Diablo 3
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BlizzCon 2014 in-game goodies sneak peek
Last week, we had our first glimpse at Grommloc, the BlizzCon 2014 in-game pet. Today, Blizzard has revealed the remaining in-game rewards. Hearthstone Blizzard Entertainment-themed card back. The design incorporates elements from the compass inlaid around the infamous orc statue. StarCraft II New portraits and a Heroes of the Storm-themed decal. One portrait depicts Hierarch Artanis. The other is yet to be unveiled. Diablo III Warlords of Draenor-themed weapon transmogrifications. Each class will receive its own weapon, but only the demon hunter, barbarian, and monk are displayed. Kargath's bladefist and Blackhand's hammer are easily recognizable in the image. Only available for Windows/Mac version of the game. Heroes of the Storm Nexus Mount and Nexus Brawler portrait The official BlizzCon site has a more detailed image of each than you see in the header above. It being BlizzCon and all, we can't help but wildly speculate a little: given the protoss theme of the StarCraft portrait, and the fact that one of the portraits is still veiled in mystery, could we finally see a Legacy of the Void announcement? Nearly three years passed between the launch of Wings of Liberty and Heart of the Swarm. Half of that time has passed since Heart of the Swarm's release, which would make this pretty good timing for an announcement -- though certainly not a release date.
BlizzCon offers up virtual tickets
If you really want to check out BlizzCon but can't quite manage a flight out to California, a solution is available. Virtual tickets are now available from Blizzard for $39.99, allowing you to watch the panels, the competitions, and the events live from the comfort of your own home. Sure, you won't get to actually be packed in the convention hall, but this way no one cares whether you're wearing pants or not, so you even come out ahead. Purchasing a virtual ticket will give you access to bonus in-game goods for World of Warcraft, Diablo III, StarCraft II, Heroes of the Storm, and Hearthstone, although the details are not yet available. All of the streams are also available in high definition and can be re-watched, so you needn't worry about missing something. If you've already purchased a physical ticket, you still have access to a virtual ticket as well, so you can still take advantage of the streaming. Everyone who wants to attend can at least get something like that experience.
Diablo Season 1 launches Friday, August 29
The first Diablo III Season is scheduled to launch this coming Friday, August 29. If you're not familiar with the concept of Diablo III Seasons, it's a system designed to encourage rolling new characters and tackling specific types of challenges in the game. Season challenges include Conquests, accomplishments similar to Achievements but often more difficult in nature and only able to be completed by a Seasonal hero. There are also a new set of leaderboards documenting Seasonal heroes' accomplishments throughout the Season, as well as special gear and transmog rewards for participants. You can learn more about the first Diablo III Season in Blizzard's Patch 2.1.0 previews. Good luck to all the participating players!
Legendary Gems, Greater Rifts now infest Diablo 3
As if Diablo 3: Reaper of Souls wasn't already packed with enough content to keep you dutifully clicking away at demons for months, Blizzard has launched Patch 2.1.0 which adds a host of new items and activities to the fan-favorite dungeon crawl. Most notable are the addition of Greater Rifts and Legendary Gems. Unlike Nephalem Rifts, Greater Rifts force players to slay enough monsters to summon a Rift Guardian while racing against a countdown clock. Unfortunately, the only creature in the Greater Rift capable of dropping any items is the Rift Guardian, so if you don't kill enough demons to summon the big fella, you've wasted all that time and effort. As you'd expect, those who do manage to kill the Rift Guardian within the time limit will walk away with some very nice rewards. Legendary Gems offer all the benefits of their standard counterparts, but can be infinitely upgraded and include unique enhancements not found elsewhere. They can only be socketed into rings and amulets, but each time you complete a Greater Rift there's a chance your Legendary Gem will be upgraded, depending on how quickly and decisively you dispatched the Rift's denizens. Full details on what's included in Patch 2.1.0 can be found on Blizzard's Diablo 3 website. There's currently no word on when or if this new content will be added to the recently-released Diablo 3: Ultimate Evil Edition, but Blizzard has committed to supporting both the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 versions of the game with post-launch content additions. [Image: Activision Blizzard]
Diablo 2.10 patch releases with week of in-game bonuses
It's time for new challenges in Diablo III, as Patch 2.10 crash-landed today to the delights of players and the screams of frustrated hellbeasts. Why won't you stop slaughtering them already? The big four features that arrive with 2.10 are seasons, greater rifts, leaderboards, and cesspools. Starting today, players can roll up a fresh character for a new season to earn special rewards without assistance from the player's other assets. To celebrate the patch, Diablo III has triggered a week of double gold find and double treasure goblin appearances. The patch notes are so long that, well, they descend into the deep blackness of the website. If you'd rather not go blind reading all of that, you can check out the patch overview video after the jump. Happy gaming!
