their Own Words: An Oral History of Diablo II. Interviews conducted with the original Blizzard North/Condor team that developed the original Diablo including David Brevik, Max Schaefer, and Erich Schaefer describe the team mentality, the lessons learned, and the development process of the first two games.

David Brevik Wrote:There was no definitive design document [for Diablo II]. There was a loose structure. "Hey, I know we wanted to go here for Diablo 1, this is kind of the first act. This is kind of the story we're telling there." And then we get to the second act, and "Hey, where do we want to go," and then, "Oh, I got this idea for this level, it's going to be in space, it's going to be awesome." And we'd mock it up. "Yeah, that's great. Doesn't make any sense in the story, but what the hell, it's kind of cool."

Blizzard has announced the next expansion release date for World of Warcraft and showcased their cinematic trailer:

Rob Pardo, Chief Creative Officer at Blizzard Entertainment for 17 years, announced he is leaving the company today. Rob was a designer on Diablo II and Diablo III amongst other Blizzard games.

Quote:Every ending is a beginning and today marks a new beginning for me.

After 17 years at Blizzard, with long and careful contemplation, I have made a difficult and bittersweet but ultimately exciting decision to pursue the next chapter in my life and career.

Before I even joined Blizzard, I was already a huge fan of the company and its games. In particular, I was extremely passionate about the emerging genre of real-time strategy games. It was a dream come true when I was given the opportunity to work on StarCraft, which at the time was being created by a very small team by today’s standards. It was tremendously fulfilling to get to know everyone on the team personally and to contribute our energies toward a shared goal in such a creative and engaging environment.

Blizzard Entertainment has been simply the best place in the world to be a game designer. The best aspect of designing games at Blizzard is that the entire company is passionate about the gameplay within each and every product. From the executive team to customer service to our global offices, every single person is a player and contributes to making the best possible games. It’s for very good reason that the first credit on every Blizzard game is “Game Design by Blizzard Entertainment.”

I’m really proud of the contributions I was able to make to Blizzard’s accomplishments. From building lasting games, to supporting the growth of eSports, to extending the Warcraft world into a feature film, and of course to being able to celebrate our shared passions with the Blizzard community online and at BlizzCon.

The Blizzard community is ultimately the reason why we come to work every day and pour our souls into every world and experience we create. Blizzard’s players are the most passionate in the world and your commitment and dedication are truly awesome to behold. Creating entertainment for you has been an incredible opportunity, and I know that you will continue to grow and become even stronger as a community over the years to come. It has been so meaningful on a personal level to help create joy for all of you.

I’m looking forward to new challenges in my career, but I will always cherish the time I spent with you all and the amazing and collaborative teams at Blizzard. It was both satisfying and humbling, and it made me a better developer and a better person. I look forward to playing Blizzard games as a player for many years to come. Most important, now I have plenty of time to learn how to build a competitive Hearthstone deck.

As to what I will be doing next, I don’t have an answer for you yet . . . but I will “when it’s ready.” My priorities are to enjoy the summer with my family, play plenty of games, and think about what’s next. The game industry is such an exciting place right now with PC gaming thriving, the new consoles, mobile games, and virtual reality becoming an actual reality. It’s like having an empty quest log and going into a new zone for the first time.

In the past, I haven’t been the most avid Twitter user, but I’ll strive to do better and keep you updated there—@Rob_Pardo. Please stay in touch!

I've been waiting to do this post until we had more information to go on, but now seems to be a good time.

On March 5th, GGG will be releasing the first major content update for Path of Exile entitled Sacrifice of the Vaal.

Corruption of everything seems to be the name of the game with this. SO far, they have spoiled database grabs of Corrupted Skill Gems, Corrupted equipment, Corrupted Maps, and a new Orb. The Vaal Orb.

Corruption has been shown to do a few things so far.

• It can allow items to have white sockets, like the Tabula Rasa
  
• It can change the base property of an item. They teased an Onyx Neckalce that had base Lightning Damage Leech instead of +stats.
  
• It can increase the level of a gem past 20.
  
• It can increase the quality of an item past 20.
  
• It can allow maps (and presumably other equipment) to roll more than 6 modifiers.
  

The new patch is upon us, and it is heavily summoner themed. As I did with the last patch, here are the notes, with a little commentary.

Version 1.0.6

Version 1.0.5b