When is patch 1.04 coming out?
Diablo II Development Team: The patch is being worked on as we speak. It will be a couple of weeks though, since it's a pretty complicated patch, and we want to make sure it's fully tested.

When can we view the ECTS trailer?
Bill Roper: We will be releasing the Diablo II Expansion trailer as a special Halloween Treat :)!

Will the gem in chat be useful in the expansion set?
Diablo II Development Team: Yes. Although it's working well now, we plan to make a couple of enhancements to maximize its potential.

How many new music tracks and cinematics will be in the expansion set?
Bill Roper: There will be 2 new cinematic sequences with the expansion set as well as all new music for Act V. We do not have exact timing as of yet, but we are looking to keep our players happy with all aspects of the expansion set.

Will the level cap be raised beyond 99?
Diablo II Development Team: We do not plan to raise the level cap at this point. 

Will the expansion set include any character balances?
Diablo II Development Team: Unless there is a serious bug or exploitable problem, we do not like to make balance changes. People have invested a lot of time into their characters, and we don't want to nullify their efforts. The new expansion characters will be balanced to fit in to the existing universe and new act.

Will we know about Quests before release?
Bill Roper: We want the specifics of the quests to be a surprise for players, but some general outlines have been made known already. We can say that the expansion set will have some great new quests and rewards.

Will players receive another title for killing Baal?
Diablo II Development Team: Yes. We haven't decided what yet, but it sounds like a good idea. :)

Have you finalized the name for the expansion set?
Bill Roper: No, but when we do we will make an announcement on our website at www.blizzard.com :).

How proficient is the Druid at melee?
Diablo II Development Team: The Druid's skills tend towards the summoning and "blasting," but within his shape-shifting skill tree there are a number of cool melee options!

Will the expansion set have three difficulty levels?
Bill Roper: Yes, we will maintain 3 difficulty levels throughout the expansion, as well. It is important to understand that the expansion is fundamentally an extension of the current storyline (Act V) and that this means that it will be more difficult than Act IV and will ramp up with each difficulty level.

How many types of character specific items will there be per character?
Diablo II Development Team: At least three per character, not including variations. There will most likely be more, and we will add them till we run out of time.

Will the expansion set introduce trading in the chat rooms?
Bill Roper: We are not going to support chat room trading between characters. While it would be a great feature, a host of problems and design challenges occur (such as what if you don't have enough space) that makes it MUCH easier to trade in game.

Will there be gemmed items with more than three sockets in the expansion set?
Diablo II Development Team: Not only will there be more than three sockets per item, but we will also have socketable magic, rare, and unique items. There will also be some new, exciting socketing options that we will discuss in more detail at a later date.

Will there be guild halls in the expansion set?
Bill Roper: We made a decision to not include in-game guild halls in the expansion, but at the same time we wanted to include what we thought were the great benefits from the original Guild Hall concept. This includes bigger stash size and a few other things that we want to make available to ALL players of Diablo and not just those core gamers who seek out Guild affiliations. We know that guilds are an important part of our community and Diablo II, so we are not dismissing their importance but rather trying to reach as many Diablo II players as possible with the widest amount of fun content as we can. The goal of the expansion is to make it a great addition for new and experienced players as well.

Will all characters have new skills, or just the Druid and Assassin?
Diablo II Development Team: Only the Druid and Assassin will have new skills. This is the only fair way to deal with existing characters. There are abundant new features that will benefit all 7 character types, however.

How pleased are you with the security and performance of the Realms?
Bill Roper: While Battle.net has been under a huge crush of players, we have had teams working to improve the play of Diablo II since day one. Considering the fact that Diablo II was the fastest selling PC game of all time, far outstripping our wildest dreams or projections, we are thrilled with how expandable and resilient the realms have been. The realms have been extremely secure and players have been supportive overall of their play experience. We are very proud of how well our worldwide launch and maintenance of the realms has gone and we are dedicated to continue making Battle.net a great place to play. In short, we are ALWAYS looking to make our products and services better :).

Describe some of the new class specific items?
Diablo II Development Team: We are really excited about all of the new class-specific items. The Barbarian will get new helms. The Paladin will get new shields. The Amazon will get new gloves. The Sorceress will get orbs to carry instead of a weapon. The Necromancer will get shrunken heads and other totems to carry instead of a shield. The Druid will get various animal pelts for helmets. Finally, the Assassin will get some hand-to-hand weapons for her martial arts.

How far along is the expansion and what is the release date?
Bill Roper: We are moving along very well at this point, making almost every goal set in our last aggressive milestone. We are on schedule to release the expansion set in the first half of 2001.

Can the Assassin's claw be used by others?
Diablo II Development Team: No. It's one of the class-specific items for the assassin only. They are only useful if you have martial arts skills.

