Speculation: Diablo II Remastered

[Belix]

For anyone unaware, Blizzard has recently announced StarCraft: Remastered (you can check that out over at http://www.starcraft.com). A Blizzard employee also says that a new patch is about to be released at the end of this month for classic StarCraft bringing it up to version 1.18, which will make the game completely free and available for download. Yes, free as in freeware.

This is an exciting path Blizzard is taking, and bodes well for the future of its other popular but aging titles - such as Diablo II and Warcraft III - both of which Blizzard has shown recent interest in; Diablo II has received a patch as recently as June 7th, 2016 (v1.14d), and Warcraft III's unit models were given a facelift and released for use by StarCraft II mapmakers back in 2015 or so.

While there is no official confirmation yet, it seems likely they will develop remastered versions of at least these two games as well. Sadly I fear they will gloss over Diablo 1 entirely, though...

Since they are taking special care with StarCraft: Remastered to maintain some level of compatibility with content from the classic version (they say replays from the original will still work in the remaster), there is a good chance they will continue to use this delicate approach and, if they do create an updated Diablo II, it should be compatible with your existing characters and equipment. Not bad!

[Taem]

They should just use median xl as a guideline for how the update should go.

[Belix]

I think we both know that's not going to happen.

Blizzard already had a chance to do better with Diablo III, and in my humble opinion, failed miserably in most respects. We're better off if they don't even think about mucking with it themselves. Improvements to D2's gameplay are all up to the modders now.

I thought about modding D2 myself once many years ago, but I felt there was so much wrong with the game that for the time required to 'fix' it, I could have made my own game from scratch. Considering Median has been in development since about 2001, I'd say I was right.

[lummie]

Hey, I've already seen the remastered version but it's only a patch, not an official one from Blizzard. I would love to see the HD version with - maybe - two new characters to choose?

[Belix]

Very likely, Blizzard wouldn't alter Diablo II much beyond refreshing its graphics and sounds, which is a task with a clearly defined goal and quantity. But adding or modifying game content is an obstacle course of time, money, planning, feature creep, and trying not to anger existing fans. To Blizzard, it probably makes much more sense to invest that effort into a new game (such as Diablo 4) with the potential to generate far more revenue than a Diablo II update.

With characters specifically, they would have some trouble competing with popular existing mods (such as Median) that have had many more years to work on new classes than Blizzard would be willing to spend working on them. The end result would probably be somewhat rushed and disappointing.

But if you have ideas for new classes, this is as good as place as any to describe them; a D2 remaster will probably rekindle some interest in modding the game, and maybe a modder will read and like your ideas.

[Occhidiangela]

As I have enjoyed the remastered Starcraft (original) I hope they do this for D II. My son loaded DI on his gaming rig last spring and could not get over how much fun he had. I had to give him a hint on how to kill the butcher, but it all went well.