What exactly is new about the Diablo II Expansion?
Two new character classes each with 30 unique skills/spells, the ability to play the new character classes through the original four acts of Diablo II, new monster types (including Bosses, Uniques and Subordinates), interactive environments (such as Siege Towers, Town Walls and Fortified Battlements), thousands of new weapons, armor and magical items (including class-specific Quest items), new recipes for the Horadric Cube, and increased storage space in your Stash.

Have you changed the resolution from 640x480?
Yes. Diablo II Lord of Destruction supports 800x600 resolution.

Will the Expansion set have three difficulty levels?
Yes, we will maintain 3 difficulty levels throughout the Expansion set, as well. It is important to understand that the Expansion is fundamentally an extension of the current storyline (Act V), meaning it is more difficult than Act IV and ramps up accordingly with each difficulty level.

Will there be changes to Nightmare and Hell Difficulty?
Yes, we have improved the balance at higher difficulty levels to offer a greater challenge for high-level characters.

Will the expansion set be more difficult for advanced players?
Diablo II: Lord of Destruction begins where Act IV left off, so the difficulty will be greater. For the more diligent Diablo II player, we have increased the challenges in both Nightmare and Hell difficulty levels, as well as the rewards that can be gained there.

How many new music tracks and cinematic sequences will be in the Expansion set?
There will be 2 new cinematic sequences, as well as all new music for Act V. Although we do not have the exact timing of these new pieces as of yet, we are sure that players will be happy with all aspects of the Expansion set.

Will players who do not have the Expansion set be able to see those new classes in their games?
People who only have Diablo II will be able to see the two new character classes represented in their basic armor, much as the basic Warrior is used to represent the original Diablo in the chat room. Expansion and standard characters will not be able to play in the same game, however, which is similar to the restrictions between StarCraft and Brood War games.

Will players with the Expansion set be able to play in games with Diablo II players?
Players will be able to play in either Diablo II or Diablo II: Lord of Destruction games, as long as they have characters appropriate for that game type. Basically, Diablo II characters can only play with other Diablo II characters, and Diablo II: Lord of Destruction characters can only play with other Diablo II: Lord of Destruction characters.

How will character conversion work?
A character will be created either as a normal Diablo II character or as a Diablo II: Lord of Destruction character. Existing Diablo II characters can also be converted into Diablo II: Lord of Destruction characters. It is important to remember that Diablo II: Lord of Destruction characters cannot play in games or trade with Diablo II characters. Finally, Diablo II players will not be able to play with the new character classes or use any of the new items or abilities associated with Diablo II: Lord of Destruction unless they own the expansion set and use expansion characters.

When you take your Diablo II character into an Expansion game, is your character permanently converted?
Yes. Because your character may pick up Expansion-only items, you cannot interact with characters that do not have access to that artwork. You will be required to "convert" your character prior to using him in the Expansion, however, so your choice will be an informed one.

Will characters that are converted over to the Expansion show up on the ladder?
No. You will need to create a new Expansion character (after a certain date) to show up on the Expansion ladder. More details will be available on www.battle.net when Diablo II: Lord of Destruction is released.

Will there be new quests, if so how many?
Yes, there are six (6) new quests in Act V.

How big is the new Stash?
The new Stash is currently twice the size of the Diablo II Stash. We have also increased the amount of Gold you can carry in your Stash.

Will there be new Shrine types?
No.

Will there be new "recipes" for the Horadric Cube?
Yes. We intend to make the Horadric Cube much more useful throughout the entire game in the Expansion set.

Will the level limit be increased?
The character level limit of 99 will remain the same for the expansion.

Will the Battle.net interface look different than in Diablo II?
The interface may undergo some cosmetic changes, but we expect the functionality to remain consistent.

Will the Diablo II Expansion be on separate servers?
Characters for Diablo II: Lord of Destruction will use the same database structure and will share space on the existing Realms. Diablo II characters will not be able to play with the two new character classes, however, or with original Diablo II character classes who have been created as Diablo II: Lord of Destruction characters.

Will the ladder system be changed or updated for the Expansion?
We will have specific ladders for Diablo II: Lord of Destruction characters.

Will the Expansion set introduce trading in the chat rooms?
We are not going to support chat room trading between characters. While it would be a great feature, a host of problems and design challenges occur (such as what if you don't have enough space) that actually make trading within the game the easiest means to exchange items.

Will there be any additions to Acts I-IV, such as new caves or dungeons?
Although Diablo II: Lord of Destruction will not alter the terrain of Acts I - IV, it will have both new wilderness and interior areas in Act V.

Can you expand on the enhancements being made to Acts I-IV?
The two new characters start in Act I, so they will have a whole game's worth of new skills. For the other character types, there will be new class-specific items; socketable rare, magic, and Unique items; new Sets; new Horadric Cube recipes; new Jewels and Runes; and hundreds of new magic properties that combine to make thousands of new items.

Will I have to play through the game again to access the new Expansion Act?
No, you can take your existing character directly to Act V if you have already defeated Diablo. This is true for each difficulty level you have completed.

