Diablo 2 Expansion: Lord of Destruction

Other products by Blizzard Entertainment

Product Features

• Two new character classes (the Assassin and the Druid) each with 30 unique skills/spells
• One new Act set in the Barbarian Highlands
• Many new monster types, including bosses and uniques
• Interactive environments such as siege towers and fortified battlements

Product Details

• Our recommended age: 17 - 20 years
• Manufacturer recommended age: 0 months and up
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B00005A3I8
• Media: CD-ROM
• Release Date: June 25, 2001
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (287 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #4,384 in Video Games (See Bestsellers in Video Games)

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Product Description

Amazon.com Review
Not content to merely add additional levels, the creators of the Diablo II: Lord of Destruction expansion have improved the entire Diablo II game experience while concluding the story. The expansion has been described as both an add-in and an add-on, and it truly is a must-have for Diablo II players.

The add-on is the new act, which finally concludes the epic tale of Diablo. The end of the fourth act of Diablo II saw Baal, brother of Diablo and last of the Prime Evils, reclaim his soulstone from the deceived mortal Marius. Lord of Destruction tells the story of Baal's destructive trek through the Barbarian Highlands of the north. The player must stop Baal before he corrupts the magical Worldstone and opens hell to the mortal world. An ancient barbarian tribe guards the holy mountain that houses the stone, and is the only thing that stands between Baal and Armageddon. The player must use a character who has completed the fourth act to access the fifth act (the expansion) and help the besieged barbarians.

The add-in is all the improvements to the core game. The most obvious is the graphics. Lord of Destruction lets gamers ratchet up Diablo II's graphics resolution to 800 x 600. This means both prettier graphics and the ability to see more of the battlefield at once, which effectively increases the range of spells and missile weapons. Best part: the graphics boost applies to all of the original game as well as the expansion's new act.

The graphics boost is nice, but hard-core players will most likely better appreciate the gameplay enhancements. It's hard to pick the single best element from the long list of substantial improvements: a larger character stash, more socketable items, more unique items, new classes of weapons for high-difficulty levels, and new Horadric Cube recipes. Entirely new features include the ability to craft unique magic items, runes (which function like gems but can be combined to form powerful runeword combinations), totems (which add ability, combat, or resistance bonuses, but take up space in inventory), and hireling inventory (you'll hand down your old equipment to your hireling). All these improvements are applied to both the new act and the four earlier acts in Diablo II. After playing with all these tweaks, you'll wonder how you ever managed to play with the tiny stash, blurry graphics, and weak hirelings of the original.

Even experienced Diablo II players get to appreciate the improvements to the first through fourth acts because the two new character classes (Assassin and Druid) must complete all four acts in Diablo II before you can use them in the expansion. The Assassin is a stealthy warrior and wizard slayer who uses martial arts, traps, and mental discipline to defeat hell's minions. The Druid is a feral whose spells, animal summoning, and shape-shifting abilities suit a wide range of playing styles. Both are cool enough to warrant playing through all of Diablo II once again. And the conclusion to one of the best-loved and most-played games of all time is satisfying--well worth the hours of sleepless nights and blurry-eyed mornings. --Mike Fehlauer

Product Description
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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

60 of 64 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lord of Destruction (of free time and social life), August 30, 2001

By	"inksibnut" (Singapore) - See all my reviews

Many people complain about the high price of the Diablo 2: Lord of Destruction (LOD) Expansion set. To do so, I think, is to miss the point. You buy the game to play it, and its playability is what matters. People tend to think that an "expansion" merely adds a "10% more" to a game - but the fact is, LOD adds so much to the original game that you will probably never look back.


Why would you give up a doubled stash? The 800x600 resolution pestered for way back in 2000 when D2 Classic was released? Instant switching between two sets of weapon/shield? New class-specific items, new uniques, greatly improved set items (gain bonuses as you collect each item, instead of having to complete them), elite items, runes (and runeword items), crafted items (i.e. make your own rares)? Two new classes (a druid who can summon creatures, cast elemental spells and shapeshift; an assassin who practises martial arts, lays traps and hones shadow disciplines), and an entire new act set in a wintry landscape (bunnies included)? Afraid to play alone? Don't worry, now your hirelings survive more than their first hit, and can be equiped with weapons and armour - they can even teleport when you walk too far! And some even have paladin auras! And they can be resurrected!


