When will Diablo 2 Resurrected ladder season start?

As the early access beta for Diablo 2 Resurrected gets underway, fans have been eagerly awaiting the return of one of the greatest ARPGs of all time. While Blizzard has boasted how they are making the game accessible to everyone, some players have gotten upset about the lack of TCP/IP P2P multiplayer, which was pulled from the game's features. Now, another blow, this time in the form of the ladder seasons for Diablo 2 Resurrected. 

Veterans want nothing more than to jump into the ladder season when Diablo 2 Resurrected launches. This is a big reason for purchasing the game on day one, and we've been looking forward to the race to level 99 as much as the next Nephalem...

Diablo 2 Resurrected ladder season start date?

Unfortunately, just as the early access beta gets underway (for those who pre-ordered the game), Executive Producer Rod Fergusson shared some upsetting news for long-time Diablo fans.

Answering a fan question on Twitter, Rod Fergusson explained: "We want to make sure the game is stable and ready for ladder before we turn that on.  So it won't be there for launch but will come shortly after once everything settles down."

There's no telling exactly what "shortly after" the launch of Diablo 2 Resurrected means. Unfortunately, we don't have an exact start date to share. We all know that infamous "Blizzard soon" which means there's really no telling how long it will take before the first season gets underway.

Interestingly, Blizzard aims to make seasons shorter in Resurrected. The original Diablo 2 seasons ran for six months, but the developers have not confirmed how much shorter...

Fans aren't happy about this news and for good reason. Several fans have asked if making sure the game is stable isn't the job of both the early access and open beta, which takes place nearly a month before Diablo 2 Resurrected's launch.

Another fan on Twitter asked: "If there won't be a ladder for launch why are you guys launching in September? Did you guys know from the beginning there wouldn't be a ladder? This is a big mistake and huge letdown for longtime D2 players."

Surely the team is aware that this just totally screws anyone who requested time off of work to play ladder on the launch date. Why was this just announced now?

And the time spent leveling/MFing at launch will be wasted as we'll be forced to make new chars once ladder is live.

— John K (@John_k_39) August 12, 2021

A Reddit thread entitled "D2R launch is essentially another open beta until ladder launches" also signifies some anger from fans about Diablo 2 Resurrected's first ladder season not being available at launch.

What about Diablo 2 Resurrected ladder-only Runewords?

There's one little piece of good news. Blizzard community manager PezRadar has confirmed that Runes and Runewords that used to be ladder-only will be available in singleplayer as well.

We will let you know once we know the exact start date of the first ladder season in Diablo 2 Resurrected. Just don't expect to jump into the ladder and race for a spot on the leaderboard on 23rd September.

• Read more: Diablo 2 Resurrected TCP/IP P2P multiplayer - is there LAN support?

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