Blizzard: Microsoft demanded 1080p for Diablo 3 on Xbox One
Microsoft spurred a last-minute resolution bump for Diablo 3: Ultimate Evil Edition prior to its recent launch for the Xbox One, Blizzard production director John Hight told Eurogamer at Gamescom. "We did find it challenging early on to get it to 1080p," Hight said. "That's why we made the decision to drop to 900. That's what we demoed and were showing around E3 time. And Microsoft was just like, 'This is unacceptable. You need to figure out a way to get a better resolution.' So we worked with them directly, they gave us a code update to let us get to full 1080p." Blizzard announced during E3 that the Xbox One version of Diablo 3 would be presented in 900p, placing it at a disadvantage compared to the 1080p PlayStation 4 edition. A day-one patch pushed the Xbox One version's resolution to 1080p at launch, though Eurogamer notes that the update introduces slight framerate drops in busy gameplay areas that weren't present at 900p. [Image: Blizzard]
PSN Store Update: El Diablo
Video games! They've been hibernating through the summer, but this week's PlayStation Store update brings plenty of the blighters onto PS4, PS3 and Vita. Let's start with the biggie, Diablo 3: Ultimate Evil Edition, which brings Reaper of Souls to the action-RPG on PS3 ($40) and debuts the game itself on PS4 ($60). It's also out on Xbox 360 and Xbox One. The two other cross-platform releases are Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare, which'll eat up 40 of your greenbacks on PS4 and 30 on PS3, and the stealthy CounterSpy, a $15 cross-buy purchase that unlocks the game ons PS4, PS3 and Vita. PS4 players also have a choice between the hyperviolent $10 Hotline Miami - also cross-buy - the somewhat less violent The Last Tinker: City of Colors ($20) and the retro Arcade Archives Rygar ($8).
Diablo III previews the Vault
There's nothing worse in Diablo III than seeing a treasure goblin waltz up and snatch a valuable item away from you whilst you're dealing with a pack of monsters. It's endlessly satisfying to catch the little monster and take it down. But what if you could head back to the goblins' base and start taking stuff from them for a change? That's the idea behind the Vault, a new area being added to Diablo III with patch 2.1. Whenever you take down a treasure goblin in 2.1, there's a chance that a portal to the Vault will spawn. Inside the Vault there's a ton of items pilfered by the treasure goblins, as you'd expect. There's also the Baroness Greed, who doesn't take kindly to having her space invaded and her pilfered goods re-pilfered by someone else. Still, it turns the game on its head; instead of being annoyed when a treasure goblin pinches your loot, now you'll have a chance to get something even better.
