14 DAY TRIAL // Blizzard Entertainment originally announced Patch 1.13 for its action RPG Diablo II earlier this year. Already delayed once, the patch is now being held up by concerns about the impact of increased player stash sizes on the battle.net servers.
Early last month, Blizzard’s Bashiok revealed that work had commenced on patch 1.13 for faithful Diablo II fans. “We won't be providing any information on when the patch will be available, except that we expect the PTR to be available ‘soon.’ We will provide some amount of warning very, very shortly before the PTRs become available. Please keep in mind that any number of factors could delay the start of the PTR and ultimate release of the patch. Thanks for being patient, we're getting close now,” the update said.
In the most recent forum update, Blizzard's Bashiok now reveals that the aforementioned issue is being examined. However, more information will only be available next week.
“The Diablo II 1.13 patch is on temporary hold while we investigate potential impact on the Battle.net service. As we moved closer to launching the patch concerns grew that an increase in the player stash size (a feature in the patch) could compromise the Diablo II Battle.net service,” the post reads.
“The hardware and configuration could potentially not handle the increased stash size gracefully under heavy load. Currently we’re investigating potential impact as it is one of the larger content features in the patch and we’re hoping it can remain a part of the release. If it does have to be removed it will require additional time to remove it, generate new patches, and test, which will add time before we can go live on the PTR,” Bashiok says. The poster adds that Blizzard has high hopes for a diagnostics and a final decision as soon as next week.
Visit the Battle.net forums for more information.