Official Blizzard Quote:
The Diablo II 1.13 patch is on temporary hold while we investigate potential impact on the Battle.net service. As we moved closer to launching the patch concerns grew that an increase in the player stash size (a feature in the patch) could compromise the Diablo II Battle.net service. The hardware and configuration could potentially not handle the increased stash size gracefully under heavy load. Currently we?re investigating potential impact as it is one of the larger content features in the patch and we?re hoping it can remain a part of the release. If it does have to be removed it will require additional time to remove it, generate new patches, and test, which will add time before we can go live on the PTR.
We?re hoping to have our diagnostics and a final decision on how we?ll be moving forward decided by early next week and we?ll have an update for you at that time.
The patch has been delayed.
Again.
On the bright side, it looks like the increased inventory size previously suggested (see Patch 1.13: Larger Inventory for Diablo II) is planned to stay, although it is the cause of the delay. It also seems that a sincere promise on progress will be made next week- whether or not this will mean anything with regard to how they have handled the relaying of information and the keeping of promises in the past is yet to be seen (see WCIII Patch is Up- Diablo II Patch 1.13 Soon to Follow?).
UPDATE (10/01/09):
It would seem that Bashiok is on a reply spree for 1.13 today. It is confirmed that two of the three top requests for patch 1.13 will not be met:
Official Blizzard Quote:
Higher resolution, which we unfortunately just can't do because it would fundamentally change the game and require a huge development investment to have the game/servers spawn enemies farther out, have them aggro from farther out, and even then it increases travel time to the player... it's just a mess. Apparently increasing the resolution in LoD was this gigantic issue so I think the idea of increasing it again makes some of the old time programmers want to curl up in a fetal position.
And new end game content, which we do want to continue adding, but just wasn't possible for this patch.
So far, the following has been confirmed:
- Increased stash size, which is the cause of the current delay as they take hardware and server considerations in to thought, is so far essentially confirmed.
- No increased resolution- it would require "fundamental change" to the game and would have to account for faster player traveling issues (like being able to Teleport or Jump farther), spawning monsters on a larger scale around the player, and monster aggro would have to be taken in to account.
- No new end-game content. Bashiok noted that with this patch it would not be possible to add it, although there was no inkling of whether or not it would or would not be included with any future patch.
UPDATE (10/14/09):
Official Blizzard Quote:
Update - 10/14
The decision on whether or not to include the enlarged stash size has been slightly delayed. As mentioned previously it would require some additional weeks of development and would remove one of the most requested features were we unable to include it. If it were to be included the concern is that it could render Diablo II unplayable, and repairing the issue after the fact would draw heavily on development resources. Which is also something we obviously want to avoid.
We hope to be able to reach a conclusion and decision soon on the future of the 1.13 patch, and we?ll keep you updated as it develops.
No real news, just a rehashing of the previous statement made a week ago, except now he is not alluding to a dated announcement.
If that happened, Gamers everywhere would get jailed and we would all band together as one gang, more powerful than any other gang in history. Games would be our drugs.
BTW, edi-lupus, You obviously do not know the great and powerful Drizzt Do 'Urden and his companion, Guenhwyvar.
Behold His Greatness!
Sry..im just really pissed of right now.
plus cant really even play the game anyway. so i have plenty of time
*not to be taken literally*
If not, we can go back to running meph alone, which is still fun
I get it, the delay is being delayed.
He is talking about the increased stash size.
One of the larger content features?
So, there are a few "large" content features in the patch?
What else could be as large as an increased stash size... Maybe a tweaking of the skill tree, a more detailed character page, a bigger inventory? maybe special slots for charms.
Kinda nice to be given a notice tho .. after all, we are just the fans
Xhawk, DIII is coming out around October 2010, you better be the first in line and after you done me good, you will towel me off after each sucking.
DIII won't be out before 2011.
like daggers and all 2 space items now take 1 space
all 3 space items now take 2
all 4 space now take 2
all 6 space now take 4 and so on =3
that way you dont gotta do anything too fancy except change the pics a little or completely change the pics lol
This ^^ And now I have a feeling they will scrap this feature and then take 6 months to remove it...
I gave up on the D2 patch about a month ago and started toplay Hell Unleashed through TCP/IP and that kept me going until our party kinda fell to 2 people...so now the wait for 1.13 continues...disappointing...
Heh...just screwin with you guys.
I think we should all be used to the fact that a) Blizzard is extremely dedicated to all their games...
and They take forever...lol
The good thing is though, how many games do you know of that still get content updates a decade..lemme reiterate....A DECADE after it came out?
It could be worse though..the patch could be a nude cheat code for the Necromancer....*shudder*