Diablo III's patch 2.4.0 is now live.  Greyhollow Island has been added, along with 24 new dungeons and a new combat mode, among tons of other things.

The Diablo 3 2.4.0 patch has been unleashed upon the Americas, and as promised, it's a biggie. It adds a new forested locale called Greyhollow Island, new additions to the Ruins of Sescheron and Leoric's Manor zones, 24 custom-designed “set dungeons” built around specific class sets, empowered Rifts, Season Rebirths, a revised Buff Bar, and the addition of "Action Combat," which is apparently a popular feature on the console versions of the game, to the PC edition. And those are just the big bits.

The patch also makes a multitude of smaller changes and additions to the game, which you can learn more about by way of the video above. Blizzard noted that the patch is currently only live in the Americas region, so there's no need for alarm if you're not prompted to download it right away. However, if your home region is set to the Americas, you won't be able to log into Europe or Asia until those regions have also been patched. When that will happen, Blizzard did not say.

A detailed breakdown of the Diablo 3 2.4.0 patch can be found on Battle.net.

Source.

In this Lightning Talk, Matthew Berger tells us about some of the new content coming in Diablo III's 2.4 patch, including Greyhollow Island.

More information.

Blizzard has detailed what's coming for Diablo III in Season 5, starting on January 15.  They're doing away with Legendaries, new conquests will be added, and more.

Patch 2.4.0 is live on the PTR for testing and headed soon to live realms, stuffed to the brim with great new features for Diablo III. For our Seasonal heroes out there, we’ve prepared this guide to Season 5 so you can roll right into a fresh start on day one.

Several changes are coming to Seasons with Season 5, including the removal of Season-exclusive Legendary Items, the introduction of new and varied rewards, and a whole new feature in the form of Season Rebirth. Let’s check it out!

More information.

Diablo III is about to have its class sets totally revamped in patch 2.4.0.

Diablo III Patch 2.4.0 draws ever closer!

In Patch 2.4.0, in addition to adding over 50 new Legendary powers, we’re focusing on revising nearly every class set in Diablo III! Take a look at the gameplay of some of our most serious overhauls, then whet your appetite for even juicier Legendary updates in our latest blog feature here: http://blizz.ly/240ItemPreview

More information.

Over at diabloiii.net there is a transcript of a reddit AMA where the Diablo 3 developers answered some questions on what they have been working on. With the new patch having recently gone out theres been a bit to discuss.

Under discussion are General and UI, Crafting, Kanai’s Cube, Bounties and Rifts, Story
Art, D3X2 Expansion

From General and UI:

Q: Right now the gap in efficiency between solo play and group play is quite large, does your team have any plans to not necessary completely close the gap but at least narrow it somewhat?
WyattCheng: I realize this is a hot topic right now in the community and I know a lot of people are eager to understand how we determine the right rewards for single player versus multiplayer game modes. I'd like to go in depth on this question especially.

For us it is an issue than the efficiency of groups who are stacking XP% don't get to wear their awesome, face-melting gear. The game should be about slaughtering monsters to get rewarded with epic loot. It's a lot less fun when you don't get to do the slaughtering.

Exacerbating the situation isn't experience farming itself, it's how different the activity is from other activities in the game...

Go here to read the whole thing.

Patch 2.2.0 has been released for Diablo III: Reaper of Souls this week.

Diablo III patch 2.2.0 is now live in the Americas for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One! Check out the full PC patch notes below to learn all about the latest changes.

Blizzard announced on Battle.net they are now celebrating the anniversary of Diablo III: Reaper of Souls by offering a Gold & EXP bonus for players till March 30th.

No one can stop Death… from having his cake and eating it, too!

To celebrate one year of Reaper of Souls (and the community who continues to support us), all heroes who log in to Diablo III this week on any platform will receive a +100% bonus to Gold Find and EXP! As with previous buffs, the bonuses provided will stack multiplicatively with existing in-game bonuses, including those provided by items, Shrines, Pools of Reflection, and Paragon points.

This bonus Gold Find and Experience period begins in the Americas region on Monday, March 23 at 12:00 a.m. PDT and ends on Monday, March 30th.

Well I found another hilarious Honest game Trailer this time for Diablo 3. So sit back and be prepared to laugh at how true marketing should be done once again.

From Blizzard, the company that keeps remaking all of its original franchises, comes the series that will send you to hell and back - Diablo.  Trailers that tell you the TRUTH about your favorite Video Games: Honest Game Trailers. These are the hilarious trailers the game developers don't want you to see...

