Open Beta
Blizzard is currently having an open beta for Diablo III. If you would like to play you need to hurry because it ends Monday, April 23 at 10:00 a.m. PDT. Check out the announcement for more information.
Is the open beta only for people who have already purchased Diablo 3?
Anyone with a Battle.net account can participate. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
Public Games
I think we peaked at around 300k concurrent. Total users? I don't know... a lot. (Source)
Why would I want to bang my head against that useless wall of lag you have going on?
I just jumped in, joined a full party, and played for about 15 minutes without every experiencing any lag.
Is that because the server is in the same building as you are?
No... Kaivax IS the server.(Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
A taste of what release will be like
We're bringing the servers back up with very low player caps (meaning we only let a certain number of people on) to monitor stability. If we just let everyone flood in all at once... well I don't think we care to find out what would happen. With the caps off we're more than able to hold everyone (worldwide, mind you) that's helping us test the open beta. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
Leveling
Someone on Battle.net questioned the leveling process in Diablo III; primarily, regarding the "lack of thought" needed to play.
I think it's a symptom of the beta where you're in the part of the game where we're very deliberately guiding players by handing out a skill here, a rune there. It's really a crafted and linear experience to start (both in system introduction and environment) because the first couple hours are the most crucial to a successful and long term experience. We're not in the mindset to drop all of the game systems on you and say "Good luck, sucker!"
To some the approach we're taking is likely a turnoff because they want to feel like they're part of an elite group able to figure out complex and obtuse game systems, and be challenged the second the game begins. I think if they stick with it they'll find that there is a ton of depth and complexity to the game. We put the depth into the gameplay, skill, and decision making itself and not the requirement to overcome the UI or understand how the game even works.
If you're one of those players you're going to blaze through Normal, hit Nightmare, and things are going to start feeling really good for you. You just have to understand that not everyone is like you, and we're making the game so a wide range of people can enjoy it.
I agree with everything here, except the whole "you're going to scream through normal" thing kind of sucks, honestly.
Honestly many people here find the later acts of Normal very challenging (like they can't beat the last boss for weeks on end challenging), but I don't want encourage someone to pull up my words later and say "You said it would be difficult!" I'm not sure what additional balancing could happen before release.
Weak Templar
You're the hero, not your follower. They offer assistance in different ways, but they need you. They'll die without your spirit and guidance. TO SANCTUARY! (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
Point Click Controls
Just a reminder here -- like previous games, the shift key holds your character in place.
I utterly love the cursor-based movement of Diablo games, but I've been playing them for 15 years now. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
Multi-Boxing
Multiple copies from the same number of multiple computers with the same number of multiple accounts will be fine. You can't, to my knowledge, run more than 1 copy per pc simultaneously though.
Be clear on this though. To a lot of people, multiboxing means multiple copies per computer, not multiple computers which is what the definition really is. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
Picking up Gold
You kinda just have to run sort of near it...
Because it's cool to see items and gold explode out of enemies when you kill them. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
Mouse for Diablo
I just got a naga hex (which is at work), and it conspicuously has the exact number of buttons needed for all Diablo III skills. I haven't tried it out yet, but if you like the naga it's maybe an option.
Twitter
Vacation ended too quickly. Now off to Korea, Taiwan, and Australia for an eight day press tour. (Source)
Again I'd like to ask, if we went buck wild and tried changing battletags attempting to login, can we change them back per chance?
Not unless you have your free change left. We don't have a system to allow additional changes yet. (Source)
Will reset the achievements after the open beta test? I would like to know whether it makes sense to fulfill them?
Characters and achievements will all be wiped before release. If you don't mind, have fun. (Source)
Diablo Art
Just a reminder, the Portrait of a Champion Contest is ending soon. If you have submitted a piece or plan, feel free to also post your work in our own Fan Art section.
We've received more than 2,000 entries for the Portrait of a Champion Art Contest and we're looking for more talented artists to help bolster our ranks. The hour of Diablo's return is near…take up your tools and forge a hero to help stem the tides of darkness before it's too late!
Daily Fallen Daily Diablo is a fun little site that a fan uses to post up daily drawings of some Diablo characters. In case you do not check it daily, here are the last few days.
Diablo Maze Fan Art A fan made a maze based on this piece of Diablo art. He has also posted the solution if you find yourself not able to beat it!
Black Soulstone Fan Art
Blizzard tweeted a piece of art work that was shown to them by a fan depicting one of the demons seen in the Black Soulstone cinematic.
Curse Weekly Roundup
Check out this week's Curse Weekly Roundup covering topics from GW2 and Halo 4.
