Ten years after release, Blizzard has released a new and very substantial patch for Diablo II.

Version 1.13 fixes a ton of bugs of course, greatly improves balancing,and also introduces some delicious features like respecialization and improved resolution support (widescreen users have reason to rejoice). Lastly (and this is very cool), they've even added a brand new quest.

Note the ladder has been reset and "allprevious ladder characters are now normal non-ladder characters." Ifyou want to get in on the new ladder, make a new character and makesure the "Ladder Character" option is ticked. For more info, read on.

Q: How do I begin testing on the PTR?

A: When you start Diablo II change your Battle.net gateway to “Classic Beta”.When you log in the 1.13 patch will be applied to your game and you can begin testing the changes made in the patch. Since it's a new realm, you'll need to create a new account.

Q: I don't see the ClassicBeta realm in my gateway list!

A: Log into one of the other gateways first, then back out and the classic beta realm will appear.

Q: What if I want to play the normal game again?

A: Simply choose any of the other (non-PTR) gateways. Your game will be reverted to version 1.12 and you’ll be able to play on the live realms as normal.

Q: Where are my characters?

A: The PTR realm is separate from the live realms so your current characters aren’t carried over. You’ll need to create a new character to begin testing. But, cheats are enabled and you may use the following cheats by typing them into chat while in a game:

Gold # - Will provide the amount of gold specified

Level # - Will increase your level to the number specified

Waypoints 1 - Will activate all waypoints. You must still reach an act before that act’s waypoints will be unlocked with this cheat.

Q: What happens to my characters once the PTR testing period ends?

A: They remain on the PTR realm to be removed once the test ends.Characters on the PTR realm won’t transfer to the normal realms.

Q: How long with the PTR run for?

A: As long as we deem necessary to ensure the patch and changes are solid.

Q: Where can I give feedback and what kind of feedback do you want?

A: All 1.13 PTR feedback and bug reports should ONLY be posted in the Diablo II Test Realm Forum here: http://forums.battle.net/board.html?forumId=20601702&sid=3000

• All post should have a subject line that clearly describes the bug or feedback being given

• Use the search feature to ensure a thread doesn’t already exist before posting

• When reporting a bug include as much information as you can, including steps to reproduce it if possible

• Any non-constructive posts may be deleted and the poster’s privilege to post revoked

• This is a chance for you to ensure the 1.13 patch includes changes and balance tweaks that you think would lead to a better overall experience. Getting the information to us in a clear and logical way helps us understand your view and makes it easier for us to collect feedback for any potential updates to the 1.13 patch before release.

Q: What is the new "Mystery" mentioned in the patch notes?

A: It's related to the respec system implemented in the patch andcan grant additional respecs beyond the three given for completing theDen of Evil quest in each difficulty. You'll have to play to find outhow though.

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- Patch 1.13

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A new Mystery has been revealed!

- Players of Hell Difficulty Realm games are hereby warned once again, that a series of new and challenging tests await you! The answer lies within Diablo's Bosses, which span across the world from the Den of Evil to the Throne of Destruction...

Major Bugs

- Fixed an item dupe bug.

- Video improvements for Intel Mac machines with OS 10.5 or greater.

Minor Bugs

- Uber Mephisto now checks for both Uber Baal and Uber Diablo to bekilled before spawning summoned minions (Before he would only check for Uber Baal).

- The game will no longer stop and then restart the game music after the window loses and then regains focus.

- Fixed an issue where the game window would minimize when running in windowed mode when it lost focus.

- Fixed an issue where the game window wouldn't center properly when it was created.

Specific changes / improvements

- Respecialization is now possible! Completing the 'Den of Evil' quest will now additionally reward 1 free respec which can be saved. Players who have already completed this quest should receive 1 free respec in Hell difficulty.

- Increased the drop rate of high runes.

- Support for blit scaling in windowed mode. The game can now be maximized to the largest 4:3 resolution supported (hooray widescreen users).

- Some rare drop items now have an orange color. i.e. Runes and items required for Uber Tristam.