And here is a new video interview from IncGamers about the upcoming game patch.

The developers discuss the changes incoming with Patch 2.1 due for release in August 2014. Transcript and observations of what was discussed. http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comm...

Ausgamers interviwed lizzard's Julia Humphreys & Matthew Berger to talk about the console version of Diablo III: Reaper of Souls, and other topics.

We’re no strangers to Diablo in any form here at AusGamers, and when it comes to the recent expansion Reaper of Souls, we delved right on in with lengthy and in-depth diary entries and analysis. But the series has moved onto other pastures by way of console, and while the fundamental experience is largely the same, there’s something to be said about the main differential between the console and PC experience where multiplayer is concerned. And that’s one built around a same-screen social event.

“Multiplayer is one of the best features of Diablo III,” enthuses Julia Humphreys -- senior producer on Diablo III: Reaper of Souls Ultimate Evil Edition. “We think it’s the best way to play Diablo III; with your friends, and of course on the console version we have same-screen co-op, so all of you on the couch, you can kick back and we think this is a unique way to play it.”

In many ways, it’s a no-brainer the game should be played this way, and while it’s really the only main multiplayer difference between the two, there are other subtle changes that have been added to the console version of the game, especially where current-gen is concerned.

Blizzard has posted news on Battle.net that patch 2.0.6 is now live.

Patch 2.0.6 Now Live

Diablo III patch 2.0.6 is now live in the Americas. Check out the full patch notes below to learn all about the latest changes.

Important: Please note that you will not be prompted to download patch 2.0.6 until the patch is live in your home region. If you are logging in from a European or Asian client, you will need to wait for this patch to release in that region before it can be installed. Additionally, if your home region is in the Americas, you will be unable to log into Europe or Asia using Global Play after patch 2.0.6 is live until those regions have also patched.

Player Attack has posted a new interview with Lead Character Artist Paul Warzech at Blizzard about how he created Diablo III: Reaper of Souls.

Warzecha is one part of a team that specialises in taking relatively sensible elements and blending them into one fantastic outcome, and he's quick to point out that - generally - creating a new character class, monster or boss really is a group effort.

"Usually once we've got stuff down that we like, we'll get together with our monster strike team. We've got somebody in from every different discipline, we'll have a designer and we'll have somebody from story in there who can kinda help shape that from that aspect. We'll hit back and forth on [the character idea] until we're all pretty happy with stuff."

But! The process can vary - considerably - depending on just which monsters are on the proverbial drawing board that day. Inspiration can strike from anywhere, says Warzecha. Sometimes, that lightning will spark something in the writing department, leading the lore nerds to draft out a description of a monster that fits the story perfectly. Other times, it will land squarely at the artists' table, prompting creative drawings and sculptures that then need to be woven back into the history of Sanctuary. Still other times (like with the new character class, the Crusader, introduced in Reaper of Souls) it's a matter of an obvious niche appearing in the game, even if that niche is purely cosmetic. "There was nobody of that silhouette in Westmarch," we're told, matter-of-factly.

"Sometimes you come up with something that's just So Cool that we're just like "Y'know what? We've got to build this". Then, we'll sit with story - "Hey, this is what we were thinking, is there a way to work this into lore?", because #1: It's just cool; and #2: Maybe it works for gameplay in a way that it fills a void that needed to be filled."

EDGE has new article were they talk about how they are still playing Diablo III: Reaper of Souls, and mentions the expansion has revitalised the action RPG game.

The fun of getting to play and experiment with new abilities and buffs as they unlock is what I’m always trying to recapture when I play Diablo, and finding the natural affinity between the Crusader’s Provoke (a taunt which earns a chunk of Wrath power but attracts a whole load of enemy attention) and Iron Skin, which absorbs half damage for a few seconds, hit the sweet spot. I was improving my game beyond the sheer numbers, and I imagined – hoped? – the random players I was running Adventure Mode with might have noticed.

They almost certainly didn’t, because of the quick-fire nature of Adventure Mode, which is Reaper of Souls’ final major addition to Diablo III. I certainly didn’t take much notice of what they were doing. Getting to zip from location to location has opened out Diablo III considerably, because you’re no longer tied to retreading the long path of the Acts any more. You’re instead taking on bounties by mopping up 100 mobs here, taking out an elite there, and getting rewards, including items you can use to open Nephalem Rifts, an intense gauntlet of mobs followed by a unique boss.

