Patch 10 Gameplay ReportMonster improvements, items & crafting, hits & more
Patch 10 Observations videoSome of the changes & additions in action
Undocumented changes with Patch 10You’ve read what Blizzard listed, now read what they didn’t

DiabloWiki.Net Updates
Leap Attack returns in Diablo 3. This Clvl 6 skill works much as it did in Diablo II, enabling the Barbarian to jump great distances and strike a ferocious blow upon landing. The Barbarian's speed in midair is very fast, making this an effective movement skill.

DiabloWiki Watch #66: Skill Rune Effects, Scrolls, and B.net Additions

0
Posted 27 January 2012 by Flux at 23:59 GMT

DiabloWiki Watch at DiabloWiki.NetWith all the recent game changes, we’ve been busily updating numerous pages in the DiabloWiki. The process is ongoing, and we hope to have all the new features (and removed features) updated by this weekend. But with so many big and ongoing changes, we wanted to share some of the changes.

Some of the most useful pages now being updated are the DiabloWikiSkill Rune effects pages for every skill. These collect all of the videos of each skill rune effect, along with screenshots and stats, giving a handy one-stop-shop to see all the rune effects in a given skill. Obviously these will be much expanded come release, when the effects are finalized and we can get full stats for everything, but they’re useful even now. Check out the DiabloWikiPoison Dart rune effects article for a taste of what’s to come.

DiabloWikiTown Portals have led us a merry chase throughout Diablo 3′s development. There were town portal scrolls, then no town portals of any kind, then the Stone of Recall, and now we’re back to Town Portals, except they don’t actually create a portal, and they’re cast directly from the interface. See the article for all the chronological details, with numerous blue quotes that explained exactly why TPs had to be removed, and then had to be returned. (Like good politicians, the D3 Team were for it before they were against it before they were for it.)

Other DiabloWikiscrolls have had no less turbulent a development cycle, and now that there are no scrolls in the game (for now), you might want to refresh your memory about the scrolls of wealth, companion, greed, reforging, identify, and more.

Another ever-evolving feature are DiabloWikiTool tips. Initially they were detailed because players shouldn’t have to alt-tab out of the game to read wiki info on skills, then they were shorter, and then they were “simplified” because noobs don’t like words. You can see the history of this feature, plus numerous screenshots of tooltips over time, in the article.

DiabloWikiRandomization is a core feature of Diablo III, and the different ways that dungeons can be formed in the game is one of the key reasons for Diablo 1 and Diablo 2′s endless replayability. Surface areas are not (very) randomized in Diablo 3, but dungeons still are, and you can see some great screenshots (thanks to RisingRed) that show off numerous possible level layouts in this article.

We’ve added bunch of completely new articles that cover the various recently-revealed updates and improvements to Battle.net. These include DiabloWikiReal Money Trading, the DiabloWikiAuction house, DiabloWikiRegion lock, DiabloWikiCooperative play, the Mark of the Least AKA DiabloWikiBattleTag, the HC graveyard-styled DiabloWikiHalls_of_the_Dead, Bobby Bucks AKA the DiabloWikiBattle.net Balance, and the DiabloWikiFriends List.

That outta get you caught up on some things for now, and we’ll have many more additional wiki updates coming soon. If you’d like to help out on the editing and page creation, check out the pages needed thread in the wiki forum to find things to do, or to suggest others that have become outdated.

Tagged As: | Categories: DiabloWiki, Runestones | No Comments

Server Maintenance

24
Posted 27 January 2012 by Elly at 19:57 GMT

Blizzard will be performing server maintenance today, so the beta will be offline.

Blizzard Quote:
We will be performing a small maintenance on the Diablo III test server starting at approximately 10:00 a.m. PST. This maintenance will include a variety of minor hotfixes as well as a database storage update; as a result of these changes, please note that your Friends Lists, Achievements, and “Recent Players” will be wiped.

We anticipate that downtime will last for about 4 hours, until 2:00 p.m. PST. Thank you for your patience.

This coincides perfectly with my scheduled play time tonight (GMT) so I’m tickled pink about that. Thanks to PaNts0NBhEaD for the newstip.

