The Diablo II ladder just reset, giving player a chance to start anew. The idea is that you start out on equal footing with other players, and everyone's characters are secured on Blizzard's servers. >From the FAQ on ladder characters:

When the Ladder Season first begins, players start at Level 1 and do not have powerful items. They also cannot use powerful high-level items or other high-level characters to help them level up faster. Players create a character in a brand new world (Ladder Character world) where everything (economy, levels) starts from the beginning. The main advantage of creating a Ladder Character is being able to join in on a totally new economy where powerful items are very valuable.

It's also the perfect time to get back into Diablo II with the v1.12 patch, which removes the CD check. Hey, game companies, look what Blizzard is doing! Hint, hint! It's always been a pretty trivial matter to run Diablo II with a noCD crack, but now it's officially allowed. You'll still have to copy a couple of big MPQs files onto your harddrive, but if there was ever a game perfect for quick sessions of hack-and-slash without having to rummage for the disc, it was Diablo II.

Uh-oh, I think I just talked myself into reinstalling. There goes forty hours...