Fixes
- Fixed a major bug that crashed clients when a character had too many different effects active at once.
- Fixed a major bug that allowed auras provided by certain items to be reapplied cumulatively.
- Fixed a bug where Battle.net games would sometimes show as full when they were not.
- All skills no longer have any effect once the caster has used a Town Portal. This prevents declaring hostility and doing immediate damage to the unsuspecting.
- Fixed a bug where it was possible for a player's mercenary to damage other players in town when hostile.
- Fixed a bug where players could use certain close-ranged skills at a distance.
- Fixed several bugs with the Paladin skill Charge where the skill would occasionally put the player in 'Charge Lock'. Charge should also no longer cause the player using it to 'desync'.
- Fixed a bug where some items would erroneously receive extra defense when using the Socket Recipe with the Horadric Cube.
- Fixed a visual bug where a player could equip an item due to bonuses from other equipment and items but the equipped item would not appear equipped to other clients ('strength bugging').
Battle.net Changes
- Squelching another user on Battle.net now adds that user to the Squelch List. This list can be accessed and modified using the /f sl command when playing on Battle.net.
- Players are now required to enter a CAPTCHA code each time they create or join a game on Battle.net
- Temporary restrictions have been significantly reduced in both frequency and duration.
- Previously when too many different large area of effect spells such as meteor were concentrated on one area, the game could disconnect all players in the vicinity. This has been adjusted to occur less frequently.
- Improved the stability and responsiveness of Diablo II servers on Battle.net.
- Diablo will now walk the Earth on Battle.net servers based on the sales of all Unique, Set, and Rare rings. The amount of Rings Sold to Merchants needed for Diablo to appear has been significantly increased to reflect this. Rings Sold to Merchants will now work as follows: any Rare or Set Ring sold is worth 1 point each, and Unique Rings will be worth 3 points each.
Modifications
- Players must now assemble and utilize Khalim's Will in order to complete the Khalim's Will quest to enter the Durance of Hate. Players will be unable to enter the Durance of Hate until they have done so.
- Players must now be level 20 or higher in order to complete the Eve of Destruction quest in normal mode and level 40 in Nightmare mode.
- Players can now create the portal to The Secret Cow Level regardless of whether they have slain The Cow King or not.
- Decreased the rarity and improved the droprate for higher end runes somewhat.
- When a player is killed by another player in Softcore mode, their corpse is placed near them when they respawn.
- A player's Ear now only drops for the first time the player is killed in that game.
Skill Balance Changes
- "oskill" skill levels can no longer be raised by any means. "oskills" will remain at the level that the item grants it as regardless of the player's other equipment.
Amazon
- Improved the damage of Impale.
- Improved the damage of Fend.
- Increased Penetrate's % Bonus to Attack Rating.
- Increased Pierce's Chance Missiles Pass through Target %, especially at lower levels.
- Improved Immolation Arrow's damage and lowered its mana cost by 25%.
- Improved Freezing Arrow's damage and lowered its mana cost by 25%.
Assassin
- Improved the damage of Fists of Fire, Claws of Thunder, Blades of Ice, and Phoenix Strike considerably.
- Doubled all bonuses provided by Claw Mastery.
- Increased Burst of Speed's Run/Walk Speed Bonus +%.
- Increased Weapon Block's Chance To Block +%.
- Improved the damage of Venom.
- Improved the damage of Wake of Fire and Wake of Inferno.
- Improved the damage of Blade Fury.
- Improved the damage of Blade Shield.
Barbarian
- Grim Ward no longer frightens enemies away, it now reduces the physical resistance of nearby foes and has a larger radius.
- All bonuses provided by Mace Mastery have been improved by 50%.
- All bonuses provided by Polearm Mastery have been improved by 50%
- Doubled all bonuses provided by Throwing Mastery.
- All bonuses provided by Spear Mastery have been improved by 50%
- Increased Stamina now passively increases health by a very small amount.
- Increased Frenzy's duration from 6 to 10 seconds.
Druid
- Improved the damage for Firestorm, Molten Boulder, Fissure, Volcano, and Armageddon.
- Werewolf no longer has a duration and it now imparts +40% run/walk bonus.
- Increased the Max Life +% for Lycanthropy.
- Werebear no longer has a duration and it now imparts +25% run/walk bonus.
- Improved Maul's damage and attack rating bonus.
- Improved the damage of Fire Claws.
- Improved the poison damage of Rabies.
- Ravens now slow their target.
- Improved Poison Creeper life and damage.
- Improved Spirit Wolf life and damage.
- Improved Carrion Vine life and its healing effectiveness.
- Improved Heart of Wolverine's damage and attack rating bonuses.
- Improved Dire Wolf life and damage.
- Improved Solar Creeper life and its mana recovery rate.
- Improved Spirit of Barbs' % damage returned and it now provides a bonus to all resistances when active.
Necromancer
- Additional points in Revive now increases Revive duration. Decreased the maximum number of Revives that can be summoned as follows: the first 3 skill points in Revive still yield 1 Revive per point, however, subsequent Revives now require 3 skill points each.
- Reduced the mana cost of Teeth by 33%.
- Reduced Corpse Explosion's damage from 60-100% of Corpse Life to 50-85%.
- Poison Explosion's radius is now larger and its poison spreads outward much faster than before.
- Reduced the mana cost of Bone Spear by 33%.
- Reduced the mana cost of Bone Spirit by 33%.
Paladin
- Smite can no longer inflict Crushing Blow or Open Wounds and Smite will no longer trigger "On Striking" abilities from equipment.
- Increased Zeal damage.
- Reduced Vengeance mana cost and improved damage.
- Blessed Hammer now deals physical damage.
Sorceress
- Reduced Blizzard damage somewhat.
- Teleport now has a Casting Delay that decreases with more points invested. At level 1, Teleport has a 2 second Casting Delay, which decreases by 0.5 seconds per point until it no longer has a Casting Delay (which occurs at level 5).
Item Changes
- Many Elite Unique items have been improved.
- 'Enigma' runeword now has +1-3 to Teleport and no bonus to Strength.
- 'Grief' runeword now properly displays its damage bonus.
- New runeword 'Einherjar' for Amazon Spear class weapons.
And here are the stats for that new runeword:
Einherjar
6 socket Amazon Spears
Amn + Ith + El + Sol + Shael + Mal
+1 to Whirlwind
+1 to Charge
Indestructible
+60% Increased Attack Speed
+300-400% Enhanced Damage (varies)
7% Life Stolen Per Hit
+9 To Minimum Damage
+9 To Maximum Damage
+50 To Attack Rating
+10 Light Radius
Prevent Monster Heal