The Diablo II Compendium

• A player declaring hostile to another player causes only that player to become hostile and not everyone else allied with him.  This makes for a usually one-to-one matchup. (3/28)
• Closed characters are now referred to as "Realm Characters." (3/28)
• Titles will be given to Characters who complete the difficulty levels of Diablo II.  Defeating the normal difficulty levels gives Sir and Dame titles. (3/24)
• Guild Halls have been removed from the retail version of the game and from the Beta, but Blizzard states they will be added after release due to testing and balancing issues. (3/24)
• OpenGL will not be supported.  Glide and Direct3D will be, however. (2/15)
• Waypoints and quests are reset on assuminga new difficulty level. (2/7)
• Only one Curse, Warcry, or Aura may be in effect at once. (2/7)
• Iron Golems made from mundane items do not accrue penalties. (2/7)
• Bone Walls and Bone Prisons now no longer require a corpse to funtion. (2/7)
• Not all weapons can be Dual-Wielded by the Barbarian. (2/7)
• 16 characters will be allowed in a Battle.net name tag. (2/7)
• "Hit Locks" will now be more difficult to achieve. (2/7)
• Most spells do not require a "cooldown" to be recast. (2/7)
• Higher difficulties can be accessed after beating the game. (2/7)
• Resistances are much the same as in Diablo, with only 75% being the max, this can be effecred at raised by eqipment, but not to 100%. (2/7)
• Spells in Diablo were improved every time the character leveled, independent of the spell level. This will not be the case for Diablo II, where many spells, including most direct damage skills, do damage based on the skill level, and little else. They do not improve as you character goes up in levels. For example: a sorceress with Slvl 3 Firebolt will do the same, or virtually the same, damage with it when she's Clvl 3 as when she's Clvl 35. There are some spells that will improve accordingly as the character level ups, though they are in the minority. (2/7)
• Windows 2000 will be supported. (2/7)
• Quest bosses (like Andariel) cannot be Revived. (1/13)
• The Necromancer now has an intrinsic ability: Dispel Minion.  It allows him to unsummon a specific minion by clicking on it.  It is unknown if the other characters will have such power, but it is likely. (1/13)
• Items that increase in strength with others of their kind will only bestow their bonus when all of the items are donned. (1/13)
• There will be no cursed items in Diablo II. (1/13)
• Monsters dispatched by a Cold magical effect do not always freeze and shatter, leaving no corpses for the Necromancer or Barbarian. (1/13)
• Whatever weapon you were carrying when you switch to a throwing weapon will reequip itself when you run out of such items. (1/13)
• Items on the ground "sparkle" from time to time. (1/13)
• Weather effects also vary, from slight drizzle to driving rain. (1/13)
• The monsters will have variable death animations. (1/13)
• Characters can carry unlimited gold. (1/13)
• Equipment donned does not affect speed unless the item itself affects it. (1/13)
• When a health potion is used it does not take affect immediately.  Instead it fills the life sphere up to variable amount, this displayed in a translucent red.  Health then regernerates up to that point. (1/13)
• Items sold to NPC´s will remain in their inventory for awhile. (1/13)
• There will be an Open Beta for Diablo II sometime near release. (12/19)
• All summoned creatures contolled by a Necromancer are killed upon his death. (12/19)
• Guilds cannot be created on Open Realms. (12/19)
• You gain the ability to create a guild after bearing the game on multiplayer mode. (12/19)
• "The total Experience for killing a monster is divided amongst all the members of a party. Each member's share of the total is an amount proportional to the member's character level divided by the sum of all the character levels in the party. The member delivering the killing blow also gets a small percentage of additional Experience as a bonus to his/her share.  For each party member the Experience earned for killing a monster is computed on a sliding scale that is based on the difference between your character's level and the monster's level regardless of whether you are in a party or not. If the level difference is relatively small or even, you get the full amount Experience. If the level difference is relatively large, a minimum amount of Experience is earned. In this case, high level characters killing low level monsters only get a small amount of experience. That also means that low level characters killing high level monsters would get only a small amount of experience, as well. This is done so that a level 5 character running around with 3 level 20 characters isn't getting ridiculous amounts of experience for the higher level monsters only his friends can destroy.  Finally, party members share experience only when they are in the same named area, defined as the "level" on the Automap." (12/19)
