Today all Diablo II battle.net Realms will be down for approximately 2 hours from 9:00 A.M. PDT (UTC -8) for a server software update. This is taking place to put the 1.09 patch in place, so this update will be available by connecting to battle.net once the servers are back up. One of the fixes to be put in place is removal of the 'dual wield' bug which allows character classes not usually able to wield two weapons to do so. Any characters exploiting this bug when the patch goes live will automatically have one of their weapons involved removed. As to what other changes are involved we have contacted Blizzard for confirmation, of course we'll know for sure once the patch has been implemented. Stay tuned to IMG for further details.

Update: Here are the following fixes and changes implemented in the 1.09 patch released via battle.net earlier toady:

- Fixed a bug in Diablo II where uniques and champions could drop
throwing items as their "magic" item drop.

- Fixed a bug that allowed Diablo II players to put a socket in rare
items with the Horadric cube recipe.

- Fixed a bug in Diablo II that allowed hirelings to be brought into
other acts.

- Fixed a bug that caused garbage characters to appear at the top of
the screen at the start of a realm game.

- Changed the Diablo II Standard blocking method back to the old method.

- Adjusted damage and attack rating of monsters in Diablo II Standard.

- Removed global Physical Resistance for monsters in Hell difficulty in
Diablo II Standard.

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