While the Diablo 2 remaster is updating a lot of the game’s look and feel for 2021, the game’s loot system is still left intact.

According to Blizzard and developer studio Vicarious Visions, the old standard of co-op players sharing a single universal set of spoils still remain. The process of adding a modernized “smart loot” system ala Diablo 3 is complicated to say the least, according to studio design director Rob Gallerani during an interview session.

“When you add a personal loot system to a game, there’s a lot of other features that people don’t really pay attention to that also have to get added for it to work. So, take World of Warcraft. There’s a concept called Soulbound, meaning your character picked up an item, and, the moment you put it on that character, it can’t be given to anyone else. And that is a way to keep economies in check.

Diablo has none of that. You could literally have an heirloom item that you picked up 21 years ago and you passed it from generation to generation, from hero to hero after all these years. And that works with every single item in the game. If we were to change personal loot, we would also have to start changing those types of things.

[Having a personalized modern loot system] is not out of the question, but it was off the target of us trying to create the most authentic experience.”

Gallerani pointed out that since D2 back in the day is a trade-based system loot-wise, a ton of technical shifts need to be implemented and a lot of core in-game redesigning will need to occur if there is to be a personalized loot system. And that means a ton of headaches that can break the game and possibly delay it altogether.

Diablo 2: Resurrected is out now for PC, Xbox, PlayStation, and Nintendo Switch.