Muyu's Suggested Changes Compilation

Diablo II: Resurrected General Discussion
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I thought I’d contribute to the ever-growing scene revolving around expected or otherwise asked for changes to Diablo 2 Resurrected and figured the best way to do this would be to compile the modifications people wish to see happen in this list. Feel free to debate below or add anything I might have missed. Keep in mind, I am open to reassessing the tag each change is given so that there is no issues with transparency in regards to whether or not these are my personal opinions.
Let’s also try and keep comments civil, no head-butting.

  • Do note that none of these are assessed with any bias on whether or not these are widely accepted changes. This is all purely observational.

I will be separating each modification by whether or not it is QoL or game changing and provide brief explanations of the function and mark them as follows;

.

HARMLESS

HARMFUL

GAME BREAKING

MIXED BAG

To start things off al la Quality of Life (QoL):

1. Additional Menu Buttons (Harmless) - Skill and Character Sheet skillup/statup buttons for ease of access, for those that prefer not to use hotkeys or are still relatively new to the Diablo franchise.
2. Offline Single Player (SP) Ladder Runewords (Harmless) - Nobody is really sure why this wasn’t a feature out of the gate as it really doesn’t hurt anything but it will be a huge plus for console players.
3. Retain patch 1.13 Drop Rates (Harmless) - It’s been lightly discussed that drop rates are a little harsh, but the general consensus is that the original rates are the best.
4. Charm Inventory (Harmless) - This one has been beaten to death, but ultimately even I have come to terms with this. Basically create an entirely separate inventory for charms in the size of the player’s inventory only for charms. Ultimately most players choose to keep their inventory full of charms anyway, so in the end this only allows us to be able to focus on farming longer instead of going back to town every time we find an item.As user Axe has noted, there is also the possibility this could be implemented in a much more graceful manner - that being unlocking the “Full size” Charm Inventory at end-game levels (90-93), giving the incentive to grinding through the 90’s rather than seeing it as a roadblock full of EXP loss on death.
5. Bug Fixes for Broken Skills - (Mixed Bag) - There are some skills that are legitimately broken functionally and need to be fixed, but would ultimately throw the power balance out of whack as the classes with broken skills are still viable and have been used all the same.
6. Buff/Debuff display (Harmless) - Would basically show what is happening to your character similar to how it works in Path of Exile.
7. Skill Activation Screen Limit (Harmless) - Prevent skills like Teleport from working outside of the original bounding box that the highest resolution that was available from Classic Diablo 2. Preventing ultra widescreen player advantages.
8. Extended Limitations on Visible Items on Ground (Harmless) - Allow more items to show on the ground during huge clutter moments.
9. Scroll Wheel controlled Zoom (Harmless) - Self explanatory.
10. Remove Cow Level penalty (Harmless) - This is under harmless because the penalty was a feature of an era in which the developers did not care too heavily about features for a game they never intended to seriously support. The penalty as such is an archaic reminder of history long past.
