Diablo 3 Info

[chaos5061]

From Blizzard:
Brave heroes, the time has come to arise and answer the summons: the Diablo III beta is upon us here in Europe!

The first wave of invitations to the European Diablo III beta test is now being delivered. The client is available in English, with German and French becoming available at a later date. In addition to selecting players from those who have opted in via their Battle.net accounts, we’ll also be providing keys through beta promotions and giveaways. We welcome those invited to provide feedback on the official forums.

If you have a beta license, you are free to show, share, or talk about any portion of the beta content to which you have access, as this beta test is not confidential.

As always, we’d like to remind those hoping for an invite to be wary of phishing attempts. If you believe you’ve received an invite to the Diablo III beta test, it’s best to refrain from clicking on any links in the email, and instead log in to your Battle.net account to see if a Diablo III beta game account has indeed been granted. Or, if you were sent a key, you should attempt to add it manually by going to the Add or Upgrade a Game section of the Battle.net account management page.

For those who have received an invite to the beta test, we thank you for helping us test out our server stability and hardware. For those of you still hoping for an invite, we wish you the best of luck and hope you’ll keep an eye out for some of the beta-key giveaways and promotions we’ll have right here on the European Diablo III community site.

For more information, please see the beta opt-in announcement and FAQ.

[chaos5061]

Hardcore mode now available after level 10.

When your first character on any difficulty reaches Level 10 you may go and make a Hardcore Character. This is going to be Retail and Beta Patch 14. It is a permanent change.

Rules for Hardcore:
1.) Death is Permanent. You die you stay dead.
2.) Any Items in your Inventory is Lost.
3.) Any Items In your Shared Stash is Not Lost.
4.) Shared Stash is Shared Between Hardcore Characters Only.

[chaos5061]

As we’re counting down the days until we’re ready to announce a release date for Diablo III, we’ve come to realize that the PvP game and systems aren’t yet living up to our standards. Today, we wanted to let you know that we’ve made the difficult decision to hold back the PvP Arena system and release it in a patch following the game’s launch. After a lot of consideration and discussion, we ultimately felt that delaying the whole game purely for PvP would just be punishing to everyone who’s waiting to enjoy the campaign and core solo/co-op content, all of which is just about complete.

While we work on making sure PvP lives up to its full potential, we hope you’ll find some consolation in the fact that soon, you’ll be having a blast leveling characters, finding items, learning the classes, and perfecting builds…and that when the Arenas do arrive, you’ll be all the better prepared for battle.

When the PvP patch is ultimately ready, it will add multiple Arena maps with themed locations and layouts, PvP-centric achievements, and a matchmaking system that will help you and your team get into fairly matched games quickly and easily. We’ll also be adding a personal progression system that will reward you for successfully bashing in the other team’s skulls.

We know a lot of you are looking forward to PvP, and we’ll be focusing our post-launch efforts on making sure the Arenas are as brutal, bloody, fast-paced, and awesome as we know they can be. In the meantime, we’re in the process of putting the finishing touches on what we think is a truly epic campaign and co-op experience for launch.

We’ll have a lot more info to share on the PvP system in the future, and we look forward to the moment we can get the game into your hands.

[chaos5061]

@Bashiok: I'm pleased to announce that Diablo III will be hitting store shelves on May 15, and digital presales start right now

[chaos5061]

Diablo 3 Release Date May 15th

From Blizzard:
The End of Days approaches…. Diablo III will be unleashed from the Burning Hells on May 15, 2012, and you can be ready to play the minute the servers go live by pre-purchasing the game digitally on Battle.net today.

Beginning May 15, players around the world will be able to return to Tristram to discover the dark secrets of a fallen star and begin their quest to save Sanctuary from the impending demonic invasion. To secure your place as a barbarian, monk, demon hunter, witch doctor, or wizard right now, simply log in to your Battle.net account, and then purchase and download* Diablo III, and you’ll be ready to play when the game launches.

World of Warcraft players interested in getting Diablo III for free can still get in on the World of Warcraft Annual Pass, but the promotion will be ending at 12:01 a.m. PDT on May 1, 2012. When you sign up for the Annual Pass and make a 1-year commitment to World of Warcraft, you’ll receive a free digital copy of Diablo III, an exclusive World of Warcraft in-game mount (Tyrael’s Charger), as well as access to the upcoming World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria beta test. Learn more at the Annual Pass signup page.

For more details on the May 15 release of Diablo III, be sure to hit the official press release, or head to our new Diablo III game page to learn more about the game and pre-purchase your digital copy.

*When you pre-purchase Diablo III, you will be able to download an encrypted version of the game that will be unlocked upon release on May 15.

[chaos5061]

As of Beta Patch 15, Battle.net Authenticators have been enabled for the Diablo III beta test. If you have a Blizzard Authenticator attached to your Battle.net account, you will be prompted to enter an authentication code when logging into the beta client.

Please note that, after your first successful login with an Authenticator, you may not always receive an authenticator prompt when logging into the game. Not to worry! This is an intended convenience feature and doesn't represent a risk to your security. If you're logging in consistently from the same location, you may not be prompted for an authenticator code.

[chaos5061]

What changed in the world while we waited for Diablo III.

[chaos5061]

Don't get in a panic if you see that you can't post in the Beta Feedback or Bug Forums. You still have beta access it's just a forum problem. No official word about it yet though.

[chaos5061]

April Fools Day Gag?