Tagged As: | Categories: Diablo 3 Beta | 24 Comments

One life to live #22: Patch 10

6
Posted 27 January 2012 by Xanth at 14:04 GMT

Patch 10 is upon us and on the surface not all is applicable to Hardcore. However,if all things hold this patch has shaped a lot of what we may see at release.

read more

Tagged As: | Categories: Columns, Diablo 3, Hardcore, One Life to Live, Patches | 6 Comments

Vote: No BlizzCon 2012.

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Posted 27 January 2012 by Flux at 12:10 GMT

We found out this week that 2012 will bring no BlizzCon, for the first year since 2006. Blizzard’s excuse is that they’re super busy trying to release three titles this year, and they pointed to some kind of esports tournament thing instead of their Blizzcon tournaments, but I’ve never watched a second of those, so I lost interest before that part.

Of much more interest is the speculation about the real reason for no BlizzCon 2012. I think it’s pretty simple; they’re super busy, but moreover, they had nothing to debut this year.

  • DiabloWikiTitan‘s obviously not yet ready to reveal.
  • D3 will be out by October, but it’ll be way too soon to talk about D3X.
  • SC2X will be out or just about to launch, with nothing to announce at BlizzCon.
  • The next WoW expansion will be in crunch move, and besides, even Blizzard realizes no one really gives a damn about the panda pack.

Add that up and you’ve got no compelling new anything for the show, and Blizzard doesn’t want to put on a show that leaves fans unsatisfied. Plus they’re really busy. Much the same opinion was arrived at in an Ars Technica editorial, though by different means.

All that aside, we know there’s no Blizzcon coming this year. How does that make you feel? Pick the answer that comes closest to your opinion and we’ll see just how cynical you guys are, in aggregate.


How do you feel about no BlizzCon in 2012?

View Results

Loading ... Loading ...


Last Vote Results

Last time we asked how you guys felt about the changes to the game systems revealed in Jay Wilson’s big announcement. The results mirror what we’ve seen in comment threads, with quite mixed opinions. Most of you guys are at least mildly supportive of the changes, while wishing they didn’t take so long, but quite a few people think the iteration is an excuse to screw around, or are even more hostile than that.

How do you feel about D3′s dev progress, in light of all the new system changes?

  • 2) The new changes are okay, but hurry up. (45%, 2,067 Votes)
  • 3) The new changes are stupid over-iterations. Not worth the delays. (27%, 1,257 Votes)
  • 4) I don’t care about the details and have been furious at the delays since 2010. (14%, 653 Votes)
  • 1) The new changes are awesome and so is the dev progress. (14%, 605 Votes)

Total Voters: 4,584

Tagged As: | Categories: BlizzCon, BlizzCon 2012, Diii.net Votes, Other Games, Project Titan | 27 Comments

Blizzard Updates WoW Annual Pass Page – Now Not Early Next Year Thankfully

14
Posted 27 January 2012 by Elly at 11:07 GMT

2013! No Way!

Ah…the elusive release date. Could we be getting closer? Are Blizzard getting their ship in order by updating the WoW/Diablo 3 annual pass page? Well we don’t know, but what we do know is they have changed the wording from “when the game launches early next year” to “when the game launches”.

The weird thing is, this has apparently been changed on the news post Blizzard made back in October last year.

Probably a pretty good move to get that updated because  somebody may hit up the page from a link or search engine and early next year is 2013! What it does indicate though is that Blizzard are paying attention to these things now which I hope is a sign that we are getting closer.

Thanks to Mike for sending over the update and pic.

Bashiok replied to this image via his Twitter account.

Blizzard Quote:
That change was made a few months ago. No reason. Just a better idea to not have it in print all over the place “just in case. –Bashiok
Tagged As: , , | Categories: Bashiok, D3 Progress Reports, Release Date, Rumours, Twitter | 14 Comments

Diablo Fan Art Watch #128: Diablo – Lord of Terror V

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Posted 27 January 2012 by Holyknight3000 at 10:00 GMT

  

Welcome friends to the latest installment of the Diablo Fan Art Watch. This week we show off 4 pieces of Big Red himself from the Diablo 3 fan art gallery.
  
This week four artists bring to life their work showing off the Lord of Terror in different ways. From 3-D Zbrush sculptures and stylized works; to the really detailed digital painting. Give ‘em a look there are some awesome pieces this week.
  

Artwork by UmpaArt, anubis123085, Moni158, and Stranger1988.

Click the thumbnails to see larger versions of all these images.