Honestly many people here find the later acts of Normal very challenging (like they can't beat the last boss for weeks on end challenging)
I am so tired of their contradicting statements. Stop giving every group of gamers a separate PR line. You can't say players will breeze through normal and then throw out this statement in your very next reply.
I feel like it's a jab at my intelligence. I'm not that freaking gullible and to be honest... I am a bit offended that you can't just tell us the truth (that normal will be mind-numbingly easy). That's fine... I've accepted that fact but at least own up to it instead of trying to throw us lines like this.
Honestly many people here find the later acts of Normal very challenging (like they can't beat the last boss for weeks on end challenging)
I am so tired of their contradicting statements. Stop giving every group of gamers a separate PR line. You can't say players will breeze through normal and then throw out this statement in your very next reply.
I feel like it's a jab at my intelligence. I'm not that freaking gullible and to be honest... I am a bit offended that you can't just tell us the truth (that normal will be mind-numbingly easy). That's fine... I've accepted that fact but at least own up to it instead of trying to throw us lines like this.
They aren't trying to lie to you. They are just saying that for some people, normal will be very easy and they will blaze through it, but for the "many people" he referenced, the end of normal got challenging. As they said, they are making the game for a wide range of people, and that wide range of people will include those who think normal is easy and those who think normal is challenging.
Honestly many people here find the later acts of Normal very challenging (like they can't beat the last boss for weeks on end challenging)
I am so tired of their contradicting statements. Stop giving every group of gamers a separate PR line. You can't say players will breeze through normal and then throw out this statement in your very next reply.
I feel like it's a jab at my intelligence. I'm not that freaking gullible and to be honest... I am a bit offended that you can't just tell us the truth (that normal will be mind-numbingly easy). That's fine... I've accepted that fact but at least own up to it instead of trying to throw us lines like this.
They aren't trying to lie to you. They are just saying that for some people, normal will be very easy and they will blaze through it, but for the "many people" he referenced, the end of normal got challenging. As they said, they are making the game for a wide range of people, and that wide range of people will include those who think normal is easy and those who think normal is challenging.
^ It all depends on people with skill, if its easy for you then that's good but don't be so naive to think that everyone is a hardcore diablo fan researching the mechanics or has any idea what to do. There will be people that are just... noobs, and thats fine.
lol I understand how normal can be challenging to the less talented but there's no way in hell that someone could be stuck on the final boss for weeks on end.
Anyway, it's not a big deal but it's just getting old.
Honestly many people here find the later acts of Normal very challenging (like they can't beat the last boss for weeks on end challenging)
I am so tired of their contradicting statements. Stop giving every group of gamers a separate PR line. You can't say players will breeze through normal and then throw out this statement in your very next reply.
I feel like it's a jab at my intelligence. I'm not that freaking gullible and to be honest... I am a bit offended that you can't just tell us the truth (that normal will be mind-numbingly easy). That's fine... I've accepted that fact but at least own up to it instead of trying to throw us lines like this.
They aren't trying to lie to you. They are just saying that for some people, normal will be very easy and they will blaze through it, but for the "many people" he referenced, the end of normal got challenging. As they said, they are making the game for a wide range of people, and that wide range of people will include those who think normal is easy and those who think normal is challenging.
^ It all depends on people with skill, if its easy for you then that's good but don't be so naive to think that everyone is a hardcore diablo fan researching the mechanics or has any idea what to do. There will be people that are just... noobs, and thats fine.
They just don't say "It's real hard" because there SURELY is going to be some people that'll play the game non-stop and is real good at it and finish Hell real quick. Then everyone will say "HEY, this game isn't hard!".
Like it happens when some single guild finishes the newest raid in WoW...
Honestly many people here find the later acts of Normal very challenging (like they can't beat the last boss for weeks on end challenging)
I am so tired of their contradicting statements. Stop giving every group of gamers a separate PR line. You can't say players will breeze through normal and then throw out this statement in your very next reply.
Oh, but he can say those things. There will be some players that don't breeze through. There will be some that do breeze through. Maybe you are too quick to jump to the conclusion that everyone is always trying to deceive you.
Honestly many people here find the later acts of Normal very challenging (like they can't beat the last boss for weeks on end challenging)
I am so tired of their contradicting statements. Stop giving every group of gamers a separate PR line. You can't say players will breeze through normal and then throw out this statement in your very next reply.
Oh, but he can say those things. There will be some players that don't breeze through. There will be some that do breeze through. Maybe you are too quick to jump to the conclusion that everyone is always trying to deceive you.