• The Belt UI now has a micromap, this is still being tested. (12/11)
• The basic skill "Convert" and the Herbs item have been removed. (12/11)
• A tremendous amount of information will be shown when you place the cursor over an item. The information for weapons will include name, durability, requirements, class and sockets (if any) and their properties like additional attributes. (12/11)
• Hardcore characters can only be created after the game has been defeated at least once. (12/11)
• Guilds have been rethought.  Now the deed costs nothing and you can have up to 128 people in the guild (unknown whether they mean in game or in the guild itself).  Guilds can be modified as guild membership increases. (12/11)
• Diablo II can be spawned, unknown how for the moment. (11/16)
• There will be a "Hall of Heroes" chronicaling the greatest Hardcore players. (11/16)
• Hardcore and normal players will be on different ladder systems. (11/16)
• "Ears," tokens of a successful PK, will be in Diablo II. (11/11)
• At present, you do not lose EXP for dying.  This could change, though... (11/11)
• The town areas of each Act are considered "safe" so you can´t cast harmful spells or attack hostile entities in a town. (10/27)
• The Beta Test will be North American only in the beginning, then will grow to include other countries. (10/27)
• Battle.net ID´s for Diablo II will be completely unique (no Harry1, Harry2, etc). (10/27)
• Apparently there is some kind of selection system in Diablo II, probably to deal with hirelings and the like.  More on this soon... (10/21)
• If you are disconnected, the game will remain for several minutes, giving you a chance to return to the game if you were accidentally disconnected. After that, the game is removed from Battle.net. (10/7)
• Battle.net servers save your Diablo II character, as well as any waypoints visited or quests your character has completed. You may create a new game on battle.net and continue close to the point at which you left off. (10/7)
• 3D sound supported through Creative Lab´s EAX, Aureal´s A3D, and DirectSound. (10/7)
• Each character starts the game at Level 1 with Attack, Kick, Throw, and Convert. (10/7)
• When you click on your corpse, you are auto-equipped by the items you once had.  If you cannot equip an item, it goes to your inventory slots.  If you don´t have any room there, then the item will be dropped. (10/7)
• Your corpse follows you from game to game if you do not get your items, allowing you to get them at a later date. (10/7)
• Your corpse contains all your items when you die, but any gold you had drops to the ground upon death. (10/7)
• Diablo II will support Direct3D, OpenGL, and 3dfx.  (10/7)
• NPC´s reactions will be based upon what character you use, for example: Charsi is fascinated by Barbarians and Gheed is scared of Necromancers. (9/17)
• The ability to carry gold is judged by your Strength, the more Strength you have the more gold you can carry. (9/14)
• Gem Shrines can bestow permanent enhancements to a player character when the appropriate gem is placed onto them. (9/14)
• As a general rule, summoned creatures and hirelings will not follow you across the Acts, but will be able to traverse to different points in the same Act. (9/14)
• Diablo II will have TCP/IP, Modem, and Battle.net as multiplayer options. (9/14)
• Guild Halls will have a unique ID for each member, meaning people with separate characters will be able to enlist in the guilds of their choice. (9/2)
• To start a guild requires a petition to Blizzard.  Unknown on the ramifications of this, we´ll try to get more information. (9/1)
• Dying in Diablo II causes you to lose some experience points as well as gold. However, you will never lose a level to loss of experience by death.  (9/1)