If you enjoy Fan art and want to contribute to this growing community, please stop by the Fan Creations Forum. Many artists visit frequently, posting works in progress looking for feedback and conversation. You don’t have to be “arty” to join in. If you have any questions or comments please feel free to send me a PM.

Tagged As: | Categories: Fan Art, Fan Stuff | No Comments

Diablo III Beta First Impressions

28
Posted 27 January 2012 by Flux at 04:01 GMT

A couple of semi-journalistic takes on the DiabloWikiDiablo III beta today. The first comes from site reader YOUR and has been posted on his blog. It’s a practical write up of the beta experience, with a balanced take on the pros and cons, and lots of screenshots. Informative and practical.

Naturally, in this post I’m going to focus more on this rabble-rousing and somewhat-misleading piece from The Daily Beacon, a student newspaper from the University of Tennessee. Some choice quotes:

…The first time I launched the game I was actually shocked at how outdated the game looks. The character models in the class selection screen look like they belong in a PS2 game.

…The opening level is a foggy cemetery which is easily the ugliest environment in the game. The fog effects wash out the screen and look more like your monitor’s brightness is set too high than fog.

My first hours playing the game didn’t do anything to improve my opinion of it. They consisted of clicking on people with exclamation marks over their head, then trudging through dungeons filled with slow-moving monsters that provided absolutely no challenge. All that was required to defeat the waves of oncoming attackers was to hold the mouse in their general direction for a couple of seconds. …I started to wonder how “Diablo II” had possibly achieved such a revered status, because I was extraordinarily bored.

I say misleading because while the article starts off by crucifying Diablo III on numerous levels, it loops back halfway through and winds up actually recommending the title. It was probably a clever approach though; the hate hook landed some coverage here, at least.

The author states that he’s never played any Diablo games before, and that he has very little ARPG experience. He is therefore right in Blizzard’s “casual-friendly” target audience. Unfortunately, since he’s an experienced video gamer, as I’d guess 98% of possible Diablo II buyers are, he found the early going boring, even on his first play through.

Tagged As: | Categories: Diablo 3 Beta, DIII.Net Articles, Media Coverage | 28 Comments

New Affixes Stats – Compared

7
Posted 27 January 2012 by Dorjan at 01:57 GMT

Get the stats

There’s been a lot of discussion about stats today and we have updated the affixes section on the DiabloNut database .

To show the changes there is a new column for Patches with a compare button so you can see what has changed since Patch #8 which was the last patch with any statistical data updates.

 

Some highlights include :

Check the full list of affixes and compare them to the last patch on the DiabloNut affixes section.

Tagged As: , | Categories: DiabloNut | 7 Comments

Blue on Beta Patch 10 Stats and Build Diversity

25
Posted 26 January 2012 by Nizaris at 23:01 GMT

With the recent changes in Diablo 3 Beta Patch 10 we saw the re-adoption of the previous version of stats. The change created a rift between fans – those that felt this was finally a step in the correct direction, and those that believed that this was another step towards “dumbing it down.”

Nakatoir has responded on the EU forums to doom-sayers, attempting to waylay the angst.

Blizzard Quote:
This decision to change the core attributes and stats doesn’t limit build diversity because the same stats exist on items as before. If you wanted DiabloWikiprecision, now you want +crit, if you wanted defense, now you should aim to get DiabloWikiarmor. It is the same concept for all stats, if you wanted DiabloWikiattack, just go for your core class DiabloWikistat.

What this change is intended to do is increase the item pool by making more items that are clearly not for your character, and subsequently making it easier for you to be able to determine if you should be using an item or not :) If you are a DiabloWikiWizard and get an item with DiabloWikiStrength on it, you know immediately that this item is not really for you. It used to be that you would be sitting there analysing an item with +attack for a good 10 seconds or more only to figure out that it’s a bad item for you, but now it should only take a few moments to decide this.

We assure you though; this change will not affect the amount of build diversity in the game :)

Some have stated that this makes choices easy since you will always want to take your primary stat that gives two bonuses, taking DiabloWikiVitality as your secondary. According to Nakatoir, that’s exactly what they want – not necessarily that the choice is easy, but that you know when something is not good for you. Whether you will only want to focus on two stats for viability remains to be seen.

We have yet to experience the end game and have not become privy to soft or hard caps for stats like critical chance, and it leaves room for the value of other stats that extend beyond your primary stat and vitality.

How do you feel about the new stat system? Love it? Hate it? Don’t care?

