Diablo 2: Resurrected PTR Patch 2.4 Is All About The Ladder Ranked System

Blizzard has released the patch notes for Diablo 2: Resurrected PTR update 2.4, which contains everything players need to know about Ladder testing, balance changes, and performance updates.

The Diablo 2: Resurrected Ladder launch--which will release today only on the test realm--represents an optional ranked competitive system of the game through a series of modes available to select from with a fresh Ladder-specific character(s).

The developer explained that each mode will have its own leaderboard where players compete to gain EXP within a limited timeframe, while also having access to Ladder-specific content. Afterwards, when the Ladder season ends, leaderboard rankings will reset, moving characters to non-ladder mode.

It was noted that once a season ends, players will have until the start of the season after next (for example, from when season one ends until season three begins) to retrieve items from their seasonal Ladder and bring them to normal online play.

In addition, Blizzard is tweaking how Uber Diablo spawns by making it so when the threshold is met by selling enough Stone of Jordan rings, Uber Diablo will spawn for everyone in the same region, not only those on the same server instance.

As usual, a number of general changes have also been made to classes, including some buffs to the Amazon's physical damage per level over its multiple abilities, while Druid's Hurricane skill requirement for Armageddon has been removed. The full list of class changes can be found on Blizzard's website, while an excerpt of the patch notes can be viewed below.

Diablo 2: Resurrected PTR patch 2.4 notes

Rune Words

• Plague can now be used on Claws and Daggers in addition to Swords
• Infinity, Obedience, and Pride can now be used by Spears and Amazon Spears

Level Area and Monster updates

• Increased Unique monster density in the new level 85 areas

General

• Added player messaging for when a player tries to launch the game on an out of date patch version
• Added 'Message of the Day' capabilities to the main menu to allow us to share important game updates with all players

AI

• Improved the reliability of pets, summons, and mercenaries teleporting to the player instead of being despawned

Barbarian

• Updated Barbarian Leap and Leap attack animation behavior to give it a smoother trajectory that should keep the Barbarian on-screen at all times, and reduce jerkiness when he lands

Character Selection

• Newly created characters will now sort to the top of the character selection list

Mercenaries

• Mercenary UIs will now display if the mercenary cannot use a skill because they are too low level

Online

• Added messaging if a player attempts to create a private channel with a name longer than the character limit
• Added a /offline chat command which sets your user presence to 'Offline'

Vendors

• Players can now buy pre-filled tomes and keys when using a controller

Performance

• Optimized particle effects on some console platforms
• Added a VFX quality option for PC players
• Optimized inventory quick-move actions to reduce delay

Settings

• The Offline Game Difficulty Scale setting will now persist between game sessions.
• Added an option to choose whether or not to confine your mouse cursor to the game screen
• Added a VRAM usage bar in the settings menu