When do you expect the Diablo II novels to come out?
Bill Roper: The Diablo II novels (as well as those for Starcraft and Warcraft) will start releasing in 2001. There will be an Diablo world E-Book coming out for this Halloween and will be available over the internet from Blizzard and Simon and Schuster.

What will the orbs of the Sorceress actually do?
Diablo II Development Team: The Orbs will enhance her ability to cast spells. They will have a variety of attributes that may raise damage, give resistances, or enhance a particular skill or even a whole tab of skills!

Will there be a change in the system requirements for the expansion set?
Bill Roper: No.

Will there be new Shrine types?
Diablo II Development Team: Yes, there will be new shrine types. One, for example, would restore durability to all your items! 

Will there be any new updates to the Diablo II Expansion web site, or an addition of a "Screen Shot of the Week" feature?
Bill Roper: We are curently working on some new things to do on the web site for Diablo II expansion, as well as bringing back some of the favorite features from the Diablo II site.

How much bigger will the Stash be?
Diablo II Development Team: Right now we are going with double the existing size. We will be making some enhancements to set-piece items, so we want to make sure you can carry a whole set, among other things.

Any chance of you releasing Diablo II Expansion game play footage?
Bill Roper: Again, we don't know exactly what we are going to put up on the Expansion site, but its good to know that you want to see them.

How big is the Fifth Act?
Diablo II Development Team: The fifth act is roughly the size of Act 1, 2, or 3 from Diablo II. In other words, a regular sized act.

Will there be a public beta for the Diablo II Expansion?
Bill Roper: We will certainly do a closed Beta, but we do not know if a large open beta will occur. We always find beta tests to be incredibly valuable and we enjoy the feedback from our testers.

Is the inventory also increased in the expansion?
Diablo II Development Team: No, to preserve some semblance of realism, the personal inventory will stay the same. At least that's our plan right now. :)

Will there be new Horadric Cube recipes?
Diablo II Development Team: Yes, there will. We intend to make the Horadric Cube more usefull throughout the game in the expansion.

Are you doing anything different with the ladders for the expansion?
Bill Roper: We have not yet discussed how we would change or expand the ladders, but we are going to talk about it, since you asked. I love these chats!

Are the expansion characters going to change from how they appear on the web site?
Diablo II Development Team: We continue to evolve the characters in both appearance and skills throughout the development process. The basic characteristics will remain the same, though.

Will Natalya be an NPC in Act 5?
Bill Roper: Although Natalya herself will not be an NPC in the game, we thought it would be nice to show you that Assassins existed in our world concept even when Diablo II came out.

What will set a Summoning Druid apart from a Summoning Necromancer?
Diablo II Development Team: The Druid is different in that he interacts more with his pets. He fights more than the Necromancer, so he's a bit more balanced. He isn't the dark, brooding black-magic type like the Necro. Rather, he's more of a "Lord of the Forest."

Will Baal look the same in game as he does in the cinematics?
Bill Roper: Yes. Baal is undergoing a metamorphosis, much as the Wanderer did in Diablo II, and this is represented in his evolving look in the cinematics and the game.

Does the Druid or Assassin have any passive skills?
Diablo II Development Team: Yes. The Assassin has a few passives mostly involving martial arts and melee combat. The Druid has a shape-shifting mastery-type skill.

What will the Ravens do?
Bill Roper: They swoop in and attack the enemies of the Druid, usually going for the soft and vulnerable areas, like the eyes...

Will you be adding Lances, Grim Helms, and Holy Water Sprinklers?
Diablo II Development Team: Those items will be added to Diablo II via the 1.04 patch!!!
Bill Roper: Yeah!!!

Does the Druid have the ability to heal?
Diablo II Development Team: He has a skill called "Cycle of Life" which is a vine-type thing that eats corpses and gives you health.

How will the Assassin's traps work?
Bill Roper: The Assassin places the traps on the ground and then focuses on either luring or driving enemies into her snare. Some are direct traps and others act to spray out numerous smaller traps. Very deadly.

What is the process for entering Act V?
Diablo II Development Team: After you kill Diablo, you talk to Tyreal, who opens a portal for you.

Will the Assassin's traps be visible to other players?
Bill Roper: Yes, but they are camoflagued and sometimes hard to spot unless you are paying attention -- or it is too late.

Will there be Exceptional Unique or Set Items in the expansion?
Diablo II Development Team: Yes. Also, we are altering the set-piece rules to make them more fun. For example you may get a bonus for only having 2 items in a particular set of 4 items. 

Will there be an invisibility spell for the Assassin?
Bill Roper: No.

When you take your Diablo II character into an expansion game, is your character permanently converted?
Diablo II Development Team: Yes he is. Because they may pick up expansion-only items. You will have to convert your character prior to playing, however, so you'll know exactly what you're getting into.

Diablo II Development Team: Thanks everyone!!!
Bill Roper: Thank you all for coming out to the chat today, it was great to talk with all of you again. We will be having another chat in 6-8 weeks. See you on Battle.net!