Diablo II: Resurrected – Suggestions from a Veteran & Aspiring Game Dev

General Discussion
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I’ve been playing Diablo II since its original launch and am now deep into D2R. As a longtime fan and aspiring indie game dev, I believe these suggestions could greatly enhance the balance, PVP scene, and overall endgame.

:wrench: PVP BALANCE FEEDBACK

:crossed_swords: Amazon:

  • Guided Arrow: Please bring back pierce. The community thought it was cool, not broken.
  • Mobility: Instead of teleport, make her the fastest character on foot. Boost run/walk speed to match teleporting characters.
  • Defense: Amazon struggles with the lowest life, hard-to-cap resistances, and low survivability. Consider more viable resistance gear for her.
  • Damage: Her damage in PVP is currently underwhelming. She needs better tools to compete fairly.

:axe: Barbarian:

  • Attack Rating: Hitting enemies in PVP now requires unreasonably high AR. Reduce the requirement or increase hit consistency.
  • Durability: Give him better options for PVP outside of just high damage.

:ninja: Assassin:

  • Trap Sin Meta: Trap assassins dominate because other builds aren’t viable in PVP.
  • Balancing: Improve other Assassin PVP builds for more diversity.

:latin_cross: Paladin (Needs Nerfs):

  • Blessed Hammer: Should require Attack Rating and be blockable by shields. Magic attacks being unblockable breaks balance.
  • Cooldowns: Some Paladin skills need cooldowns or rebalancing to avoid spam and power creep.
  • Too Easy to Cap: With 2–3 items, Pallys can max resistances, FCR, and survivability. This leaves other classes in the dust.

:skull: Summoners (Necro/Druid):

  • Teleport Abuse: Teleporting with a full army of meat shields is overpowered, especially in PVP.
    • Possible fix: Have teleporting with minions cost significantly more mana, OR
    • Make summons die in 1 hit from any PVP character.

:balance_scale: Overall PVP Adjustments:

  • Buff melee characters and those without teleport by giving more durability or utility.
  • Nerf characters who currently have everything — teleport, high damage, crowd control, and summons.
  • Or just buff Amazon and Barb to even the playing field.

:package: STASH & INVENTORY

  • Please take inspiration from Path of Exile’s stash.
  • Add stackable items like runes, gems, keys, etc.
  • Expand inventory space — modernize it while keeping the classic charm.

:gem: ITEMS, UNIQUES, AND RUNEWORDS

  • Runewords are cool, but they’ve made 90% of uniques and rares obsolete.
  • Revamp elite uniques — make them as good or better than some runewords.
  • Add new uniques and runewords to bring freshness to the loot pool.
  • Let some uniques grant active skills to enable creative new builds and playstyles.

:world_map: ENDGAME SUGGESTION

  • Add an Act 6 or extra endgame content:
    • Have players face 3–5 bosses at once in extra-hard zones.
    • Create better farming spots that reward skill and teamwork.

:loudspeaker: MISC & QOL

  • Increase character limit in game titles and description box.
  • Add better sorting/filter options for online games (duels, trades, etc.).
  • Improve lobby chat and make party systems smoother.

:heart: Final Thoughts

D2R is an incredible remaster, but it could be legendary with these changes.

  • Amazon and Barb need love — they’re underpowered compared to casters and teleporters.
  • PVP needs a rebalance to reward skill and diversity, not just class choice.
  • More content, stash fixes, and item revamps could bring new life to the community.

Thanks for reading and considering these updates!

3 Likes
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Post looks nice, unfortunately the content is trash in my opinion.

Your PvP suggestions are awful.

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I just learned vibe coding yesterday. Would love to make some content for d2r. It can be at warehouse sallary. Thos who make real money can refactor the code. Have a lot of ideas. Literaly prototyped a simple game yesterday from 0 in like 3h. LMK.

Thank you very much.
With love.
Recently banned person :frowning:

1 Like
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I have no idea about PvP but as I see it overall top tier builds that clear p8 solo should get nerfs and buffs for melee, bow, poison builds. Remove Sunder Charms and rework/remove immunities.