Along with the recent update, Reaper of Souls has completely revitalised Diablo III. Diablo has always been Blizzard’s casual game, but now it’s so much more bite-sized, perceivably attainable, and immediately rewarding. It’s enough to belie the incredible long-term challenge that lies underneath, and, well, I’m glad that’s hidden away, because I won’t be going there. Just the odd comfortable evening of friends, bounties, a Nephalem Rift and a glass of wine is all the Diablo III endgame I need.

Strategy Informer had the chance to interview Lead Producer Alex Mayberry to ask a few questions about the recently released Expansion Diablo III: Reaper of Souls.

Strategy Informer: This series has seen expansions before in Diablo 1 and 2. Have you taken any inspirations from those previous ones?

Alex Mayberry: We always look at Diablo 1 and 2. They're obviously the precursors to Diablo 3 so they're probably our first reference. But at the same time we don't just want to recreate what was done before, and we also wanna push the game in new directions so we have to play a balancing game between maintaining the legacy of Diablo 3 and at the same time broadening the universe and going in new directions. We try to keep a good eye on where we're going and where we've been. We also listen to the community. The community often reminds us of features of Diablo 1 and 2 that they like best. The lore, the community is amazingly caught up on the lore and story, so they're a great benefit to developing these expansions.

Strategy Informer: Diablo is a very PC-centered series. But Diablo 3 is coming to consoles, how would you say console development has affected future developments of Diablo?

Alex Mayberry: It doesn't really affect what we do on PC. The PC has always been the leading product. With that being said even before Diablo 3, even in the Diablo 1 and 2 days it's always been a game where you'd think “man this would look great on a console”. Even as a player I used to play anything that was even remotely Diablo like Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance or Champions of Norrath, because I wanted that console experience. So it's really great for us to be able to put Diablo on the console, especially because even though it's the same content, they're on different platforms. Our goal has always been that Diablo on the console should feel like a console game, not like a PC game that got put on the console. Once you pick up that controller and start moving that character around, you realize it's the same game, but it feels very different. So that's kind of where we have to keep things in mind. The console experience, while pulling from the same content, they can't be clones of each other. We just have to be mindful of when we're developing games on the PC, of how that's going to translate to console or what problems that's gonna cause or what challenges that's gonna create for the console group. But it doesn't really negatively affect development of the PC game in any way.

Strategy Informer: What can we expect from Diablo in the future?

Alex Mayberry: At the end of a game there's always some features that didn't quite make it or weren't quite ready. So we're already planning out our first content patch for after Reaper of Souls ships. Nothing I can announce at this point. I will tell people to watch Josh Mosqueira's twitter (https://twitter.com/joshmosq), he likes to foreshadow things. Beyond that though we're developing our plans for over the coming year. What else we're gonna do after that first content patch. One of the things we're gonna do is wait a little bit because we want to get Reaper of Souls out, then we want to actually let the community sit with it for a while and we want to gage their reaction and find out what people like about it, what don't they like, what new things would they like to see, or see changed. That means we can plan out the long term future of Diablo 3, we can make sure we are staying in touch with the community and evolving the game in a direction players want.

Blizzard Entertainment has released a new press release with information that Diablo III: Reaper of Souls has 2.7 million people playing the game since its launch.

DEATH BREATHES NEW LIFE INTO SANCTUARY

More than 2.7 million players join the crusade against the Angel of Death with the launch of Diablo^® III: Reaper of Souls^TM

PARIS, France—April 3, 2014— Malthael claimed that no one could stop Death . . . actually, Diablo^® III players have already stopped Death more than 1.5 million times and counting. On March 25, players the world over launched a crusade against the fallen angel with the release of Diablo III: Reaper of Souls^™ for Windows^® and Mac^®. As of the first week of the expansion’s availability, more than 2.7 million copies have sold-through online and at retailers worldwide.^*

Players, community personalities, and members of the press joined Blizzard to celebrate the expansion’s release on the evening of March 24 at launch parties in Seoul, Taipei, Warsaw, Stockholm, and Los Angeles. The icy grasp of the Angel of Death reached players around the world through live streams from several of the events, with total Diablo III views on Twitch on launch day alone exceeding 2.4 million.^†

“With Reaper of Souls, we wanted to emphasize all the things that Diablo gamers have always loved about the series, from the dark gothic setting to the piles and piles of epic loot,” said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. “We’re excited to see that players are enjoying the changes we’ve made to the game, and we look forward to achieving our Paragon levels alongside everyone else in the weeks and months ahead.”

