I have not been able to find anywhere which patch they are reportedly working under. The differences are enormous, and have huge implications for the game depending on which they go with.
To me, the best the game ever offered was 1.09. We had some runewords, but uniques were still relevant and there was TONS of build diversity. Once the major runewords hit with 1.10, certain things became almost mandatory and uniques lost a lot of their appeal, at I think a detriment to the game.
If they went with a patch 1.10 or later, using the original rune drop rates without duping, it would lead to incredible power gaps. They would have to start changing drop rates which would be a big deal.
Another issue is the respec that came with 1.13. Personally, I hated the respec and always loved power rushing new characters. I think this is minor compared to runewords though.
Which patch do you think would offer the best game?
Definitely 1.13 or 1.14
Can’t see them going backwards.
Then the economy will revolve almost entirely around rune trading. Is that a good thing?
Between these two: 1.07
But they should cover 1.14D and end this once and for all.
Well it’s definitely going to be based on the current version. Even if they decided to try to “emulate” an old patch, which I’m not sure why they would - if the game needs to change then just change it, no need to emulate a specific arbitrary old version - it’s still going to be based on 1.14d and modified from there. Anything else would be untenable from an engineering perspective.
D2R is itself basically a gigantic patch (or expansion) on top of the current version of the game. My guess is we’ll see it released as 1.15, potentially along with an accompanying 1.15 patch to regular D2 LoD, unless they made a complete clean break/fork from the old code base and don’t plan to maintain them together to any extent going forward. In which case regular D2 LoD will be 1.14d forever and only D2R will advance.
Current patch is what they will be doing. Patch 1.14 based on the Q&A today.
Edit for a lost “1”.
??? 1.14 maybe. You mean?
Yep. I did mean that. Thank you.
It happens. You’re welcome.
From what I remember patch 1.09 was where D2 peaked.
I haven’t played for years but I remember a lot of classes not being as viable after that. Basically Hammerdins were god tier and Bowazons got nerfed into the ground for example. I would like to see more class diversity and viability for all characters in end game. But then again its been years, so maybe they solved those issues a long time ago.
Yeah 
I’m not a huge fan of the runeword dominance. Farming them just isn’t nearly as fun.