We’re preparing for a Diablo II ladder reset to coincide with the release of the 1.13 patch that’s currently in development. We don’t have a final release date for the patch yet, but we’re providing early warning as a reset could occur as early as the end of April. We’ll be providing updates with more certain dates once the patch is closer to release.
Please be aware that with a ladder reset
all ladder characters are moved to non-ladder. This means that your characters will still be accessible but will no longer have access to ladder-only features and games. In order to play in the new ladder season after the reset you will need to make new ladder characters.
This thread will be updated with more information as it becomes available.
Update - 7/20
As stated in the "Myth" thread (
http://forums.battle.net/thread.html?topicId=18031060417&sid=3000) we're still working toward releasing the Warcraft III patch currently in testing on our Westfall Public Test Realm. Testing is looking good on the Warcraft III patch though and once it's released focus will go to the Diablo II 1.13 patch.
The 1.13 patch is very far along so it should only be a limited amount of testing before it hits the Westfall PTR. Still, any number of issues could delay a release so any dates or estimates for release won't be made available.
A forum is now available for discussing the PTR and patch and will continue to be available for posting feedback and bug reports once the patch actually goes live. This is to ideally keep the other Diablo II forums dedicated to current game discussion. Any threads discussing the 1.13 patch/PTR/etc. will be moved to the Test Realm forum, or deleted.
http://forums.battle.net/board.html?forumId=20601702&sid=3000
Update - 8/5
The Warcraft III patch has been released but in order to resolve some persistent issues work is not yet moving to the Diablo II patch. Again this involves some very high priority issues that need to be resolved before work can continue on D2 1.13
We'll keep you updated as work progresses.
Update - 9/2
Work commences on patch 1.13. We won't be providing any information on when the patch will be available, except that we expect the PTR to be available "soon". We will provide some amount of warning very, very shortly before the PTRs become available. Please keep in mind that any number of factors could delay the start of the PTR and ultimate release of the patch. Thanks for being patient, we're getting close now.
Update - 9/30
The Diablo II 1.13 patch is on temporary hold while we investigate potential impact on the Battle.net service. As we moved closer to launching the patch concerns grew that an increase in the player stash size (a feature in the patch) could compromise the Diablo II Battle.net service. The hardware and configuration could potentially not handle the increased stash size gracefully under heavy load. Currently we’re investigating potential impact as it is one of the larger content features in the patch and we’re hoping it can remain a part of the release. If it does have to be removed it will require additional time to remove it, generate new patches, and test, which will add time before we can go live on the PTR.
We’re hoping to have our diagnostics and a final decision on how we’ll be moving forward decided by early next week and we’ll have an update for you at that time.
Update - 10/14
The decision on whether or not to include the enlarged stash size has been slightly delayed. As mentioned previously it would require some additional weeks of development and would remove one of the most requested features were we unable to include it. If it were to be included the concern is that it could render Diablo II unplayable, and repairing the issue after the fact would draw heavily on development resources. Which is also something we obviously want to avoid.
We hope to be able to reach a conclusion and decision soon on the future of the 1.13 patch, and we’ll keep you updated as it develops.
Update - 11/18
We've recently completed a revised version of the Diablo II 1.13 patch that removes the increased stash size. A larger stash will unfortunately no longer be a feature included in patch 1.13 due to the previously mentioned concerns. As higher priority work continues on Warcraft III we're hoping to complete our quality assurance tests for the 1.13 patch in the next few weeks. But as always, the types of issues that may appear and take higher priority are rarely foreseeable. We continue to plan a release based on our best intentions.