Reaper of Souls continues the Diablo III story with a challenging new act that takes players from the legendary city of Westmarch to the unhallowed halls of the Pandemonium Fortress, culminating in an epic battle with Malthael, the Angel of Death. The expansion also adds the unstoppable Crusader class to Diablo III’s roster of heroes, and increases the game’s level cap to 70, adding several powerful spells and abilities for the original five hero classes.

Lead Character Artist Paul Warzecha was interviewed on Black Panel to answer a gre questions about the recently released expansion Diablo III: Reaper of Souls.

The release of the new expansion, Reaper of Souls, hot on the heels of the most recent patch, commonly referred to as Loot 2.0, has been hailed as a rebirth of the series. It is clear that fans have a certain level of expectation when it comes to the Diablo series and Reaper seems to be breathing new life into what should have been a shining jewel in developer Blizzard’s crown. I began to wonder what features it had that were achieving such standards and, luckily, Lead Character Artist Paul Warzecha was on hand to answer my questions.

GamerHub TV had the chance to interview Senior Technical Designer Wyatt Cheng, and ask a few questions about Diablo III: Reaper of Souls.

Blizzard Senior Technical Designer Wyatt Cheng discusses Diablo III: Reaper of Souls in this exclusive interview from the launch event in Los Angeles.

Diablo III: Reaper of Souls was released yesterday and as we all know that means the reviews will follow. I managed to find two new interview videos, and six reviews.

So to get started VG 24/7 has two new interview videos about what you can expect to play in the next game act, and talks about the auction house closure.

Diablo 3′s first expansion, Reaper of Souls, hits Mac and PC this week. In the video below, lead producer Alex Mayberry chats with Sam about what’s changed in Sanctuary.

The second video below goes further into nitty-gritties, as Mayberry explains precisely why Diablo 3′s successful but divisive Auction House got the chop.

And for the next part I found six new reviews that are all positive.

Forbes -  No Score

If you hated Diablo 3 at launch, it’s hard to blame you, but the console version was a blast and the PC version has been patched into a game that’s 100% more fun than the alpha test version released two years ago for retail. Give it another shot if you gave it up, it might surprise you.

Cheatcc -  3.6/5

In short, if you weren’t a huge Diablo III fan then Reaper of Souls won’t change your mind. However, if you enjoyed the original then Reaper of Souls adds a new class, several new environments, and a bunch of replay value. Just be warned, the plot isn’t the greatest and you’ll likely have to purchase another expansion in the future to finally see some sort of satisfying conclusion.

Inside Gaming Daily - 8/10

With so many changes to the core game the Diablo III experience today is very different from even a few months after its launch. For mercenaries everywhere, the loot upgrades are probably enough to justify diving back in to this deeply depressing storyline. If you always thought Diablo was “not for you” then move along, nothing to see here.

MMORPG - 8.5/10

Diablo III: Reaper of Souls is the game that should have been released two years ago. Even saying that, waiting patiently for this past couple of years, it was well worth it. The inclusion of Loot 2.0, Paragon points, Adventure Mode, and the Crusader has made Diablo III a bright and shiny new game that has finally earned that 8.5 we assigned to it two years ago.

GamesRadar - 4/5

Though Reaper of Souls' story additions feel too open-ended, the new Crusader class and Adventure Mode go a long way towards revitalizing Diablo's inherently fun and addictive core gameplay.

Gamingtrend - 9/10

It doesn’t take but a glance upwards at the last near-1500 words to see that Reaper of Souls is far more than a single character and a new chapter expansion. So much has changed, and literally all for the better. By taking the chains off of the game mechanics, removing the disruptive Auction House, and refining the game mechanics that serve as the base of Diablo III, Reaper of Souls is finally the loot-grabbing adventure we all wanted.

Just in case you weren't aware of this; The Diablo III expansion Reaper of Souls has gone live today. Here is what you can get if you purchase it in one of its incarnations.

Epic new chapter in Blizzard Entertainment's critically acclaimed Diablo® series NOW LIVE

Take up the blessed arms and impenetrable shield of the mighty Crusader and explore the world of Sanctuary like never before

PARIS, France-March 25, 2014- The time has come for the greatest heroes of the mortal realm to answer the call to arms and join the crusade against death itself. Diablo® III: Reaper of Souls^TM is now live and ready to challenge Windows® and Mac® gamers around the world.

In Reaper of Souls, the five valiant heroes from Diablo III-Barbarian, Demon Hunter, Monk, Witch Doctor, and Wizard-are joined by a new champion: the Crusader. Clad head to toe in fortified armor, the Crusader is an unstoppable force of righteous destruction who channels the power of divine wrath to visit retribution upon his demonic quarry.

