It is no secret that players have been asking for a remaster of Diablo 2 for many years now, and recent leaks of both it and Diablo 4 have appeared with less than two weeks to go until BlizzCon. While some may wish for this to be a full remake, it is clear that for Diablo 2 to be successful, Blizzard should not attempt to meddle with the existing game and only focus on a graphical upgrade.

Following the fan backlash from the 2018 BlizzCon catastrophe of announcing Diablo Immortal, a mobile-only title to a convention full of PC gaming enthusiasts, it has been clear that Blizzard would need to make this year’s convention far more impressive. However, anything more than a remaster of Diablo 2 is unnecessary because that game has long been considered the best in the series.

Diablo 2 was tremendously popular for a broad range of reasons. The overall themes in the game, the art style, and deep customization that was virtually wiped from Diablo 3, a fun PvP dueling community, and the rarity of items all combined to form an outstanding experience.

Much of this was lost in Diablo 3. Build customization has already been mentioned, but there is more as well. An ongoing criticism of Diablo 3 was simply how different it looked and felt compared to its predecessor. Acquiring gear in Diablo 2 was often a long-term accomplishment that required farming certain bosses over and over again or turning to the robust trading community. Today in Diablo 3, players are overwhelmed with legendary drops.

All of this is to say that a Diablo 2 Remaster wold do fine with only updating the graphics of the game. Old and new fans alike will be able to experience a classic title without any other attempts to modernize its systems, and considering Blizzard’s recent work, this is probably for the best. Following last year’s BlizzCon, one of the original producers for Diablo 2, Mark Kern, had some tough words about Blizzard, stating,

Much like World of Warcraft classic, a Diablo 2 remaster would do perfectly well with its old systems kept intact. The game will be a longer grind than what players are used to now in Diablo 3, but the experience is often more fulfilling. For now, we can only speculate, since we first need Blizzard to formally announce that they are in fact working on a remaster. Until then, we can only dream.

“Blizzard coyly played up the Diablo hype, which is a good move, but failed to anticipate that their PC based audience was going to expect…well…a PC based announcement. And that following all that hype up with a different product is a huge bait-n-switch feeling moment. Since I was producer on Diablo 2, a lot of people have been asking for my thoughts on the whole ‘Diablo Immortal’ fiasco. I hate to say it, but what you are seeing is Blizzard not understanding gamers anymore.”

Source: Screenrant.com