What is the process for entering Act V?
After you kill Diablo, Tyreal will appear and, after setting the stage for the continuing storyline, will open a Portal for your character.

How big is Act V in comparison to the rest of the game?
The fifth act is roughly the size of Act I or II (but not as big as Act III or as small as Act IV) from Diablo II.

Will there be new Hirelings in Act V?
Yes -- you will be able to hire Barbarians.

Will the Vendors in Act V sell new items?
While we are not creating any new basic item classes, the vendors in Act V will sell the best equipment from Act III and IV.

Will there be falling snow in Act V?
Yes.

Will Natalya be an NPC in Act V?
Although Natalya herself will not be an NPC in the game, we thought it would be nice to show you that Assassins existed in our world concept even when Diablo II came out.

Will you be required to complete Act V before moving onto the Nightmare difficulty level? Will converted characters still move onto Nightmare after Act IV, or will they now need to complete Act V?
Characters that can already adventure in Nightmare or Hell difficulties will still be able to do so after converting to expansion characters. Any characters that are originally created as Diablo II: Lord of Destruction characters (regardless of class) will need to complete Act V before moving on to the higher difficulty levels.

What happens when I use the Act V Quest Reward "Personalize"?
Personalize adds your character name an item, such as "Stormchaser's Frostburn Gauntlets."

Does Baal look the same in game as he does in the Teaser cinematic?
Yes and no. Baal is undergoing a metamorphosis, much as the Wanderer did in Diablo II, and this is represented in his evolving look in the cinematic sequences and the game.

Will the skills limit be increased?
The current maximum of 20 assignable skill points per skill will remain intact.

Will all characters have new skills, or just the Druid and Assassin?
Only the Druid and Assassin will have new skills, as this is the only fair way to deal with existing characters. There are abundant new features in the Expansion set that will benefit all of the character classes, however.

Will the Expansion set include any balance changes to existing character classes?
We understand that players have invested a great deal of time in their characters, and we do not want to nullify their efforts. While the Assassin and Druid will be balanced to fit into the existing game, and Act V will be balanced to accommodate the original character classes, we are using this opportunity to take a serious look at the balance of the overall game. We are also giving serious consideration to the desires and feedback from the Diablo II community regarding the functionality and balance of skills and items.

Some fan sites list skill trees for the Druid and the Assassin. Is this information correct?
Since we are constantly evaluating and changing skills and spells for the new character classes, chances are excellent that rumors and inferred information on the fansites are already obsolete.

Will the Druid be proficient at melee combat?
Although the skills of the Druid tend towards creature summoning and elemental attacks, his shape-shifting abilities will provide a number of interesting melee options.

Into what types of creatures can the Druid shape-shift?
The Druid can assume the forms of a Werewolf and a Werebear.

How will shape-shift change the Defense and other statistics or abilities of the Druid?
Both forms augment different statistics and figured characteristics of the Druid. When in Werewolf form, for example, the Druid is granted an increase in Life, Stamina, Attack Rating, and Attack Speed. When in the form of a Werebear, his Life, Damage, and Defense Bonus are affected.

Will there be special skills for the Druid when he is in a shape-shifted form?
Although the Druid cannot cast the majority of his spells while in his Werewolf or Werebear forms, there are special skills he can learn that are only useable once he has shape-shifted. Examples would be Rabies, while in Wolf form, or Fire Claws. Also, the Druid can summon "pets" while shape-shifted.

Does the Druid have the ability to heal?
The Druid can use his "Carrion Vine" spell to summon a living vine that consumes corpses and then transfers some of that energy to the Druid as health.

What will set a Summoning Druid apart from a Summoning Necromancer?
The Druid is different in that he interacts more with his minions. He engages in melee combat more than the Necromancer, so the Druid is a bit more balanced in that direction. Also, the Druid summons creatures from the wilderness while the Necromancer requires corpses to create his minions.

How will the Assassin's traps work?
The Assassin places the traps on the ground and then focuses on either luring or driving enemies into her snare. Some are direct damage traps while others spray out numerous smaller traps.

Will the Assassin's traps be visible to other players?
Yes, but they are camouflaged and sometimes hard to spot unless you are paying attention. It is important to keep a sharp eye peeled when engaging in PvP play against this character.

Does the Assassin know Kung Fu?
The Assassin will employ various martial art styles in melee combat.

Will items that have been converted to the expansion be able to return to normal Diablo II?
No. Diablo II: Lord of Destruction characters will not be able to trade with Diablo II characters due to the differences in item types, abilities, and artwork.

Can all the characters use any weapon/armor?
As long as a character meets the requirements for the weapon/armor, that character can equip it. However, the expansion does offer items that can only be used by characters of a specific class.

Are there Exceptional Unique and Set Items?
Yes. Also, we altered the set-piece rules to make them more fun. For example you may get a bonus for only having 2 items in a particular set of 4 items.

Are there new Unique versions of all the current Exceptional items?
Although not all exceptional items have a unique version, many of them do.

Can you gamble for Exceptional items?
Yes.

Can you gamble for Staves, Wands, and Scepters?
No.