Reaper of Souls adds a challenging new act to Diablo III in which players will embark on a dark and perilous journey through terrifying landscapes; explore the legendary city of Westmarch; and slay countless minions, each hell-bent on bringing their heroic quest to a grisly end. The adventure culminates in a climactic confrontation with Malthael, the Angel of Death, whose twisted designs spell ruin for the innocent people of Sanctuary.

"Together with the new loot experience we added to the game, Reaper of Souls improves on Diablo III in countless ways," said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. "Players returning to Sanctuary will find a darker, more engaging, and much more rewarding experience awaiting them."

A recent free update to Diablo III on Windows and Mac introduced a host of new game features, including a major revamp of the game's loot system, an expanded Paragon progression system for max-level characters, and expanded social tools in the form of Clans and Communities. With the purchase of Reaper of Souls, players will gain access to game-changing new features and highly replayable content, including:

• Act V: A dark and terrifying chapter sending players on a final confrontation with death itself
• The Crusader: A new playable hero-a veritable war machine made human
• Level Cap to 70: Formidable new spells and abilities that take players to new heights of power
• Adventure Mode: A new game mode that gives players the freedom to go anywhere and slay anything
• Bounties: Randomized objectives that reward players in new ways for exploring Sanctuary
• Nephalem Rifts: Fully randomized dungeons offering endless replayability and heaps of loot
• The Mystic: A powerful new artisan who provides heroes with loot-customization options

All of this new content comes with the Reaper of Souls Standard Edition (available in physical and digital versions). Players also have the option to upgrade to the Digital Deluxe Edition, which contains a wealth of in-game bonuses:

• Exclusive helm- and weapon-transmogrification recipes for players to distinguish their characters among the champions of Sanctuary
• A Spectral Hound minion players can summon to keep their adventurers company on their epic journey
• Three additional character slots to accommodate new heroes
• A World of Warcraft® in-game companion pet, the Treasure Goblin, ready to compete in Pet Battles
• A set of StarCraft® II Crusader-themed Battle.net® portraits and Malthael-themed decals

The Reaper of Souls retail-exclusive Collector's Edition comes fully-equipped with all of the bonus items from the Digital Deluxe Edition and also includes a gorgeous full-color hardcover art book, a behind-the-scenes Blu-ray/DVD two-disc set, and a mouse pad bearing the impenetrable visage of Malthael, the Angel of Death. The Collector's Edition is available at select retailers. Players should check their local retailer for details and availability, as supplies are limited.

As an added bonus, anyone who buys Reaper of Souls will receive one or more Expert Card Packs (depending on which version of the expansion is purchased) for Blizzard Entertainment's recently launched digital strategy card game, Hearthstone^TM: Heroes of Warcraft^TM. Read this blog post for further details.

Reaper of Souls is available for purchase in retail stores throughout the U.S., Canada, Europe, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Southeast Asia, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau, as well as digitally around the world via the game's official website (http://www.diablo3.com/reaper). The expansion will launch in Russia and the CIS, and at retail stores in Mexico, Chile, and Brazil, on April 15. Reaper of Souls has been fully localized in English, German, French, Latin American Spanish, European Spanish, Korean, Traditional Chinese, Russian, Italian, Polish, and Brazilian Portuguese.

For more information on Reaper of Souls for Windows and Mac and to purchase your copy, visit http://www.diablo3.com/reaper.

Lead Character Designer Paul Warzecha was interviewed on Leviathyn to answer a few question about Diablo III: Reaper of Souls.

While the biggest announcement of the night was definitely the launch of the Australian Diablo 3 servers, it wasn’t the only surprise of the night with attendees of the event not only able to get their hands on the new expansion but also receiving a free copy of the collector’s edition of Reaper of Souls. That said, the centerpiece of the night was definitely the presentation and Q&A with the lead character designer of the game, Paul Warzecha.

Warzecha opened with a talk and demonstration that gave us an awesome look into the internal process of character design that brings gamers not just the heroes of sanctuary but also the many villains and monsters that inhabit it. He then went on to answer a number of questions from the audience as well as the Australian Diablo 3 community at large.

The first question that came up asked Warzecha a bit about his role as Lead Character Designer and what his favorite contribution since joining the Diablo 3 team in 2008 had been. Warzecha confessed that while “It’s hard to say a specific character but I will say that because I do lead the team I don’t necessarily have as much time to work on all but the really small things – so it’ll be things like the piranhas for the Witch Doctor that I work on.”

Gamers.de sent us a link to a new video interview that is in English with Game Designer Travis Day to talk about Diablo III: Reaper of Souls .

