Posts with tag diablo-3

Breakfast Topic: What is your favorite Blizzard cinematic or cutscene?

by Robin Torres Jun 30th 2012 at 8:00AM

In a recent installment of The Queue, reader Victor commented about a thread in the Brazilian forums that debated best WoW cinematic. I think it is difficult to decide the absolute best, so I started to consider which one was my favorite.

But the first Warcraft cinematic that came to mind -- the one that moved me more than any I've seen -- is not actually from World of Warcraft. Arthas killing his father in Warcraft III blew me away. The betrayal. The graphics. The story that instantly fascinated me. I can still remember the feeling I had when I first watched it over the shoulder of someone who had the collector's edition. I wanted to run out and buy the game, but I am terrible at real-time strategy titles.

My second favorite is from Diablo III, but I won't spoil it. The cinematic that occurs between Acts I and II is wonderful. And the scene I love most from WoW is actually a cutscene: Wrathgate. So. Awesome.

What is your favorite cutscene or cinematic from Blizzard?

Filed under: Breakfast Topics

Diablo 3 patch 1.0.3b delayed, hotfixes for June 28, 2012

by Adam Holisky Jun 28th 2012 at 2:00PM

Bashiok originally stated that patch 1.0.3b would be out soon, as in this week, but it's been delayed due to development concerns. It's not uncommon for Blizzard to push back a patch release a week to address a problem and make sure it's ready, although it is rather uncommon for them to give any release date, even a week out.

It should be noted too that despite the community QQ over the patch's getting pushed back a week, this doesn't mean D3 is broken or that Blizzard isn't doing its job. In fact, the exact opposite is true -- Blizzard is just being damn sure things are OK before pushing it live.

But even though the patch got pushed back, hotfixes were applied that increased the drop rate quite a bit for inferno mode. Good news for all those farming!

Bashiok's statement as follows, along with the full list of hotfixes after the break.

Bashiok

In general we tend to not provide release dates or specific timeframes for patches due to the complexity of the updates, and the possibility that we'll discover an issue that keeps us from releasing it on time. We discovered a few such issues late into the testing of 1.0.3b, which means it won't hit this week as previously mentioned.

However, we know that a number of changes in 1.0.3b have been highly anticipated, and so we spent the better part of today pulling specific changes that did not run into testing issues out of 1.0.3b, and turning them into hotfixes. These include the Inferno drop increases among a couple others, and will be applied with off-peak rolling restarts tomorrow morning. We'll also be updating the June hotfix blog with specific changes (including new drop rates) tomorrow morning after we manage to wrangle up a cup of coffee.

source

Filed under: News items, Diablo 3

Diablo 3 patch 1.0.3a patch notes

by Adam Holisky Jun 26th 2012 at 12:00PM

Hot off the presses are the patch notes for Diablo III 1.0.3a. Mainly these are bug fixes, but they also fix a nasty issue with unique mobs' not dropping the right amount of loot. Blizzard has steadily been fixing D3 issues as they come up, and it's good to see another bug fix patch.

The full patch notes are as follows:

Diablo III Patch 1.0.3a – v.1.0.3. 10235

Classes

Witch Doctor
Bug Fixes

Zombie Charger -- Skill Rune – Zombie Bears -- Fixed a bug where Zombie Bears were unable to attack targets on slopes
Zombie Bears should no longer become stuck on objects with which they shouldn't have collision

Items
General

Equipped items will now take "wear-and-tear" durability damage at half the previous rate
Please note that durability loss as the result of normal combat is different from the 10% durability loss characters will incur when they die. Equipped items have always suffered durability loss while fighting, and we are simply slowing the rate at which the loss occurs.

Bug Fixes

Fixed a bug that was causing Unique monsters to not drop the appropriate amount of loot when slain
Fixed a bug with linking items with 3 gem sockets
It is no longer possible to create fake achievement links

Bug Fixes
General

Fixed a bug that was causing the "Switch Hero" button to occasionally disappear after leaving a game while in town
Fixed several gold and leveling exploits
Fixed several game and service crashes (for Mac and PC)

source

Evil has returned! 1.2 million WoW players are getting Diablo III for free thanks to the Annual Pass. You can get prepared for the evil with WoW Insider's launch coverage. From the lore of Diablo, to the important blue posts and the basics of Diablo gameplay, we'll get you on the inside track for the return of evil.

