blizzard Diablo 2 Remaster Significantly More Likely After Two Job Postings Surface

[Starym 3,801]

 

There have been plenty of rumors about a supposed Diablo 2 remaster, Diablo 2: Resurrected being the most recent and most prominent, but we didn't really have any real indications for it other than rumors and supposed anonymous sources. That has changed a little today as two job postings indicate the possibility of a release and seemingly support the original rumor/leak.

First off there's the original leak which stated that Activision studio Vicarious Visions was making Diablo 2: Resurrected, which would be coming out around the end of the year (modified by the Corona epidemic) and it was based on a leak from an anonymous source. Then we had the weaker of the two indications that it's true recently, as a Blizzard job listing for a "Senior Producer, Live Ops - Classic Games" popped up. It didn't mention anything specific related to Diablo, so it could be any of the Classic games.

But today we have the bigger indication through another job posting, this time at Vicarious Visions themselves. VV are known for remastering older games, from the Crash Bandicoot series, to one of their current projects, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 and 2. The latter was cited as the reason that the rumor was false, as that was the remaster project VV was working on. The job posting from today, however, is for a QA position which "Must be comfortable with work involving mature themes, including but not limited to content with an M rating.", and the Tony Hawk series definitely isn't M (it's actually T for Teen).

Quote

Your Mission

Your mission is to collaborate with a team of talented testers to deliver high quality AAA products to spec and on time. You will be responsible for testing a variety of software with the goal of reporting defects into a bug tracking database. Quality Assurance Testers are critical to our development process. Come join us and help raise our quality bar even higher!

In the spirit of inclusion, we encourage all to apply.

Player Profile

·   You have a passion for video games and the Quality Assurance discipline

·   Knowledge of industry practices and software, including but not limited to Agile and Waterfall methodologies, Scrum, MS Office programs, Task Tracking Software, etc.

·   You excel in a collaborative environment

·   Must be comfortable with work involving mature themes, including but not limited to content with an M rating.

·   You possess strong oral and written communication skills with an ability to organize and manage time efficiently to help ensure the success of our teams

·   Available for 40 hours per week with the possibility of OT as needed

·   Bachelor’s Degree or equivalent with a background in an industry-related field is preferred

Obviously this doesn't specifically indicate that the QA tester would be working on Diablo 2, or even a remaster for that matter, but it's now the third major indication that it might be happening, so it's certainly increased our excitement for it.

So what would you want a Diablo 2 remaster to be? Untouched and as is, just with visual upgrades or can we actually get a functional stash that holds more than 7 items?

Source 1.
Source 2.

[Grimij 5]

All I want out this remaster is to not be a reforged disaster.

Spend a couple more bucks contracting it out well, and have solid art direction. Don't just be a minimum viable product cash grab.

[Environment 28]

After the WC3 disaster, not much hope for anything good

[Freakwent 6]

3 hours ago, Environment said:

After the WC3 disaster, not much hope for anything good

 

3 hours ago, Grimij said:

All I want out this remaster is to not be a reforged disaster.

Spend a couple more bucks contracting it out well, and have solid art direction. Don't just be a minimum viable product cash grab.

To be fair lads they pulled off the star craft 1 remaster almost perfectly, d2's graphics are much similar so my guess is just a simple HD remaster. it's the safest and IMO the best option for the game

[Arcling 898]

33 minutes ago, Freakwent said:

To be fair lads they pulled off the star craft 1 remaster almost perfectly, d2's graphics are much similar so my guess is just a simple HD remaster. it's the safest and IMO the best option for the game

Same here, I would expect it to resemble SC:R more. W3 was simply rushed and they are still patching it, but not many people are talking about it. In my opinion, they could do some minor tweaks. Like removing limited running mechanic, this always seemed pointless and even some developers weren't happy about it. Purists likely won't accept it, so it might stay anyway.

Edited June 18, 2020 by Arcling

[Starym 3,801]

5 hours ago, Environment said:

After the WC3 disaster, not much hope for anything good

There is literally 0% chance they let another disaster like that happen directly after it. And if it is Vicarious Visions doing it it's going to be a damn good remaster, they're doing really great work in general AND they actually have ARPG experience with Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2, which is an amazing game.

[darkgreenwax 413]

I sunk so much time of my high school into Diablo 2, and then more and more years later.

I would absolutely love a simple updated graphical overhaul, that would be amazing. My only ask is that they don't go insane with the lighting elements like they did in Diablo 3. Diablo 2 has a distinct darkness to it. Sure, when you're traveling outside Lut Gholein in the daytime desert, it's bright. But anytime you went into a cavern, a sewer, a temple, or similar, it was dark - and it kept you on your toes. Diablo 2 had a distinct grittiness to it, though possibly attributed to the pixelation of its time. However, the Starcraft remaster, in my opinion, has shown it can be updated with grace.

 

On a side note, I would not be against them putting in a new  optional mode that includes added items, skills, and other quality of life changes made from famous mods. or an "expert mode" like Terraria did, where they make it more difficult but with better loot to compensate.

[Arcling 898]

18 hours ago, Starym said:

There is literally 0% chance they let another disaster like that happen directly after it. And if it is Vicarious Visions doing it it's going to be a damn good remaster, they're doing really great work in general AND they actually have ARPG experience with Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2, which is an amazing game.

I wonder if Lemon Sky would be involved this time as well. At least for some model outsourcing.

[Starym 3,801]

7 hours ago, TyZone said:

I sunk so much time of my high school into Diablo 2, and then more and more years later.

I would absolutely love a simple updated graphical overhaul, that would be amazing. My only ask is that they don't go insane with the lighting elements like they did in Diablo 3. Diablo 2 has a distinct darkness to it. Sure, when you're traveling outside Lut Gholein in the daytime desert, it's bright. But anytime you went into a cavern, a sewer, a temple, or similar, it was dark - and it kept you on your toes. Diablo 2 had a distinct grittiness to it, though possibly attributed to the pixelation of its time. However, the Starcraft remaster, in my opinion, has shown it can be updated with grace.

 

On a side note, I would not be against them putting in a new  optional mode that includes added items, skills, and other quality of life changes made from famous mods. or an "expert mode" like Terraria did, where they make it more difficult but with better loot to compensate.

That's a really cool idea, maybe even incorporate some of the awesome mods d2 has (since there's no way those will be compatible)