[Bridenbecker] When is patch 1.04 coming out?

[DiabloIIDevTeam] The patch is being worked on as we speak. It will be a couple of weeks though, since it's a pretty complicated patch, and we want to make sure it's fully tested.

DiabloII Nation Analysis: We know we're going to have to wait some time before we see the expansion, so our hope is that there will be some really wonderful pieces of Haloween Candy in the 1.04 patch. Blizzard clearly comments that the patch is "complicated", so we hope complicated = cool new features. We'll just have to wait and see. We know that the patch will fix some bugs, but we hope there's some other goodies thrown in the mix.

[Bridenbecker] When can we view the ECTS trailer?

[BRoper] We will be releasing the Diablo II Expansion trailer as a special Halloween Treat :)!

DiabloII Nation Analysis: Well, we hope this is truly a treat, and not a trick :) Trailers are always nice, but a treat of seeing the expansion EARLY into spring of 2001 will be the real treat.

[Bridenbecker] Will the gem in chat be useful in the expansion set?

[DiabloIIDevTeam] Yes. Although it's working well now, we plan to make a couple of enhancements to maximize it's potential.

DiabloII Nation Analysis: "Working well now?" haha. Working well to do what? It seems only to provide a few cute text messages, and perhaps a better chance of finding gems, which are basically worthless anyway unless you're using a new character. Perhaps there's some factual information out there about the use of this gem that has eluded me, but I don't get how it's "working well now." I certainly hope that it will be utilized in some way other than just a "cute" way with the expansion.

[Bridenbecker] How many new music tracks and cinematics will be in the expansion set?

[BRoper] There will be 2 new cinematic sequences with the expansion set as well as all new music for Act V. We do not have exact timing as of yet, but we are looking to keep our players happy with all aspects of the expansion set.

DiabloII Nation Analysis: Blizzard's Mat Uelmen, the musicman for DiabloII, and the Expansion set, is a true artist! Once you get immersed in the game, you are probably not consciously aware of the music, but music is an often overlooked, though key element in setting the mood for any great game. We have no doubt that the mood will be wonderfully set with Mr. Uelmen's artistry in the expansion. As for the cinematics, we fully expect the same genius and artistry we've already seen in the first 4 acts.

[Bridenbecker] Will the level cap be raised beyond 99?

[DiabloIIDevTeam] We do not plan to raise the level cap at this point.

DiabloII Nation Analysis: This decision makes little difference to me. Reaching clvl 99 is already a true challenge of patience and skill and lots and lots of time. Raising the cap would serve no real purpose. We invite comments though and how fans think raising the cap might make the game more interesting.

[Bridenbecker] Will the expansion set include any character balances?

[DiabloIIDevTeam] Unless there is a serious bug or exploitable problem, we do not like to make balance changes. People have invested a lot of time into their characters, and we don't want to nullify their efforts. The new expansion characters will be balanced to fit in to the existing universe and new act.

DiabloII Nation Analysis: *Applause* With so many rpg's out now making constant balance changes, and impacting character development in often a negative way, I have to applaud Blizzard's decision NOT to make balance changes. Personally, I have played few games in my time where the characters are more balanced than with DiabloII. I get alot of disagreement on this from those who love to pvp in D2, but I've heard no valid arguments.

[Bridenbecker] Will we know about Quests before release?

[BRoper] We want the specifics of the quests to be a surprise for players, but some general outlines have been made known already. We can say that the expansion set will have some great new quests and rewards.

DiabloII Nation Analysis: Well, we tend not to over-analyze things here at DiabloII Nation. I prefer surprises, and believe that the game is much more enjoyable when we have a few. We already know that the expansion set, with ActV, will contain six all new quests for our enjoyment, and word is that the quests will fall much more into the overall storyline, rather than simply being random obstacles along the way.

[Bridenbecker] Will players receive another title for killing Baal?

[DiabloIIDevTeam] Yes. We haven't decided what yet, but it sounds like a good idea. :)

DiabloII Nation Analysis: This answer sounded to me like they hadn't thought of doing that, but it was such a wonderful idea, they jumped on it and embraced it immediately! haha. They haven't decided yet, but "it sounds like a good idea!" haha. Of course it's a good idea. That's a good idea for a contest we might run here at DiabloII Nation, or at least a poll... what would be a good title for finishing Act5?