- Modified the gold bank limit to be a flat cap not bound by level.

- Nightmare/Hell WilloWisps champions/uniques have had their damage greatly reduced.

- Removed the requirements to create a hardcore character.

- Greatly reduced the explosion damage dealt by Fire Enchanted monsters.

- Uber Mephisto and Uber Baal's summoned minions no longer give experience.

- Removed Oblivion Knight's Iron Maiden curse.

- Hellfire Torch Firestorm proc rate has been reduced to 5%.

- Users can now toggle the display of text over the Health and Mana globes by clicking on the bottom area of each orb.

- Updated two Act 5 mercenary names to Klar and Tryneus.

- When creating a single player game, pressing the 'Enter' key now automatically creates a Hell difficulty game if possible.

- When creating a game, each difficulty button is now bound to a unique key: Normal 'R', Nightmare 'N', and Hell 'H'.

- The 'Enter Chat' Button in the battle.net waiting room is now bound to the 'Enter' key.

- Added the windows system buttons to the game window (MIN, MAX, CLOSE).

- Added new command line parameter '-nofixaspect' which allowsusers to not fix the aspect ratio to 4:3 when maximizing windowed mode.This lets the game 'stretch' to fill your monitor.

- Added support for '-sndbkg' command line switch. This enables sound in background.

- Added support for '-nosound', '-window', and '-windowed' command line options.

Revised Skill balance for Player Character classes

Amazon

-Immolation Arrow - Increased radius of Explosion effect by 33% and Immolation effect by 50%.

-Immolation Arrow - Explosion effect damage increased by 20%.

-Immolation Arrow - Increased base duration by 33%.

Assassin

-Shadow Master - Increased resistance range per point from 5-80 to 5-90.

Barbarian

-Whirlwind - Reduced initial mana cost by 50%.

-Masteries - Changed critical strike chance from 0-25 to 0-35.

Paladin

-Blessed Hammer - No longer ignores resistances of undead and demons.

Druid

-Werebear - Damage bonus increased by 15% across all ranks.

-Werebear - Increased health by 25% and armor by 1% per point.

-Shockwave - Synergy from Maul adds 5% damage per point.

Necromancer

-Blood Golem - Removed negative shared life effect (player no longer loses life when golem takes damage).

-Corpse Explosion - Increased base damage dealt from 60% - 100% to 70% - 120% of corpses health.

-Poison Nova - Increased base damage by 15%.

Sorceress

-Firewall - Synergy receives 1% damage per point of Inferno and Blaze and 4% per point of Warmth.

-Blaze - Synergy receives 2% damage per point of Firewall and 4% per point of Warmth.

-Hydra - Increased base damage by 15% per rank.

-Hydra - Increased base speed of Hydra projectile.

-Hydra - Reduced cooldown by 25%.

-Lightning Mastery - Reduced overall effect by 15%.

Via Twitter Diablo, comments from Bashiok that Waypoints will work in Diablo III the same way they did in DIablo II:

Blizzard: Waypoints

Updated waypoint UI design and implemented. Waypoints will function similar to Diablo II.

Let's remember that Dialbo III also has the Checkpoints mode, which is very similar to other RPG-Action games like Titan Quest.

Waypoints were seen in the Blizzcon demo with a new look, where one of them led to a dungeon. It is foreseeable that it was implemented and we really will be able to move through the world of Sanctuary. It look something like this:

Diablofans exclusive interview with Jay Wilson...