11. Keep Anya Portal Open (Mixed Bag/Harmless) - The original idea for the Temple was for users to use the way point to access it after all is said and done, but users ultimately opted to not kill Nihlathak to keep the portal open for Pindelskin farming.
12. Drop Sound Notification/Map beacon (Mixed Bag) - Some have argued that this is not needed as the core foundation of looting in Diablo 2 is enshrouded in keeping your eyes open for loot you might have access to, but in general it seems to be a mixed bag of feelings.
13. Ctrl or Alt + Click Inv->Stash/Stash->Inv (Harmless) - Basically allows you to move items to and from inventory without having to juggle the item all over the place. Saves your wrists some durability. :wink: Simplest of simple QoL features. Seen mixed reports of whether or not it is already implemented or needing to be implemented. For the sake of this post, included in QoL.
14. Book of Runes/RuneBook/Horadric Recipes (Harmless) - Another horribly beaten subject that I’ve come to accept after denouncing it on several occasions. Runes and Recipes used to be intended as secrets to find out but the vast majority of us know them all/most of them and jumping out of the game to use a browser, to go back and do something in the game is anti-immersion and cumbersome. Let’s embrace technology and keep the focus on in-game. Sorry, Arreat Summit, your time came and went in a flash.
15. Show Min/Max Values on Items (Harmless) - This is under Harmless because at the end of the day, the problem with this one is the same as 14., your focus should never leave the game, plus in my personal honest opinion, it makes it more exciting to know what values your item can roll, so you feel more motivated to do your min-max meta.
16. Legacy D2R Widescreen Resolution Support (Harmless) - Some feel that the playerbase that wishes to play with the original Sprite models should be given the option to play the game at a resolution more akin to today’s standard, rather than forcing them to play at a smaller resolution on a monitor clearly capable of more. Just keeps the game more inline with itself.
17. Larger Horadric Cube (Mixed Bag/Harmless) - Can be seen from multiple angles in regards to whether or not it should be changed. Larger cube can be more beneficial, if even just slightly, if Charm Inventory doesn’t happen. The original intent of the cube was simply original design shortsightedness - the largest item to fit in it would fit in it with the maximum gems you can modify it with at one time.
18. Open BattleNet/Similar Functionality (Harmless) - This one is one I’ve not seen talked about anywhere else and is something I’d personally like to see so that we have the option to play modded versions of the game online with friends in mods that aren’t total overhauls, i.e. Boss Mod kind of mods or what have you.
Actually not sure if Boss Mods was a dll injection or what, so I’m not sure if this would work, but leaving up there for exposure anyway to get clarification.
19. Uber Bosses/Events in Single Player (SP) (Harmless) - Much like 2. Ladder Runewords for Single Player. Should be activated for Single Player instead of just online play.
20. Toggle Show Loot On/Off (Harmless) - Another simple QoL feature. Some prefer show loot be permanently on.
21. Merchant Merchandise Refresh (Harmless) - Something else that can be viewed as harmless. Refresh available goods, similar to the gambling function.
22. Show Item Level of Gear (iLvl) (Mixed Bag/Harmless) - Something else I’ve seen the community request and have an argument for and against. I’ll leave it up to you guys to discuss down below if this is something necessary, and why or why not.