Honestly many people here find the later acts of Normal very challenging (like they can't beat the last boss for weeks on end challenging)
I am so tired of their contradicting statements. Stop giving every group of gamers a separate PR line. You can't say players will breeze through normal and then throw out this statement in your very next reply.
I feel like it's a jab at my intelligence. I'm not that freaking gullible and to be honest... I am a bit offended that you can't just tell us the truth (that normal will be mind-numbingly easy). That's fine... I've accepted that fact but at least own up to it instead of trying to throw us lines like this.
I remember being 12 years old and struggling my way through Act 4 of D2 in Normal difficulty. I had no idea about how to build a char, what items are effective, any of those things, and I found it really hard. When I got up to Diablo it took me many goes to kill him. It made me scared of the dark after each session until I went to bed
This is just reminding you that there are going to be heaps of people who do struggle with Normal difficulty. Don't assume that everyone is in their mid 20-30s and has played all kinds of games for the last 10-20 years of their life. There will be people who breeze through normal in 30 minutes (maybe?), then people who will literally take weeks. Nothing contradictory there.
This is just reminding you that there are going to be heaps of people who do struggle with Normal difficulty. Don't assume that everyone is in their mid 20-30s and has played all kinds of games for the last 10-20 years of their life. There will be people who breeze through normal in 30 minutes (maybe?), then people who will literally take weeks. Nothing contradictory there.
There will be people who find Skeleton King challenging. I didn't, but, I played D1 and D2 a LOT, not to mention the last 7 years of MMO raiding. I can move and react, though I'm no twitch FPS player. I think about what skills will work best in a situation etc.
Some people here react to the fact that it's made for people other than themselves by saying "Well, those people need to get better or not play, because I want difficulty set for ME!!" That's not an answer Blizzard is going to listen to. They want to sell the game to everyone, not just *you*, whoever you and your friends are. It just varies how far into the game you'll go before finding it difficult. Some in Normal, some in Inferno, lots in between somewhere.
Also, some don't find 'horribly difficult' fun, and may play for years in Normal. I know people who almost never left Normal in D2. They found it fun. You might not, but that's ok.
Blizzard is currently having an open beta for Diablo III. If you would like to play you need to hurry because it ends Monday, April 23 at 10:00 a.m. PDT. Check out the announcement for more information.
Originally Posted by (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
Anyone with a Battle.net account can participate. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
Public Games
I think we peaked at around 300k concurrent. Total users? I don't know... a lot. (Source)
Why would I want to bang my head against that useless wall of lag you have going on?
I just jumped in, joined a full party, and played for about 15 minutes without every experiencing any lag.
Is that because the server is in the same building as you are?
No... Kaivax IS the server.(Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
A taste of what release will be like
We're bringing the servers back up with very low player caps (meaning we only let a certain number of people on) to monitor stability. If we just let everyone flood in all at once... well I don't think we care to find out what would happen. With the caps off we're more than able to hold everyone (worldwide, mind you) that's helping us test the open beta. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
Leveling
Someone on Battle.net questioned the leveling process in Diablo III; primarily, regarding the "lack of thought" needed to play.
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
To some the approach we're taking is likely a turnoff because they want to feel like they're part of an elite group able to figure out complex and obtuse game systems, and be challenged the second the game begins. I think if they stick with it they'll find that there is a ton of depth and complexity to the game. We put the depth into the gameplay, skill, and decision making itself and not the requirement to overcome the UI or understand how the game even works.
If you're one of those players you're going to blaze through Normal, hit Nightmare, and things are going to start feeling really good for you. You just have to understand that not everyone is like you, and we're making the game so a wide range of people can enjoy it.
I agree with everything here, except the whole "you're going to scream through normal" thing kind of sucks, honestly.
Honestly many people here find the later acts of Normal very challenging (like they can't beat the last boss for weeks on end challenging), but I don't want encourage someone to pull up my words later and say "You said it would be difficult!" I'm not sure what additional balancing could happen before release.
Blue Posts
Originally Posted by (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
You're the hero, not your follower. They offer assistance in different ways, but they need you. They'll die without your spirit and guidance. TO SANCTUARY! (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
Point Click Controls
Just a reminder here -- like previous games, the shift key holds your character in place.
I utterly love the cursor-based movement of Diablo games, but I've been playing them for 15 years now. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
Multi-Boxing
Multiple copies from the same number of multiple computers with the same number of multiple accounts will be fine. You can't, to my knowledge, run more than 1 copy per pc simultaneously though.
