The Diablo II: Resurrected Open Beta began on August 20, 2021. At the time I am writing this blog post, I don’t remember when it is scheduled to end. My best guess is we will have the weekend to run around in the game and search for bugs.
I picked the Barbarian character because it is my absolute favorite class in the Diablo games. In Diablo II, (and Diablo II: Resurrected) there is one choice per class. The Barbarian is always male, and there is no option to choose a female one instead. You can do that in Diablo III, but not this game.
For me, that’s fine. I tend to switch off between male and female Barbarians every season. I decided to use the random name generator to pick a name. Among those names was “Cronan”. It seemed appropriate! As such, I am playing Cronan the Barbarian.
I never got to play Diablo II when it was new. The PC I was using back in the day had been cobbled together from spare parts. It played Diablo just fine, but wasn’t strong enough to run Diablo II. The game kept crashing, and I eventually gave up on it.
One of the things I found interesting is that some of the characters in the Rogue’s camp were ones I’ve “met” before. They were in a different Rogue’s camp in the Diablo Immortal Closed Alpha. Their versions in Diablo II: Resurrected sound younger than the ones in Diablo Immortal did. Which means some people did an excellent job as voice actors when those characters aged in the Diablo Immortal Closed Alpha.
The biggest problem I’m having has nothing at all to do with the Open Beta. The problem is that I’m playing the game on my Xbox Series S. For years, I’ve been using a Mac instead of a PC. My current set up includes a Mac Mini. Unlike other Apple products, this one does not come with a built-in monitor.
So, the monitor I’m using is from LG. The Mac Mini doesn’t seem to be aware that the monitor it is hooked up to is NOT an Apple product. There is a button-like thing on the bottom of the monitor that allows me to switch between my Mac Mini and my Xbox S. For me, the process is confusing, and I’m often frustrated by it.
When I manage to navigate my way through that, I now have to fight my way through all the screens and options that Xbox S puts between the player and the game they wish to play. The first part involved figuring out how to connect my Diablo II: Resurrected Open Beta to my Battle.net account. If you’re playing on a PC, that’s probably a super easy thing to do.
However, if you have a Mac computer, and Apple devices, it becomes a puzzle to solve. If I remember correctly, the reason you had to connect to Battle.net was to put in a code. My best guess was to see if I could put Battle.net on my iPad Mini tablet. I could! But, it turned out to be limited to chat. Eventually, I used the Safari browser in my iPad Mini to find Battle.net, log in, and put in the code.
It should be noted that those who wanted access to the Open Beta were required to pre-purchase Diablo II: Resurrected. I was intending to buy the game anyway, so I didn’t see that as a problem.
Success!
In the screenshot above, my Barbarian is standing inside the Den of Evil after killing all the monsters within it. When this happens, he says “The Rogues are safe… for the moment.” It was very satisfying to finish my first quest in this game.
Off in the corner is an outline of the map of the area he is standing in. The location reminds me of where the map can be found in Diablo III.
It is also possible to have the map overlay become very large. When viewed this way, it looks like your character is walking around inside that overlay – but also is still within the game’s environment. I like this way better.
After I finish up this blog post, I am going to see how long I can play the Diablo II: Resurrected Open Beta before I fall asleep. The beta is only around for a limited time, and I want to make the most of it!
Diablo II: Resurrected – Open Beta is a post written by Jen Thorpe on Book of Jen and is not allowed to be copied to other sites.
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