Diablo 2: Resurrected launched September 23, 2021 on all major platforms, and Blizzard — which is, with its parent Activision, still digging itself an every deeper hole with ongoing lawsuits — seems committed to improving the game through regular updates. Today it announced the upcoming Patch 2.4, expected “early next year.”
Patch 2.4 is set to add in ranked ladder play, a staple of the classic Diablo 2 experience. While players have been enjoying the riches of Sanctuary in non-ladder play so far, the ladder experience is entirely different. It’s essentially seasonal play with every player starting off again with no gear, no characters, and no levels; it’s a race to fill your stash with awesome loot and hit the top of the ranked leaderboards. Familiar to Diablo 2 veterans, all four of the usual ranked ladder modes are coming to Resurrected. These include the standard and hardcore ladders for Diablo 2 Classic (non-expansion), as well as their expansion counterparts.
Perhaps most exciting for a game that hasn’t seen new content since about 2010 is a promise of new Diablo 2 runewords. Though we don’t yet have many details, Blizzard says these have never before been seen in the game. If you’d like a sneak peek at these new runewords, Diablo 2 expert MrLlamaSC is hosting a developer update stream on Twitch on December 16 at 2pm EST.
On top of new runewords, new Horadric Cube recipes are also expected to be added. Set items will play into these new recipes, with ways to upgrade sets to be more potent.
Class balancing is also getting some work in Patch 2.4. Skills that rarely get used are being examined and tweaked to make them more appealing. For example, the Amazon’s Impale and Fend skills look to be getting buffed, as are the Barbarian’s throwing skills. Each class looks to be getting a glow-up in its own special way.
One of the stickiest issues with Diablo 2 is mercenary use, with the Act 2 version essentially being the only one viable for end-game content for most classes. That’s also seemingly going to change with improvements to the mercenaries from other acts.
If you’d like to jump into the world of Diablo 2: Resurrected but aren’t sure where to start, our beginner’s guide to classes and abilities can help. And be sure to check out our collection of the best laptops for playing Diablo 2: Resurrected if your PC isn’t quite up to snuff.
