Posts with tag diablo

Book of Tyrael to release this October

by Sarah Pine May 31st 2013 at 4:00PM

Blizzard has at long last announced the official release date for the anticipated Book of Tyrael: October 1, 2013. The Book of Tyrael will cover many important events in Sanctuary's history through the eyes of the Archangel Tyrael, someone you should recognize if you're familiar with the Diablo franchise. In it, Tyrael will reveal many secrets of the world, the dangers it faces, and the reasons behind his own actions.

Not much in the way of previews is yet available - the cover is up at the link for you to appreciate - but I am certain that The Book of Tyrael will be choc full of beautiful artwork. With supplementary materials like this, Blizzard always delivers. It's the main reason I keep buying the expansion collector's editions: I want those books!

The Book of Tyrael will certainly be a fine collector's item for fans of the Diablo franchise. Are any of you readers Diablo lore junkies? If so, this should certainly answer many of your questions (and probably raise a few more, as well)!

Editor's Note: Corrected the original date.

Filed under: Blizzard, News items

Celebrate Diablo's anniversary with demons rather than cake

by Olivia Grace May 15th 2013 at 5:00PM

It's flown by, but believe it or not, Diablo III is a year old today! Blizzard Community Manager Lylirra has put together a special message on the Diablo forums about the special buff you can get in return for simply logging in to defend Sanctuary.

Lylirra

One year ago today, the gates of the Burning Hells opened and Diablo III was unleashed onto the world. Since then, millions of heroes have been created, billions of hours have been spent in games, and trillions of demons have been slaughtered without mercy. We've grown and improved a lot since release, both as a game team and as a community, and thanks to your feedback, passion, and unquenchable bloodlust, we expect the next year to be even more epic.

To celebrate this milestone and the community that made it possible, we're giving away free buffs! (Who doesn't like free buffs?) Players who log in to defend Sanctuary between May 15 and May 21 will receive a 25% boost to their Magic Find and +EXP stats. The buff is only available while logged in to the game, but it will apply to all characters as well as stack with other similar bonuses -- the +EXP bonus will stack multiplicatively and the Magic Find bonus will stack above the 300% cap!

source

This is somewhat similar to the buffs players can receive when it's WoW's birthday, so Diablo III fans can probably expect it to return every year. Happy birthday, Diablo!

Filed under: Blizzard

Chris Metzen talks about The Art of Blizzard Entertainment

by Sarah Pine Mar 19th 2013 at 5:00PM

Over the last few years the question of art and video games has gone in and out of hot-button topic territory. Whatever someone's opinion of the status of games as art, though, it's impossible to ignore the vast amount of art that goes into them, and the cultural consciousness surrounding art and gaming is growing all the time. Earlier this year Blizzard published The Art of Blizzard Entertainment, a volume spanning over 20 years of concept art and development, complete with commentary by Nick Carpenter, Sam Didier, and Chris Metzen. Along with the book was an exhibit of the same name at the Gallery Nucleus in Alhambra, California, which ran from January 12th to February 3rd, 2013.

This is an old video by GamerHub.tv from the opening night of the exhibit back in January, but it's the first it has come to our attention at WoW Insider, and it's worth watching if you haven't already. Metzen talks about the origins and inspiration for Blizzard's art, Blizzard's feelings toward fan art, and some of his thoughts on the perception of art and games in general. Check out parts one and two on GamerHub's youtube channel.

Filed under: News items

The Art of Blizzard Entertainment exhibition to open on January 12

by Anne Stickney Jan 3rd 2013 at 2:00PM

The Art of Blizzard Entertainment exhibition hits LA Jan 12

The Art of Blizzard Entertainment, a massive 376 page collection of artwork from Warcraft, StarCraft and Diablo, will be available for purchase later this month. But if you're in the Los Angeles area and you're wanting a sneak peek at what the book has to offer, you may want to clear your calendar at some point in the coming weeks. Gallery Nucleus, located in Alhambra California, will be hosting a special collection of over 50 pieces of artwork from your favorite Blizzard games, including an extensive collection of concept art.

