Diablo 2: Resurrectedis living up to its name and then some. The game hasn’t only brought back theisometric ARPGgranddaddy in a shinier coat of paint, but the developers are ensuring that it gets its much-needed tender loving care in the form of updates. What’s even more amazing is that these updates aren’t just the general stuff such as bug stomping or technical optimization.
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These are huge quality of life changes and fundamental improvements to gameplay. Truth be told, the most recent updates that were both introduced and are being tested right now have breathed new life into this aging formula. At the moment, these gameplay and technical changes introduced by the updates keep elevating the game up to modern standards.
10General Class & Skill Balance Changes
One of the biggest issues inDiablo 2: Resurrectedand even in the original is that build and class variety have taken a backseat to the meta.Some skills were left in the dust and some classes got the short end of the stickand have been generally ignored for more than a decade because of this.
The developers are fixing this fast since the new Public Test Realm (PTR) for Patch 2.4 is buffing some lesser-used skills.Classes and builds such as the Martial Arts Assassin, Bowazon, orHybrid Druidare about to become more viable than everwith their recent skill and stat changes.
9Skill Hotbar
Before the Patch 2.4 PTR was even released,Diablo 2: Resurrectedhas already become less of a pain to play. Patch 2.3 actually introduced a visible and helpful skill Hotbar on top of the typical bottom UI that houses the life and mana globes along with the experience bar. This is for the PC.
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Thisskill Hotbar then displays all the mapped skillsso that players won’t mistakenly Teleport into a pack of unique enemies when they mean to rain down a burning rock on top of them because they forgot which number they assigned to the skills.
8Quick Cast Function
Similarly,Diablo 2: Resurrected’s casting system has also received a much-needed modern function wherepressing the number assigned to the skill means activating them instead of just placing them in the UI queue. Now, players don’t have to press the right mouse button (RMB) in order to activate the skill they’ve chosen.
This leads to faster action and less carpal tunnel syndrome. Before the quick cast was introduced,Diablo 2’s skill activation system was the primary combat complaint among reviewers and fans alike. This function is also especially helpful for Paladins who need to keep switching up auras to be efficient.
7DLSS
Diablo 2: Resurrected’s graphical improvement meant that it also demanded more from PC players. In fact, some might even be surprised at how much the game hogs system resources now— Legacy mode notwithstanding. That’s why DLSS was introduced in the previous updates.
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DLSS is Nvidia’s proprietary tech that downscales resolutions dynamically in order to save up chunks of framerate. This leads to smoother performance and more frames-per-second (FPS) at the cost of slightly blurrier visuals. The catch is that it’s only available for Nvidia graphics cards but it’s a great way to squeeze in a few more FPS especially in higher screen resolutions.
6Offline Difficulty Scaling Toggle
One of the joys in playing single-player offline inDiablo 2: Resurrectedis that players can force the game to think that there are a maximum of eight players in the current session. This makes monsters beefier but also increases the chances of their droppingbetter items.Previously, offline players have to type in a developer command to achieve this.
Thanks to Patch 2.3, they no longer have to type in anything. That’s becausethe “/players x” command can now be accessed as a toggle slider in the gameplay section of the menu. This eliminates the need to fiddle around with the in-game chatbox.
5Mercenary Balance Changes
For a long time, the go-to MercenaryinDiablo 2, has always been the good aura bros of Lut Gholein in Act 2. It also helps that they wield polearms which makes them the perfect candidates for enabler Runewords such as Insight or Infinity. While they’re great, being forced to use Act 2 Mercenaries just to be relevant in the meta is severely limiting.
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Hence, the developers have opted to make certain Runewords viable for bows and other weapons. This lets players use other Mercenary types. Moreover,other Mercenaries also received some significant buffs in their skills and stats. At the moment, that change is still being tested in the Patch 2.4 PTR but it should make its way into the main game.
4New Runewords
Speaking of Runewords, perhaps the most exciting new addition introduced by the latest updates is the set of new ones. It’s been a long time since new Runewords were added to the game. These new Runewords such asObsession,Plague, orMist, etc. all yearn tomake some of the less popular high runes more viable.
Because currently in the main game, a Cham or Zod rune is worth much less than a Ber or Jah rune even if the former two are actually rarer. Hopefully, the new Runewords shake up the meta and increase the trade value of non-meta runes.
3Set Item Buffs
For more than a decade in theDiablo 2community, the consensus is that set items simply pale in comparison to Runewords orunique items. That’s why they’re generally considered worthless fave for a few ones such as Immortal King or Tal Rasha’s but their situation is about to improve a bit.
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Update 2.4 has changed up some of the values for set items. Their bonuses were increased a bit, making some of them more viable for low to mid-game progression. While some high-level set items have yet to see substantial buffs, the fact that they can now be “upped"with Horadric Cube recipesmakes them a bit more competitive.
2New Horadric Cube Recipes
As for upgrading the set items, there’s a new recipe for that in the Horadric Cube. For the first time in decades, a new cube recipe has been worked into the item dynamics and players can now “up” their set items to a tier higher. This will only increase their defensive values and stat requirements but it will make the set items more robust or appealing, particularly the low/mid-level ones. Here are the recipes:
1 Ral Rune + 1 Sol Rune + 1 Perfect Emerald + Normal Set Weapon
Exceptional Version of Set Weapon
1 Lum Rune + 1 Pul Rune + 1 Perfect Emerald + Exceptional Set Weapon
Elite Version of Set Weapon
1 Tal Rune + 1 Shael Rune + 1 Perfect Diamond + Normal Set Armor
Exceptional Version of Set Armor
1 Ko Rune + 1 Lem Rune + 1 Perfect Diamond + Exceptional Set Armor
Elite Version of Set Armor
The recipe is similar to the unique item upgrade and requires some low or mid runes along with perfect gems to produce an Exceptional or Elite base version of the set items. That’s how it is in the 2.4 PTR, but some tweaks might or might not happen once it’s implemented in the main game.
1Area Level Changes
Likely the biggest change next to class and skill buffs, this one will offer relief to players who are bored of farming the same places for more than a decade. The developers have chosen to increase the area level of some Act 1, 2, 3, and 5 areas to level 85. This ensures that players will get juicy drops in more varied areas. These are the areas that received the level increase.
83
85
78
79
80
81
82
84
Act 5 – Pit of Acheron
Previously, there was only a handful of level 85 areas such as The Pits, Chaos Sanctuary, Maggot Lair, Ancient Ruins, and the boss areas, etc. which severely limited the endgame activities and resulted in boredom. Now, there should be more variety as this change works its way out of the 2.4 PTR and into the main game. The catch is that most of the area level buff takes place in Act 3 so get ready for some jungle fever.
Diablo 2: Resurrectedis available on Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
