Not only were all sorts of listings, including excitement and numerous Diablo IV-related complaints, buzzing through the Diablo II: Resurrected player base, but Ladder Season 12 was set loose by Blizzard. With a livestreams-worthy announcement by the official Diablo Twitter, “All of Sanctuary will know your name” accompanied by fire emojis, the grinding shall resume.
So what gets said on hype for new seasons? Basically, the fresh start for everyone. People start at level one with nothing: no gear, no progress, no Yay! So for the very few, this is a race to get on the leaderboard fastest, to be that guy who scores the rarest items with his name carved into the map of Sanctuary. It’s funny and weird that for one that’s 20 years plus, it still calls for this much passion. The season down, the mad race is officially set loose.
But it is another story if one scrolls through the announcement’s comments. Really a microcosm of the entire Diablo player base currently. Absolute hype. User Souls Alwayson chimed in with “Time to grind!” That being the shout of the hour. Another commenter, krlos, said,” I just playing, really good game. Level 15.” Simple and pure, happy to be there.
Then there were the little glances towards Diablo IV. And trust me, there are plenty of them. For the D2R season 12 announcement quickly turned into a suggestion box of sorts for all of the major grievances against the newer game. User Bastian Vooper didn’t restrain himself: “Diablo IV lags as shit and y’all do nothing…” Ouch. Straight to the point. Another player, UniQue, came with a simple almost desperate plea: “Fix missing d4 cosmetics.” It apparently looked like a huge bunch of D4 players saw this tweet as their opportunity to directly air their grievances to the developers.
Those two titles can hardly be contrasted against each other. Pretty much, in essence, poolnoodlex said, “SEASON 12?! holy crap i have been on d4 for too long.” This is the moment many players had been looking for after forgetting that Diablo II: Resurrected is still a seasonal game with updates regularly, while the even more recent bane of Diablo IV is its endgame systems. Instantly, many users like Alana and Lanstus hit the big questions: “When do we get a ladder mode in Diablo 4?” and “Leaderboard in Diablo IV when?” Obviously, there is a big demand for something like a competitive reset system to be brought on the new game.
And then we have those who simply want much more for D2R. The comment section overflows with wishlist ideas for the classic. User LongButt gave a whole wishlist including things like: “Optional Crossplay lobbies” and “Standard of heroes expansion.” Another user, TechGuyTony, was more radical in approach, pleading, “Can you just open this up to modding like Skyrim? Clearly outside of ladder resets there’s no support for this game anymore… Just let the modders take over.” This sentiment is by far said more than once. The players love the game but feel the possibility of it is being thrown down by the developers.
Oop, what was I saying? Oh, right, the chaos. While the requests and complaints go on, the players are here for the history too. User Kabricie just said, “Still the best Game from the franchise…” which probably is the sentiment that a huge part of the community agrees on. And then you get those spicy takes every now and then, like user ekurisona coming in with, “never forget condor studios made diablo 1 and 2, not blizzard – they’re still here grifting 30 years later.” You have the entire spectrum present in these reply chains; from pure nostalgia to ingrained cynicism.
So where does all that leave us? Diablo II: Resurrected Ladder Season 12 is live and stands as proof of that rare, everlasting game’s and its staying power. It has outlasted several other games and remains with its player base still passionate enough to jump into a fresh grind. At the same time, that rundown and reaction speak volumes about how the community is torn between its fondness for the old and their very real frustrations with the current development of the franchise’s newest entry. Whether this is the first or thousandth time you’re installing D2R, the next run for loot and glory has begun again. Alongside the leaderboards lie a glowing hellish. Good luck out there. PlayStation and Xbox players alike can enjoy the action.
