Diablo III Message Board older than one year ago

#diablo Commodities are now available in the Diablo III real-money auction house. More »

#diablo Regardless of how good a game might be, regardless of how many hours of entertainment it provides, a game that dares to end is a game that has damned itself. We don't want our games to end, and the recent complaints around the Diablo III endgame are a testament to that desire. More »

Man cannot live on loot alone. Well, I’ve never actually tried, but I assume so, anyway. Blizzard, however, speaks with the experience of a developer that’s feasted on gold coins (that weren’t made of chocolate) and wiped the sweat from its brow with gleaming, mythril-infused hauberks (that, regrettably, also weren’t made of chocolate). It knows loot, is what I’m saying. So when it says that forcing Diablo III players to subsist solely on the stuff just isn’t doing the job, you know it means it. Once upon a time, though, this wasn’t even a concern. People hacked, slashed, and looted until they got their fill, and then they moved on to a different game. So why are players suddenly demanding that an entirely different sort of experience be duct-taped onto the end of Diablo’s?

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#diabloiii Diablo III inhabits a sort of strange hybrid new position in games. Neither entirely single-player nor an MMO, it straddles the world between the two, using its constant internet connection both to connect players to each other in a social experience and to make some cash. More »

A few readers emailed us claiming they had been banned from Diablo III while playing on Linux. The complaints about this were being voiced in a lengthy forum thread on the official forums, too. Blizzard replied to us, and on the forums, claiming that people were only being banned for cheating, not for simply playing Diablo III on the open operating system: “Playing the game on Linux (although not officially supported) and/or using Wine will not result in being banned, but cheating will. We’ve extensively tested various scenarios related to this situation, including replicating system setups for those who have posted claiming they were banned unfairly, and have not found any situations where players were banned solely for using Linux or Wine.”

They seem to regard that as the final word on the topic.

#diablo A number of Diablo III users have complained in the last few days that they've been banned from playing the game for doing nothing more than using WINE, a means of playing Windows games in the Linux operating system. More »

#diablo Some have said that Diablo III is too easy. Power-gamer Athene is among those people—to demonstrate this, he went ahead and beat each of Diablo III's toughest bosses in a matter of seconds. More »

#top Diablo III hasn't been released in China yet but the game is definitely enjoying a lot of coverage here. Enterprising players are already playing the game by buying copies from foreign countries, much to the ire of Korean and Taiwanese players. Now it seems there maybe a way for Chinese players to play Diablo III without causing problems for the Asian server. People's Daily's online's gaming channel, China's party newspaper's online website, as well as Tencent, one of China's largest internet gaming sites, have put out articles that heavily feature the use of a Diablo III crack so that players can play offline. More »

Sometimes, videogames are confusing. Except with Diablo III, in which case they’re always confusing. Most recently, Blizzard’s opus – made up of one part hack, one part slash, and one part commerce - introduced a baffling up-to-72-hour set of restrictions for new players. Among those, however, two – a halt to all progress beyond Act One and a demon-tickling level cap of 13 – basically turned the full price product into a glorified demo. Fortunately, however, a new patch has looted those items and put them up for sale on the auction house of non-existence.

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Diablo III has sole more than six million copies since it launched on PC and Mac last month.

You no longer have to wait 72 hours to play the full version of Diablo III that you just paid for.

Blizzard Entertainment has lifted the restrictions placed on the digital versions of Diablo III, which once limited digital consumers from moving beyond the first act or level 13 for as long as 72 hours.

Blizzard claimed this was an “unintended consequence” of a decision designed to protect customers, as it personally verified each purchase of Diablo III. Upon verification, restrictions lifted.

“For security reasons and to help ensure the integrity of the game and auction house service,” the company said at the time, “players who purchase the digital version of Diablo III may have to wait until payment verification is complete before they can access certain game features. Similar to World of Warcraft, these restrictions were put in place to deter credit card fraud, which in turn helps reduce gold spam and other harmful activities that can have a negative impact on the game experience for everyone.”