• The Beta Test will consist of Act I, all five characters, and a portion of their respective skills (perhaps 10-20).  (8/10)
• Different characters have different speeds, attack rates, and Stamina levels. (6/17)
• There will be NPCs of past, present and future Diablo characters. (6/17)
• There will be NPC´s (townspeople most likely) who can remove poisons and curses. (6/17)
• When in Hostile mode, Golems may attack other players. (6/17)
• Guild Halls may only have one owner. (6/17)
• Though there are many ways to complete the game, there is only one ending cinematic. (6/17)
• Lagging players will no longer disrupt the entire game, and only the lagging player will be dropped if his or her lag becomes too bad. (5/21)
• Friendly fire can be enabled for multiplayer. (5/21)
• There will be installation options ranging from a small CD reliant install to a full 2 GB install.  The latter will be much faster. (5/21)
• The names of the attributes are: Strength, Vitality, Dexterity, and Intelligence (Magic). (5/15)
• Elixers are in the game, but what they do is unknown as of yet.  It was stated that they will not be able to be purchased. (5/15)
• Pressing ALT makes items glow and makes their names appear, you can click on the name to pick them up. (5/15)
• There is a new skill called "Convert", which every character has.  Convert allows you to take various parts of creatures (i.e. eyes, hearts, jawbones, etc.) and change them into items.  (5/15)
• Levels will require much more experience than in Diablo. (5/15)
• Diablo II will support EAX and A3D. (5/14)
• Mercenaries may be directed in a limited sense (i.e. made to attack a certain monster), otherwise they shoot at anything that moves.  They can be healed and have a visible health bar. (5/13)
• Only one Golem may be in play at one time, though they possess a greatly superior AI to the older Golems from Diablo. (5/13)
• Upon level up you get one skill point and five attribute points. (5/13)
• Diablo II will have a "party system" that allows a person entering the game to decide whether they want to be a friend, neutral, or an enemy to those in the game (those already in the game choose as well).  Your selection decides how they will target you and the like. (5/13)
• Most dead bodies drop items. (5/13)
• Diablo II will use keys, as some doors and chests will be locked.  Keys can be bought in town in quantities of five. (5/13)
• There will be support for OpenGL. (5/13)
• Diablo II will be supported by Windows NT and playable on that operating system. (5/8)
• Elevation will affect line of sight and whether or not your weapon/spell can hit the intended target. (5/8)
• There will be quests designed to challenge higher level characters. (5/7)
• There was a statement about unique items being "added to the world."  More on this as soon as possible... (5/7)
• Bill Roper states that powerful items will be very expensive. (5/7)
• There will be a waypointing system in towns to link places where a character has already traded items. (5/7)
• Up to 16 people may duel in the Arena, and a prize is picked before the match is underway (examples given were swords, gold, and potions).  Losers do not die in the conventonal sense, and will not lose equipment in an Arena match if they die. (5/6)
• In Multiplayer the other characters will be shown on the automap. (5/6)
• The Single Player mode will have cheat codes. (5/6)
• The Necromancer´s Bone-related spells are in the catagory of basic magic for purposes of resistances, basic magic can´t be resisted for now, but this may change.  (5/6)
• Armor will change between characters in color and form, but other weapons and equipment won´t vary a great deal. (5/6)
• You will be able to carry an unlimited amount of money. (5/6)
• Pressing the ALT key gives descriptions and locations for items laying on the ground. (5/6)
• Other players will no longer be directly targetable. (4/28)
• It appears that weapons can carry spell charges. (4/28)
• There will be servers in foreign countries. (4/28)
• The effects of potions will be temporary in Diablo II. (4/28)
• Elixers have been removed. (4/28)
• There will be a system of interconnected teleporters. They will be in a fixed location and will be permanently defined when you start a game. Using one of these allows the player to reach any other teleporter, as long as he has activated it first. (4/28)
• Guild Halls may have area devoted to training in them, like mini arenas. (4/25)
