Diablo II Gets A New Patch

👤by Chris Yeo Comments 📅11.03.2016 10:49:56


Diablo II has received a new patch 16 years after it's original release.

Diablo II is a action role-playing game original released by Blizzard Entertainment in June 2000, sequel to the original Diablo, released in 1997. An expansion for Diablo II was released a year later titled Diablo II: Lord of Destruction which brought a new 'Act' to the game & a slew of additional content & game optimisations, including 800x600 support.

Diablo II saw universal praise upon release and has since retained a large player base. Proof of this is Blizzard's extraordinary ongoing support for the classic game. 16 years since it's original release, a Blizzard developer updated the US Classic Battle.net forum with the following post:

It’s been a long time coming, but today we’re releasing 1.14a for Diablo II.

This update focuses on system glitches introduced by modern operating systems. In related news, you can finally retire those old Mac PowerPCs. Included with the update is a shiny new installer for OSX.

We’ve also begun working to improve our cheat-detection and hack-prevention capabilities. There’s still work to be done, but we’re making improvements every day.

There is still a large Diablo II community around the world, and we thank you for continuing to play and slay with us. This journey starts by making Diablo II run on modern platforms, but it does not end there. See you in Sanctuary, adventurers.

Digging deeper, the release notes for this patch are:

Diablo II v1.14a Patch Notes

Specific Changes & Improvements
- No need to run in XP mode anymore, Windows 7, 8.1, and 10 compatibility complete
- Mac installer and compatibility for 10.10 and 10.11 has arrived
- First client run will migrate saved characters to avoid issues from Windows system
admin changes

Known Issues
- Mac 10.9 and earlier are not supported


Blizzard have since explained that the Installers should be finalised for availability by tomorrow morning (US time), you can keep track of the progress via Battle.net forum patch updates here.

Since Diablo III's announcement in 2008, Diablo II interest increased & brought attention to the many mods available for the game along with substantiated support from Blizzard through many years of updates. Potentially this patch & compatibility fixes to the newer operating systems could bring new and old players back to the game, since Blizzard sell the game on their website; here & distribute retail copies to stores.

This is a good example of quality customer support and if anything a passion for a franchise - something which is not common in the modern day computing industry.

Gamers like old games, developers - keep them alive!