Hi,
I am a Diablo II veteran and still to this day I have a pleasure to play it and try some mods that some talented people put out there for us to enjoy. If you are familiar with D2, please consider leaving your opinion as well since this Forum page will be dedicated to this.
I got really excited about Diablo IV ; it’s been more than 8 years since a new Diablo game has gone out and we all know that Diablo 3 wasn’t satisfying enough for D2 veterans. I remember getting my hand on D3 ; I played it 4 days in a row, completed the normal mode, and I already got bored so I returned to D2. Quite ironic isn’t it?
So, what are the main attainments that Diablo 2 devs achieved to make it still relevant to this day?
- Rune system
Their value, drop rarity, runewords, etc.
- Itemization
When you look at an item in D2, it’s visually clearer than most Hack’n’slash RPG ; it’s big, easily recognized, etc. Thusl, it gives the player to simply enjoy the product and have the possibility to remember the item only by having a good look at it.
I also find it really interesting how the inventory appears ; where you get to see the equipment as well as the inventory together so you can switch weapons/armors at ease. A bunch of games have their inventory in another panel which makes it redundant to have to go in the inventory page and scroll the way down to select a specific item.
- Difficulty and progression
We’ve all seen the Diablo IV demo that a bunch of people have played, we know how squishy the enemies are aside of bosses and World bosses. In Diablo 2, enemies are does not forgive since day 1. Even though there are some squishies, you have to watch your positioning to avoid getting raid and having enemies blocking an escape if your only chance to survive is to run. You consider the approach ; hit it to find out how tough they are, avoid getting hit because they can hurt alot even in normal mode.
When leveling, you can really feel like our character is getting stronger with the new equipment and slow progression of stats (force, dex, vitality, energy). But if, for example in Diablo 4, you aren’t facing any danger whatsoever and can litteraly walk in a bunch of enemies brainlessly without worrying if you’ll die or not, the progression towards leveling and getting stronger feels meaningless ; you’re already strong, right? The best progression is the one where you feel like you are lacking in the beginning, and can distinguish and understand each and every bit of progression that your character has made. It’s a progression where you know how weak the character is, compared to the environment and enemies you encounters, instead of knowing how strong your character is against the odds. I believe there’s a tiny difference, but still there is.
- Community / Trading system
I can speak enough credit about how good the community was back in the day and still is nowadays. Even though you could encounters some dips*** members where they try to rip off some goods of yours, there were always other people backing you up at any moment. Everyday, there were people starting new character chilling and killing just for fun until they tell you : hey I gtg, add me, we’ll play later. People felt like it was worth it to start again, because they knew they wouldn’t be alone.
The trading system wasn’t on point, but it was an interesting one. Before everyone got to know about runewords, they were trading SoJ for rare uniques. It gave the player the possibility to choose how worth your item is, and how bad the buyer wants your item. Then, we got the runewords. It was like the human discovered how to make fire by themselves. Everyone was searching for new runewords, wasting runes and items just for the sake of becoming the new God-like nephalim that would thrive upon demons in Hell mode. Everybody knows about it and how well it was done by the devs.
- Drops
The rarity in Diablo 2 is what made the players willing to go back in the plains, hoping to get a new item each time they would go. During the first patches, it was underwhelmingly impossible to grind the good stuff, and people had no clue which zones had the best drop chances. But after some patches, the devs increased the loot drop for runes as well as for uniques and set items. But don’t misinterpret what it was really about ; the grinding was and is still hard with conventional ways. Nowadays people use bots to grind the most rare items, but without such, those items are even more satisfying to get if you have the chance to do so.
With that said, I invite you guys to tell me what would be a must in Diablo IV to have in their mechanics/meta that would be inspired by D2. Sure it doesn’t have to mimic it and be litteraly the same as it was back in the day, they wouldn’t do such thing anyway. But, with creativity, we could elaborate ideas that would represent great suggestions for the devs to explore!
Faithfully, from the Crew 96 
, These characters worked 
.