From Diablo Fans:
Diablo III on Wii
Hack & Slash just became literal. Blizzard just announced that Diablo III will be available for the Nintendo Wii. While it was announced awhile ago that Blizzard was planning on a console release, it was not until recent that it found its way to a specific console system. Blizzard gave a list of reasons why this decision was made and what we can expect.



Blizzquote
I am proud to announce that we will be bringing Diablo III to the Nintendo Wii system. We have partnered with Satoru Iwata and Nintendo to bring you a fun and innovative way to play our newest game. We hope to bring the genre to a new peak unlike anyone has seen before. Being at the forefront of a gameplay experience that is sure to bring you endless amounts of fun.

The main reason we decided to go with Nintendo was their devotion and enthusiasm to always put gameplay first. Being the top of our core company values, we wanted to make sure this would carry over to the console community. While some of the hardware is not as strong as other consoles, we were willing to overlook that fact in order to create a game that was more fun to play.

We also found the controls and mechanics of the game was quite easy to transfer over from the PC version to the Wii. Creating a fun and exciting experience as you hack & slash your way through the hordes of monsters you are sure to fight. With a wide range of motion control that will allow the player to become their character through their actions.

Finally, we have always aimed to bring you a great on-line experience with no additional cost to the player. We were able to bring our Battle.net 2.0 to Nintendo's on-line community. Allowing our players to have the same great on-line experience as all of our PC players.

With many more exciting ventures we have planned for the future, we hope you find this news just as exciting as we do.


Wii Info
Beyond Blizzard's announcement, more news has been shared about the details of how the port will work. First, it was mentioned that one of reasons to cut the skill number from seven to six was to help create a more fluid feel to the controls for the Wii. With a more limited controller, seven skills just made it too confusing.

It was also shared that players on the PC version will be able to join up with players on the Wii. Thanks to the ability to integrate Battle.net with Wii's on-line service, there will be no distinguishable difference as far as that part goes. Playing co-op and battling in the arena, both sets of payers will be fully integrated.


Another special addition just to Wii players will be a few extra achievements. As a part of the deal, Nintendo has always tried to maintain an image that playing games can still be healthy for you. Wii players will be able to unlock special achievements based on the amount of movement and calories burned which will be tracked on the character's information page.


Finally, Nintendo will also be releasing a limited edition Wii inspired by Diablo III. On sale for pre-sale next month, the limited edition console will come with a sleek black appearance with a few Diablo touches. The console will also come with the Diablo III game as well as the perks that have been mentioned with the PC collector's edition.


Player Experience
Along with this announcement, Blizzard invited a few members of the press to try our, first-hand, just how the Wii version works. DiabloFans was lucky enough to try out the new Hack N Slash game.




DiabloFans Quote:
I will admit I had my reservations about my favorite franchise being ported to the console known for having games that babies and grandparents can play. There was no way my thirst for carnage and demon slaying could be met on this kiddie console. However, I will also be the first to admit that it did.

I walked into a small room with two couches and five big screen t.v.'s with Wii consoles connected to all of them. Myself and a few other people from other various gaming sites waited until Jay Wilson and other people on the development team joined us. The started up the game and handed us our wii-motes. With our hands gripping our controllers, they started the first quest. (The build was identical to the beta not allowing us to try out any new gameplay). The game starts out with a tutorial on the controls. A mixture of button pressing and controller motion, the controls were quick and easy to pick up. A few minutes into playing and I was swinging my way through the hordes of Hell.

We had plenty of time to try out each class which each had their own unique controls. (It is possible to turn of the Wii motion controls and just button click for those so inclined).

Barbarian
Whirlwind - Spin in a circle with your controllers held out
Threatening Shout - Pull down with both arms ending out on your side
Frenzy - Continuously swing both controllers up and down
Demon Hunter
Hungering Arrow - Pull back nunchuck as if drawing a bow
Grenades - Move nunchuck as if tossing the grenades
Traps - Move the controllers down to the ground
Monk
Fists of Thunder - Use Wii-mote for first attack, nunchuck for second and thrust both to finish the combo
Way of the Hundred Fists - Repeatedly punch with both hands
Inner Sanctuary - Rotate at the waist with both hands held out to your side
Witch Doctor
Summon Zombie Dog - Pull both controllers upwards from the ground up to above your head
Sacrifice - Bring both hands together in front of you
Soul Harvest - Twist with both controllers
Wizard
Disintegrate - Hold both controllers out in front of you
Frost Armor - Pull from head to your waist with controllers on your side
Electrocute - Make Z shapes with the Wii-mote
Every time a new skill is earned, players are given a quick demonstration of the controls. There is also an added tool tip just in case you forget.

I will admit after working up a good sweat from playing, I was quite impressed with the game. The continuous killing of demons was only made more fun as I literally was hacking my way through them. Personally, I loved the melee classes the best with these controls, slamming the controllers around me. Be careful, however, I may have accidentally given a member of the Blizzard team a black eye while performing a Cleave (sorry Bash). Say what you will about this port but until you get your hands on it, you won't understand the fun the Wii brings to the game.

[cabby]

Definitely April Fools gag.

[runebladez]

yeah definately they will NEVER go to console....ever..

[chaos5061]

Would have given me a reason to turn on my Wii. Haven't turned the thing on in about a year or more.

[cabby]

That's why I don't own a console, would probably hardly ever turn it on.

[cabby]

Here's a good one for you.

http://www.razerzone.com/snakeeyes?u..._medium=edm_en

[amulius]

Here is Blizzards version

http://eu.blizzard.com/store/details.xml?id=221003857

Plus the funny

http://eu.blizzard.com/store/details.xml?id=221005242