Project D2: Diablo 2 reborn

Project Diablo 2, is a private server for Diablo 2. It adds a massive amount of content, balance changes, and new items for the players to find. It stays true to the original Diablo 2 experience while fixing some glaring issues. The balance changes are the biggest improvement here. No longer shall Paladins be literal gods. They are just as good as the other classes, and you can finally play something else.

Installing Project D2 can be a bit daunting if you are not computer savvy. However, the devs have a fantastic tutorial for you to get installed. Please note that you will have to own a legit copy of Diablo 2 and Lord of Destruction to play. You can find the install guide from their wiki here.

No longer will you have to use outdated resolutions made for square monitors. You can now use your native resolution. You can even use ultrawide without black bars, although with an ultrawide it will stretch a bit. Graphics are also improved and look great. They aren't as good as D2R but they work just fine.

With the updated unique you get some interesting items to use. For instance, my Act 1 merc gives me a meditation aura by default. Her weapon the Pus Spitter is buffed and will help break immunities via lower Resist.  This is extremely helpful since I do not have an infinity yet. If you notice on the screenshot you also get to equip some other items. In normal D2 you can't equip a merc with boots, belt, and gloves. On Project D2 you can which really helps with some niche setups.

Stash space is increased as you can see above. You also get 10x SHARED stash tabs. This means you don't need a friend to transfer your items across from character to character. You can just put it in the stash. The other noteworthy mention is the character inventory. You may have noticed it is twice the size of vanilla D2. The reasoning for this is that the bottom 4 rows of inventory are for charms. They only work in those rows, which then allows you to use all your charms and still pick up items off the ground.

Looking at those Thunderstrokes above may have you wondering why they are corrupted. You can use a new item in Project D2 called world stone shards (WSS). This is a common trading currency and has a really fun use case. If you're familiar with Path of Exile then it works just the same as a Vaal orb. For those of you not familiar with Path of Exiles the Vaal orb/world stone shard will corrupt an item. It could break the item, or give it a new modifier. For instance look at those Thunderstrokes. See how they have 30% better chance of getting magic items? That doesn't normally appear on them. That's a corrupted bonus. The bonus can be a variety of things. For instance, a 6 open socket Windforce bow is possible.  However, this item can break your item and make it useless so be very careful.

Runes and gems can now stack on top of each other. Notice how the Hel rune above is 5x? It only takes up 1 slot, but there are 5 of them there. Super helpful for mass trades or just keeping things organized. Jewels can also be broken down and stacked so you can use them in recipes without hoarding thousands of bad jewels.

With the massive quality of life increases, you're probably asking what about the gameplay. Is it just going to be Baal runs for thousands of hours to level? If that is what you want to do then you can do that, but maps are also a very good alternative gameplay. They work just like Path of Exile. Each map can have multiple mods. This map for instance has monsters will a higher velocity than normal. There are hundreds of mods that can appear on these maps. The more dangerous the map, the more loot you will get.

As I mentioned before the balancing of the game is massively different than the original game. This opens up some fun and interesting builds that you can play. Look at the skill above. At level 20 and 30 you can have an additional Valkerie out. That means an Amazon can have 3 valkyries out at once. Each of those will use Powerstrike. Powerstrike will emit a nova from the point of impact. These valkyries are much stronger than the base game. A valkyrie build in vanilla D2 would never work.

Project D2 is a fantastic private server available for you to play on. If you're a big ARPG fan then you should check it out. If you already own the original D2 and LOD then you don't even need to buy anything! Let me know in the comments below your thoughts about this fantastic private server.