Diablo III: Reaper of Souls will be out on March 25th. To help old and new players Blizzard has released details on Battle.net about the launch day.

The launch of Diablo III: Reaper of Souls™ is just around corner! To make sure you're ready to Leap right into the action on March 25, we've put together a launch day guide so you'll know what to expect, how best to prepare, and when you’ll be able to jump in and start playing.

Blizzard has released multiple updates for Diablo III: Reaper of Souls on Battle.net in the last few days. Below I will link to each article with a short description.

Diablo III: Reaper of Souls Gameplay Trailer Debut

Only one week remains until Malthael, the Angel of Death, makes his terrifying return to the mortal realm. One week until you can lay siege to Act V, charge forth as the Crusader, master powerful new skills, and explore the world of Sanctuary like never before. One week!

To tide you over until death's descent, we've just unleashed our official gameplay trailer on YouTube. Discover what harrowing challenges and tantalizing rewards await your heroes beyond the gates of Westmarch in a all-new video.

Diablo III Auction House Comes to a Close

The gold and real-money auction houses are now shut down in the Americas. For more information, including how the shutdown will affect active auctions, items in the Completed Tab, and your existing Battle.net Balance, please visit our Auction House Update FAQ.

Building a Hero: Crusader Skill Design

Although the Crusader may share the same faith as their Zakarum brethren, they are an altogether new breed of holy warrior. Rightfully so, the Crusaders deserve a set of skills all their own, one that reflects their resourcefulness, resilience, and (of course) religious fervor.

But how exactly does that happen in a game like Diablo III? Brace yourselves, nephalem, and get ready to explore the creative process behind concepting, designing, and implementing the mighty powers of our newest hero.

Crusader Skill Design Q&A

Last week, we asked followers of @Diablo to send us their burning questions about Crusader skill design. After pouring through all the wonderful tweets we received in response, we then worked with senior game designer Andrew Chambers to provide answers to some of your most popular inquiries below. Check it out!

Blizzard has a new interview with the writing staff of Diablo III: Reaper of Souls.

The interview covers a wide range of topics from how the Diablo III writing team approached the new dialogue to what sort magic happens in the studio once those lines are in place. Brian, Andrea, Gideon, and Mary also wax genuinely about the casting, directing, and recording process for the Crusader, sharing some hilarious anecdotes and behind-the-scenes insights along the way.

IGN has a new gameplay trailer for the crusader class in Diablo III: Reaper of Souls.

Learn the lore and abilities behind the devout Crusader

AusGamers interviewed Lead Level Designer Kevin Martens, and Senior Level Designer Larra Paolilli to ask a few questions about Diablo III: Reaper of Souls.

Ahead of the game’s release this month though, we were given a final chance to not only dig into the rich new content for a last time, but to also speak with lead level designer, Kevin Martens, and senior level designer, Larra Paolilli, for context. The two of them infectiously ran us through the new expansion, but more importantly, were on-hand to serve up fresh quotes where nagging questions or piqued curiosity are concerned...

Blizzard has a post on Battle.net with information on the Diablo III: Reaper of Souls DLC.

Reaper of Souls Pre-Order Loot Revealed

Behold! Two epic new bonus items have just been spotted in the mortal realms, both of which will be granted in the future to anyone who pre-purchases the Reaper of Souls™ expansion digitally on Battle.net, or anyone who redeems a Reaper of Souls retail game key on or before March 31, 2014.

Check them out below:

Wings of Valor: Summon the radiant wings of the Archangel of Valor for your characters in Diablo III.

Valla the Demon Hunter: Unlock Valla the Demon Hunter in Heroes of the Storm—our upcoming free-to-play online team brawler featuring iconic Blizzard characters, fast-paced combat, and epic battlegrounds.

Ausgamers has posted the fourth entry of their beta diary based on playing Diablo 3: Reaper of Souls. This entry wrapups all the little things they haven't talked about yet.

In his fourth and final diary entry for the Diablo III: Reaper of Souls closed beta, Kosta Andreadis wraps up his experience nicely while pointing out a number of smaller things he hasn't really talked about yet, but that also make this new expansion better than the original game in almost every way. Read on for his last thoughts before the game drops proper this March...

Blizzard's Senior Technical Game Designer Wyatt Cheng shares a new video of himself playtesting Diablo III: Reaper of Souls.

Special 1-hour playtest session with Diablo III Senior Technical Game Designer Wyatt Cheng! This was a very casual "for fun" session arranged by Blizzard Entertainment. Topics include the potential for ladders (seasons), PvP/PvE/PvEvP, game mechanics, synergies, BoA, and more.