We have summarized the most interesting information:

• new skill system is still in development
• on class specific items is still being debated
• depending on the class to the game experience differ in some quests
• Status Points will be adjusted as far as possible on subjects such as elixirs for Diablo 1 are not planned
  
• throughhigher levels of difficulty was not discussed much, but it should bechallenging and make better items available - not only on theproperties here, but also by the appearance
• there are enemies with a single damage type immunity in order to make interesting characters with alternative ways to attack
  
• rare and high-level objects should "look fantastic", but without being excessive or disproportionate
  
• not an object type (legendary, rare, ...) should always be the best, but for example, a helmet and armor to another NPC
• NPC merchant to fill gaps in the equipment, just in case for a while, nothing clever is found Ureh,
• Ureh, a great city, which was already look at artwork, will not be integrated into Diablo 3, so that it will be completed faster
• "Chat Gem" is working properly and has more than fulfilled expectations Blizzard

DiabloFans: On the topic of the Monk,can you tell us if the skill trees have been named yet? So far they'relisted as "Unnamed Skill Tree 1 - 3". Can we expect to see any more ofhis skills unveiled soon along with his female counterpart? Also, cantell me a little bit more about the new skill system?

Jay Wilson: In regards to thefemale counterpart, she'll be released soon. As far as exact dates go,I really can't talk much about them. A little news about the Skill Treesystem should actually go up on our Twitterpage pretty soon. About that, we've decided to remove the tree-typearchitecture and we are moving into a purely skill-based system. Thisnew system is still in the development stages and if it does not work,we still have plenty of options to fall back on. Right now, we're justtrying different things and getting a feel for the few ideas in regardsto the skill system that we have going on right now. It differs fromthe World of Warcraft/Diablo II type hierarchical styles and is more ofa skill pool/path than a tree per se.

DiabloFans: Will there be class specific quests in the game? If so, can you explain how they would work?

Jay Wilson: We are still discussingwhether or not we would like to include class-specific quests in thegame mainly because of the simple fact that it may not really fit inwith the fast-paced play-style known to the Diablo series. While thisis definitely something we would like to consider, we just haven'tagreed on how just yet. However, we would like to do something inregards to character specificity. We are looking into having differentdialogues and experiences for the same quest or interaction for each ofthe classes. Each character will react differently and have differentresponses for different scenarios. For example, the Barbarian may do or say one thing in response to what an NPC has to say, whereas a Witch Doctor will treat the encounter in a complete opposite manner.

DiabloFans: Back in Diablo I a player could find Elixirs.If you drank one it gave you 1 stat point (ie: drink elixir ofstrength, you gain 1 strength point). Seeing how Diablo III's statpoints are non-customizable, by a leveling standpoint, could elixirs bean option to give stat points some player customization?

Jay Wilson: Well, if we didsomething like that, we would fall right back where we were in DiabloII. As far as stat point expenditure, we don't consider it to be a verystrong customization system. Now, there are ways within the game tocustomize stat points mainly through items. However, there are still alot of things and systems that we haven't even shown yet that are goingto be new ways to approach your items that will allow for new"customizations."

DiabloFans: What are the differences inthe difficulty levels in Diablo III other than just monsters doing moredamage? ie: What reason will people have to play through these modesafter having already beaten the main story of the game on an easierdifficulty setting?

Jay Wilson: We haven't reallygotten into the difficulty settings a lot; we're still just working onthe core content for the game at this point. The primary reason as towhy a player would want to progress through the game, through theseveral difficulties would be for more of a challenge. There will bealso better item customization, for example a Level 100 character in ahigher difficulty would see and wear items that a Level 30 characterwould not have a chance at seeing in the lower difficulty. Said itemswill also look and feel completely different whereas in Diablo II a lotof times you just had a remodel of the same old items with differentnames.

DiabloFans: Resistancesplayed a huge part in Diablo II, but if you were not lucky with geardrops you would get very quickly overwhelmed in Nightmare/Helldifficulties. Can you give us any details on how the system will bechanging? Will it replace the immunity system or will they go hand inhand, once again?

Jay Wilson: Well, the main reasonfor immunities in the game was to encourage party play. However, wehave seen that some players just want to play by themselves? And thatis fine, if a player wants to play single player, the player wants toplay single player, we're not going to strong arm them into playingwith others. Keeping this in mind, we aren't looking to have fullimmunities or anything of the sort; however we are considering keepingone-element immunities on enemies. Because of the way our skill systemworks it's almost impossible to build a character that won't have somealternate skill to attack an enemy. So then it becomes an interestinguse of a skill or skills that you may not be using all the time. Wethink that's interesting and fun gameplay, to have to adapt tosituations. The adaptation just shouldn't be realizing your characteror class is broken and you have to run away or you need to get in amultiplayer game. Those are things we intend to avoid forcing theplayer into.