[Bridenbecker] Have you finalized the name for the expansion set?

[BRoper] No, but when we do we will make an announcement on our website at www.blizzard.com :).

DiabloII Nation Analysis: We've heard previously that the expansion set might be called, "Lord of Destruction", but that may change, as Mr. Roper has noted. This would be another good contest or poll... What's a good name for the Expansion set?

[Bridenbecker] How proficient is the Druid at melee?

[DiabloIIDevTeam] The Druid's skills tend towards the summoning and "blasting," but within his shape-shifting skill tree there are a number of cool melee options!

DiabloII Nation Analysis: Since we first learned of the abilities of the Druid, I have thought he'd be the most balanced of all the characters. Why? The Dev team notes his skills at magic, but also notes some cool shape shifting abilities. Seems these abilities would really lend themselves well to melee comabt as well, making the Druid one of the most formidable pvp combatants.

[Bridenbecker] Will the expansion set have three difficulty levels?

[BRoper] Yes, we will maintain 3 difficulty levels throughout the expansion, as well. It is important to understand that the expansion is fundamentally an extension of the current storyline (Act V) and that this means that it will be more difficult than Act IV and will ramp up with each difficulty level.

DiabloII Nation Analysis: Makes sense. It wouldn't make any sense to have only one difficulty level for ActV.

[Bridenbecker] How many types of character specific items will there be per character?

[DiabloIIDevTeam] At least three per character, not including variations. There will most likely be more, and we will add them till we run out of time.

DiabloII Nation Analysis: The question is whether or not fans are willing to wait for a more interesting game, perhaps. With at least three new character specific items per character in the game, we'd be looking at 21 new items that must be created, balanced and incorporated into the mix. The more items, the longer the wait for the game. I for one would love to see more than three, but I don't want to wait. It's the actual storyline and the exciting combat that gets me going, not the weapons or items I find.

[Bridenbecker] Will the expansion set introduce trading in the chat rooms?

[BRoper] We are not going to support chat room trading between characters. While it would be a great feature, a host of problems and design challenges occur (such as what if you don't have enough space) that makes it MUCH easier to trade in game.

DiabloII Nation Analysis: Again, *applause*! I for one do not want to see more trading chat on Bnet. I know that some of this is expected, but allowing it in chat would just get no my nerves. Nuff' said! :)

[Bridenbecker] Will there be gemmed items with more than three sockets in the expansion set?

[DiabloIIDevTeam] Not only will there be more than three sockets per item, but we will also have socketable magic, rare, and unique items. There will also be some new, exciting socketing options that we will discuss in more detail at a later date.

DiabloII Nation Analysis: That's wonderful news! It's not wonderful that items will necessarily have more sockets in them, but it IS wonderful that magic, rare, and uniques will now be socketable. Once your characters gets strong, you find that socketable items are worthless, and thus so are gems. However, if I can put a variation of gems in my trusty rare Barb swords, then I'm all for that! Imagine that wonderful sword that already does 80 damage, with great magical attribues, also being able to have 3 to 5 gems in it for even more kick! It may be though, that Blizzard arranges the expansion so that any magical properties in an item are removed if you decide to socket. We'll see.

[Bridenbecker] Will there be guild halls in the expansion set?

[BRoper] We made a decision to not include in-game guild halls in the expansion, but at the same time we wanted to include what we thought were the great benefits from the original Guild Hall concept. This includes bigger stash size and a few other things that we want to make available to ALL players of Diablo and not just those core gamers who seek out Guild affiliations. We know that guilds are an important part of our community and Diablo II, so we are not dismissing their importance but rather trying to reach as many Diablo II players as possible with the widest amount of fun content as we can. The goal of the expansion is to make it a great addition for new and experienced players as well.

DiabloII Nation Analysis: It seems to me, that everytime I see a poll asking fans if they'd like guild halls, the answers are overwhelmingly YES! Even at DiabloII Nation, we get those comments all the time. I think that Blizzard would do well to listen to the community, who clearly seems to want this feature.