The exhibition will be at Gallery Nucleus from January 12 through February 3, 2012. However, there will be an opening reception from 7-11pm on January 12. Guests attending will have plenty of games and activities to keep them occupied, as well as an opportunity to get exclusive posters and other commemorative items. There is a $5 entrance fee at the door for the reception, however those that show up in costume will get in for free.

In addition to the artwork and events, several of the Blizzard Entertainment artists featured in the book will be in attendance giving painting demos, signing books, and simply hanging out with attendees. For more information on what sounds like an incredibly fun time, you can check out Gallery Nucleus' official website.

Filed under: Events, Blizzard, News items

Latest issue of ImagineFX features Blizzard art and more

by Anne Stickney Dec 17th 2012 at 4:00PM

Whether you're a fan of Blizzard's vast array of art from all of its franchises, or you're an artist wanting to know more about the process behind it all, this month's issue of ImagineFX magazine is definitely worth picking up. The December issue features workshops by Samwise Didier and Laurel D Austin, as well as exclusive art by Alex Ross, Boris Vallejo and Julie Bell, Craig Mullins, Alex Horley, and many more, all topped off with a cover image of Jaina Proudmoore by Glenn Rane.

One of my top reasons for purchasing collector's editions of Blizzard games has always been the art books included in those editions. You don't really think about the sheer amount of artistry that goes into designing an expansion when you're simply wandering around in game -- but the art books provide that behind-the-scenes glimpse of development. Blizzard has some truly talented artists on staff, and the ImagineFX issue is another place to get a look at all the hard work that they do.

You don't need a subscription to pick up ImagineFX, you can simply purchase a single issue on their website if you'd like. And for the sake of convenience, the magazine is available in both print and digital versions -- so there's no need to wait for shipping, either. Learn more about the issue on the official website, or go ahead and order your issue today.

Filed under: Blizzard, News items

WoW Archivist: Strange choices behind WoW's earliest talent trees

by Scott Andrews Oct 5th 2012 at 12:00PM

WoW Archivist explores the secrets of World of Warcraft's past. What did the game look like years ago? Who is etched into WoW's history? What secrets does the game still hold?

It's strange to think that players who first start playing in Mists might have no idea what the old talent trees looked like. To them, the new talent system is simply the status quo and the image above conjures no memories. The status quo has never lasted very long for talents in WoW. Through the years, talents have changed possibly more than any other aspect of the game. It's a good thing, too, because the earliest talent trees needed a lot of work. Let's take a look back!

The first beta talents

It's not easy to find solid information about the first iteration of talent trees from early beta. From what I can gather, WoW's original talents were more like spell ranks (which have also since been removed). You could invest talent points into particular spells to give them more damage/healing, longer range, etc. These talents were also tied to stats. By investing talent points, you gained stats relevant to your class.

These talents were generally considered workable but lackluster. They were removed from the beta in patch 0.6. Blizzard promised to "make them even cooler than before," and players speculated heavily about what the new trees might look like.

Filed under: WoW Archivist

Global Writing Contest 2011 winning entries released

by Anne Stickney Jul 9th 2012 at 4:00PM

Winning entries of the 2011 Global Writing contest released

Remember last year's Global Writing Contest? After months of deliberation, Blizzard carefully chose and announced several winners, leaving the stories to be posted at a later date. That date is today, apparently, as the grand prize-winning story The Exit has now been posted on the official site, along with excerpts from several of the runners-up. The Global Writing Contest was a chance for players to put pen to paper and craft a story set in any of the universes Blizzard has created. The winning story, The Exit, is a StarCraft tale, while the posted finalist excerpts are all set in the Warcraft universe.

At the moment, we have yet to see any hint of a Global Writing Contest for this year. Hopefully, this won't be the last we see of the Global Writing Contest, since it was a beloved addition to Blizzard's usual round of contests and giveaways. That said, the finalists and grand prize-winning stories from last year are all well worth the read. Congratulations to all the winners! To read The Exit as well as the excerpts from the other finalists, check out the full post on the official site.

Filed under: News items, Contests, Lore

Blizzard panel and Sam Didier at the San Diego Comic-Con 2012

by Olivia Grace Jul 8th 2012 at 6:00PM

Blizzard panel at the San Diego Comicon!

