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As we mentioned earlier this week, we’ve decided to move out our target launch for the real-money auction house beyond our original estimated date of May 22. Our new estimated date for the launch of this new system is Tuesday, May 29.

To learn more about the auction house system, have a look at the comprehensive Auction House Guide or check out the updated Auction House FAQ.

Artisans cannot add sockets to items. That information about the jeweler in the game guide of our website is erroneous and we're in the process of updating it.

Socketing was a feature that was in the game very early on, but ultimately it didn't end up enhancing the play experience as we had hoped. Instead it just kind of felt like a chore. It's a really good feeling to see an upgrade drop, equip it, and keep moving on. When adding sockets to items was inserted into that equation, it made it feel mandatory to return to town every time an upgrade dropped to pull the gem from your current item, add a socket to the new one, and carry your gem forward. There's already a little bit of this in Diablo III with gems, but the fact that you can make a choice in most situations on whether or not to use a socketed item makes a big difference. As another consequence, the ability to add sockets made the random rolling of a socket as an item affix feel kind of crappy. And given the way items and stats are generated in this game anyway–you’ll virtually never get the same item with the same stats twice–we don’t currently feel there’s a major lack of customization depth.

Adding complexity to systems isn't a problem for us, but it has to enhance the gameplay, not add to it an element of tedium just for the sake of intricacy. Ultimately this is why adding sockets was pulled. Now, if we feel down the road that the item game needs some new flair, we'll absolutely consider additional customization features (such as enchanting or socketing). But we have to make sure they're designed in such a way that the game is enriched through the added complexity, without creating a convoluted item system that detracts from the initial excitement you feel when you get an epic new weapon or piece of gear.

Who has Killed Zarhym?
I have! About 5 times now.

And based on Twitter mentions I've been receiving via @CM_Zarhym since Tuesday, it seems A LOT of other people have killed me too. It's kinda morbid to look at dozens of images depicting your own inevitable death.

at least i hope neth is in game im not sure, and i was wrong about bashiok =( i was Baslock the Depraved =( i was denied!
I don't think I'm in there. But I'm going to have a good time hunting those two down. ;p (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

PvP Voice Over Sessions
Listening in on PVP voice over sessions. Cool stuff! (Source)

Blizzard Still Working Hard
Keep in mind not everyone who's critical is a hater. There are many people out there making great points, whether their feedback about the game is positive or negative. Whenever reading posts on the forums I try, first and foremost, to determine if it's clear that the poster genuinely cares about this game and wants to be invested in it, even if it's because they want to see improvements in specific areas.

This is a really important time for the company, as well as my team specifically. The game is out and in many peoples' hands. Now we're just listening carefully to what you think (and spending the hours meant for sleeping blowing up bad guys) -- while also doing our best to keep an open line of communication with you about common points of confusion, service issues, etc.

It all boils down to a love for gaming and passion for a franchise. That's a pot where players maybe the meat, and Blizzard employees maybe the peas and carrots, but it's all just one collective stew. I'm hungry.

Have a great weekend. <3 (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

With all five classes now unlocked on the "Darkness Falls. Heroes Rise." launch site, we’d like to draw your attention to the short stories we’ve written for each class. While the heroes you play in Diablo III will have their own destinies, as guided by your hand, these rich and intense short stories will help you to understand what it means to be a barbarian, demon hunter, monk, witch doctor, and wizard.

Barbarian
Wayfarer – by Cameron Dayton

It was a man. A giant of a man who towered over even these hulking things. A man who stood dripping in hot blood that steamed in the cold morning air. He wore a bearskin cloak across mountainous shoulders, and his legs were girded with piecemeal armor of mismatched plate and mail. Heavy oxhide boots. Chest bare and scarred. Thick hands, knotted and rough, were wound around the haft of a terrible weapon that matched his size. It was easily three times the length of Aron's axe, forged of angry black metal and notched along both sides of its uneven blade. It was a coarse and brutal tool of death, held aloft as though it were part of the man's own arm.
This could only be a barbarian.

Demon Hunter
Hatred and Discipline – by Micky Neilson

There was a barely discernible, persistent hum. The only signs of life came from Josen and two other hunters, one searching the derelict structures, another standing near a rundown storehouse. Whatever had happened here, they were too late to do anything about it. Now it was a matter of looking for survivors. That was, after all, the second most important thing her people did: feed and shelter those left homeless in the aftermath of unthinkable catastrophe. Guide them, encourage them, heal them, educate and train them... to do the most important thing, should they so choose: become a demon hunter and annihilate the hellspawn responsible for evils like this.

Monk
Unyielding – by Matt Burns

"The Patriarchs ask a hard task of you, one reserved only for the most devout of our order," the Unyielding had continued. He stared at Zhota for a moment, furrowing his brow. "You have attained the rank of monk, but there are times when I wonder if you are truly ready. There are times when I think you are still that fool boy who first came to the monastery. More beast than man, really... a wild thing with eyes clouded by emotion and intuition and all those other fleeting feelings that change on a whim just as swiftly as the winds. Are you that boy, or are you a monk?"

Witch Doctor
Doubtwalker - by Matt Burns

Each season, after the Igani, the emptied husks of tributes were carefully sewn together in the shapes of dogs, their bodies filled with herbal composts and dried leaves. A boiled skull of a beast was used as the head, attached just above a mane of feathers. With the blessing of the spirits, these zombified beings served as loyal minions at a witch doctor's beck and call.