The next section will consist of changes that alter the gameplay:

1. Skill Balancing (Game Breaking) - The game was never intended to be balanced. Creator’s own words.
2. Additional Content (DLC or otherwise) (Harmful) - Diablo 2 Lord of Destruction is at end-life. Diablo Immortal is the natural successor taking up whatever little there is between the events of Diablo 2 Lord of Destruction and Diablo 3. There is no room for new content, lore-wise.
3. Infinite Throwable/Ammunition (Harmful) - There are specific mechanics in Diablo 2 revolving around ammunition count. Infinite is just not an option. The idea is for you to be situationally aware of your weapons.
4. P2W, Microtransactions, Gates (Game Breaking) - I don’t think this needs explaining. Diablo 2 is not a beauty pageant or money game.
5. Alternate Servers for Old Patches (Mixed Bag) - Can be good, can be bad, depends on your world view. In the end, it creates more work for the developers as there would be multiple revisions of the game they’d need to reference to do the same job.
6. Separate Servers for Classic Diablo 2/LoD, Classic Resurrected and Lord of Destruction Resurrected (Mixed Bag) - Similar situation as above.
7. Loot Filters (Mixed Bag) - Significantly impacts how the farming formula would work in Diablo 2. Also affects multiplayer sessions in regards to the loot one person may be able to see over someone else not using a filter but is also dependent on whether it is a built in feature, leaving the end-user responsible for their choice to use one or not, or if it’s third party, ultimately breaking the game. Also as I’ve noticed some players have made the suggestion that the filter could be based on the lobby that the original player made, example being “X&Y Filter is used in this lobby, all players will use this filter upon joining” similar to how you can limit player level upon entry. Let me also dispel the baseless fear that some people have come to force people to believe - Loot Filters do not provide potential to hack/damage/ruin someone’s game/pc/experience, when implemented -correctly-. The biggest example of incorrect implementation is sadly Path of Diablo which uses an antiquated client design, based on non-Resurrected Diablo 2, that had Loot Filters designed not with security in mind because let’s face it, if they cared for security, the problem wouldn’t exist.
8. Changes to Items/Itemization (Game Breaking) - We’re going for a remaster, not a recreation. Changes to items would change the game entirely.
9. Show More Stats Beneath Monster Health Bar (Mixed Bag) - Again, a personal world view item. Some like the idea, some don’t. It changes how you approach your encounters.
10. PVP Arena/PVP Handshake (Mixed Bag) - Would change the culture of Player Killing (PK) quite significantly but would overall improve the likelihood there would be more of a PVP scene. Could have been a QoL feature but it’s a touchy subject.
11. Respecialization/Respec (Harmful) - There is already a functionality built into the game that allows you to respec. Two, in fact. Akara and Essence farming.
12. Additional Item Updates/Per Ladder (Mixed Bag) - While not directly affecting the core of the game, it does introduce dramatic change to the game, for better or for worse. Labeled Mixed Bag because it also improves the game’s longevity.
13. Continued Support/Updates (Mixed Bag) - Again, potential to change the game, for better or for worse.
14. Mercenary(Merc) AI/Pathing Improvement (Mixed Bag) - Potential to remove a power void, creating tremendously more powerful player builds. As some players have described, it might actually be beneficial for VV to look into modifying the pathing indepth as there are functions of the merc that simply go unused or aren’t met with their full potential because of the way merc pathing AI interacts with the environment.
15. Larger Player Inventory (Game Breaking) - Would cause tremendous power voids to be closed if the player inventory size were increased. (Only if Charm Inventory is not present)
16. More/Infinite Stash Tabs (Mixed Bag) - Muling was a concept of the past for a game with grueling limitations brought on because of design concepts of the early 2000’s. It shouldn’t remain present in present era gaming, but it is also a design concept some have come to appreciate. It is a love/hate relationship among the community.
17. Tradable Unique Charms (Mixed Bag) - Hard to create reasoning for this being mixed bag. There’s pros, there’s cons, there’s middle-grounds. Discuss down below, let me know what you think.
18. Stacking Potions/Runes (Mixed Bag) - Another one that’s hard to justify for or against as it doesn’t provide any immediately noticeable cons but it also downplays your belt to some extent (potions) and your stash/stash tab (runes).
19.Multiboxing (Mixed Bag) - This is another one of those controversial changes/asked for features. Implications for botting seem to be a primary concern but there are arguments supporting the necessity for those who wish to dedicate more time to the venture. I’ll leave this one up to you guys to provide natural arguments for the support/denial of this feature!
20. In-game Trading Hub (Harmless/Mixed Bag) - I can see this working, since it would pull people back into the game to trade instead of visiting forums al la reddit, etc. See comments 150 and below for further explanation.
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Again, if I have missed anything, comment down below.

Hyperlinks included at the bottom of this post to provide exposure to some of the more talked about suggestions included in this thread.

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No As stated in 100 pages of threads about charm inventory it is not harmless at all.
Keeping Anya portal up I think would be harmless imo.

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Also loot filters are not harmless in an FFA loot game.

They directly impact your ability to pick up items vs those that use one.

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Dont think making Merc AI less stupid is a mixed bag.

I dont think anyone wants those dumdums walking into walls instead of fighting anymore.

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Good point, didn’t think of that. Also depends on whether or not it is in-game implemented or third party. Will revise none the less.

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If you control your own loot filter, then its harmless and only on you if it filters out the wrong item or if another player has it set up better and spots that unique or what not in the large pile first because he filtered the rift raff items out.
As long as its an even playing field, this is a harmless add.