• The overall difficulty of a game increases with the number of characters in it. (4/25)
• The cycling of day and night causes changes to items and monsters that appear. (4/22)
• There will be 24-25 quests in Diablo II, each Act will have 5-6 quests. (4/22)
• Clan support in Diablo II will consist of distinctive names and colors. (4/22)
• There is a difference between a "Clan Hall" and a "Guild Hall", more on this soon. (4/21)
• NPC hirelings won´t be directly controllable. (4/12)
• Battle.net will have a Sanity Check for detecting hacking/cheating. (4/12)
• Mana will regenerate rather quickly. (4/12)
• Guild houses will be upgradable for more space, and customizable in a limited sense. (4/8)
• Running decreased your armor class, making you easier to hit. (4/7)
• The inventory system will be much smarter about item placement. (4/7)
• Online trading will be more secure.  Both players place their items in trading slots and both must press OK for the items to be traded. (4/7)
• There will be a separate area to place gold. (4/7)
• NPC´s or a particular item will cure poison (the Paladin can also cure poisoning). (4/7)
• Players will be able to see one another on their automaps. (4/7)
• Monster generators will allow respawning of monsters in an area.  The generators themselves can be destroyed. (4/7)
• There will be one-handed axes for use with a shield and also throwing axes. (4/7)
• The amount of people allowable in a guild house will depend on how much you paid for the guild house. (4/7)
• Diablo II will have a dueling arena where players can fight. (3/16)
• Multiplayer games can be saved, but restoring the game only changes the level's setup, so other people may take part in the saved game.  More details on this soon... (3/4)
• There will be three types of Shrines in Diablo II, some recharge life and mana and are reusable, some temporarily boost an attribute, and others function like those from Diablo. (3/4)
• Diablo II will have an in-town banking system where you can store excess items. (3/2)
• The four attributes are Force (Strength), Dexterity, Intelligence (Magic), and Vitality. (2/25)
• Two new types of  resistance have been added: Poison and Cold. (2/25)
• The Diablo II environment will not be as static as Diablo's (i.e. you can light torchs and manipulate other structures). (2/18)
• Hotkeys can be assigned to items in your inventory. (2/18)
• Enemies can run. (2/18)
• Quests have multiple endings (you could keep a quest-given item, give it to the NPC who wanted it, or sell it). (2/18)
• Each Act  has 5 or 6 main quests in addition to the smaller sub-quests. (2/18)
• There will be special bags for storing rings and amulets. (2/18)
• The more you kill types of monsters, the more you learn about them in the display of their names. (2/18)
• Diablo II will have difficulty levels. (2/4)
• Diablo II will have around 30 minutes of FMV secquences. (2/4)
• All character will be able to run, though some attribute (i.e. Mana) will limit how long they can maintain it. (2/4)
• Three new items categories: shoes, gloves, and belts. (1/30)
• By pressing the ALT key, items on the ground display extended information about their nature, not just their name. (1/30)
• Heavier armor affects running, (1/30)
• Diablo II will have 2 resolutions: 640x480 and 800x600. (1/30)
• New spell "masteries", if a spellcaster gets a mastery, all of those type of spells acquire a bonus. (1/30)
• Diablo II will function on a P166 with 3dfx. (1/30)
• The estimated release date is now in the later parts of 1999. (12/17)
• Summoned monsters and hirelings can be directed to attack, etc., though how this will be implemented is presently unknown. (12/17)
• Spellbooks now act like staves, holding specific spells.  They are recharged by dropping similar scrolls onto them, which recharge one spell in the book. (12/17)
• Higher level spells will require a specific level to be achieved. (12/17)
• The kick now knocks enemies back and does a little damage as well. (12/17)
• You can target multiple enemies with a bow or crossbow and the character will automatically divide arrows evenly between them. (12/17)
• Auto-attack allows a character to continuously attack by holding down the mouse button instead of pressing it rapidly. (12/17)
• A player's health and mana will slowly refill over time. (12/17)
