Blizzard has unveiled two bonus gifts for those who pre-order Diablo III: Reaper of Souls, or at least activate their keys by March 31st. What goodies does Blizzard have for us? One is a Demon Hunter. Wait - doesn't Diablo III have a Demon Hunter? Yes it does. This one however is unlocked for Heroes of the Storm. The other gift is a pair of glorious Archangel wings to strut with.
Now that the new patch 2.0.1 for Diablo III is in effect, heroes are enjoying the vastly superior Loot 2.0 system now in play that dramatically alters drop rates and the overall quality of gear we take into battle. That's not enough though, reckon Blizzard, as they've decided to heap on a 50% XP buff so players can make sure they're ready for the new Reaper of Souls expansion out this month.
The new character class the Crusader has just received a dedicated trailer from Blizzard's Diablo III team, and in it we learn of their origins and what they can do for us in this over 3 minute 40 second video. We march closer to death as Reaper of Souls releases in two weeks' time on March 25th. Right now Blizzard is buffing the community for 50% XP to help power through levels.
You may remember that Blizzard said a ladder system for Diablo III was being seriously considered, but that it would most likely have to wait until an expansion. Well, Reaper of Souls is right around the corner. Game director Josh Mosqueira has started tweeted some very interesting things in sly references to the ladder system. It's thought these rankings would help Diablo III's longevity.
The gavels at the gold and real-money auction houses have been silenced as Blizzard turns off the trading system for Diablo III indefinitely. All trading must now take place between characters during games. This shutdown has been a long time in coming and follows the launch of Loot 2.0 and the new 'Smart Loot' system, which dramatically overhauled drop rates and gear stats.
Next week Death itself will stalk many desktops and even PlayStation 4s. Blizzard has just released a new gameplay trailer entitled 'The End is Near' and we get fleeting glimpses of the new zones we'll visit. It also reminds us of the new Adventure Mode which lets us travel anywhere, putting aside the game's story. New major abilities are also teased like the Wizard's Blackhole.
A bout of Sanctuary nudism, while liberally progressive, led to the valorous lives of some hardcore heroes to be cut short in Diablo III. The trouble stemmed from a login issue that 'wiped' gear items. Blizzard are now investigating the nude Nephalem nightmare and are considering a "special one-time exception" to allow for a rollback on accounts, to resurrect hardcores.
Ahead of the Reaper of Souls launch, Blizzard has switched on a new data centre in Sydney, Australia for better local server support for Diablo III. It'll give ANZ players a "smoother gameplay" experience. This doesn't limit play with friends around the globe, assure Blizzard. These new servers will be "completely invisible to local players" as everything seamlessly connects.
Blizzard producer Alex Mayberry teased that third-person spin-off StarCraft Ghost is something still on their minds at the studio, but he doesn't know "if we'll ever do it but I think it's something we'd like to do." StarCraft was announced to be getting a spin-off over 10 years ago, and it was Blizzard's first major push onto consoles, but tech limitations meant they 'weren't ready'.
Blizzard has confirmed that a "ladder-like" system is on the way for Diablo III. They're calling it Seasons and it's still being worked on. There will also be "more legendary items" as rewards for Seasons and tiered Rifts. That's the other thing coming with the "first big content patch" for Reaper of Souls. These provide "increasingly hard Rifts," to see who can go the furthest.
Diablo, World of Warcraft, StarCraft and Hearthstone players might be affected by high latency and disconnections according to Blizzard, after a series of DDoS attacks on European online servers. Although the attacks aren't directed specifically at Blizzard, the publisher's online games have been affected as a result.
Blizzard has announced that the first week of sales for Diablo III: Reaper of Souls was in excess of 2.7 million across PC and Mac. Malthael's boasts of 'no one can stop death' has been proven wrong 1.5 million times. Launch parties were held in Seoul, Taipei, Warsaw, Stockholm, and Los Angeles on the night of March 24th. Reaper of Souls added a new class and game mode.
In celebration of the millions who took up the fight against Malthael in Diablo III: Reaper of Souls, Blizzard is running a 50% bonus XP weekend from today @ 7:00 p.m. CEST until Monday, April 7 @ 5:00 a.m. CEST. This is the same bonus community event they ran until March 24th to help Diablo III heroes power through levels to be ready for Westmarch. Death has been defeated over 1.5 million times.
There's a new patch out for Diablo III which features a raft of changes and balance tweaks. Patch 2.0.4 features damage increases for several classes, most notably the barbarian's single-target skills.
Blizzard has released the latest patch for Diablo III and high on the list of tweaks to the action RPG is getting Tyrael to pipe down about his "poor eating habits", and the 300% Gold Find cap is removed. There's a slew of additional nuts and bolts changes to the character classes, some UI changes and general bug fixes like teleporting messing with quest progression.
Diablo III is two years old today. That means presents, and if you're currently obsessed with grabbing as many legendary items as you can get your grubby hands on in Blizzard's fantasy hack 'n' slasher, that's good news for you. From May 15 through to May 22 you'll find your chance of getting those sweet, sweet orange drops increased by 100%. And as another bonus, you'll find double the amount of rift fragments too. Time to get looting.
If you've been hunting down legendary item after legendary item thanks this week's Diablo III anniversary buff, then here's some good news for you. Blizzard intend to keep the increased legendary drop rate, initially added to celebrate the game's two-year anniversary, for good.
Now this looks like a pretty hefty patch. The first major update for Diablo 3's expansion Reaper of Souls is coming soon, and Blizzard has released a blog post giving us a glimpse at the new planned content. Expect new 'Season' challenges, more challenging Nephalem Rifts, legendary gems, leaderboards and more.
A plucky Divinity: Original Sin modder is attempting to recreate the first area of Diablo 2 in Larian's recently released fantasy RPG. Specifically, forum user Shidiwen is recreating the gloomy hub town of Sanctuary, home of mud, rain, skeletons and weird little imp creatures.
Blizzard's fantasy hack and slash Diablo 3 has sold an impressive 20 million plus copies in the two years since its launch. That figure was revealed during Activision-Blizzard's second quarter earnings call yesterday, during which the company also World of Warcraft subscriptions have dropped to the still pretty healthy level of 6.8 million.