Filed under: Diablo 3

Around the Blizzard Multiverse: Happy land

by Elizabeth Wachowski Jun 25th 2012 at 10:00AM

"While cleaning out my guild bank in preparation for Pandaria, I thought it would be a shame to throw away useable Fish Feasts," wrote submitter Riyahnasheed of Epic on Azuremyst (US-A). "Instead of a food buff, I was whisked away to a land of chubby homicidal purple unicorns, manic clouds and bloodthirsty teddy bears. Hallucination, delusion, omen of monks to come? All I can say for sure: never eat two-year-old sushi. 'Best if used by' dates are not a general guideline, they're a hard and fast means to keeping your health and sanity."

I had to do a bit of searching to figure out what the heck is going on in here. Riyahnasheed appears to have transported her WoW character into the Diablo III secret level of Whimsyshire, possibly with the aid of a graphics program, and is unable to find her way home. This is what happens when you try to play both games at the same time and alt-tab between them!

Gallery: Around Azeroth 3

Want to see your own screenshot here? Send it to aroundazeroth@wowinsider.com. We strongly prefer full-sized pictures with no UI or names showing. Include "Azeroth" in the subject line to ensure your submission dodges email spam filters; if you'd like to be credited, also include your name, guild and realm.

Filed under: Around Azeroth, Diablo 3

Diablo 3's patch 1.0.3 releasing today

by Alex Ziebart Jun 19th 2012 at 7:00AM

Diablo III's patch 1.0.3 is the game's first patch of any significance, and the game is down for maintenance this morning as the patch is deployed. Game service is expected to return in the Americas by 1:00 p.m. PDT. Many of the game's major post-launch balance and design changes have been rolled into today's patch, so it's an exciting day for hardcore Diablo players. The full maintenance announcement can be found below.

Additionally, if you're looking for more Diablo content, don't miss the guides, news, and other coverage on all three of Joystiq's offerings: Joystiq prime, Massively, and right here on WoW Insider.

Filed under: Diablo 3

Special Diablo 3 items available for Mists of Pandaria Collector's Edition buyers

by Elizabeth Wachowski Jun 17th 2012 at 6:00PM

The dedicated Diablo III fans at, uh, Diablofans.com have unearthed some files for the forthcoming patch 1.0.3 that reveal a few neat in-game bonuses, presumably intended for purchasers of the Mists of Pandaria Collector's Edition:

A new Feat of Strength, Panda-monium, which is achieved by registering a copy of the MoP Collector's Edition.
A new banner sigil and accent combo featuring a panda face and some pandaren-style linework.
A pair of black demon wings, along with the string "SpecialGiftWingsBuff_name - Collectors Edition Buff." Unlike the banner options and the Feat of Strength, there's some speculation that this may not be a MoP CE reward, but the string at least raises that possibility.

If you're interested in extra items, you might want to consider buying the Collector's Edition. While the details haven't been announced yet, Wowhead recently found a quilen mount and pet that may be among the in-game CE bonuses.

Filed under: Mists of Pandaria, Diablo 3

Blizzard issues account security alert after Riot Games breach

by Matthew Rossi Jun 14th 2012 at 6:30PM

Blizzard issues Account Security Alert after Riot Games hack

Not the first time we've seen something like this: Nakatoir of the EU community team posted this account security alert after Riot Games' EU branch warned its users that hackers "gained access to certain personal player data contained in certain EU West and EU Nordic & East databases." This information included email addresses and encrypted account passwords, and more than half of the passwords were considered simple and at risk of being cracked.

Blizzard issues its security alert because many players who play various Blizzard games like WoW and Diablo III or StarCraft II also play League of Legends; therefore, if they use the same email address for Battle.net as League of Legends or the same passwords, those Battle.net accounts may also be at risk.

This is not an announcement that Blizzard itself has been hacked, mind you. It's simply a precaution based on the habits of players of many games to use the same passwords and login information for multiple accounts. If you're not a League of Legends player in the affected EU regions, there's no way for this to affect you.

The full announcement is after the break.

Filed under: Blizzard, News items, Account Security

Guide to microtransactions in WoW and the Diablo 3 Real-Money Auction House

by Robin Torres Jun 14th 2012 at 4:00PM

Since the advent of gold sellers, players have discussed the ethics of buying gold with real currency, as well as what would if Blizzard started selling gold. Then came the Guardian Cub, and suddenly Blizzard was allowing gold buying and selling via a vanity pet.