Be clear on this though. To a lot of people, multiboxing means multiple copies per computer, not multiple computers which is what the definition really is. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
Picking up Gold
You kinda just have to run sort of near it...
Because it's cool to see items and gold explode out of enemies when you kill them. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
Pressing 'G'
Pressing G drops your banner. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
Mouse for Diablo
I just got a naga hex (which is at work), and it conspicuously has the exact number of buttons needed for all Diablo III skills. I haven't tried it out yet, but if you like the naga it's maybe an option.
Or, ya know, the awesome red glowy official Diablo III mouse - http://steelseries.c...iablo-iii-mouse (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
Twitter
Vacation ended too quickly. Now off to Korea, Taiwan, and Australia for an eight day press tour. (Source)
Again I'd like to ask, if we went buck wild and tried changing battletags attempting to login, can we change them back per chance?
Not unless you have your free change left. We don't have a system to allow additional changes yet. (Source)
Will reset the achievements after the open beta test? I would like to know whether it makes sense to fulfill them?
Characters and achievements will all be wiped before release. If you don't mind, have fun. (Source)
Diablo Art
Just a reminder, the Portrait of a Champion Contest is ending soon. If you have submitted a piece or plan, feel free to also post your work in our own Fan Art section.
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
Daily Fallen
Daily Diablo is a fun little site that a fan uses to post up daily drawings of some Diablo characters. In case you do not check it daily, here are the last few days.
Diablo Maze Fan Art
A fan made a maze based on this piece of Diablo art. He has also posted the solution if you find yourself not able to beat it!
Black Soulstone Fan Art
Blizzard tweeted a piece of art work that was shown to them by a fan depicting one of the demons seen in the Black Soulstone cinematic.
Curse Weekly Roundup
Check out this week's Curse Weekly Roundup covering topics from GW2 and Halo 4.
Find any Diablo news? Contact me or anyone else on the News team
No... Kaivax IS the server.(Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
I think that should be rephrased to "Is that because you have multiple 1000MB Lines, and are in the same country as the server?"
Besides - What's "Kaivax" ?
He's the blue poster that was posting in there before bashiok made a funny =p
I am so tired of their contradicting statements. Stop giving every group of gamers a separate PR line. You can't say players will breeze through normal and then throw out this statement in your very next reply.
I feel like it's a jab at my intelligence. I'm not that freaking gullible and to be honest... I am a bit offended that you can't just tell us the truth (that normal will be mind-numbingly easy). That's fine... I've accepted that fact but at least own up to it instead of trying to throw us lines like this.
They aren't trying to lie to you. They are just saying that for some people, normal will be very easy and they will blaze through it, but for the "many people" he referenced, the end of normal got challenging. As they said, they are making the game for a wide range of people, and that wide range of people will include those who think normal is easy and those who think normal is challenging.
^ It all depends on people with skill, if its easy for you then that's good but don't be so naive to think that everyone is a hardcore diablo fan researching the mechanics or has any idea what to do. There will be people that are just... noobs, and thats fine.
Anyway, it's not a big deal but it's just getting old.
Like it happens when some single guild finishes the newest raid in WoW...
Oh, but he can say those things. There will be some players that don't breeze through. There will be some that do breeze through. Maybe you are too quick to jump to the conclusion that everyone is always trying to deceive you.
Paranoia!
I remember being 12 years old and struggling my way through Act 4 of D2 in Normal difficulty. I had no idea about how to build a char, what items are effective, any of those things, and I found it really hard. When I got up to Diablo it took me many goes to kill him. It made me scared of the dark after each session until I went to bed
This is just reminding you that there are going to be heaps of people who do struggle with Normal difficulty. Don't assume that everyone is in their mid 20-30s and has played all kinds of games for the last 10-20 years of their life. There will be people who breeze through normal in 30 minutes (maybe?), then people who will literally take weeks. Nothing contradictory there.
There will be people who find Skeleton King challenging. I didn't, but, I played D1 and D2 a LOT, not to mention the last 7 years of MMO raiding. I can move and react, though I'm no twitch FPS player. I think about what skills will work best in a situation etc.
Some people here react to the fact that it's made for people other than themselves by saying "Well, those people need to get better or not play, because I want difficulty set for ME!!" That's not an answer Blizzard is going to listen to. They want to sell the game to everyone, not just *you*, whoever you and your friends are. It just varies how far into the game you'll go before finding it difficult. Some in Normal, some in Inferno, lots in between somewhere.
Also, some don't find 'horribly difficult' fun, and may play for years in Normal. I know people who almost never left Normal in D2. They found it fun. You might not, but that's ok.