Diablo III Expansion Confirmed
Blizzard have confirmed that Diablo III is to receive an expansion, although no date has been announced.
Blizzard CEO Mike Morhaime noted that the priority of the expansion will be quality and gameplay, rather than scheduling.
World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria Cinematic Trailer
The cinematic trailer for Mists of Pandaria was shown today at Gamescom..
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvYXoyxLv64] (more…)
World-First Diablo III HC Inferno Clear Confirmed
Blizzard have confirmed the world-first Diablo III Hardcore Inferno Clear, which was completed prior to the 1.0.3 patch. Canadian gamer Kripp was playing a Barbarian, and had help from a Wizard friend, Krippi.
He’s uploaded the video of their fight with Diablo, from the Barbarian’s perspective: and it’s a long fight!
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YaDA7GxAtXM] (more…)
One Week of Diablo III!
Well.. I say a week.. heh. Launch day was a no-go, with Blizzard having somehow been unaware of how many of their customers would actually want to play, and the servers being unable to cope with this demand. These problems continued the following day, with connection problems, lag, and maintenance on the Battle.net servers.. and still they weren’t finished, as there was yet more surprise downtime and maintenance later on during the week.
The only positive thing that could be said for Blizzard in this was that they got on with the maintenance straight away.. but they should have had some indication of demand from pre-order and sales figures, and from the open beta weekend which was plagued with the same problems, and they should have ensured that their systems were ready to deal with it.
Anyway.. I went with the Demon Hunter, with plans to play the game through alone, at my own pace.. with exploration, reading all the journals, watching all the cutscenes and playing with the crafting system a bit too. I had a friend drag me through Diablo II ages back, and didn’t get to explore or enjoy the story; that isn’t going to happen again.
The first part of the game was available during the open beta.. and available as a trial of the game via the Starter Edition or Guest Passes. The first part of Act 1, up to the Skeleton King, seemed to play the same as during Beta, ignoring the random elements of course!
Diablo III Starter Edition and Other News
Diablo III launches tomorrow.. woop!
For those who aren’t planning to buy the game right away, there will be a Starter Edition and Guest Pass!
Information about this was originally leaked, as Battle.net account holders discovered they had access to the Diablo III beta client.. and that they were able to create characters tagged with a Starter Edition label. Blizzard have since taken the beta down to address “an issue affecting the beta accessibility”. (more…)
Five Days Till Diablo III and Other Stuff
There’s just five days left till Diablo III is released!
The Mark of Valor Sigils are now unlocked on the website, so you can create your own banner for each character to use in-game, using your own uploaded photographs or designs. Blizzard have also made a Launch Day Preparation Guide.. purchasing, downloading, creating a Battletag and so on.
They don’t suggest what to do while waiting these last five days, tho 😉 (more…)
Diablo III Beta
Although the Diablo III Beta was made available on Friday, we weren’t able to get in right away. Unsurprisingly, there was rather a lot of interest in the game, and Blizzard had to limit the number of concurrent logins while dealing with various server and login issues.
The beta contained the first four chapters of Act 1: after defending the town against the rising dead, players go to the Cathedral to find out what happened to Deckard Cain, go in search of the mad King Leoric’s crown, and then put an end to the Skeleton King and free the land from his army of the dead!
All five classes were available to choose from, though you could only level each up to level 13 during the beta.
Mists of OMG So Many Pandas
I finally got my own invite to the Mists of Pandaria beta this morning, having checked my email only minutes after finding out that the Diablo III beta is open this weekend as well! Another weekend of beta gaming? I nearly picked up some Relentless when we went shopping, too.
I’d been told the Pandaren starting area was busy.. but I don’t think I knew the meaning of “busy” before now!
Diablo III Open Beta Weekend
Blizzard have announced that the Diablo III Beta will be opened up this weekend!
From Friday, April 20 at 21:01 CEST, until Monday, April 23 at 19:00 CEST you’ll be able to log in, team up with friends, and play each of the five heroic classes to level 13 as you fight to save the world from the impending demonic invasion.
Woop! 🙂
Diablo III Releases on May 15th!
Diablo III is to be released on May 15th.. a global release (or at least nearly global) with both retail and digital being made available at the same time. You can pre-purchase the game now from Blizzard, for £44.99.
Those who have signed up for the World of Warcraft Annual Pass will get the game for free, along with the Tyrael’s Charger mount and beta access to the next expansion: Mists of Pandaria.
I’m really looking forward to the game. Two months to clear my backlog first, though? Unlikely to happen! 😀