Later, Blizzard hit us with the announcement that Diablo III would have an auction house that uses real money. Now that the Real-Money Auction House has been launched, the debates have heated up. This guide is to help you decide, debate, or deliberate about real money in Blizzard games.

Real-money transactions for WoW

The implications of a real-dollar auction house
What WoW can learn from other transaction models, part 1 and part 2
Guardian Cub pros and cons
WoW's immune system and the gold selling virus
Blizzard responds to Guardian Cub controversy
Guardian Cub pet available for purchase
How much is a Guardian Cub worth?
Guardian cub taking a bite out of third-party gold sales

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Economy, Diablo 3

Thousands of players banned in Diablo 3

by Matthew Rossi Jun 12th 2012 at 2:00PM

You read that right: Several thousand suspensions and bans have gone out to Diablo III players using account hacks or bots or otherwise cheating at the game. Zarhym (he who often shows up in monster form while I'm playing Diablo III) posted to the official forums to announce the action.

Diablo® III Players Banned

We recently issued a round of account suspensions and bans to several thousand Diablo® III players who were in violation of the Battle.net® Terms of Use for cheating and/or using botting or hacking programs while playing. In addition to undermining the spirit of fair play that's essential to everyone's enjoyment of the game, botting, hacking, and other such exploitive behavior can contribute to stability and performance issues with the Battle.net service. As always, maintaining a stable, safe, and fun online-gaming experience for legitimate players is a top priority for us, and we'll be continuing to keep watch on Battle.net and take action as needed.

source

Seems fairly straightforward to me -- don't cheat, won't get banned. With the move to require an authenticator for the Real-Money Auction House and now this, it is pretty clear Blizzard is taking Battle.net very seriously moving forward.

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Blizzard, Account Security, Diablo 3

Diablo 3 mechanics that World of Warcraft should steal

by Matthew Rossi Jun 11th 2012 at 9:00AM

It's not like it's a secret that I think the Diablo III barbarian class is chock full of ideas World of Warcraft should steal for warriors. For one thing, I just told you. That's not what you do with secrets. But it's hardly just the one class that I think has ideas worth appropriating. And better yet, when you steal from yourself, no one can complain.

Already, we're seeing in the Mists of Pandaria beta that some of these ideas are finding their way into the game. Warriors, for instance, are going to generate rage via attacks like Shield Slam or Mortal Strike or Bloodthirst rather than just via damage dealt, a change similar to the barbarian's fury gathering attacks like Cleave. Similarly, the new talent system for Mists is a lot closer to the D3 system than any of the previous ones used in World of Warcraft or Diablo II, for that matter. It's also no secret that the D2 system is written all over launch World of Warcraft, especially classes like the paladin.

So what do I think World of Warcraft should steal from Diablo III?

Filed under: Diablo 3

Authenticator now required for Diablo's Real-Money Auction House

by Robin Torres Jun 8th 2012 at 3:00PM

Diablo 3 Authenticator required for RealMoney Auction House

In order to use the Real-Money Auction House in Diablo III (which can be used to fuel your WoW subscription), you need to have a Battle.net balance set up for buying and selling items. Because Blizzard is understandably concerned about account security, an authenticator or mobile authenticator is now required in order to add to your Battle.net balance. Transferring proceeds from the RMAH to your B.Net balance will also require the use of an authenticator.

The RMAH has yet to be implemented in Diablo III, but some players have already added money to their balance in preparation for its launch. Those players will be still be able to use it to pay for eligible purchases or to use in the RMAH without the added security, but adding to the balance from now on will require adding an authenticator to their accounts.

I think that preparing beforehand for the inevitable attempted account incursions is a very responsible move on Blizzard's part. This move is good for the players, as well as good for their customer service department, I'm sure.

The full announcement is after the break.

Filed under: Diablo 3

Odin the All-Father's Diablo 3 account hacked

by Robin Torres Jun 7th 2012 at 7:00PM

Someone has had the audacity to hack Odin's account, and He is demanding that Blizzard restore His items immediately. In a post on the Diablo III general discussion forums, Odin insists that not only should His items and gold be returned immediately but also that a human sacrifice be performed. He blames Blizzard for giving his data away, since his system is completely secure, and therefore it must follow the rules, else be cursed.