This one always looked bad for the company, and I’m not surprised Blizzard was quick to correct it.

This move coincides with the release of patch 1.0.3a, which reverses some significant loot changes players reacted poorly to and other tweaks outlined here.

The never-ending soap opera that is Diablo’s online strategy continues. First there were connectivity issues, then claims of hacking, and, yesterday, new buyers began getting slapped with up-to-72-hour restrictions to Diablo III’s Starter Edition – aka, its demo. Next up, we’ll probably find out that Torchlight’s been Diablo’s son all along, but both of them got amnesia and the paternity test exploded. It turns out, however, that the credits haven’t quite rolled on this week’s episode. Apparently, new players actually aren’t supposed to be thrown into demonic demo dungeons. They are, however, still subject to roughly a gazillion other baffling restrictions.

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#diablo Blizzard recently introduced a new "feature" whereby people buying digital copies of Diablo III for the first time would, for up to three days, be locked out of the full game. If you were wondering why, well, here's their explanation. More »

We’ve written and spoken about our concerns and frustrations regarding Diablo III’s relationship with the internet, but Kotaku notice that patch 1.0.3 introduces yet another baffling aspect to what I reckon is an increasingly indefensible strategy. People who purchase the game digitally are now being told that their copy of the game will actually be a starter edition for up to 72 hours. Why? A support agent says “…it is a necessary step to combat fraud and other malicious activities that can weaken everyone’s play experience.” What I’m gathering from all of this is that “everyone’s” play experience seems to be a lot more important than anyone’s play experience.

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#diablo It's one thing to beat Diablo III's Skeleton King boss. It's quite another thing to beat Diablo III's Skeleton King boss on Inferno, the game's highest difficulty setting. And it's quite another thing to defeat Diablo III's Skeleton King boss on Inferno… in less than a frickin' second. More »

#diablo Diablo III server problems in South Korea have been bad. Korean gamers have been pissed—so pissed that they seemed rarin' to sue Blizzard. Good news, Korean gamers, Blizzard is offering an olive branch. More »

#diablo This Battle.net forum thread has been making the rounds on the Internet today. It's pretty entertaining. More »

#diablo You may think that you play Diablo III, clicking on enemies and looting bodies, but there's a good chance you're actually playing a kiddie version of the game. More »

One of the frontiers of gaming has been conquered! Unlike real frontiers, in gaming we get to just make more when they run out, so cheer up, there’s going to be a new Antarctica for you to perish in before long. Anyway, the latest greatest in gameworld is the completion of Diablo III on Inferno with a hardcore character. So that’s completing it on “very hard” with a character who is permanently dead if he gets his plug pulled by netherworld bullies. VG247 pointed out that Blizzard community manager Bashiok was able to verify the claim via the unmagic of their stat collecting tech. There’s a video below, but it’s a bit spoilery if you’ve not finished D3, obviously.(more…)

#diablo Check out this Diablo-ized take on Where's Waldo?, created by a Spanish Diablo fan site and tweeted on Blizzard's official account today. More »

Diablo III‘s real money auction house launched in the US yesterday, and so far, direct exposure doesn’t seem to be causing connection issues, account hacks, additional limb growth, or premature death in my race of designated Blizzard guinea pigs. So, assuming that holds up (and I’d be willing to bet my third arm it totally will), it’s headed to EU regions on Friday – as spotted on an in-game prompt by Eurogamer. Originally, Blizzard’s officially sanctioned solution to gold farming was slated for roll out on June 13.

So yes, wallets and/or pitchforks at the ready. If you keep both in the same place, that’s probably very painful for you and confusing for others. At any rate, make sure to read about how the RMAH works here (beware: transaction fees) and procure an Authenticator. So then, many of us dream of being reality-bending wizards or bone-shattering barbarians, but who’s chomping at the bit to become the auction house baron who takes a small fortune from reality-bending wizards and bone-shattering barbarians?