I mostly play solo so immunities hurt more than multiplayer and there’s pretty much 1 best build per class to play. I’d like to have more viable options without rare endgame gear.

  • Amazon: Mostly played build Charged Strike/Lightning Fury, crazy op AoE and single target dmg. Should probably get nerf. Bow and melee need buffs.

  • Barbarian: The worst class, used mostly as support but even then becomes useless when others get Call to Arms runeword. Some say Berserk is best magic find build but for it to work you already need best in slot items. Needs buffs all over.

  • Assassin: Remove Mosaic cuz broken, maybe nerf endgame Lightning Traps, buff other skills.

  • Paladin: Nerf Blessed Hammer and FoH, buff his melee side because like Barb he’s supposed to be a warrior not caster. Reworked Conversion could be pretty fun melee summon on kill build.

  • Necro: Every build main damage comes from Corpse Explosion so nerf it, maybe buff Bone skills and Skeletal Mage, make summons stay between games.

  • Druid: I like where Wind build is at, not too slow, not too op, nice defense, crowd control and can handle immunes, I’d consider making this a reference point for all builds, needs buffs for Shapeshifter cuz unplayable from level 1, make Rabies good.

  • Sorc: The only ladder starter so needs nerfs obviously, Blizz+Cold Mastery+Sunder Charm too good, Teleport makes people skip whole game.

  • Stash: Not sure about stackables but I’d love currency tab.

  • Items: Runewords too strong yep but instead of adding new, make existing useless uniques/sets/runewords better.

  • Endgame: No need for act 6, another Diablo games add new story and without original Diablo 2 devs and Matt Uelmen making music it would be just bad as another games in this series lack this atmosphere. Maybe add new endgame mode instead of replaying same acts in Nightmare and Hell.

Also by nerfs I don’t mean making those builds useless. I definitely want them to keep being viable just not that strong that breaks multiplayer by making people play solo in p8 games.

2 Likes
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I don’t play PvP but the Amazon is perfectly fine as is. I agree that Faster Run/Walk could use an improvement/buff but I would do so for all classes and not just for the Amazon. Attack Rating factor is an issue for all Physical builds but if you can reduce/remove Defense(Inner Sight being the most effective), then it isn’t that big of an issue. What is an issue though is the annoying Block that Physical builds have to deal with that casters conveniently avoid. If their spells could be blocked, then that would be a notable nerf to their power. Trap Sins have always dominated, and the reason why is Martial Arts requires charging(which you cant do in PvP) and Blade Sin is too clunky and subject to Attack Rating. Summon(Druid/Necro) builds need Teleport for minion control. Playing without it means you aren’t as efficient, and minions already take increased damage(afaik).

As for QoL and what not, don’t hoard stuff. Space management has been a thing since the game launched and unless you have 1.08 items, there is little reason to save stuff. Theres an entire topic on buffing Uniques, Sets, Rares and what not but it’s doubtful it will ever be looked at, much less implemented. We also don’t need an Act 6 and if we were to get anything, it would be to expand Act 4 for all players at no cost.

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Long post focused on something that doesn’t matter: PvP.

D2’s general gameplay problems can be summed up like this:

  • Attack Rating requirements are too high
  • Weapon durability drain is too high
    This is why melee is always weaker than casters.

D2’s build rigidness comes down entirely to synergies. Most skills have too many. The game would be better without them. Yes, I’m saying make skills deal their synergy boosted damage without the point wasting synergy system.

D2’s interface problems:

  • Consumables and materials don’t stack
  • Global stash space is tragically small
    The “not enough characters” complaint is a direct result of stash space being too small. Players are forced to make multiple mules even if they’re only stashing materials.

Nobody cares about PvP. It’s not balanced and it never will be and doesn’t need to be. Realize when your interest is niche.

Special note to why bowzons are terrible: the gap between GMB and any other, faster bow option. Even with a level 15 fanat Faith, a bowzon needs to find another 92ias from gear to hit their bp for GA or MS. It’s a ridiculously slow weapon base, but also their best option. This limits what all their other equipment slots can be because all of them need to focus on more ias, and their weapon locks down both slots but without providing 2 slots worth of stats.