DiabloFans: How will rare / high levelitems stand out when equipped on your character since you've statedthat you want all the items to have a more functional look rather thanbe too flashy or gaudy like they are in WoW?

Jay Wilson: There is a very fineline between the looks of WoW items and the looks of Diablo III items,and I'd like to call that Diablo II. Within Diablo II there were adecent amount of high-end items that were pretty fantastical looking.Obviously it's nowhere near what WoW does which works for WoW, theirstyle looks great and it works for that game but doesn't work forDiablo. So we're looking to make the armor and weapons very fantastic looking, but we're not going to have for instance a two handed swordthat's bigger than the character. We're keeping things proportional.One thing we do have that Diablo II didn't have is weapon effects,which was really more of a technical limitation back then.

DiabloFans: How will you balance the power of an item in comparison to its drop rate? In Diablo II runewords were extremely powerful, yet the required runeswere also extremely rare to come by, or at least were supposed to be.Will there be items as rare in Diablo III that are as powerful from thestart, or will players have to slowly improve the quality of theiritems, through crafting/runes/other systems?

Jay Wilson: Throughout the historyof patches on Diablo II, there were a lot of updates to runewords andthey really powerful from when they were introduced. At one time oranother though all of the different item types were the most powerful,like unique items were the best, or rare itemsat some point. Our general approach for Diablo III is to make sure thatevery type of item has a place to be useful. For example, maybe we'llhave a legendary item, which is the new name for our unique items, be the best helm, whereas rares will have the most powerful chest armor, and so on. Having a spread like that will allow for a more varied itemization system we hope.

DiabloFans: What types of items willmerchants sell in Diablo III? Are merchants going to play a bigger rollin leveling or are item drops going to be the major upgrades once again?

Jay Wilson: This kind of goes backto the luck factor with your drops. The cool thing was, in Diablo II,you may have found a powerful sash after killing some mobs, but had noluck finding a weapon. You run to town and talk to one of the vendorsand notice some items and a weapon that catches your eye, so you buy itand use that. So we want vendors to be there to assist in the gearingprocess, to fill in those gaps that may come just from playing with arandom loot drop system. You may play through an entire act and justnever find a great pair of boots, and so we want the vendor to be there to offer some ability to fill that gap.

DiabloFans: Can you tell us a bit more about how the PvP system will work?

Jay Wilson: I'm going to say no comment to save you some time.

DiabloFans: Will the published books be referenced during Diablo III's storyline? For example, will Zayl be an NPC? Will different places like Ureh be visited throughout the game?

Jay Wilson: We removed Urehfrom the game as a setting to try and get the game out sooner. However,we like including things from the books and from other sources. Nopromises, but it's definitely something we've discussed.

DiabloFans: The Veiled Prophet mentions beings similar to Trag'Oul who stop the dragon when he tries to enter Sanctuary. Will we see some development of them in Diablo III?

Jay Wilson: That's probably a better question for Leonard Boyarsky. I'm pretty familiar with lore, but you just hit my lore cap with that question.

DiabloFans: The games feature a very slim cast of angels considering the role the High Heavens plays in the story. Will Heaven be more prominent in Diablo III compared to previous installments?

Jay Wilson: I'm going to say... No comment.

DiabloFans: Can you tell me a little bit about the Chat Gem before we have to part ways?

Bashiok: The Chat Gem... It's working correctly and has more than exceeded our expectations. And nightmares.

The Diablo series is one of the most revered in PC gaming. Taking influence from games like Nethack, they interpreted the complex mechanics of the rogue-like genre in a way that your average person could handle. It spawned an entire sub-genre of action-oriented RPGs, and it's still going strong with new releases such as Torchlight. However, Blizzard is working on the third game in the Diablo franchise, and while it's not being done by the original developers, there is still a lot of talk about it. The real question is whether or not Blizzard can live up to Blizzard North's vision of the franchise. There's a legacy here, after all.

