1) I don't recall anyone else reporting a problem here.
2) There was an old topic where someone needed to find their battle tower chest to get malachite gems to do this quest. That might have been in the original release of D2:ED, though. Maybe later I'll load an old save (backed up on a flash drive) and see if I have a problem (with the North American Xbox version).
3) As you found, that is a known issue.
