Diablo 3

According to Blizzard’s leaked schedule, Diablo 3 will be released sometime before Christmas 2011. So when can we expect the beta to start? And more importantly, what will be included in the beta?

Before we go into that, however, make sure you have OPTED IN for the Diablo 3 beta.

OK, so back to the question of WHEN. Using Starcraft’s beta, it should be about 6 months before the official release date. Summer of 2011 will be the summer of Diablo 3? I hope so.

So WHAT will be in beta? If we use the Diablo 2 beta as a yardstick, the beta could cover just Act I. No direct answer from Blizzard, but we get something of an answer by Bashiok:

I was wondering whether D3 beta will be confidential or not. Since the plot will most likely be spoiled when you play the beta. Id imagine the D3 beta will be much smaller than the SC2 beta just because of spoiling the storyline…

Bashiok: I don’t believe we’re planning to impose NDA’s on future beta tests for any of our franchises. That’s of course subject to change.

No NDA means that there will be LITTLE contentto be spoiled during the Diablo 3 beta. So again, we will probably be confined to Act I (or its equivalent). Hopefully, the Diablo 3 Arenas will be included.

Btw, to get an immediate notification when Blizzard announces the beta, fill in your email in the form below. There will be beta invites and other goodies, so join now:

As 2010 draws to an end and 2011 is around the corner, Diablo 3 finally looks close enough for us Diablo fans to have a reason for celebration. In just a few weeks, it will be 2011 – the year that Diablo 3 will finally be released. With Starcraft 2 and Cataclysm out, Blizzard’s marketing will be able to focus on their step-child franchise.

Thanks to Blizzard’s enterprising spirit we now have a gift worthy of Christmas: a Barbarian mousepad.

It’s a bit cheaper than the notorious Barbarian statue of last year – just 15 Euro. The statue was $300, so this mousepad is a total steal… and comes from SteelSeries.

Update: Funny video about Blizzard having problems with too much LORE!

It might seem to be a late change, but Diablo 3 will get rid of the traditional RPG stats like strength and dexterity.

Attack: Increases damage
- This stat will be a universal damage increasing stat
- We realize that ‘Attack’ is less flavorful than ‘Strength’ and ‘Willpower’
- This stat has no secondary effects.

Precision: Increases crit chance
- This will be tuned to be comparable in power to Attack
- So why have Precision? Mainly so we can play into it with affixes, runes, and traits. Linking effects to crits gives us another hook for designing skills and gives the player options to create ‘crit builds’ that play different than normal attack builds.
- - Cleave crits cause monsters to explode and do damage to those around them.
- - Lifesteal could be an ‘on crit only’ affix.
- This is a more finesse stat, and we’re fine with that
- This stat has no secondary effect.

Vitality: Increases health
- This stat has no secondary effect (seeing the pattern here?).

Defense: Decreases all damage taken
- This stat is separate from armor and resistances, each of which effects different damage types. This stat effects ‘all’ damage.
- This stat will allow players to control incoming damage rather than increasing health capacity, which is useful to reduce the need for health globes and pots, and allows players to double down on defense for survival focused builds.
- This stat is also useful for PVP, and likely will be valued in the arenas, but isn’t tuned to be a ‘PVP’ only stat.
- This stat has no secondary effects.

Willpower: Affects resource in class-specific ways
- The effects of this stat will change from class to class. It will be our goal to make it roughly equivalently valuable across classes and versus other attributes.
- Basically this stat will give you more access to whatever restricts your resource by default: capacity, regen rate, degeneration rate, generation rate, etc.

This will change and affect several item affixes, but specifically we’ll be making the following changes to address issues with casters under-valuing gear (more below in Q&A), and to clear out attributes that are going away:
- Removing +spell damage affixes
- Adding Bonus % damage for wizard skills (Wizard only)
- Adding Bonus % damage for witch doctor skills (Witch Doctor only)
- Removing Strength (Barbarian and Monk)
- Removing Dexterity (Demon Hunter)

My count of the rumors regarding the fourth character can be boiled down to two:

• Ranged character – the parallel is to the rogue in the Diablo I and the Amazon in Diablo 2
• Knight – similar to the Warrior in Diablo and the Paladin in Diablo 2

Believe it or not, there’s speculation that the Knight is out of the question and that Blizzard would like to introduce a truly unique character, like … a Vampire!

I’m betting my money on the ranged character, could be called Ranger or Hunter (update: it’s Deamonhunter!!_. A pet is NOT out of the question, though that could be my WoW Hunter talking!

According to BlizzPlanet, Blizzard has not stated officially that Battle.net 2.0 is going to be free.

However, Blizzard is known for its vague comments when it comes to monetization:

Are there any plans to monetize Battle.net 2.0 service? Mike Morhaime limited to answer: “I’m not ready to talk about that today”. Mike Morhaime confirmed that Battle.net 2.0 will be free to those who buy StarCraft 2 retail.

Of course, you need to remember that Starcraft 2 is coming out not in one but in THREE retails boxes (for a total of around $100). So even one measly box gets you into Battle.net 2.0 for life? I’ll take it.

For those of us impatient enough (isn’t that everyone?), a Diablo III custom map has been released.

You need Warcraft III in order to play it and the map is still in beta. However, I’m really amazed at the graphics – the world editor is indeed powerful enough to change the game completely. It does look like Diablo III.

Download Diablo 3 beta map

P.S. Maybe it was my bad luck with skill selection as a Wizard but even the first wave of zombies proved insurmountable for me!

Remember past Blizzcons when we wondered if that horn is Diablo’s? Or anything else that looked like a clue that Diablo 3 will be announced?

Well, Diablo 3 takes center stage at this Blizzcon! The Barbarian is displayed prominently on the homepage (next to something green looking like a Starcraft II ghost).

OK, a few bullet points about Blizzcon 2009!

• Tickets will go on sale worldwide on Saturday, May 16 for $125 each
• Blizzcon 2009 will be held on August 21 and 22 in Anaheim, California
• You get a unique WoW (non-combat) pet – Grunty the murloc marine
• Global finals for the 2009 Warcraft III and WoW Arena will be held – finalists get top prize of $25,000 per player

If you’re not able to attend, there’s the poor man’s Blizzcon – live Directv coverage for just $39.95. You do the murloc marine pet, so if you need a green/blue blob around you at all times, make sure you give your hard-earned cash to Blizzard.