On September 23rd, Blizzard launched Diablo 2: Resurrected, a fully remastered version of the iconic 2002 dungeon crawler for PC, Xbox, Switch, and PlayStation consoles. Despite a rocky start and a spate of review bombing, it has gotten rave reviews. One fan-favorite element, though, is still missing from the critically praised game.
On Reddit and Twitter, Diablo 2: Resurrected fans are questioning when Blizzard would incorporate the game’s Ladder system. This isn’t a new question; there have been threads on the subject for months. Unfortunately, they have yet to receive a firm response.
Ladder is Diablo 2’s competitive multiplayer component. It’s effectively a leaderboard that players can opt into when starting a new game. Ladder players can’t interact with non-Ladder players and vice versa. This creates separate in-game economies for competitive and non-competitive players. Diablo 2 further breaks Ladder into four different modes based on difficulty and if players want to use the Lord of Destruction expansion. Ladder resets every six months, moving all Ladder characters to the non-Ladder game. However, players get to keep any-Ladder specific items and bring them into the standard Diablo 2 game.
Although Blizzard plans to introduce competitive modes to Diablo 2: Resurrected in the future, the game was published without Ladder. Blizzard postponed the launch to avoid overburdening its systems during the busy holiday season, according to the business. The time delay also helps new Diablo 2 players to familiarize themselves with the game before entering competitive play. Blizzard may be using the wait to check whether players discover any exploits that could disrupt ranked play, according to some fans. This gives the studio adequate time to make any necessary changes to Ladder before it goes live.
In Diablo 2: Resurrected, Blizzard is also changing how Ladder works. More frequent restarts are one of them, though it’s unclear how much shorter the new Ladder durations will be. According to an online rumor, Blizzard intends to reset the Resurrected Ladder every three months. Others have predicted that the Ladder in the remaster will include four-month seasons. However, neither scenario has been confirmed by Blizzard.
In Diablo 2: Resurrected, Blizzard is also changing how Ladder works. More frequent restarts are one of them, though it’s unclear how much shorter the new Ladder durations will be. According to an online rumor, Blizzard intends to reset the Resurrected Ladder every three months. Others have predicted that the Ladder in the remaster will include four-month seasons. However, neither scenario has been confirmed by Blizzard.
When Blizzard plans to introduce Ladder to Diablo 2: Resurrected is also unknown. Blizzard’s official announcement is “short after launch,” leaving a lot of space for interpretation. According to some fans, the rollout will happen in January, four months after the remaster’s release. After all, the start of a new year seems like a natural place to start. It also corresponds to the four-month cycle described above. In the end, only Blizzard seems to know when Ladder for Diablo 2: Resurrected will be available. So yet, the studio does not appear to want to share.