How about little little details like: you can now reset the gambling screen at will; gambling prices scale with your level; a repair-all-equiped items button; blue items now get the most powerful prefixes/suffixes, giving them renewed value; click an item on the Horadric Cube to place it inside (you have to do it to realise the convenience); Act 2 Desert Warrior hirelings cast paladin auras; Act 5 Barbarian hirelings use Stun and Bash; town NPCs now sell more items; Act-end bosses can now be repeatedly killed for chance to find top items (in D2 Classic, great stuff only drops once); you can walk through your hirelings/minions (no more traffic jams in the Maggot Lair)... and the list goes on.


Let's be honest though - everyone knows that the game code is not perfect; it has its bugs. Few games (especially of this scale) can claim to be bug-free. But despite this, the game is totally playable. I myself have not stopped playing D2 since June 30, 2000. The important thing to savour is the fact that the developers, Blizzard, are keen on resolving technical problems and gamneplay issues: think about it - Blizzard has released NINE patches to date. This may seem to suggest that the game is wrought full of bugs, but change your perspective - what it ultimately says is that its developer is conscientious enough to keep working at it. How many software developers can claim this level of diligence?


Ultimately, the game is super-fun. As I suggested in my review of Diablo 2 (Classic), the game rewards all kinds of players, from the undiscerning clicker to the meticulous strategist - that is one of Blizzard's secret ingredients: allowing every style of player to find something that suits them in the game, and yet never fully satisfying them. I suppose that's why, after countless games, my wife is still trying to perfect her (deceptively simple?) mace-stunner barbarian...

34 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A *huge* addition to Diablo 2 gameplay, July 22, 2001

By	Lisa Shea "LisaShea.com" - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER)

As much as I loved and was addicted to Diablo 2, the graphics just weren't there. When you killed a boss and little red pixels splashed everywhere, it made the moment almost laughable. Diablo's programmers took the many comments about the graphics to heart, and they did a STELLAR job of revamping them in this expansion.

I would have easily bought the expansion for the graphic upgrade alone - that makes Diablo 2 almost like an entirely new game, worth playing through all over again. However, they didn't stop there. There are 2 new races - the druid and the assassin - both of which I *love*. The assassin has cool attack moves that are great fun to watch. The druid can either shapeshift, or summon creatures, or control the elements. I love all three, but the elemental attacks are GREAT! This has become my new favorite character.

There are new monsters to fight, an ENTIRE new act with great graphics, tons of new weapons, even new Cube recipes to play with. And, in a move that other game companies should pay attention to, you can now have TWO sets of weapons defined (i.e. bow and sword/shield for example) and easily toggle between them. I've been dying for that in every game I've played!

It is really like an entirely new game, with the added benefit that you don't have to learn new keystrokes. I *highly* encourage any Diablo 2 lover to grab this, and if you don't have either one yet, treat yourself and get them both!

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Don't Listen To Stupid People., June 24, 2001

By	"dances-with-lobsters" (Redding, CT United States) - See all my reviews

Just a bit of good advice.

Let's get a few things out of the way. First of all, Diablo II is not an RPG. If you're looking for a game like Baldur's Gate, Planescape: Torment or Fallout, look elsewhere. Diablo II is an excellent action game with RPG elements, and if what you're looking for is a hack-n-slash with varying levels of complexity, endless replay value and a huge internet following, this is the only game you'll need.

I've been beta testing the expansion, and to me the jump from Diablo II to D2X is similar to the jump from Diablo to Diablo II. This is a very good thing. The expansion totally refreshes the game, adding new items, new item types, new magical properties, two new character classes and an entirely new act.

This new act is about the length of Act 2, and I feel it is by far the most gripping and interesting act in the game. It picks up right after Act 4, and makes an excellent transition from Act 4 normal to Act 1 nightmare, or Act 4 nightmare to Act 1 hell. The areas are interesting, varied, beautifully drawn and populated by new and creative monsters. High quality items are dropped and experience is so high it's an ideal place to level up till you're ready for that jump to the next difficulty level.

With all the new magical properties and items, there are vast new equipment possibilities. You will now need to make decisions between certain properties including 'charges' of a class's skills usable by any class, self-replenishing throwing weapons, and armors that cast a spell when you're struck.

If you need a new cyber addiction, Diablo II and Diablo II: Lord of Destruction is the first and last game you'll need for a long time.