Tagged As: | Categories: Attributes, Blue Posts, Diablo III Classes, Patches | 25 Comments

Forum Light Show

13
Posted 26 January 2012 by Elly at 19:22 GMT

OMGMembers may have noticed the light show display we’ve been putting on in the forums today. Before you reach for the smelling salts, fear not, we are messing about in the css today so you will notice lots of squiffy alignment issues, font weirdness and images going awol. Bear with us while we wrestle with it all. The forums are still usable, you just have to hunt down the required buttons and links, it’s as conventional as a Picasso in there right now. Apols.

Update: We’ve stopped playing with the forums now so you may enjoy the forums once more. Thank you for your patience.

Tagged As: | Categories: Forums, Site News | 13 Comments

Patch 10 Removals Update – Scrolls of Reforging and Companion Gone

69
Posted 26 January 2012 by Elly at 18:20 GMT

We mentioned there would be an update on removed features that were not highlighted in the patch notes and Blizzard has confirmed the removal of DiabloWikiScrolls of Companion and DiabloWikiScrolls of Reforging.

Blizzard Quote:
Scroll of Reforging removedA few more changes have made their way in to Diablo III beta patch 10, including the removal of Scrolls of Companion and Scrolls of Reforging, and we’ll be updating the patch notes to reflect that.

In both cases these are features we felt were underdeveloped and just not quite good enough for the game in their current state. The companion pets felt like they were mandatory to maximize play efficiency and some of the pets were too cutesy for the gritty, dark world of Sanctuary. Neither of those are issues we felt like we could solve without a lot of additional work, and we’re trying to close in on a solid release date for the game, not move further away. When weighing these systems against releasing the game, we decided to cut these scrolls and stay on track for the game’s release.

We think we can make companion pets into a much cooler system (both mechanically and visually), and evolve the reforging scrolls into a more meaningful system at some point in the future. For the time being, they will not be in the initial release of the game.

Thanks DiabloIIIChris.

Tagged As: | Categories: Diablo 3 Beta, Diablo 3 Beta Patches | 69 Comments

Beta Patch 10: Tester Gameplay Feedback

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Posted 26 January 2012 by Flux at 11:23 GMT

With the patch a couple of days old, numerous beta testers (and their friends and relations) have had a chance to play through a few times, and some consensus is beginning to form on the latest changes. You guys know about the big documented changes to crafting, the removed cube and cauldron, and so on. What about the more subtle stuff that you have to play to appreciate?

So We Heard You Like Hit Points

The most obvious change in gameplay is the huge boost to character life. Every point in vitality now yields around 10 hit points (it was 4 previously), and as a result characters feel like they are way above the hit point curve, even without making any effort to stock up on vitality gear. Numerous players reports can be seen in this forum thread, and the numbers are crazy.

Players are reporting upwards of 2000 hit points on well-geared level 13 Monks and Barbarians, and this against monsters that are hitting you for 4-6 damage. Even without gear the difference is huge; I played a Wizard through this morning, and with zero crafted or bought armor (just the junk that dropped from monsters) my Wizard had over 450 hit points at level 8, which robbed the Skeleton King battle of anything resembling suspense. I hardly noticed the damage from his attacks, and as a result didn’t even bother to dodge his teleport hits.

For the sake of comparison, I ran a Clvl 9 Wizard through shortly before the last patch went away, and with zero equipment improvements (just wearing found gear) that char had around 150 hit points against the Skeleton King. That made for a very exciting battle, and I even died in it, for the first time ever against Leoric, when I was careless and let him get in two swiping attacks without drinking a potion between them. It was quite possible to get a Clvl 9 Wizard up to 400+ hit points in the previous patch, but only with a lot of equipment specialization. That you now get it by default is crazy, and makes the beta play like you’re wearing a life vest the whole time. I don’t think my new wizard was ever below 75% health, and I was making very little effort to avoid being hit.

Better yet, there are also considerably more health globes than in previous patches. That you don’t actually need more than like 1/5th of them, thanks to the huge hit points boosts, is another issue.

Click through for numerous additional beta play test observations…

read more

Tagged As: | Categories: Crafting, Diablo 3 Beta, Diablo 3 Beta Patches, DIII.Net Articles | 56 Comments

Diablo 3 System Requirements

34
Posted 26 January 2012 by Nizaris at 02:08 GMT

While this isn’t exactly “new” news, the question about DiabloWikiDiablo 3 system requirements continues to be a general topic of interest. Official requirements have been released regarding minimum and recommended specs for your computers. The requirements have been updated as of January 21st and are subject to change.

