Diablo 2 developers on servicing the "millions of players" still playing the classic, releasing Reign of the Warlock on Steam, and working with Rahul Kohli

Diablo 2 fans just got a bombshell: Reign of the Warlock is the first DLC for the game in 25 years and has just shadow-dropped to play TODAY. Happy 30th Anniversary, Diablo fans!

Before the big announcement, a bunch of other media and I had the chance to sit down with the Diablo 2 dev team, namely Matthew Cederquist (Lead Producer) and Tim Vasconcellos (Designer), to discuss the first new class in Diablo 2 in over 25 years.

"We saw the 30th Anniversary as a chance to surprise and delight, right? I don't think anyone expected a new class and all these features in Diablo 2. I sure hope it's as epic to the players as we find it. Is it a declaration of something new? We're going to have to see what the players say, you know."

Let's dive into how and why behind the most unexpected DLC in aRPG history!

The challenge of modifying a masterpiece

Diablo 2, despite its Resurrected remaster, is effectively a 25-year-old game with its last really meaningful content added with Lord of Destruction in 2001. So, how has the dev team navigated designing new content for an old game without ruining what made it a classic?

Matthew Cederquist compared the game to the "Mona Lisa," stating, "We’re not going to give her some sunglasses and a new hairdo." The team relied on specific design pillars, which they call their "North Star," when designing for Diablo 2. It must be multiplayer-focused but possible for single players, it must prioritize player choice over approachability, and ultimately, it needs to respect the "long chase," which is Diablo 2's signature difficulty and item rarity.

Tim Vasconcellos added that the Warlock was built to feel as if it had launched with the original game. To achieve this, the team has even integrated subtle nods like Diablo I icons into the skill tree to maintain a sense of legacy familiarity. "we know we're going to have new players, but our focus and our target target audience is really these people that have stuck around for this long, we still have this very visible audience of, like, millions of people playing."

The only difference is that the toggle graphics button, which switches the game to its OG visuals, does not work with the newly added Warlock. The button will still work for the environment, but the Warlock will remain 3D.

The "Pokemon" mechanics of Warlock gameplay

The binding mechanic the Warlock wields, where he can bind demons to his will, is a pretty complex system for Diablo 2. The devs told us how much the team agonized over this behind the scenes.

Tim revealed that they went through nearly every demon in the game and gave them specific data rows. There are over 180 combinations of demons you can Bind or Devour.

Unlike the Necromancer’s "Revive" (which just brings a monster back to fight), the Warlock’s Bind/Consume loop allows you to keep a demon, "supercharge" it with elite affixes, and then eat it to gain "flavorful benefits that could potentially break the game."

Tim also noted that the Diablo 2 Warlock has a "Hexblade" tree (melee/magic hybrid) that is unique to Diablo 2 Resurrected and isn't present in the Diablo 4 or Immortal versions of the class.

The Lore implications of it all

For the followers of Diablo lore (yes, there are many of us!), you may be wondering how the Warlock controls these demons? Can he control Mephisto?

The explanation for this will develop over the course of the Warlock's journey in the 3 games (2, Immortal, and 4), but for Diablo 2 at least, the developers told us the Warlock uses "iron willpower" and dominance to control demons, not technology like the Soul Stones. He'll be an idealist scholar who studied the ancient Vizjerei (which ultimately failed to control demons) and believes his will is strong enough to succeed where the Vizjerei failed. Overall, though, there is a physical cost to using this power, so don't expect to mind-control Diablo himself.

The main point made here, however, is that the Warlocks are outcasts as a class because of their chosen power, but they view demons as objects and tools to an end, not as their partners.

Rahul Kohli as the voice of the Occult

The narrative core of the Warlock is defined by a descent from a life of luxury into the grim reality of a self-imposed outcast. In Diablo 2: Resurrected, acclaimed actor Rahul Kohli provides the voice for the Warlock, lending a disciplined yet ominous tone to the character’s introduction. Brits will know Kohli from various BBC shows, but he's most recently been in Netflix's House on Bly Manor and Midnight Mass. You'll also have heard his voice work in Gears 5, Fallout 76, and soon, Saros.

Kohli recorded 72 distinct voice lines to establish the character's persona as he steps out of the shadows for the first time. The development team noted that working with Kohli was an "epic experience," as he brought a specific "texture" and "foibles" to the character that helped define him as more than just a generic summoner.

"There's 72 [lines], but there are like 48 that are associated with quests, and the rest of them are like 'DIE' 'IT'S TIME TO DIE'"

How the Diablo audience moves around the franchise

While it's interesting, but not exactly shocking, that Diablo 2: Resurrected still has millions of players, and will appreciate this content. We all wondered if Diablo 3 was still receiving as much love.

"There are actually millions of people who still play Diablo 3! We started on Diablo 3, actually creating seasons. Seasonal content started off really slow, and then we grew into something like Altar of Rites. Even when Diablo 4 came out, some players were cannibalized and brought over, but there's still a massive Diablo 3 player base that we love to serve and talk to.

Every single Ladder season that comes out, you will see people transition from Diablo 4 back to Diablo 3 and play, you know, for that opening weekend or that week or so, and then they'll transition right back to Diablo 4 and vice versa and even into Diablo 2. I think that's the cool thing about our community: it's less like World of Warcraft Classic, where that's your home. You don't leave. There's so much inter-cannibalization."

"It's not the case where you would have, say, a consistent Diablo 2 Resurrected audience that is bigger than Diablo 3's, for instance. Our games fluctuate wildly because of those seasonal contents. Everyone comes back for a ladder race, and we separate them for that to happen. So we're never going to have a D3 ladder stepping over a D2 ladder that's stepping over a D4 ladder. We want players to be able to say, ok let me jump into this flavour of Diablo today."

Here's to hoping for a smooth launch for the Diablo 2 Resurrected team

Huge thanks to the team at Blizzard for inviting me out to get this early look at the Warlock and chat with the creators behind Sanctuary’s legacy. It is rare to see a developer show this much love to a 25-year-old masterpiece, and after seeing it in action, I can safely say the "long chase" has never felt better.

Reign of the Warlock is available right now for $24.99 on Battle.net, PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, and Steam.

This DLC pack includes the full Warlock class for Diablo 2: Resurrected, along with a suite of cross-game celebration items: a Horadric Cube housing item for World of Warcraft, and a dedicated set of wings and a new pet for Diablo 4. Whether you’re a veteran of the original or a newcomer joining via Game Pass, there has never been a better time to descend back into the Cathedral.

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