In Diablo 2 Resurrected the first player has now reached level 99 in Hardcore mode. What sounds like a great individual achievement at first glance, where a player has prevailed against all odds, upon closer inspection seems more like a well-organized team effort. The winner also thanks his team and the Discord server.
What has the player achieved?
- Diablo 2 Resurrected by Blizzard is a remake of the ARPG classic from 2000. Diablo and Diablo 2 laid the foundation for the loot hunt we know today from MMORPGs.
- For a long time, it was criticized that upon the launch of Diablo 2 Resurrected in September 2021, no leaderboards, the “Ladder”, were active. It was said that this is what made Diablo 2 exciting, Blizzard was accused. Overall, there was a lot of criticism regarding the online mode.
- Ultimately, the leaderboards started in April 2022 and a player has now reached level 99 in Hardcore mode after about a month. This is impressive because you cannot die in Hardcore mode; otherwise, the character is lost.
Hardcore Mode was once intended as a tough test for solo players
What is Hardcore like for regular players? Normally, Diablo 2 Resurrected in Hardcore mode is a tough affair: One mistake, and months of progress are gone.
On reddit, a player writes that you cannot trust anyone. He once made the mistake of leveling up with someone and trusted them. But then he walked through a portal of his “friend”, who had set a trap and killed him within seconds. All progress was lost.
Normally, such a Hardcore run is pure thrill and an individual achievement. That’s how leaderboards used to be intended by Blizzard, and that’s generally how it is imagined: A leaderboard highlights individual accomplishments.
In April 2022, Diablo 2 “really started”:
But how is it really? As mmorpg.org.pl and Icy Veins report, the player “EazyE” achieved rank 99 by playing closely with a team that paved the way for him in every regard. He himself played as a Paladin, the “safest class in Diablo 2 Resurrected”:
- When a new game started, the helpers spread out and prepared individual bosses and waves for the one player who would then reap the maximum EXP and loot.
- Players specifically searched for the EXP shrines in Act 1 and then set a portal to grant the player these bonuses.
- Additionally, players had already prepared boss fights such as the fight against Diablo so that he could just join at the end and grab the maximum loot.
This is how the player reacts: On reddit, where many celebrate the player, Lifty187 also particularly thanks his team, without which none of this would have been possible.
He lists countless names, thanks the Discord server, and says: It was a massive team effort.
Ultimately, they “invested the time” and reaped the victory.
Comments from others that there was little competition for the top spot, he dismissed with: “And where are you in the leaderboard?”
Diablo 2 Resurrected: German player reaches max level in 8 days – “How the hell is that possible?”
Gaming brings back the games of 2000, but they are played differently today
What’s behind it: We see how gaming has changed in 20 years; instead of relatively innocent and naive attempts to play Diablo 2 solo and fight their way up, there are now team efforts aimed at efficiency and maximum performance with minimal time investment.
This is certainly not the fault of EazyE and his team. Of course, it is an achievement, and there’s nothing wrong with that, but whether David Brevik and his team thought about it this way 22 years ago when they designed Diablo 2 seems very questionable.
The same problem also exists with WoW, where guilds are now so well-organized that it is no longer comparable to “earlier times”.