The minimum specs appear to be… rather modest. So you may want to hold off on that computer overhaul if you’ve been biding your time to make the perfect rig for Diablo 3′s release.

Blizzard Quote:

MINIMUM SYSTEM SPECIFICATIONS

PC

OS: Windows® XP/Windows Vista®/Windows® 7 (Latest Service Packs) with DirectX® 9.0c
Processor: Intel Pentium® D 2.8 GHz or AMD AthlonTM 64 X2 4400+
Video: NVIDIA® GeForce® 7800 GT or ATI Radeon™ X1950 Pro or better

Mac

OS: Mac® OS X 10.6.8, 10.7.X (Latest Version) | Processor: Intel® Core 2 Duo

Video: NVIDIA® GeForce® 8600M GT or ATI Radeon™ HD 2600 or better

All Platforms

HD Space: 12 GB available HD space | Memory: 1 GB RAM (1.5 GB required for Windows Vista®
Windows® 7 users, 2 GB for Mac® users) | Drive: DVD-ROM drive | Internet: Broadband Internet

connection | Display: 1024×768 minimum display resolution

RECOMMENDED SYSTEM SPECIFICATIONS

PC

OS: Windows Vista®/Windows® 7 (Latest Service Packs) | Processor: Intel® Core 2 Duo 2.4 GHz or AMD AthlonTM 64 X2 5600+ 2.8 GHz | Memory: 2 GB RAM | Video: NVIDIA® GeForce® 260 or ATI Radeon™ HD 4870 or better

Mac

OS: Mac® OS X 10.7.X (Latest Version) | Processor: Intel® Core 2 Duo | Memory: 2 GB RAM

Video: NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 330M or ATI Radeon™ HD 4670 or better
Note: Be advised that some wireless connections do not meet the minimums required to be a true Broadband Internet connection. Wireless results may vary.
Tagged As: | Categories: Hardware & Tech, Mac Games | 34 Comments

Blizzard CS Sweeptstakes Over

9
Posted 26 January 2012 by Elly at 01:39 GMT

If you were hanging in there for one of the Beta keys from the BlizzardCS Twitter giveaway then sadly you are out of luck because the sweepstakes have now concluded.

Blizzard Quote:
I’m sorry to be the bearer of bad news, mate, but the Sweepstakes has ended – all five rounds have concluded.

We are still verifying Tweets, everyone. Hang tight and we will notify winners of the #DiabloBeta sweepstakes as soon as possible. :)

The sweepstakes began on 21 December and ran for five weeks with 100 keys going out each week. Blizzard may well do some other giveaways depending on how many testers they want to add to the pool. Perhaps those 5000 bugs that were reported could have been 10,000 if more testers were added?

Thanks David for the tip.

Tagged As: | Categories: Diablo 3 Beta | 9 Comments

5000 Bugs Reported

52
Posted 25 January 2012 by Elly at 19:51 GMT

As we head up to release, bugs are being squashed as they come in and according to blizzard more than 5000 bugs have been reported since the Beta began. Looks like some testers are being proactive in getting the game sorted out.

Blizzard Quote:
I have some really cool news for you. Last night, we past 5000 bugs reported on the Bug Report forums! This is an incredible milestone for the Diablo III community, and one you should be proud of.

Here are some fun stats about bugs in the Beta:

  • The first bug was reported on 9/6/11 and can be found here
  • The most common bug ever reported was when the Battle.net servers were down during Thanksgiving 2011. It was reported over 200 times.
  • 5092 bugs have been reported since 10 AM PST on 1/25/12
  • Of the 5092 bugs reported on the forums, 856 unique bugs have been sent off to the developers to fix. (Remember, a bug reported on the forums can be a duplicate or not a bug at all).

Thank you again for all of your hard work testing the Diablo III Beta and helping Blizzard make it the best game it can possibly be. Here’s to 5000 more!

Source: Blues: IncGamers

We have a Bug Thread in the Beta forum that doesn’t appear to be bursting at the seems with reports so perhaps Blizzard are all over the bugs like a dose of salts.

Tagged As: , | Categories: Diablo 3 Beta | 52 Comments

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