Diablo 3 on Xbox One levels up to 1080p with day-one patch
Remember that unfortunate bit of news that the Xbox One version of Diablo 3: Ultimate Evil Edition would be running at 900p instead of 1080p like its PS4 counterpart? Well good news, everyone! Xbox One copies of Diablo 3 will indeed gather their courage and take on those 180 additional Ps thanks to a day-one patch. "The game will be available [in] 1080p on both the PlayStation 4 and the Xbox One," a Blizzard rep told GameSpot. "Native 1080p resolution. You will need to download the day-one patch for the Xbox One to get that support, but it will be there. We're very happy about that." We imagine Xbox One-bound demon hunters are happy, too. [Image: Blizzard]
Diablo 3 enables cross-platform saves as Ultimate Evil looms
Blizzard has implemented cloud saving in its latest update for the console versions of Diablo 3, allowing players to transfer their character data across platform generations for the upcoming Diablo 3: Ultimate Evil Edition. Diablo 3's cross-manufacturer cloud saving feature allows players to transfer their data from a PlayStation 3 to an Xbox One, or from an Xbox 360 to a PlayStation 4. The process, outlined at Blizzard's blog, involves installing the latest Diablo 3 console patch, exporting save data to Blizzard's cloud service, and linking a user's Sony Entertainment Network and Xbox Live accounts via Battle.net. Diablo 3 does not currently support save transfers between the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, or between the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. PC saves are also incompatible with the console versions of Diablo 3, and Sony-exclusive Diablo 3 content (including Drake's Amulet and other items) will not transfer to Xbox platforms. Diablo 3: Ultimate Evil Edition launches for the Xbox 360, Xbox One, PlayStation 3, and PS4 on August 19. [Image: Blizzard]
World of Warcraft drops another 800k subscribers; Diablo III has sold 20M units
Today's Activision Blizzard earnings call revealed that World of Warcraft has suffered another significant hit to its subscriptions: The game has lost 800,000 subs over the last quarter, bringing the playerbase down to 6.8 million subscribers. The game announced a loss of 100k last November, a gain of 200k in February, and another loss of 200k in May. WoW has lost over 3 million players in the gap between Mists of Pandaria and Warlords of Draenor. Blizzard claims that most of the losses were "disproportionately concentrated in the East." There is some good news for the company: ARPG Diablo III has sold over 20 million copies since its launch in spring 2012.
Diablo 3, Reaper of Souls condemn 20 million souls across all platforms
Since its initial release in 2012, Diablo 3 - combined with its recent Reaper of Souls expansion - has sold more than 20 million copies worldwide across all platforms, Activision revealed during a financial report today. Expect that number to level up when Diablo 3: Ultimate Evil Edition, which includes the base game, RoS expansion and some goodies for PlayStation fans, releases for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on August 19. [Image: Activision Blizzard]
Diablo 3: Ultimate Evil Edition pre-order bonuses for the PS4 player's soul
Previous editions of Diablo 3 had plenty of evil on tap, but Diablo 3: Ultimate Evil Edition will render those versions moot when it comes out on August 19. While Blizzard is releasing the Ultimate Evil Edition on Xbox One and PlayStation 4 as well as their predecessors, the digital pre-orders which opened on Wednesday are only available on PS3 and PS4. Those that take advantage of PSN pre-orders will also get their hands on some exclusive content, including the truly odd add-ons themed around some of Sony's signature games. "The Guise of the Colossi," the first of these add-ons, lets you transmogrify armor into six freaky, human-sized avatars based on the monsters from Shadow of the Colossus. It's unclear if these armor variants will also make Diablo's enemies feel horribly guilty about killing you in battle.
Diablo III is going to China
If you're a Diablo III fan in the US, you've been able to play the game for quite some time, delving into seas of monsters and beating your way through fields of enemies. If you're a Diablo III fan in China, you're anxiously awaiting the game to actually be released locally. So it's good news to hear that Blizzard is working with NetEase to bring the game over to China's shores. No official release dates or prices have been announced at this time, nor has any information about whether or not this release will include the Reaper of Souls expansion for the game. It seems likely that the release will include all of the upgrades the game has experienced since its 2012 launch, but even that's just speculation. NetEase is the company that has already brought World of Warcraft and StarCraft II to the nation's gaming audience, so it's likely that players can expect the game without too many delays.