WoW Insider has received a tip that there will be a Blizzard panel at the San Diego Comic-Con!

From 2:15 to 3:15 on Thursday, July 12, Chris Metzen (Blizzard Entertainment SVP, story and franchise development) and special guests will be hosting a panel in room 6BCF. The panel is listed as a product showcase for WoW, StarCraft and Diablo, and the blurb says that they will "reveal never-before-seen licensed products and plans for 2012/2013. Talk to the designers, writers and artists themselves as we dig into Mega Bloks, novels, comics, statues and more."

This panel will, of course, include a Q&A alongside the reveals mentioned above, so if you're in the San Diego area and already have tickets to Comic-Con, this sounds like a fantastically exciting opportunity to hob-nob with the Blizzard team and quiz them about everything you need to know about their games.

But wait, there's more! Sam "Samwise" Didier, the art director at Blizzard Entertainment responsible for creating much of the artwork for the Warcraft, StarCraft, and the Diablo series and the senior art director on StarCraft II, will be in the Artists' Alley at table DD-09. The Artists' Alley gives Comic-Con attendees the chance to meet and greet some of their favorite artists, and you might even be able to buy original art, sketches, and exclusive, limited edition prints and sketchbooks.

I would have loved to put in a link to buy Comic-Con tickets, but it seems from the website that it is completely sold out. So close to the time, I'm guessing this isn't a great surprise -- but still, a shame. So if you're lucky enough to have tickets, head on over!

[Thanks for the tips, Serrotatauren!]

Filed under: Comics, Mists of Pandaria

Blizzard wants your Diablo 3 Magic Find feedback

by Michael Sacco Jul 3rd 2012 at 7:00PM

Diablo III players have had a few weeks to get to level 60, and Blizzard's recent patch to smooth over some of the difficulty hikes has made sure that more adventurers than ever can hack and slash their way through Inferno, the game's ultimate difficulty level and best source of loot. Players have discovered that it's efficient to keep a second set of gear in their bags loaded up with Magic Find, the stat that boosts your chance to find rare items, and swap to it when Elite/Champion packs or bosses are at low health. Unlike WoW, loot is calculated when a creature dies, not when it spawns, thus allowing players to benefit both from the good stats on their main gear and the MF on the gear they switch to.

Blizzard considered this an unintended but allowable way to play; now that the method is well known out in the wild, though, players are feeling forced into playing this way, and the devs know it. To that end, they've announced that they're working on a solution to the gear swapping problem and explained a few of the choices they're mulling over, replete with pros and cons for each.

And they want your feedback! Comment on the blog post with your thoughts and which change you'd personally like to see. Keep in mind, though, that regardless of which change is made, the devs are planning to boost MF for everyone so that no one feels penalized by whichever change makes it to launch.

Full blog post and link, after the break.

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.

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: Mists of Pandaria, Diablo 3

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

Diablo 3 players in the U.S. region can now use the Real-Money Auction House

by Robin Torres Jun 12th 2012 at 8:00PM

The Real-Money Auction House is now accessible to the Americas via Battle.net balance or approved payment services for some currencies. The U.S. dollar, Australian dollar, and the Mexican peso are all supported, with the EU region and more currency from the Americas to be implemented soon.

The long-delayed RMAH will now allow players to purchase and sell in-game items using their region's currency. Your home game region will affect which RMAH you will have access to, so if you have created characters to play outside the country registered to your Battle.net account, you will not be able to use the RMAH for those characters.

Only equipment such as armor and weapons is available on the RMAH at this time. Commodities will be added at a later date. In some cases, items may be held for processing. Most items purchased will be available immediately, however.

Using the Battle.net Balance for your Real-Money Auction House transactions requires that you have an authenticator or mobile authenticator on your account. Furthermore, if you choose to use PayPal (not available in all regions), you must use the Battle.net SMS Protection feature.

To access the RMAH, go to your Campaign Screen in Diablo III and select Auction House. Then press the button that shows your region's currency. You can toggle back and forth between the gold AH and the Real-Money one.

The entire announcement from Blizzard is after the break.

Filed under: 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

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

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

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