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I’m open to continue the debate in regards to charm inventory. I can’t see a con against it outside of purist nostalgia as I mentioned in the explanation for it -

Ultimately most players choose to keep their inventory full of charms anyway, so in the end this only allows us to be able to focus on farming longer instead of going back to town every time we find an item.
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Considering it seems the single player game is set to the ladder difficulty standard (with no toggle) and has all else from ladder (uniques and cube recipes) it is pretty lame to not have the runewords.

I never seen the creators really say that, but until recently, I never followed much of what the devs said past 1.10. However, due to the fact the devs even stated in patch 1.10 notes that monsters and skills were made data driven rather than hard coded for the purposes of making balancing skills easier (for their purpose), I do believe the original devs would have continued to fine hone the skill balancing had they not left the company.

There is always more room for additional content, even in a remaster. However, I don’t believe this should have an expansion, new act, etc. Basic new stuff like a new uber level (Uber cows would be fun, lol) would be fine.

Infinite Ammo is a no, due to the durability system. You make ammo unlimited, you have to create a new purpose for the arrow drops such as adding magical, rare, unique ammo and you need durability for the bows, with some bows being repair/indestructible.

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Charm inventory changes the game and makes it much more easy.
As with charm inventory you now have access to filling up your regular inventory with tons of potions and full rejuvs and allow for room to put prebuff items in your inventory or absorb gear when vs specific elemental enemies.
Being a PvP game to give a PKer access to full inventory of charms and full rejuvs becomes too easy for PKers to get away not dieing and killing more easy. Adds much more unbalance to game in a game that is all ready easy. As every one knows no one needs full charms only for PvP Torch and Annie and Gheed all you need.

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Indeed, these are in fact probabilities. Small, but still present. However, it is fundamentally no different than portaling back to town and grabbing your gear from your stash. Furthermore, the idea of hoarding excess potions is an extreme example of what could be done with more space but by the time you’re familiar with your build, you’re playing in a manner that won’t require excess potions for PVE content…

So you’re either running some several dozen meters back to safety so you can switch gear and then running back into the fray, or you’re portaling back to town and re-equipping to suit up for a specific encounter. Either way, you’re using roughly the same amount of time to do the same task.

It’s purely hypothetical and should be treated as such, which is why I view Charm Inventory as a harmless feature.

As for PK situations… well, I don’t know about you but I’m not going to be reaching into my inventory every 2 seconds, or keeping my inventory open while fighting another player when I need that screen space to see if I have any more threats.

Edit: also added Anya Portal to QoL section.

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You could say that about every change.

It is a fact that even in games with loot filters, some players choose not to use them. Knowing this, it absolutely changes gameplay and favours one group over the other.

It also gives a massive advantage to veteran players who know what to filter versus newer players that do not.

It’s not harmless at all, a loot filter would make it that much easier for me to pickup good items versus newbies.

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Playing ES sorce you hoard tons of mana potions make game very easy while having full mana charms on hand same time. Have poison and thawing potions ready to go for extra psn/cold resistance or to get rid of psn or cold effects.
Yah people can go to town right before they about to kill boss swap on their MF gear then kill them, but that is the trade off is time. As it all comes down to how fast one can farm and so you have to make decisions on what is worth the time vs not.
But if I could stack a full inventory of HP charms and full inventory of HP potions I do not see where the challenge in this game will be…
I Personally would not mind having a charm inventory if they limit the charm inventory to a 4x4 space, being there is no need to have 4x10 space for charms in such a game with limited difficulty content.

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I can see where the extra advantage concern might come from in regards to poison and thawing potions… but again, this is a concern when it comes to whether or not you’re comfortable with your build.

I’m not saying that everyone that has their build down-pat is going to forego the necessity of having potions with them, but at the end of the day, the extreme majority of players will opt to play more in their power zone - and by that I mean play so that they do not require more potions outside of what they have in their belt.