Enter to win exclusive Comic-Con prizes from Blizzard
If you aren't lucky enough to be heading to San Diego for Comic-Con 2014, good news -- you can still get yourself some Comic-Con goodies. Blizzard will be giving away 25 Comic-Con goodie bags chock full of cool and exclusive Blizzard merchandise. To enter, simply follow the link provided on the official announcement post, and earn entries by completing a variety of social actions using the contest app. Winners will receive a Heroes of the Storm T-shirt and lanyard, a Diablo Whimsyshire Treasure Goblin, a Starcraft Cute But Deadly Cloaking Zeratul, a Starcraft Funko Pop! Vinyl Primal Kerrigan, and a Warcraft Nether Faerie Dragon Plush. The contest runs until July 27, so you have plenty of time to get plenty of entries in. For more information, and the official rules, head to the contest app page. Good luck to all who enter!
Rob Pardo leaves Blizzard
In a rather surprising move, Blizzard's Executive Producer Rob Pardo announced today that he is leaving the company. At this time he has announced no immediate career plans or subsequent goals, although he mentions a desire to spend the summer with his family and consider his next move. Pardo's forum announcement thanks the design teams for all of their hard work and notes that he has immensely enjoyed his time with the company; he expresses great satisfaction at the growth of the company and all of the changes that have come about during his tenure there. Pardo mentions that he began working with the studio during development of the original StarCraft, having since worked on titles including Diablo III, World of Warcraft, and Heroes of the Storm. He has promised fans that he will attempt to be communicative about his next move via Twitter. [Thanks to Dystopiq for the tip!]
PSA: Diablo 3 Auction House closes its doors on June 24
The Auction House in Diablo 3 that allowed players to sell items for in-game gold or real-world money will close up shop this week, Blizzard has reminded us. While the option to bid on, buyout or list new auctions was disabled back on March 18, players still have until June 24 to retrieve any items or gold still lingering in the "Completed" tab. In other words, if you sold or bought an item via the Auction House before March 18 but still haven't picked it up or collected your payment, this is your last chance to do so. On June 24, any gold or items left will be sacrificed and banished to the ether. The removal of the Auction House has been a long time coming; it was a controversial addition to the game when it released in 2012, and the game's director admitted that its implementation "really hurt" the overall design of Diablo 3. [Image: Blizzard]
Diablo III is closing the auction house for good next week
Diablo III's auction house is on its last leg, giving up its ghost, and seeing a hellish light at the end of the tunnel. As of June 24th, all traces of the controversial feature will be removed from the game for good. Blizzard sent out a reminder today about the auction house, stating that while its economic functions were disabled in March, the studio left it up for a few months past that to allow players to retrieve items and gold. Any items and gold left unattended will be sucked into the abyss on next Tuesday, so beware!
Diablo 3 version 2.1.0 introduces Seasons mode, Greater Rifts
Blizzard has outlined the changes that will soon roll out as part of Diablo 3: Reaper of Souls' upcoming 2.1.0 patch, including a new "Seasons" mode that offers a number of unique quests and challenges. When playing as a Seasons-enabled character, players will roll back to level 1 at the start of each season as they work toward earning mode-specific achievements called Conquests. Conquest tasks range from high-level boss fights to time-attack challenges, and between 10-15 unique Conquests will premiere at the start of each season. Reaper of Souls version 2.1.0 will also introduce Greater Rifts, which are more challenging versions of Nephalem Rifts that can be unlocked via random Rift Guardian drops. Blizzard plans to launch new leaderboards for the Seasons mode and for Greater Rifts upon the release of the patch, and details a number of changes it will make to in-game combat during public testing of these new features. [Image: Blizzard]
Diablo III: Reaper of Souls' first update bringing seasonal play
Diablo III has begun testing its first big update for Reaper of Souls, which will add an updated version of Diablo II's ladder system and more. Patch 2.1.0 will also add "seasons" to the game. These are a new type of play that requires players to start a fresh character to level up. Why would someone want to do something so obviously crazy? Why, for the exclusive rewards and the chance to climb the leaderboards! There will also be season-only achievements called conquests that will be awarded to the first 1,000 players to get each one. Once a season is over, the exclusive legendaries will be added to the rest of the game. Patch 2.1.0 will also impliment cesspool levels, combat balance changes, and greater rifts. The latter will have players racing against the clock to kill monsters and try to beat the end boss before time runs out.