Wizard
Firefly - by Michael Chu

That was our first meeting, and I still remember it vividly. Isendra embraced her role in teaching Li-Ming. She became a mentor to the girl, and Li-Ming gained a deep respect for the sorceress. They were more alike than Isendra or I had suspected. But Li-Ming quickly exhausted the extent of Isendra's knowledge. Their relationship changed, and Li-Ming began to treat the sorceress as an equal rather than a teacher. Isendra was changing too, and that worried me as well. She was far too permissive with Li-Ming's behavior. With nothing to learn, Li-Ming followed the vein of curiosity that had always driven her, and that was when the trouble started.

Throughout the months of March and April, you sent us entries for our Portrait of a Champion art contest. With prizes from Steelseries, NVIDIA, and Antec on the line, you submitted hundreds of breathtaking original works. It was a very difficult task, but at last, we have chosen the winners.

Thank you all for your participation, and congratulations to the winning artists!

I know what some boss enrage timers are, but to save spoilers I'll transpose it onto the Skeleton King. So, as an imaginary example, in Inferno if you don't kill the Skeleton King within four minutes he starts spawning three times the amount of skeletons. That creates a much tougher situation, but it's one you could very well handle if played right.

People kiting the Skeleton King around for an hour with their level 3 characters is fun to see. It's not fun when it's level 60's at end game and item drops matter. To make these kills and thus a character's progression matter we need to try to fight cheesy tactics that allow people to just flop through the game.

Don't force people to be efficient if they don't want to be.
The point of the game is efficiency... Killing monsters as quickly as possible to maximize your time to find the drops you want. That is the game. I think you should do whatever you think is fun, absolutely, but if you want to go at a slower pace, not really worry much about maximizing efficiency, and just kind of take it at your own speed you're going to have a pretty rough time in Nightmare let alone Inferno. Hopefully as the game progresses and difficulty ramps up you're naturally being encouraged to tighten up your build and scrutinize your gear more and more.

In any case though, as I detailed the enrage timers aren't "I Win" buttons for the bosses, so a more defensive build should still be able to progress if they're geared and being played well.

With the Nephalem Valor buff the best loot is off champions, rares, and (assuming the buff is up) bosses. As I said the point is ensuring "legitimate" progression. But if someone wants to farm rares and champions in the beginning of Act I because they can't beat the Skeleton King, they should absolutely do that. And actually, everyone should be expecting to do exactly that when they reach Inferno.

You can very often achieve the same goal without the metagamey "I Win" button.
They aren't "I Win" buttons.

what exactly does the enrage timer hope to accomplish other than becoming an artificial barrier of progress?
Nope! You nailed it, that's the intent of an enrage timer.

I like how you throw in "artificial" as a negative. It's a video game. It's all designed and artificial. If there's a "natural" or "organic" way to stymie someone's attempt to cheese their way through a boss kill I'd be happy to hear it.

Gotta farm up that tier gear before you progress! Hello boring MMO structure.
Not a big Diablo fan, huh?

There's a confusion of terms making this an issue, but it's really not one.

We separate out 'item tiers' for their visual appearance first and foremost. We have a number of "armor sets" (18?) in the game that match visually, and so we call them 'tiers' because there's no real better way to say it. When all of your items are from that 'tier', you'll match. That doesn't directly determine their stats, though.

They're spread out in a logical progression, and items get more awesome looking as you go further in the game. Ipso facto the higher the visual tier the better chance it's a more powerful item, but it doesn't preclude the possibility of it being worse. You can absolutely find an item from a visual tier back in Hell difficulty that's better than an item using a later visual tier in Inferno.

It's best to just expunge the term 'tier' from your minds, because it really has nothing to do with any kind of stair step or item upgrade approach. It's just models and textures.

Each Inferno act has its own item tiers?
Wasn't he referring to monster level? I'm pretty sure he was. Link?

"And there are items that ONLY drop at level 61, at level 62 and so on; and they're not small number!"
Thanks, I was skipping around trying to find it.

So yeah, I guess the visual looks are separated out by Act in Inferno. As I said though it doesn't guarantee or preclude an item of a specific 'tier' to be better of worse than another of near proximity.

As I said it's really a non-issue. We need to come up with a better name than 'tier' for the matching art sets, it just makes people think the power is tiered too. Matching art sets!? How about that? Art set? nah....

So, in order to progress to later acts in inferno, you need to find all your gear in inferno because of their looks?
I'm gonna go curl up in a ball.

I would be surprised if we're relying on the store's normal stock to fill the potential demand at the event. On the other hand the number of Collector's Editions we printed is finite so maybe it's not out of the realm of possibility. Thanks for bringing it up though, I'll pass this along/look into it.

Ive been to a midnight release of every blizzard game made starting with Diablo 2. Only ONCE have i seen a gaming shop have extra collectors editions.
Well, to be fair, product availability tends to be a little different at our official events. The Fry's we've had most of our official US events at had so many Burning Crusade CE's they still had copies 2+ years after the expansion released.

Quick side query there Bashiok; Why do we not see any Blizzard events in Australia? Namely no Diablo 3 Launch? You have the playerbase here for certain..
We think it'd be keen! But with a regional midnight launch in pacific time it means the down under is about to play in the early evening. Having a midnight launch event didn't make much sense when the servers are up for you at 3-5pm. Open to feedback on that though.

bashiok.. is getting your signature or playing of the game more important?
Signature, as I'm set to be signing until 2am I want as many people as possible to be unable to start playing right at midnight.