I’ve been playing Diablo 2 since its release, so I have a very intimate relationship with the mechanics of the game and this is in no way intended to downplay anyone else and their experience with the game but it is saying that, again, the majority of players that have played longer than a year do not require inventory grab-bag methods to survive encounters.

Most, if not all builds can run all content in one session without returning to town to buy more potions more than once. I would say this is factual but I do not have any sources to back this claim up outside of personal experience with my own builds and my friends’ playthroughs. I very rarely ever died using my weakest runner, which would be a MF set-up Frozen Orb/Blizzard Sorceress. Almost no survivability because most of the gear was MF related.

In the end, we need to stop looking back at the game with misty eyes and come to terms with the things that can/could/need to change and quite frankly, inventory space is one thing that most of us can accept because nobody wants to jump to and fro between town and their MF runs because it is just cumbersome and bad design for 2021. Almost literally all Diablo 2 mods or other ARPGs laugh in our faces with inventory management.

The purist in me wants the game to be as close to the original as possible but to look a gift horse in the mouth with something like this… Well, it doesn’t make sense.

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If you dont want to jump back and forth between town and loot runs constantly, dont carry a zillion bloody charms.

Its not bad game design just because people have become more lazy.

The systems designed around trading Inventory Space for extra power.

Inventory space in a looter game has a lot of value.

Charm Inventory = You want to have you Cake and Eat it too.

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Right there is exactly what I mean. Diablo 2 is a looter. Not an Aperture Labs Portal Gun simulation.

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Yes, and the Charms system is Trading Away Loot Space, For extra Character Power.

Thats the point. If you dont want to trade away loot space, Dont Use the Charms.

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So the point you’re trying to convey is;

I need to be less powerful to do something somebody else can do better
-or-
I need to be less powerful to do something I should be able to do optimally but cannot because of the limitation of space in a game designed around an 800x600 resolution and be punished as such
-or-
I need to be less powerful in my group of other players while everyone else does more damage
-or-
I can have all of the charms in the world on me but not have any space to pick up items while I’m playing with other people and consequently not have a chance to pick up loot

You see where I’m going with this? I promise you, if Diablo 2 were made any later than 2005 when monitors started sporting 720p and 1080p, the inventory would be akin to that of its successors/peers.

The point I’m trying to make here is that for an ARPG remaster to be competitive/successful in today’s gaming industry, it needs to match that of its competition.

As much as I want to sit back and play a game that is old and memorable, not everyone is going to want to do the same. I am an extreme hardcore Diablo 2 fanatic. I couldnt care less that they leave it alone and only upgrade the graphics but if we’re being real, this game is a bad bad bad venture for Blizzard/VV if the main aspect of the game - the looting/inventory management - is left untouched because quite frankly, as much as I do not like care for Path of Exile’s meaningless combat, it is an excellent looter and that isn’t good for Diablo 2 (let alone Diablo 3, but we won’t go there lol)

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Key words in your reply…

Choose- Every player will have that right, if they choose not to, thats their peril.

This game is about having an advantage. Advantage over PVM, PVP, other players in general. if experience, and Id safely say we have that, gives you that edge over noobs, that is OK. If they choose not to use a feature that helps them or fails to educate themselves to be better at the game, thats not on us, thats on them.

Exactly, and that is OK. I could say it about a bunch of features already in the game that a veteran player would know, but a noob might not. The onus is on them to come up to our level, not us to stoop down to theirs unless we want to help them.
Choice is the key word

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Charms were Designed around limiting inventory space. Doesnt matter how large the inventory is, Brevik wanted them to be that way.

You want all the benefits of Charms but none of the cost of Charms and are trying to play it off as a Small Insignificant change.

Its not a small change. People need to get over that. Altering the main cost of charms isnt a small change.

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That’s the difference though, of course there are things in the game that gives veterans an advantage. Not a problem at all.

Adding things to a remastered game that gives even more of an advantage, that’s where I find a big problem.

Remastered D2R sounds amazing, but I find some of these changes to be far too drastic. Charm inventory and loot filter are two of them.

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