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Diablo 3: Ultimate Evil Edition grants week-long XP, loot buffs
Console dungeon crawlers still searching for loot in Diablo 3: Ultimate Evil Edition could have a big week – A recent post from Blizzard Community Manager Lylirra details week-long buffs running from 3 a.m. EST October 10 - 17, with advantages varying depending on whether you're a previous or current-generation demon hunter. Heroes curbing evil on PS3 and Xbox 360 will get a 100-percent experience boost, which will stack with bonuses already granted by shrines, Pools of Reflection or equipped items. Alternatively, anyone filling XP bars on PS4 and Xbox One should get used to hitting the Treasure Goblin, as its spawn rate will double for the week. The buffs are exclusive to Ultimate Evil Edition and are meant to celebrate the recent launch of Patch 2.1.0, which added a type of Nephalem Rift called Greater Rifts, The Cesspools (an environment found in Nephalem and Greater Rifts), portals to a treasure-filled area known as The Vault, and more. Update: This article initially referenced a feature list for the PC version of Patch 2.1.0 and has since been corrected to include the 2.1.0 update for consoles. [Image: Blizzard]
Blizzard posts official BlizzCon schedule
You've got your tickets purchased, your hotel arrangements squared away, your bags all packed. You're ready for BlizzCon this year! But leaving aside the fact that you can probably unpack your bags now as you've still got a month to go, what are you actually going to be doing at BlizzCon? That's what you can find out by taking a gander at the official schedule, which tracks the events of the day on both Friday and Saturday for World of Warcraft, StarCraft 2, Hearthstone, and Diablo III. A floor map is also available so that congoers can get a feel for the layout before arrival, although that's of less interest to fans planning on taking advantage of the streaming options available for the convention. If you're thinking of buying a virtual ticket for the high-quality streams, take a look at the schedule and see if it's stuff you want to watch streaming live. Unless, as we said, you've already got your bags packed to go in person.
Path of Exile shows off a prototype Grandmaster battle
The Hall of Grandmasters in Path of Exile, the home of characters that have ascended beyond the mortal realm, will be a place for players to go and admire the best of the best. And by "admire" I of course mean "kill." A new video has been released by the developers showing an early prototype match between a Grandmaster and a player character, with the former having a combat style best described as "what players do, taken to 11." Of course, this is just an early prototype, as the finished version is supposed to feature players fighting against several of these foes at once, complete with jets of flame roasting characters from every conceivable angle. You can check out the video just past the break; there's still no release date for this feature, but the developers are happy with how it's been turning out.
Diablo III on sale this weekend
If you're one of the few holdouts on this here planet Earth who hasn't picked up a copy of Diablo III or its expansion, Blizzard is prepared to make you one tempting offer. From now through Monday, October 6th, Diablo III and the Reaper of Souls expansion is 50% off through the Blizzard store. This puts the core game and the basic expansion at $20 apiece, with the digital deluxe edition of Reaper of Souls marked down to $40. Diablo III recently patched up to 2.1.1 and announced a month ago that it has sold 20 million units.
Path of Exile boasts 7 million registrations, 154k peak concurrency
New Zealand studio Grinding Gear Games has announced today that Path of Exile's Taiwanese release and second expansion have pushed to the game to seven million total registered players. The studio claims that Forsaken Masters, August's expansion, has been "extremely well-received" and led to a peak of 154,000 concurrent players. A new patch for the F2P OARPG will deploy early next week; it is expected to include new cosmetic pets, tweaks to missions and skills, and new maps designed by supporters.
Diablo III patch improves pets, Greater Rifts, and Witch Doctors
The latest patch for Diablo III is out now for players in North America, and it's a big one for pets. Area damage now hits pets for less damage than before, some pets have had their health increased, and in general there's a play philosophy focus that pets should be roughly as durable as the class that summoned them in the first place. It's good news if you tend to take part in the game with a companion creature or two. The update also makes a variety of adjustments to Greater Rifts, altering the behavior of enemies found within the rifts and removing certain maps form the rotation. Witch Doctors have also received a variety of buffs, with several fetishes getting substantially more life and improved functionality. Take a gander at the full patch notes to see how much has changed.
The Game Archaeologist: How Hellgate survived being Flagshipped
It seems that it really wasn't too long ago that I was filling in the time between night classes by boning up on video game news. I was drinking up all of the hot up-and-comers, such as Age of Conan and Warhammer Online, when I caught word that the maker of Diablo was trying to do the same thing again, only more online, in 3-D, and with a cool modern-day/futuristic/horror vibe. There's no better way to put it than to say that from the start, Hellgate: London looked all kinds of cool. Oh sure, you can scoff now with your perfect 20/20 hindsight, but I'm betting that more than a few of you thought the same with me around that time. Diablo but with guns and an online persistence -- how could we not be intrigued? One of my most vivid memories was being torn between the idea of buying a lifetime subscription deal for $150 (again, this was before the free-to-play era, but also before the era of us spending the same money on alpha access. I'm just saying that you can't judge me.). I didn't buy the lifetime sub, if you were wondering, but I did play. I even enjoyed Hellgate: London for a month or so, although something about it never quite clicked with me. It was only after I bailed that I watched with horror that one of the most infamous chapters of video game disasters took place. It's kind of like when you look at pictures of an earthquake and say to anyone near, "I was just standing there a week ago..." From its giddy heights of pre-launch hype to the crash simply known as being "Flagshipped" to its subsequent resurrections (yes, plural), Hellgate is a fascinating tale of a good idea, a terrible launch, corporate scapegoating, and improbable survival.
