The first Diablo 2: Resurrected technical alpha will start this Friday, April 9, at 7am PDT / 10am EDT / 3pm BST.
Blizzard announced the test today, with a "limited selection" of players who signed up for alpha testing via the game's official website able to play the test until April 12 at 10am PDT / 1pm EDT / 6pm BST. You can still opt-in, by the way, and it's well worth doing so since this is just the first of several planned tests, as producer Matthew Cederquist told us shortly after the remaster was revealed.
"I know there's going to be multiple testing periods, but I'm reluctant to say four, five, six," he said. "They're going to be unique to their testing. We're going to start with that first technical alpha and see where it goes. It really comes down to how much feedback we get. We just want to know how much you guys love the game."
The first technical alpha will feature three playable classes – Barbarian, Amazon, and Sorceress – as well as the first two acts of the campaign. There are only five acts in the full game, so that's a pretty sizable chunk. We'll see Andariel and Duriel again, for one, as well as iconic zones like Lut Gholein. There won't be a level cap in the technical alpha, thankfully, so you can grind as much as you want to test high-level skills.
Featured areas and classes will likely change between testing periods, but Diablo 2: Resurrected is scheduled to launch later this year, so we won't have to wait too long to tear through the whole remaster.
Rather than another remaster or remake, Blizzard will explore "new game types" after Diablo 2: Resurrected.
