Diablo II: Lord of Destruction Coming Soon

Blizzard Entertainment released a press release today confirming that Diablo II: Lord of Destruction would be in stores on June 29th. Here’s the specifics:

IRVINE, Calif. – JUNE 21, 2001 – Blizzard Entertainment® announced today that Diablo® II: Lord of Destructionâ„¢, the vast new expansion set to the company’s number-one selling Diablo II* series has gone gold. The expansion, with initial orders of 2 million copies, will be available at retail outlets worldwide in English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Polish, Korean, Japanese and Chinese language versions, on June 29, 2001.

“We are delighted that Diablo II: Lord of Destruction is complete, stated Mike Morhaime, Blizzard Entertainment president and co-founder, “We have worked very hard on increasing the gameplay and depth of Diablo II with this expansion and are quite proud of our accomplishments. With the addition of new character classes and areas to explore, we believe we have created a truly compelling product that will appeal to both avid Diablo players and novice gamers alike.”

In Diablo II: Lord of Destruction, players travel to the Barbarian Highlands of the North in pursuit of Baal, the last surviving Prime Evil. Traveling with a horrific army of demonic minions, Baal plots to corrupt the powerful Worldstone that protects the whole of the mortal plane from the forces of Hell, thus damning the world for all eternity.

Key features of the expansion include two new character classes, the Assassin and the Druid, each equipped with 30 unique skills and spells. Players will also enjoy the opportunity to take their favorite Diablo II characters on the new quests found in Diablo II: Lord of Destruction. A new Act set in the Barbarian Highlands, complete with 6 new quests and hours of further challenges, unfolds as players strive to stop Baal and his followers from destroying the world. Diablo II: Lord of Destruction also features support for 800×600 resolution, giving the player a larger field of view and superlative graphic detail.

To aid players in combat, thousands of new weapons, armor and magical items, including class-specific, crafted items, Rune Words and Elite Unique items have also been included. To secure these new armaments, the amount of storage space in the player’s private stash has also been doubled, giving them the ability to maintain a much greater supply of items. Adding to the gameplay experience is an extensive list of over 50 new monster classes, with 7 innovative boss monsters. Single-player, multiplayer TCP/IP and Battle.net Realm games are supported.