Path of Exile preps new flame effect and Taiwan patches
Have you long wanted to summon demonic flame from your fingertips in Path of Exile? You'll get your chance in the game's 1.2.2 patch; it's being added as a new microtransaction spell effect. The developers are also rolling the game's latest mini-expansion, Forsaken Masters, out to the Taiwanese servers as well, launching it before the game's first mini-expansion. It's a more beginner-friendly update, so it makes more sense to launch it first. This all comes courtesy of the game's recent mini-news roundup, covering several small but relevant points of interest. Other updates include discussions being held on the game's next race event, which will probably be significantly different from prior events as the team wishes to clearly distinguish between races meant for hardcore or more casual players. Master/Grandmaster supporter art packs have also begun the process of shipping, with several more prepared for the mail now. Check out the full post for a few more details, or just check out that demonic flame effect in a video past the cut.
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.
Path of Exile unveils more of the Hall of the Grandmasters
Is your character in Path of Exile the greatest of all time? Do throngs of people spontaneously assemble around her to sing Eye of the Tiger when she's just walking down the hall to the kitchen? More specifically, did you purchase the Grandmaster Founder Pack for the game? Then you can be immortalized in the Hall of the Grandmasters, a unique map canonizing player characters whilst pitting everyone against these champions. The development team has recently posted screenshots of the map still under development in addition to some planning details. Players will be able to challenge specific hallways within the Hall of the Grandmasters, which pit players against several random grandmasters who must be beaten to continue onward. This allows the developers to continue expanding as more grandmasters are added in the future. Check out the full thread for more details and preview shots of the map under development. The team has also posted two new skill effect microtransactions; the videos showing them in action are below.
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!
Path of Exile launches Forsaken Masters
If you've been following Path of Exile news at all, you know that Forsaken Masters is set to shake up a fair amount of the game with its addition of masters, hideouts, crafting changes, new challenge leagues, and so forth. But did you realize that you can start exploring all of that right now? It's live! Well, maybe you can't explore it right now, you might be at work. But once you get home. The biggest addition is the eponymous masters, who will show up randomly throughout the game world in search of players willing to aid their personal missions. Earning their trust will unlock access to their hideouts, crafting facilities, and special item rewards. Players can also take part in the new challenge leagues or just enjoy reduced mana costs across the board; they're all in place now, providing new entertainment to veterans and new players alike. [Source: Grinding Gear Games press release]
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.
Massively Exclusive: Previewing Path of Exile's Tora, Master of the Hunt
The newest expansion to Path of Exile is all about the eponymous Masters -- their goals, their attitudes, and what they can teach the player. Tora is fairly straightforward in all of the above. She is all about the hunt, taking out the monsters that surround Wraeclast, and in her own words, she wants to root out the corruption that has taken root in her world now, before it does any further harm to the natural balance. I had a chance to speak with producer Chris Wilson about Tora and the expansion as a whole the other day, and he happily shared details both about Tora herself and one of the new challenge leagues that will be going live with the expansion on August 20th. Hop on past the break to see Tora's video introduction and to learn more about what players can expect from the huntress, the challenge league, and the expansion in general.
Meet Haku, one of Path of Exile's new Forsaken Masters
The titular feature of the upcoming Forsaken Masters update for Path of Exile comes in the form of seven notable NPCs who have special tasks -- and rewards -- for the players. Each master is willing to train players and bestow upon them special hideout decorations, hideout tilesets, and crafting options. Yesterday the team unveiled the third Forsaken Master, Haku the Armormaster. Haku is an armormaster who wants you to do a bit of ghostbusting while recovering an ancient spirit that's near and dear to his heart. We've got a quick video featuring the Master and his insane missions after the break!
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]
Path of Exile developers explain the systems behind Forsaken Masters
If you're a fan of Path of Exile, you've probably already digested the preview information about the game's next major update, Forsaken Masters. The latest post by the developers is meant not to introduce the concepts but to explain how the various systems of the update are supposed to work. In short, the idea is to create content that rewards both constant players and occasional logins, with the former obviously getting the lion's share of the bonuses. For example, the various Masters whom players will be courting feature reputation tracks that can be increased in two different ways. Players can get a single daily mission from Masters in towns, but Masters can also show up randomly in endgame maps. The daily mission provides the most reputation, but players who play a lot of the endgame will pick up lots of repeatable endgame missions that add up to a substantial boost. Check out the full post to see how the hideouts and crafting systems will work and what players can expect when the update goes live this month.
Path of Exile announces Forsaken Masters, its second major update
You aren't the best around in Path of Exile. To be the best, you need someone even better to teach you. You need a master. Maybe even a lost master, which is the premise of the game's second major update, Forsaken Masters. This update will give players seven different eponymous masters to train under, each of whom will make different requests of players and offer different lessons as players improve their reputation. That's not all the update will offer when it goes live, though. Players will be able to craft their own customized hideouts upon reaching enough reputation with a given Master, allowing them to craft their own little town. There are also new items, revamped passive skills, rebalances of existing content, and new challenge leagues to enjoy. Players will be able to start taking on these new adventures when the update drops on August 20th. Then you can start really being the best around. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]
Path of Exile Supporter Packs are about to disappear
If you love Path of Exile but haven't converted that support into monetary form yet... well, that's fine, the game is free-to-play. But you're running out of time to take advantage of the Supporter Packs that were introduced as part of the game's launch. The packs will be officially discontinued very shortly, so if you haven't grabbed one yet, now's the time to do so. The official announcement notes that you will be able to arrange a payment plan and/or upgrade your pack, but you need to set that in motion before the packs are gone for good, not after. So if you've been loving the game and want to buy a little power boost... do it now. You're running out of time.