Gamer Headlines has a new article for Diablo III: Reaper of Souls that asks if the expansion can bring back old players.

My prediction is that many gamers find their way back into Diablo III, if only for a little while. Even those who hated the game stayed long enough to complete the main story. Whether or not the Reaper of Souls has what it takes to convince players to stick around and suffer the heat, we’ll just have to see.

Blizzard reveals the contents of the Collector Edition of Diablo III: Reaper of Souls.

Feast your eyes below upon the contents of the Diablo® III: Reaper of Souls™ Collector's Edition. The  artifacts contained within this retail-exclusive box have been previously mentioned, but never before glimpsed in the mortal realms . . .

Ausgamers has posted the next entry of their beta diary based on playing Diablo 3: Reaper of Souls. The entry this time deals with the new crusader class.

The Crusader is comfortable keeping their distance, hitting enemies from afar, with attacks that can hit multiple enemies at once whilst also causing some electrifying area damage. The Crusader is comfortable wielding a two-handed weapon in a single-hand with a comically oversized monstrosity of a shield in the other, and using both to pummel and daze enemies at close range. The Crusader is comfortable with the notion that at certain times they can open the skies and conjure up an actual meteor strike to reign down and cause serious damage on the larger and more troublesome groups of monsters they come across. The Crusader is comfortable healing their allies and causing diversions to try and buy extra time for their teammates to mount an effective killing blow. The Crusader is comfortable whenever you are, and that includes the use of pink dye to colour each piece of their armour.

As a new addition the Crusader class makes a lot of sense, especially as they serve as a sort of descendant or bastard child of the popular Paladin class from Diablo II. At their most basic, the Crusader can take a pummelling whilst dashing out helpful buffs to companions, but their main attraction is their versatility in being able switch between spell casting and melee strikes quite easily. Also they look great in their class specific armour, which is always a plus. And there’s no denying the sheer awesomeness of being able to wield a two handed weapon in one hand and a large shield in the other, a passive ability so good it’s worth mentioning twice.

Gamingbolt takes a look at the beta of Diablo III: Reaper of Souls.

The beta for Diablo III: Reaper of Souls has left a positive impression on me. Thanks to the new loot system, Act 5, Crusader class, difficulty system overhaul and Adventure Mode there is a lot to look forward to talk about and experience. Look for our final verdict of Diablo 3: Reaper of Souls in the coming months as we get closer to the release of the expansion.

Ausgamers has posted the next entry of their beta diary based on playing Diablo 3: Reaper of Souls. The entry this time deals with leveling your new character.

At the time of release getting a character to Level 60 in Diablo III meant you had to play through the entire campaign three times, replaying the same quests and defeating the same bosses -- in order. There was no way out of this linear path, and as the difficulty increased certain sections became harder to manage leaving players with little choice but to stop at regular intervals, grind for items and gold and then go to the auction house to buy better equipment -- before proceeding any further. This is a sequence of events that Diablo III players with more than one character will be familiar with, alongside the fact that once they reached the level cap of 60, the incentive to keep playing diminished a lot quicker than the time it took to get there.

Blizzard acknowledged all feedback that alluded to the above, and since release, over the course of many months, made changes to the game’s difficulty progression as well as implementing a post-Level 60 character progression path with the Paragon system. All welcome measures to be sure, but they also served as mere band-aids to a system that needed fundamental changes in order to move in the right direction.

Ausgamers has started a new beta diary of their time spent playing Diablo 3: Reaper of Souls. The entry deals with the improved loot system, or better known as Loot 2.0.

Loot 2.0 is a big change to the core Diablo gameplay, as even the item stats have been overhauled (again) to take into account the more sought after higher level attributes like Life On Hit, Life On Kill, Critical Damage, and so forth. Item comparisons are now divided into three groups, damage, toughness, and healing which take into account a larger variety of attributes. These big changes made across the board work wonders into instilling new life into a game that was feeling more than a little stale of late, as well as probably winning over players who gave up on the game pretty early on. Even with improved item drops and legendary items that you’ll actually get to see and use, sometimes it’s even the little things that can make you take notice. Health potions are no longer tiered and now come in a single variety called just that, health potions, which heal your character for 60% of their life. You also no longer have to pick them up, as they’re now automatically acquired like gold.

Destructoid takes a look at the beta of Diablo III: Reaper of Souls.