Diablo 3's Background

Diablo III has a lot of elements pulled directly from the previous games in the series. Therefore, it would be more prudent to cover the background for the entire Diablo mythos rather than just Diablo III. After all, when everything is derived from the same set of characteristics, it matters not whether we are talking about Diablo II or III. It's all the same!

Diablo's story is a mixture of myths and gothic fantasy, and deserves recounting, starting with the first game. Possessing the body of the local king's son, Diablo twisted and manipulated the kingdom into weakening itself for his invasion. With an army of demons below the cathedral located in the destitute capital of Tristram, Diablo started to consolidate his power for an attack on the mortal realm. However, a hero managed to traverse the entirety of Diablo's vast underground lair and defeat him, shoving the stone that held the demon's soul into his forehead. Driven mad by the twisting corruption of Diablo, the hero set out tothe east, gradually becoming more and more lost to the powers of hell  as he went. Following in his wake were a collection of heroes from every walk- from necromancers to amazons - intent on destroying his evil once andfor all. Diablo's journey turned out to be a quest to give the three Prime Evils of hell physical form in this world, and the heroes defeated all three: Mephisto, Lord of Hatred; Diablo, Lord of Terror; and finally Baal, Lord of Destruction. Diablo III takes place 20 years after the destruction of the Prime Evils, with evil once again seeping out into the world.

The most obvious parallel in the Diablo series is that of the War in Heaven present in Judeo-christian mythology. In this story, Lucifer is cast from heaven for attempting to usurp god's rule with a cadre of loyal angels. Upon his removal from heaven, he and his angels formed the core of Hell's armies, with Lucifer going by many different names, including Satan. In the apocalypse, Lucifer/Satan will supposedly rise up and lead his armies against heaven once more, forcing humans to choose a side: heaven or hell. In Diablo, this translates to the Prime Evils, who were trapped by the arch angels of the High Heavens into three soulstones and cast down to earth. There the soulstone's power to contain Diablo gradually weakened, ending with him escaping his imprisonment and allowing him to free his brothers to corrupt this mortal world and bring about the apocalypse.

The three Prime Evils in Diablo are named after three representations of demonic figures in Judeo-christian mythology. The first, Diablo, is the Spanish word for devil, which makes the reference there very simple and straight forward. Baal is a term used throughout the Old Testament to refer to any god that was not Yahweh. It was used in a derogatory manner, and its connotation with evil, destruction, and falsehood has led it to be used in several settings to refer to an evil deity or demon. Mephisto is more recent, with origins in the classic myth of Faustus,a man whose interactions with devils put his soul on the line. Baal (as Bhaal) is notable in that it is the name of a deity in the Forgotten Realms setting, which spawned the classic Baldur's Gate RPGs (they revolve around his influence).

Along with the many references to demons and devils, the Diablo series pulls from the gothic style of literature and architecture to craft a dark and foreboding setting. The cathedral and the monastery in the first and second game both have very distinctive resemblances tothe gothic architecture during medieval times. The story itself is insidious in its implication of evil, mysterious story, and overarching plot. It's greatly reminiscent of gothic classics, and the influence there is unmistakable.

The gameplay influence on the Diablo series is much more simple than the complex stylistic background. Diablo pulls the rogue-like formula and changes it so that it is much more approachable for your average Joe. Rather than being turn-based, having an ASCII interface, and forcing players to permanently die quite a bit, Diablo is action-packed, good-looking and simple to understand. However, leftovers from the transition, such as randomization of levels, shrines, unidentified equipment, and procedurally-generated equipment all make an appearance here. In a way, Diablo is the gateway drug into games like Nethack, Dwarf Fortress, or Crawl.