[Bridenbecker] Will all characters have new skills, or just the Druid and Assassin?

[DiabloIIDevTeam] Only the Druid and Assassin will have new skills. This is the only fair way to deal with existing characters. There are abundant new features that will benefit all 7 character types, however.

DiabloII Nation Analysis: This is no biggie, as long as ALL the characters are balanced, and we don't find the druid and assassin more powerful than their predecessors.

[Bridenbecker] How pleased are you with the security and performance of the Realms?

[BRoper] While Battle.net has been under a huge crush of players, we have had teams working to improve the play of Diablo II since day one. Considering the fact that Diablo II was the fastest selling PC game of all time, far outstripping our wildest dreams or projections, we are thrilled with how expandable and resilient the realms have been. The realms have been extremely secure and players have been supportive overall of their play experience. We are very proud of how well our worldwide launch and maintenance of the realms has gone and we are dedicated to continue making Battle.net a great place to play. In short, we are ALWAYS looking to make our products and services better :).

DiabloII Nation Analysis: I hear complaints all the time about the stability, or lack thereof, of the realms. I have found myself complaining a time or two as well. However, until you've worked on a large scale project that involves the tasks that Blizzard has to deal with daily, then you're talking, for lack of a better phrase, "outta your ass". Blizzard has indeed done a super job considering the HUGE volume of server activity going on. I have to commend them indeed!

[Bridenbecker] Describe some of the new class specific items?

[DiabloIIDevTeam] We are really excited about all of the new class-specific items. The Barbarian will get new helms. The Paladin will get new shields. The Amazon will get new gloves. The Sorceress will get orbs to carry instead of a weapon. The Necromancer will get shrunken heads and other totems to carry instead of a shield. The Druid will get various animal pelts for helmets. Finally, the Assassin will get some hand-to-hand weapons for her martial arts.

DiabloII Nation Analysis: Well, I hope we're as excited as Blizzard is when we see the finished product. I think we will, and we've already seen some exciting new items in screenies of the game. I'm still hoping for Godly plates to come back. I'd love a godly plate of fries about now.

[Bridenbecker] How far along is the expansion and what is the release date?

[BRoper] We are moving along very well at this point, making almost every goal set in our last aggressive milestone. We are on schedule to release the expansion set in the first half of 2001.

DiabloII Nation Analysis: Well, we can only cross our fingers. We waited and waited and waited and waited for the original D2 release. Let's just hope that we don't have another series of mass frustrations.

[Bridenbecker] Can the Assassin's claw be used by others?

[DiabloIIDevTeam] No. It's one of the class-specific items for the assassin only. They are only useful if you have martial arts skills.

DiabloII Nation Analysis: Why would you wanna use someone else's claw? You don't know where it's been!

[Bridenbecker] When do you expect the Diablo II novels to come out?

[BRoper] The Diablo II novels (as well as those for StarCraft and Warcraft) will start releasing in 2001. There will be an Diablo world E-Book coming out for this Halloween and will be available over the internet from Blizzard and Simon and Schuster.

DiabloII Nation Analysis: I can't wait for these! As much as I love onling gaming, reading good (and I hope it will be) fantasy is a love of mine.

[Bridenbecker] What will the orbs of the Sorceress actually do?

[DiabloIIDevTeam] The Orbs will enhance her ability to cast skills. They will have a variety of attributes that may raise damage, give resistances, or enhance a particular skill or even a whole tab of skills! cast "spells" that is.

DiabloII Nation Analysis: Sounds interesting. I already love my sorceress, and she was the first character I defeated Diablo with on hell difficulty. She's tough, but a challenge at the same time, so the orbs will help her cause, especially soloing in tougher levels.

[Bridenbecker] Will there be a change in the system requirements for the expansion set?

[BRoper] No.

DiabloII Nation Analysis: Yeah, can't you just imagine Blizzard making us upgrade our systems just to play the expansion? haha. Yeah, most have plenty of machine to run the game, but I talk to alot these days that just have the bare bones.