The day foretold (repeatedly) in the Prophecy has finally arrived. Diablo III‘s real money auction house is here and – connection requirements aside – completely optional, so you can peruse its user-supplied wares right this second if you’re a resident of the giant bald eagle and failing business reservation that is my country of origin. Europe and other territories, meanwhile, will gain access in “the near future,” as Blizzard’s trying not to send any server farms into geosynchronous orbit this time around.

Oh, and if you’re in the correct region, you’ll still need an Authenticator – though, fair warning, I still have my reservations about that allegedly hacker-proof solution.

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#diablo In an effort to "help reduce server strain and improve overall game stability", Blizzard has placed an undisclosed limit on the number of new Diablo III games a player may create in quick succession. More »

#diablo Rejoice, well-moneyed individuals—Diablo III's real-money auction house, which lets players exchange real cash for in-game items, is now live in the Americas. More »

#legal While many Korean gamers might be excited about Diablo III, Korean net cafe owners aren't exactly thrilled. Sure, the game is a big boost to the country's net cafe industry. That is, when it can get online. More »

#spiralcats When Diablo III launched in South Korea, the country's most famous cosplay collective, Spiral Cats, was on hand. Spiral Cats' member Tasha pulled off a wonderful Demon Hunter—a character she revisits in this photo set. More »

If Diablo III‘s real money auction house wasn’t in direct opposition to the spirit of its own game and also an incredibly prominent representation of modern PC gaming’s most deadly sins, I’d find this whole thing kind of inspirational. I mean, Blizzard’s stared down the demons that are abysmal server stability and account hack outbreaks, yet its progress has only been delayed – not deterred. And now, the heavyweight champion of all things hack ‘n’ slash is gearing up for a high-stakes rematch against the hacking menace. Its secret weapon? Very small pieces of plastic.

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#diablo Diablo III has its share of annoyances—lost progress due to connection difficulties, the delayed auction house, hackers stealing your gear… but the most annoying of all may well be cheaters. More »

Apple designer Jony Ive did not walk out onto the stage today with an Apple-created controller, but there was plenty of gamer-relevant news that came out of Apple’s event this morning.

The ugly-but-functional Game Center application is coming to the Mac in the July-bound $19.99 Mountain Lion operating system update. Game Center handles friends, achievements, matchmaking, and has largely eliminated competition in that category, which used to be fractured across multiple applications with the same intentions. Some still exist, like Open Feint, but they're chiefly focused on developers with intentions to be on platforms like Android.

Game Center is also receiving a number of updates that coincide with Apple’s iOS 6 update, scheduled for a release this fall. There are now challenges, which are one-time, player-driven dares that can also be tied to achievements, if the developer chooses. It will also be connected to Facebook, making friend finding easier.

It’s unclear if these will be introduced early with Game Center on Mac, but one would expect it to be available on every platform eventually.

Apple also made a significant update to its MacBook Air line, upgrading the CPU with Intel’s Ivy Bridge processor and apparently beefing up its graphics abilities by as much as 60% (that's Apple's line) over the last model with an Intel HD 400. Complete specs are available on Apple’s website.

Apple's powerful new MacBook Pro probably won't be affordable for most, but it looks hot.

That’s nothing compared to the absurdly powerful “next generation” MacBook Pro that Apple introduced, complete with the gorgeous Retina Display that started on the iPhone and recently came to the iPad. This new MacBook Pro also includes a powerful GeForce GT 650M GPU. As with the Air, specs are available on Apple’s website.

Start counting your pennies, I guess.

Apple showed multiple applications to demonstrate the new screen, including Diablo III. One would assume there have been tweaks to the interface to accommodate the high-resolution screen, and I’ve sent a request to Blizzard for clarification.

The 13-inch and 15-inch traditional MacBook Pros were updated, as well, with the 17-inch model getting killed. Specs? You know the drill.

There was no mention of Apple TV at the event. Rumors had suggested Apple might open up an SDK for their living room device, allowing for developers to start writing applications directly to the Apple TV. That didn't happen.

Apple revealed its new next-gen MacBook Pro laptops at the WWDC keynote today, showing off Diablo III to demonstrate the machine's powerful new Retina Display. More »