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Honestly, I don’t think there’s much point in messing with PvP at all. The only way I could see PvP in D2 being reworked would basically mean making a new game.

:wrench: 1. Separate PvP and PvE Balancing

This is the big one. Right now, any change to skills affects both PvE and PvP. To fix PvP, devs could:

  • Implement a PvP-specific ruleset, where skill values, cooldowns, or mechanics differ when used against players.

:man_mage: 2. Rework Resistances and Absorption

PvP is notorious for resist/absorb stacking. Fixes could include:

  • Capping absorption more strictly (e.g., max 40% absorb).
  • Reduce the effect of stacked resistances in PvP (like when people stack to 300%+ res).
  • Prevent life tap from working in PvP entirely or nerf it heavily.

:brain: 3. Improve Hit Detection and Desync Issues

D2 PvP is plagued by desync—especially for charging Paladins or WW Barbs.

  • Devs would need to recode parts of netcode to reduce desync.
  • Add server-side checks for character positioning and actions in duels.

:speech_balloon: 4. Transparent Duelling Rules & Arena System

Right now, PvP is Wild West style.

  • Add an in-game dueling interface, proper rulesets, and ranked/unranked modes.
  • Track player stats, wins/losses, maybe even implement seasons.
2 Likes
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Some good thoughts there, and, rather than create another thread along the same lines, I’ll add my thoughts below.

Inventory management is a glaring issue-and whether the solution is more stash spaces, reducing the footprint of items, or stackable runes/gems, it really needs to be addressed.

Not as big an issue is the 24 character limit, but it goes to the inventory question-less space requires more mules. And while in an overarching sense, the idea of efficient inventory management is also part of the game, almost every player gets to that point where they’re making really painful decisions.

It should be easier to trade in game without a need for 3rd party websites; one way to help this is to allow trade chat to be read from the lobby as well, but I also concede that players need to use the in game channels to make it better as well.

Let’s make uniques special again. As @Vsup stated, Runewords are the better choice in far too many instances. I saw someone yesterday that found Tyrael’s Might, and it’s essentially a museum curio. There are some uniques that are powerful enough to be in the end game conversation, but I’d love to see that pool increase. And there are plenty of in game uniques that just need stat reworks- the notorious Steel Shade comes to mind-to help offer a more diverse item base.

1 Like
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Hi everyone – thank you so much for reading and commenting! I truly appreciate the feedback and engagement.

I agree with many of the improvement points already mentioned, and I’d like to add a few of my own based on years of gameplay experience.

Even with Terror Zones and Ubers, the current endgame content still feels too easy. I would love to see more challenging and rewarding endgame additions. Something that pushes fully built characters and requires creative builds or teamwork.

Also, I really hope we can at least get a smarter, expanded stash and inventory system — and please… MAKE UNIQUES GREAT AGAIN!

Class Feedback

Amazon

I’ve built at least one powerful character for each class, and I feel the Amazon and Barbarian still need some love.

If you play Amazon, you know she lacks synergy with high-tier gear. Many items just don’t perform for her the way they do for others. For example:

  • Grief is brokenly strong for some, while Faith is underwhelming.
  • Or CTA great for everyone else blah for Amazon.
  • Her movement speed is inferior to nearly every other character.

Suggestions:

  • Give her a natural boost to Run/Walk speed.
  • Allow 3 weapon swaps (one extra compared to others), so she can combine CTA and Harmony more effectively.
  • Improve Amazon-specific gear dramatically — they need to feel more impactful.
  • Slightly increase arrow speed and attack speed to enhance responsiveness.

These changes wouldn’t make her overpowered — she’d still be a glass cannon — but they’d give her a fair fighting chance, especially in PvP or high-end PvM.

Barbarian

The Barbarian is extremely gear-dependent. It takes top-tier items across the board to make him viable at the highest level.