[Bridenbecker] Will there be new Shrine types?

[DiabloIIDevTeam] Yes, there will be new shrine types. One, for example, would restore durability to all your items!

DiabloII Nation Analysis: Wow! Shrines mean little when your character is well developed. However, I'd absolutely adore finding shrines that repair my items. With good, rare items, you can spend literlly thousands in repairs. A shrine that offsets my repairs costs? Cool!

[Bridenbecker] Will there be any new updates to the Diablo II Expansion web site, or an addition of a "Screen Shot of the Week" feature?

[BRoper] We are currently working on some new things to do on the web site for Diablo II expansion, as well as bringing back some of the favorite features from the Diablo II site.

DiabloII Nation Analysis: Ok, whatever. :)

[Bridenbecker] How much bigger will the Stash be?

[DiabloIIDevTeam] Right now we are going with double the existing size. We will be making some enhancements to set-piece items, so we want to make sure you can carry a whole set, among other things.

DiabloII Nation Analysis: This is great news! No character should have to spend all that time working with "mules" and getting the help of friends to store valuable items. A bigger stash only helps us, and in no ways detracts from the game.

[Bridenbecker] Any chance of you releasing Diablo II Expansion game play footage?

[BRoper] Again, we don't know exactly what we are going to put up on the Expansion site, but its good to know that you want to see them.

DiabloII Nation Analysis: It might be good for you to know we want to see them, but it would be better to let us!

[Bridenbecker] How big is the Fifth Act?

[DiabloIIDevTeam] The fifth act is roughly the size of Act 1, 2, or 3 from Diablo II. In other words, a regular sized act.

DiabloII Nation Analysis: My girlfriend asked me that once...wait! Sorry, I was daydreaming! hehe. Ok, good news. A mini-act wouldn't justify a whole expansion, now would it?

[Bridenbecker] Will there be a public beta for the Diablo II Expansion?

[BRoper] We will certainly do a closed Beta, but we do not know if a large open beta will occur. We always find beta tests to be incredibly valuable and we enjoy the feedback from our testers.

DiabloII Nation Analysis: Woohoo! That means, hopefully at least, that I'll be testing the booger! What more analysis does that need!?

[Bridenbecker] Is the inventory also increased in the expansion?

[DiabloIIDevTeam] No, to preserve some semblance of realism, the personal inventory will stay the same. At least that's our plan right now. :)

DiabloII Nation Analysis: Well, I can live with that decision, but I did want to see another row or two added to the inventory. I think, personally, this is more a question of development time rather than realism, but that's just my .02.

[Bridenbecker] Will there be new Horadric Cube recipes?

[DiabloIIDevTeam] Yes, there will. We intend to make the Horadric Cube more useful throughout the game in the expansion.

DiabloII Nation Analysis: As I recall, Blizzard had already announced this, so I don't see why they even fielded the question for goodness sake! Anyhoo, it's good news that the cube will be more useful. The recipes are a waste of time to me, but if they can improve its use in other ways, I'm all for it.

[Bridenbecker] Are you doing anything different with the ladders for the expansion?

[BRoper] We have not yet discussed how we would change or expand the ladders, but we are going to talk about it, since you asked. I love these chats!

DiabloII Nation Analysis: Bring arenas and deathmatch components into the game, then bring in a pvp ladder, and you'll be on the right track!

[Bridenbecker] Are the expansion characters going to change from how they appear on the web site?

[DiabloIIDevTeam] We continue to evolve the characters in both appearance and skills throughout the development process. The basic characteristics will remain the same, though.

DiabloII Nation Analysis: It would be great if they could dye their hair or something in the game. Personalize them a bit!

[Bridenbecker] Will Natalya be an NPC in Act 5?

[BRoper] Although Natalya herself will not be an NPC in the game, we thought it would be nice to show you that Assassins existed in our world concept even when Diablo II came out.

DiabloII Nation Analysis: How nice for you! ;)

[Bridenbecker] What will set a Summoning Druid apart from a Summoning Necromancer?

