Diablo II: Lord of Destruction Final Beta Notice

This is the final beta notice I received in my inbox from Blizzard with a little more information on the release and the end of the beta of Diablo II’s expansion pack, Lord of Destruction:

Greetings, Diablo II: Lord of Destruction beta testers.

Tens of thousands of people applied for the chance to do what you have done: test out Diablo II: Lord of Destruction before it is officially released on June 29, 2001. A select group of people were eventually selected to participate in this beta test, and your feedback has been invaluable. Not only have you helped us stress-test the Battle.net realms in order to help us prepare for what we expect to be an influx of new and returning players, but you have helped us refine the game.

When you see the final version of Diablo II: Lord of Destruction in stores soon, you will notice some changes in game play from the game play in the beta version. These changes were incorporated in response to comments and questions we received from our numerous beta testers. These changes include modifications to the new Assassin and Druid classes, changes to the five classes from the classic version of Diablo II and to the thousands of new items added to the game in Diablo II: Lord of Destruction.

Our most important objective with this beta test was to provide a robust Battle.net environment for Diablo II: Lord of Destruction players – no one could have predicted the way Diablo II exploded in popularity when it went on sale just over a year ago, and we’re trying to ensure we’re ready for what we hope will be another blockbuster this summer.

Furthermore, we’ve made a number of enhancements to the Battle.net infrastructure over the past year, enhancements that continue to this day: We’ve increased the number of game servers in every part of the world, added two new Realms in Asia and increased the number of personnel dedicated to Battle.net support to make for a better gaming experience for our customers.

As one of the first Diablo II players to face down the wrath of Baal and attempt to foil his plan to damn the world once and for all, we hope you enjoyed your experience and will return to do battle once more this summer.

The game is scheduled to be on store shelves beginning June 29. The beta test will be ending on Thursday, June 28. Please note that you will need to uninstall Diablo II and reinstall it before playing either Diablo II classic or the commercial release of Diablo II: Lord of Destruction.

Thank you for your continued support with this project; we look forward to seeing you on Battle.net.

BEAU YARBROUGH
PR Coordinator
Blizzard Entertainment