Here's an excerpt of the All-Father's complaint:

So I'm Odin, the All-Father; I am Iron Grim, the One-Eyed. I'm the Longbeard, Lord of Ghosts, Wise One... you get the idea. My gaming rig is engraved with protective runes, and my firewall is a wall manned by Heimdell, who sees and hears any threat to the residents of Asgard. Every day at sunrise, my entire system is massaged with a poultice of angelica, burdock, comfrey, dill, and moss provided by Eir while a healing galdr is chanted over it. My ISP is two ravens that bring me news of all the happenings in the world and is always 100% stable and secure, personally watched over by the birds. Don't ask me how they do it; I'm not spending another day on that damn tree just to find out. It's powered by human sacrifice, although I have no idea how this could be relevant; I've just seen others with the same problem posting it.

Given that personal info has never been leaked by Blizzard before, it seems unlikely the hackers got the All-Father's info from anywhere but Him or one of his subjects on Asgard. He describes a seemingly impenetrable system, however, protected by magic, herbs and faithful creatures. Someone with access to His computer must have responded to a phishing email or was otherwise careless with His login info.

Filed under: Diablo 3

What WoW's story could learn from Diablo III (and vice versa)

by Anne Stickney Jun 7th 2012 at 4:00PM

What WoW could learn from Diablo III and vice versa ANY

I like the Diablo storyline. It's complex without being incomprehensible, and unlike WoW, it doesn't have a gigantic and sometimes daunting pile of backstory to wade through. You can pretty much jump into Diablo III without having played any of the prior games and still have a pretty good idea of what's going on. The world, Sanctuary, has a fairly simple premise, but the repercussions of its creation have far-reaching effects that are more often than not a gigantic pain in the butt for those living on Sanctuary.

I liked Diablo III. I liked the gameplay -- who doesn't like carving their way through hordes of demon corpses? I liked the controls, which were relatively simplistic, and I liked the talent trees, which were fun without being confusing. It's hard to compare WoW and Diablo, because the two games are so very different in concept. One's an MMO, the other is a click-fest of looting and gore. But they both have one thing in common: story. And oddly enough, it seems as though there are a few things these two games could learn from each other on that front.

Please note: There are spoilers for Diablo III in this post. If you haven't finished playing through to the end and you wish to avoid spoilers, turn away!

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Lore, Diablo 3

Jay Wilson and other Diablo 3 developers answer (almost) everything

by Michael Sacco Jun 6th 2012 at 8:20PM

Three Diablo III developers stopped onto Reddit tonight for an AMAA -- "Ask Me Almost Anything" -- where they answered questions from all over the internet. Most of the questions were gameplay-related, given that these guys are developers and not dudes involved in the creative aspects of the game (story, etc). There are a lot of great answers in here: fixes coming for common complaints, overall design goals for the future, and more. Check out the full transcript after the break, but here are a few interesting points:

Non-trash white items like potions and pages will have different item colors in a later patch, and an option to filter out trash white items completely is also being considered.
An "auto-skip cutscenes" option is being considered.
Bosses will drop rares the first time you kill them on any difficulty, not just normal, in a future patch.
Legendary items are getting a big buff to be more attractive and unique.
Auctions can be canceled in patch 1.0.3.

Filed under: News items, Diablo 3

Play Diablo 1 with World of Warcraft models in StarCraft 2

by Alex Ziebart Jun 5th 2012 at 8:00PM

The StarCraft II Arcade feature, a tool intended to help the community highlight quality custom maps and game modes created with the StarCraft modding tools, has recently gone into beta. Coinciding with that beta, Blizzard has launched a contest that requires you to play, rate, and review an Arcade game for a chance to win a Heart of the Swarm beta key.

One of the delightful custom game modes that has become an Arcade chart-topper is an incestuous mix of all of Blizzard's major franchises: It's the first Diablo game ported into StarCraft II using World of Warcraft art assets for the 3D models. The gameplay doesn't match the original Diablo click-for-click, but the core mechanics and all of the sound files have been carried from one game to the next, including Deckard Cain's signature stay awhile and listen.

StarCraft II shoutcaster Husky recently featured the game mode on his YouTube channel, and you can watch his 18+ minute preview/review embedded above.

Filed under: Contests, Diablo 3, StarCraft 2

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