• Diablo II's mini-map will have a 3D "feel", making it easier to use. (12/17)
• When hit, enemies display a brief flash, green, yellow, or red, which is an indicator of how much health they have left. (12/12)
• Holding down the ALT key highlights items on the screen so they are easier to find. (12/12)
• Diablo II will support mouse wheels (Intellimouse, NetMouse) for zooming in and out. (12/11)
• There will be other multiplayer modes of play such as modem and network.  Characters created with these will be stored on the user's hard drive.  (11/6)
• Spells like Auras can affect NPC's, monsters, and even other players. (10/11)
• Unique, absolutely one-of-a-kind items will be in Diablo 2.  Battle.Net will track uniques to see that they stay unique. (10/4)
• Arrows are limited this time around, but won't be a rare item (unless they're magical). (10/4)
• Some weapons (daggers, axes, and javelins) will be able to be thrown, as will some potions that will explode or release poisonous gas.  Each character will have throwing weapons. (10/4)
• Diablo 2 plans to support Guild Halls, which act as games themselves, holding up to 16 players.  The Halls might be able to be customized. (10/4)
• There will be difficulty setting in Diablo 2. (9/13)
• Diablo 2 will support 3dfx, but will not require it. (9/6)
• Polearms (spears, javelins, etc.) will do damage past one "square". (9/4)
• There are twice as many FMV's in Diablo 2 than there were in Diablo. (9/4)
• There is no cap on experience levels (but getting above 50 will be hard). (9/4)
• Single-player mode confirmed. (9/4)
• PK'ing in Diablo 2 can be regulated by the game creator. (9/4)
• The Diablo 2 world changes due to character actions. Killing a specific NPC may raise prices for that character. (8/29)
• NPC's are dynamic, some refuse to talk to you unless you've finished a certain quest or defeated them in combat. (8/29)
• You will be able to enter certain town buildings. (8/29)
• Diablo 2 will have terrain elevation for true movement. (8/29)
• Day and night cycling changes monster frequency as well as type. (8/29)
• Monsters make use of advanced combat techniques and AI. (8/29)
• Diablo 2 has areas in Acts relating to Diablo story elements, like Tal Rasha's crypt, which contains the Prime Evil known as Baal. (8/29)
• Spells may target, and perhaps kill, non-monster NPC's (perhaps Townspeople as well). (8/29)
• Characters can specialize on one unique facet of their skills, a Paladin has combat, healing and auras that can be worked on, while an Amazon has bows, javelins, and auras as well. (8/29)
• Inventory screens are now in color. (8/29)
• Patches will be released through Battle.Net, and will consist of new items for a dynamic economy, as well as new quests. (8/29)
• The acts of Diablo 2 are non-linear, meaning that players aren't drug by the nose to the point of any act. (8/29)
• Diablo 2 will consist of 4 CD's, each one containing a different act. No info on a DVD release at this time, though. (8/29)
• Characters will be saved on the Battle.Net servers.
• Diablo 2 will have 5 characters, the Amazon, the Barbarian, the Necromancer, the Paladin, and the Sorceress.
• It is currently sleighted to have four towns, each one with as much playability as Tristram of Diablo.
• It has an all new mix of monsters and NPC's, with only a handful of the originals showing up (Goatmen, Fallen Ones, skeletons, etc.).
• It will include an all new monster AI, incorporating tactics as befits their race and hierarchy.
• All new lighting effects have been implemented, from textures to dynamic light sourcing.
• Each piece of equipment you don will change your character's overall look.
• There is a greater emphasis on backstory and RPG elements.
• The ability to hire NPC's has been added, no details on this however.
• The character advancement system has been revamped, now it's more character-oriented.
• Day and night cycles have been included.
• Outside combat now occurs.
• Load time between levels has been eliminated for seamless play.
• Now you can gather a warparty of up to 8 players to explore the depths of the dungeons.
• Blizzard has promised a cheat-free Battle.Net enviroment.
• New combat techniques for melee-only characters such as the Amazon and Barbarian. These techniques plan to use mana.
• All new spells to choose from, some intended only for particular users.
• Collecting sets of particular items now increases their effects.