The Diablo II 1.10 patch is currently running through our QA testing procedure. Although we don't have a release date set, we are working hard to get the patch out as soon as possible.
Seasonal Ladder Characters - A new ladder system will let players compete on a seasonal basis. At the beginning of each season, the ladder-based world of Diablo II will be "reborn" and players will be able to create new characters to start their climbs again on equal footing. For the duration of the ladder season - which has yet to be determined - these ladder characters will exist in a new economy, separate from the other non-ladder Battle.net Realm Diablo II characters. When a ladder season ends, all ladder characters from that season will join the pool of non-ladder Battle.net Realm Diablo II characters.
More Challenging Gameplay - Diablo II players who adventure in the Nightmare and Hell difficulty levels will experience a world in which the monsters have become more powerful and substantially harder to defeat. Players may need to develop new tactics or enlist aid from others in order to face these strengthened minions. The monster improvements include enhanced AI, more skills, greater damage, and higher resistances.
A New World - Players can expect to encounter more randomly distributed unique monsters in every locale and even a few guest monsters where players wouldn't normally expect them. In addition, characters above level 70 will require increasingly more playtime in order to gain levels.
Enhanced Skills - The skills of each player-character class have been thoroughly revised. On top of that, a new system of "synergies" has been added to each character's skill set. Allotting a point to certain skills will result in synergy bonuses to one or more of that character's corresponding skills. After the patch is released, visit The Arreat Summit for more details.
Item Improvements
Enhanced Class-Specific Sets - The class-specific sets in Diablo II: Lord of Destruction have been significantly improved - some with abilities never before seen in the game.
New Unique Items - Around 100 new unique items have been added to the world (many being elite uniques), some of which can be found only in either single-player, TCP/IP, and Open games or in 1.10 Ladder games.
New Unique Item Properties - Some of the all-new unique item properties introduce entirely new twists to the world of Diablo II. Imagine a Barbarian who can shape-shift into a Werewolf.
New Rune Words and Horadric Cube Recipes - The patch will introduce new Rune Words and new Horadric Cube recipes. Some Horadric Cube recipes will work only in either single-player, TCP/IP, and Open games or in 1.10 Ladder games.
Improved Treasure Drops - The quality of items dropped by regular monsters has been greatly increased.
Improved Quest Rewards - The first time a player defeats an Act-ending boss monster, the creature will yield significantly better treasure than in subsequent encounters. Some of the other quest rewards have been improved as well.
Better Gambling Odds - The average quality of items won via gambling has been improved.