Suggestion: Slightly reduce the AR (Attack Rating) requirement. That alone would make a big difference in allowing more viable builds without needing perfect gear. He should be a tank with fair damage output — not a one-hit KO machine, but not bottom-tier without BiS either.

Paladin

This is more opinion than balance, but I personally think the Paladin has leaned too much into caster territory. I’d love to see him evolve into more of a hybrid melee character, staying true to the class fantasy while maintaining balance.

Thanks again for the discussion — I really hope Blizzard sees this and gives these ideas a real look. This game has so much potential left to unlock.

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Zerk barb literally only needs an Oath or a Grief, to already be one of the best rune finders in the game. :stuck_out_tongue: From there just needs 105 FCR with swap set and an engima to be great at pit farming.

Barb is actually pretty cheap compared to most builds. Hell you can fix AR issues with just 2 pieces of angelic and a couple charms. Can you can ditch the angelic at higher levels cause you won’t even need it.

I mean what you end up with is like… Grief, 2x isted Alibaba or 6x isted phase blade, Arreat’s with ist or ptopaz., enigma gold wrap, chancies, war travs, 2x nagel, a caster amulet with 5% FCR, 2x suicide brance on swap, anni, torch, gheeds, and some misc charms for patch resists.

That’s already 500MF.

That’s not that bad. It’s MUCH cheaper than a Fire Druid, Bowa, etc, and better at MF.

Barb is slept on.

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I will agree to this and it is great for MF especially at Travincal, however my favorit melee build nowadays is a fury/summon hybrid which is even cheaper than the barb to get going and has no problems clearing normal, nightmare and hell solo on a ladder start with only the gear u find along the way and a couple of very cheap runewords that can be easily farmed at nightmare/hell countess. No need for grief or anything expensive, even a non eth reapers is better than grief on this char but with the changes to shapeshifting ias calculations in D2R almost any big two-handed dps stick will do just fine untill u can afford something better. In fact its a lot easier on a playthrough than the barb especially combined with the summons

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Yeah Fury is know for being one of the more budget friendly melee.

I was more just referring the constant “Barb bad” comments. :stuck_out_tongue:

I’ve been just going back recently in SP and trying a bunch of builds I never got around to over the years. Bladesin, Fendzon(finished, it’s awful due to the D2R decoy bug), Icemaiden, Both summoners (was never my thing), Vengence Pally, and a few others are on the books.

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It is now :slight_smile: with the changes to shapeshifting ias calculations in D2R u now have a huge pool of viable weapon options and a cheap hustle armor + some basic melee gear u find along the way will take u all the way through campaign.

The barb has hes advantages for sure. I love him for doing travical and with the right gear he can do ubers np too, he is however a bit more gear dependent than my dudu :slight_smile:

As pure summoners they are quite slow i do however enjoy playing both sometimes. To be honest they seem to work better as hybrid chars which is how i play my druid. If i max the wolves, bear, heart of wolverine and fury i have the best of both worlds. I have an army of 8 wolves and a bear + my merc to soak up damage and act like meat shields which kind of works better than any max block char while having a maxed out fury dealing soo much damage. This allows me to run 1 point wonders in ww and lycantrophy while surviving even better and by maxing the summons (skip ravens they are not worth it after nightmare and overides curses like decrep/amp with their blind + they dont benefit from auras) they will be able to survive and wont have to be resummoned all the time. This char with the basic mele gear (gore, jalal, highlord, loh, ravenfrost) and a mid rolled reaper’s toll can easily do 50+ chaos sanctuary runs only using right mouse button and never use pots if u have a mana leech ring (manald for budget). With all ur army u will never find urself being swarmed and killed due to bad gear and bone fetish/dolls are ez, take a step back and let ur wolves turn them into dog food (summons dont take damage from stygian doll death explosion btw)
As for the necro i like poison necro combined with the melee skeletons which is a great meatshield

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They don´t know how to balance an arpg. Better graphics and qol - ok. Anything else no plz. Don´t want to be forced to go back to 800x600.

Make a mod yourself ?

Big money is no substitute for passion as Project Diablo 2 proves. Or D2R reimagined…