[DiabloIIDevTeam] The Druid is different in that he interacts more with his pets. He fights more than the Necromancer, so he's a bit more balanced. He isn't the dark, brooding black-magic type like the Necro. Rather, he's more of a "Lord of the Forest."

DiabloII Nation Analysis: "Interacts more with his pets" is an interesting notion, and I can't wait to see just how that will work. Perhaps he will be able to more affectively direct them, individually, as necessary. One of the biggest frustrations for the Necro is the totally stupidity of his pets. It doesn't reflect well on his in public ;) hehe.

[Bridenbecker] Will Baal look the same in game as he does in the cinematics?

[BRoper] Yes. Baal is undergoing a metamorphosis, much as the Wanderer did in Diablo II, and this is represented in his evolving look in the cinematics and the game.

DiabloII Nation Analysis: It would have made more sense to me, all along, from both a game and scholarly standpoint, to have us kill Baal in Act4, with Diablo escaping instead to the mountains. That's just my .02, but in any case, I can't wait to rip Baal a new one.

[Bridenbecker] Does the Druid or Assassin have any passive skills?

[DiabloIIDevTeam] Yes. The Assassin has a few passives mostly involving martial arts and melee combat. The Druid has a shape-shifting mastery-type skill.

DiabloII Nation Analysis: Good. I like passive skills. I'm also getting tired of typing. hehe.

[Bridenbecker] What will the Ravens do?

[BRoper] They swoop in and attack the enemies of the Druid, usually going for the soft and vulnerable areas, like the eyes...

DiabloII Nation Analysis: That should be a really awesome thing to watch. Ok, I'm a bit on the odd side.

[Bridenbecker] Will you be adding Lances, Grim Helms, and Holy Water Sprinklers?

[DiabloIIDevTeam] Those items will be added to Diablo II via the 1.04 patch!!!

[BRoper] Yeah!!!

DiabloII Nation Analysis: Someone always manages to bring us back to reality in fansite chats. :)

[Bridenbecker] Does the Druid have the ability to heal?

[DiabloIIDevTeam] He has a skill called "Cycle of Life" which is a vine-type thing that eats corpses and gives you health.

DiabloII Nation Analysis: Now that should be some awesome graphics and animation as well, not to mention a very useful skill that puts him head and heals above the druid in balance.

[Bridenbecker] How will the Assassin's traps work?

[BRoper] The Assassin places the traps on the ground and then focuses on either luring or driving enemies into her snare. Some are direct traps and others act to spray out numerous smaller traps. Very deadly.

DiabloII Nation Analysis: Cool! (tired)

[Bridenbecker] What is the process for entering Act V?

[DiabloIIDevTeam] After you kill Diablo, you talk to Tyreal, who opens a portal for you.

DiabloII Nation Analysis: Man, you guys got really creative with that one! ;) heh.

[Bridenbecker] Will the Assassin's traps be visible to other players?

[BRoper] Yes, but they are camouflaged and sometimes hard to spot unless you are paying attention -- or it is too late.

DiabloII Nation Analysis: Wouldn't make much sense to call them "traps" if they were like a big barcalounger in your den, now would it?

[Bridenbecker] Will there be Exceptional Unique or Set Items in the expansion?

[DiabloIIDevTeam] Yes. Also, we are altering the set-piece rules to make them more fun. For example you may get a bonus for only having 2 items in a particular set of 4 items.

DiabloII Nation Analysis: Ok, cool again!

[Bridenbecker] Will there be an invisibility spell for the Assassin?

[BRoper] No.

DiabloII Nation Analysis: Sounded to me like this question came from a UO fan ;) haha. It would rock though.

[Bridenbecker] When you take your Diablo II character into an expansion game, is your character permanently converted?

[DiabloIIDevTeam] Yes he is. Because they may pick up expansion-only items. You will have to convert your character prior to playing, however, so you'll know exactly what you're getting into.

DiabloII Nation Analysis: Again, makes perfect sense.

[DiabloIIDevTeam] Thanks everyone!!!

[BRoper] Thank you all for coming out to the chat today, it was great to talk with all of you again. We will be having another chat in 6-8 weeks. See you on Battle.net!

~ Raving Analyzer, Cloudy