While Diablo III is greatly anticipated (much like all Blizzard games), it is the continuation of a series that the current Blizzard had little involvement with. All of the old Diablo team has left to work on other games, including the brilliant composer Matt Uelman. It's not invalid to wonder if the current Blizzard can live up to Blizzard North's legendary legacy. After all, Diablo isthe measure by which almost every action-oriented RPG is judged over adecade after its initial release. Saying that Blizzard has a lot ofhistory to fit into the game is a massive under statement.

The most controversial decision of Diablo III was the change in art style. Rather than the gloomy art of the first game and most of the second game, Blizzard is taking a more cartoony, colorful approach to the visuals. This reflects their work on World of Warcraft, and while other games have taken a similar route and been successful (such as Fate or Titan Quest),  fans argue that Diablo's uniqueness comes from the art style as well as the gameplay. Dark, disturbing architecture and visuals are essential for a Diablo game. Whether or not this is true or not will be apparent once the game is released, but it is certainly a point of concern.

Another reveal is that most of the player classes from Diablo II will not return in the sequel. This caused significant uproar in the community, which slowly died down as time went past. The only confirmed returning class is the Barbarian, which acts as the warrior of the group. The two new classes are the Witch Doctor and Wizard, which roughly correspond with the Necromancer and Sorceress from the second game. It's also interesting that a non-canon class, the Monk (from Diablo: Hellfire), is a confirmed addition to Diablo III as well. It's worth noting that the class and skills system changed incredibly between the first and second games, so these new classes are less of a drastic change and more of a gradual evolution. Much like theart style, this is something that can really only be judged when in action.

The story for Diablo III expands greatly upon the mythos of the previous games, which arguably kills the gothic mood. Rather than having only what is directly relevant explained to the player, the world has been expanded into a planet called Sanctuary, with many of the details about races and history being revealed. While it's always cool to know more back story, it's also directly opposing to the mysterious mood of the previous games. After all, when you know the entire history, a lot of the drama and tension is taken out of the story. It transforms the story from one of forboding darkness to one of epic conflict. Turning Diablo into Lord of the Rings. A neat backstory is always cool, but sometimes you should not reveal it to maintain the element of surprise about the story.

There is no question that Diablo III will be a stellar game. After all, the basics of the sub-genre it created have been gradually refined over the years into some truly incredible games. The real concern is if Blizzard can finish what Blizzard North started. Will Diablo III end up more like Warcraft, or will it stay faithful to its roots? It's a hard judgement to make, as the Wrath of the Lich King shows that Blizzard can do dark and foreboding, but other titles show that cartoony and epic are their forte.

THE END

Source: written by James Murff

Activision-Blizz's chief financial officer Thomas Tippl a briefing yesterday in New York, demonstrated the powerful works of the company's future lineup:

From the picture we can see that the arrangements for...

2009 - World of Warcraft

……presented on the middle slide is: (2010), the company began with "World of Warcraft": Cataclysm which proceed with "the deployment of major disaster" that occurs within the game, a major shift to the continent of the horde & alliance. WoW, an MMORPG, still to this day continues to wrangle in the Mainland market. Next in line is "StarCraft  II", the beta soon to be released in the early 2010, and launching in mid-2010. Battle.net 2 is planned to be upgarded within the time period; it's official launch will start the new decade as a contender to rival competitor Valve's Steam Platform! ... ...

The next line is _________(Fill in the black) Cataclysm

To end 2010, their goal is to continue their aggressive expansion into the Chinese's Online Market with WoW: Cataclysm & Starcraft II at full force, hopefully, China's General Administration of Press and Publications (GAPP) stand down to this one....Nah.. Screw that..Round 2

2011, continued to maintain the "World of Warcraft", announced a new online games and "StarCraft II" expansion pack, "Diablo III" market!

These past few days, Blizzard has been very busy. World of Warcraft is now a part of the new Battle.net, so as of today all WoW accounts have to be merged with a Battle.net account in order to log into the game. If you need help with the whole Battle.net meal deal, you can check out their FAQ.

In the meantime, you'll just have to make do with Torchlight...