Diablo 2 gets its first expansion in 25 years, featuring a new class, and finally, decent inventory management
I swore I heard the developers wrong on the Diablo 30th anniversary Spotlight video when they said that Diablo 2 would be getting a second expansion. Lord of Destruction came out 25 years ago; Diablo 2 is a really old game. Surely, they meant to say Diablo 4, the game that we already know is getting a second expansion this year.
Nope: I played it back, they really just announced a new Diablo 2 expansion called Reign of the Warlock, and made it available today. Diablo 2: Resurrected is also on Steam now.
The star of the expansion is the new warlock class (not a new campaign unfortunately), which will be noticeably different from the one coming to Diablo 4. Blizzard did something clever here and designed it to represent the earliest days of the demon summoners in Diablo's history, before they become even more powerful later in the timeline. They can call on three different demons and can bind one enemy demon for powerful buffs.
I played one at a recent press event at Blizzard HQ and, although I had no idea what I was doing, was impressed by how well the class fit into what is effectively a retro game with fancy graphics on top. Dropping big, demonic sigils underneath monsters to curse them and watching my demons tear everything apart felt just as natural as any of the other, much older classes. Even though I don't play the game these days, the warlock certainly made me reconsider trying it again, if only to hold myself over until Diablo 4's big update.
It may finally be time. For years I've imagined myself becoming the Diablo 2 player I was always meant to be, but every time I tried to play the game I came crawling back to Diablo 4 and all its modern conveniences. Diablo 2: Resurrected wasn't enough of a remake for me to endure decades-old design decisions, like manually organizing my stash one click at a time.
I can no longer complain about that though because stash tabs are on the list of quality-of-life updates coming with the expansion. Now, items will stack to preserve inventory space, and there are unique stash tabs for specific things, like materials, gems, and runes—Diablo 4 doesn't even have this yet. Loot filters are also on their way, letting you customize what kind of items are highlighted when they drop. And a list of every single item you've ever collected, with info on where and when you picked it up, will finally be available in the game instead of just being on third-party websites.
I can't believe I'm saying this, but it's a big year for Diablo 2. Reign of the Warlock is a completely unexpected update to a game that has been coasting on minor seasonal releases since Resurrected revitalized it in 2021. The work put into the expansion suggests Blizzard isn't done with it yet either, and is willing to clean up some of its more archaic parts to make it more enticing for people like me. I'll be very curious to see if more stuff is in store for the game at this year's BlizzCon. It is the 30th anniversary of the series, after all.
Diablo 2: Reign of the Warlock is out right now on Battle.net.
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