What new abilities will Gems have? What new items will be socketable with Gems?
The new abilities are still being tested to ensure the best play and balance, but we are working to make them both powerful and useful. As far as new socketed items are concerned, the armor on a character's torso may now have sockets for Gems, Runes, and Jewels.

Will you be changing the number of existing sockets on existing items?
Yes. Many items that previously only had a few sockets may have more -- and in some cases, many more.

Will there be items with more than three sockets in the Expansion set?
Yes! In fact, not only can there be more than three sockets per item, there will be socketable magic, rare, and unique items. There will also be some new, exciting options for socketing items that will greatly expand this aspect of the game.

What are Jewels?
Jewels are similar to Gems, except that they acquire random magic properties.

What are Runes?
Runes are like Gems, in that they can be inserted into sockets. If the player puts certain combinations of runes in the correct order into an item with exactly that number of sockets and of the correct item type, the item's name will change into a Rune Word. A "unique" name will be displayed in gold, and the item will acquire extra powers, depending on the "rune word" that was used.

What are Rune Words?
When the player puts certain combinations of Runes in the correct order into a specific item with exactly that number of sockets, the item will change into a Rune Word item. A Rune Word name will be displayed in gold and the item will acquire extra properties, depending on the Rune Word that was used. Diablo II: Lord of Destruction will ship with many Rune Word formulae that will be available to both Single Player and Multiplayer Characters. Additional Rune Words may be made available only on the Diablo II Realms.

What are Crafted Items?
Crafted items are similar in power to Rare items, but can only be created through Horadric Cube recipes. Each Crafted Item has one or more 'fixed' properties. In addition to these fixed properties, a Crafted Item can have from 1-5 standard Rare Magic Prefix/Suffix effects. Diablo II: Lord of Destruction will ship with many Crafted formulae available to both Single Player and Multiplayer Characters. Additionally, some Crafted Items will only be available on the Diablo II Realms.

Why are some Rune Words and Crafted Items only available on the Battle.net Realms?
This allows us keep some level of discovery in the game since some members of our community are very good at immediately discovering all of the secret formulae when the game first launches. This also allows us to add new formulae to the Realms after the game has been released to create new items.

Will the Class-specific items be better than anything that is out there already, including Rare and Unique items?
The Class specific items are another basic type of item. For example, a Katar is similar to a short sword, but only Assassins can use them. We are still designing what kinds of extra attributes these items will have and how they are acquired.

How many types of Class-specific items will there be per character?
While there is only one type of item specific to each class, there can be many variations of this basic item type. In the case of the Druid, for example, the class-specific item is a pelt, but there are many different types of pelts within that item class. There will also be Normal, Exceptional, and Elite versions of these item types.

Can you describe some of the new class-specific items?
Class-specific items are an exciting new addition to Diablo II. The Barbarian will have new types of Helms. The Paladin will have new Shields. The Amazon will get new Weapons. The Sorceress will gain a new item type known as Orbs that can be carried in place of a weapon. The Necromancer will have different forms of totems to carry instead of a shield. The Druid will wear various animal Pelts in place of helmets. Finally, the Assassin will wield hand-to-hand weapons based around her martial arts skills.

Will there be Exceptional and Elite versions of the class-specific items?
Yes.

Will Charsi be able to imbue the new class-specific items?
Yes, she will be able to imbue these new item types, such as an Assassin’s Katar or a Druid’s Pelt.

Can other classes use the Assassin’s Katar or Claw?
No. These are some of the class-specific items in the Expansion set that are only useable by the Assassin.

What will the Orbs of the Sorceress actually do?
Orbs will enhance her ability to cast spells. They will have a variety of attributes that may raise damage, grant resistances, enhance a particular skill or even enhance an entire Tab of skills!

Can you describe how Orbs will be used in more detail?
Orbs are one-handed, weapon-classed items, so a Sorceress can wield one and still use a shield. Although they can be wielded along with a shield, an Orb does only a minimal amount of physical damage to an enemy. Orbs do offer increases to specific spells or entire classes of spells, and they may have other magical properties associated with them as well.

How will there be thousands of new weapons? Will there be that many new Class-specific items, or does that mean more new suffixes/prefixes, as well as the new Exceptional Set/Unique items?
There will be new prefixes, new suffixes, new item types, new class specific items, new set items and new quest items. When you combine the new possibilities this brings to random item generation, it will provide players with a stunning new array of weapons and armor to wield.

What are Ethereal items?
Ethereal items exist only partially in the mortal plane of existence, making them translucent to the eye. Ethereal weapons do more damage than their normal counterparts, and Ethereal armor has an increased Defense. While they typically have full durability when found, they cannot be repaired.

What are ‘Elite’ Items?
Elite items are a new class of weapons and armor above Exceptional items that first start to appear at the end of Nightmare Difficulty. Example: Pike -> Lance -> War Pike.

Will spear-class weapons receive +1-2 to Amazon skills?
We will be adding Amazon skills to Spears, Javelins and Bows.

Will there be any magical and rare throwing weapons?
Yes.