Reaper of Souls was a ton of fun, even if it doesn't change up the core Diablo III experiences all that much. All of the little tweaks make the game feel more enjoyable overall, and the removal of the auction house is a big clue that Blizzard isn't ready to give up on the game. I will say though if you absolutely hated the skill system and the fundamentals of Diablo III, you may not find solace with Reaper of Souls.

Blizzard annouces you can now pre-order Reaper of Souls for it's March 25th release.

On March 25, the crusade against death itself charges forth with the launch of Diablo III: Reaper of Souls for Windows and Mac. Prepare for the onslaught today by prepurchasing the expansion digitally on Battle.net.

Whether you plan to immediately don the armor of the new Crusader character or take your current hero directly into Act V, Reaper of Souls will bring you updated loot rewards, all-new class skills and abilities, game-changing features like the Mystic and Adventure Mode, and highly replayable content in the form of Bounties and Nephalem Rifts.

IncGamers previews the crusader class from Diablo 3 Reaper of Souls.

During this evening’s IncGamers live stream we starting taking a new Diablo 3 Reaper of Souls Crusader through the game.

This week there was a character wipe for all Reaper of Souls beta players when the Diablo 3 PTR launched with the new Loot 2.0 system and other bells and whistles such as clans. This is  an ideal opportunity to demonstrate the new class starting afresh.

Drixx is your host and he talks through the first levels of the game playing as the Crusader explaining the expansion’s many new features, the differences between the expansion and vanilla Diablo 3,  the skills available to the Crusader, and more.

This is the first part of his live stream series on the IncGamers Twitch channel and these will be airing over the next few days.

If you want to know how the game is shaping up during the closed beta test keep an eye on these videos and our live channel. Members of the Diablo: IncGamers team stream their gameplay for all the different character classes most days of the week.

Blizzard also announces today that the closed Beta for Reaper of Souls is now available to select players.

Reapers, and Westmarch, and Crusaders, oh my—the Diablo® III: Reaper of Souls™ Closed Beta has begun!

Invitations to this next phase of our public test are now being delivered to nephalem worldwide. If you've been invited to the Closed Beta, we'd love to hear all about your adventures on the forums, watch your live streams, and see screenshots and videos of your experiences in Sanctuary.  Please keep in mind that Reaper of Souls is still in development, which means that all content in the Closed Beta is subject to change and isn't necessarily representative of the final game.

Here are two more previews for Diablo III: Reaper of Souls.

Gamereactor

Reaper of Souls is meant to fix Diablo III. Blizzard may not put it exactly that way, but it doesn't take a lot reading between the lines to realise that they're not entirely happy with how Diablo III came to play out in a number of areas. And that's putting it mildly.

The biggest and most important change is two-fold. The much criticised auction house has been removed, while Blizzard introduce a new system for loot drops. They called it "Loot 2.0" - and the idea is that the loot you find should be more applicable and useful to the player.

Gamegrin

I’ve been suitably impressed with what the beta had in store for Diablo III, with a slew of changes the game has become exciting, rewarding and most importantly, fun again. Definitely one to keep watching for how the beta pans out and stay tuned as we’ll be covering more of Diablo III: Reaper of Souls in the future.

Eurogamer has a new preview of Diablo 3: Reaper of Souls adventure mode.

I've had access to the beta test for Diablo 3's first expansion, Reaper of Souls, for over a week now, yet I've barely touched the new fifth Act in the campaign and only scratched the surface of the Crusader class. The reason? Adventure mode, which is absolutely the best and biggest addition in an expansion which changes almost everything. It's nothing less than a new way to play the game.

Adventure mode is different every time you log in to Diablo 3, offering randomised bounties spread across the entirety of the game's campaign: these might be to hunt down a rare monster, kill a boss (which might have different attack patterns), clean out a dungeon or run a special event. Monster locations have been switched around, while some areas appear at different times of day and under different weather conditions. You earn loot bags and a special gambling currency for completing bounties - and also pick up keys to Nephalem Rifts, which are special, entirely randomised dungeons that mix up tile sets and monsters from across the entire game.

To see a bounty and a Nephalem Rift in action, and hear more of my thoughts on this brilliant new mode, check out the Let's Play video below.

Play.tm has a preview of Blizzards next expansion Diablo III: Reaper of Souls.

Blizzard has put together a pretty comprehensive update with Reaper Of Souls. A new Chapter, a whole new character class, a new free-roaming gameplay mode and a complete reworking of the loot system are all enticing propositions. There may be no return of PvP as yet but as game director Josh Mosquiera said at Blizzcon, "Once we feel we have the fundametals right then we can start asking the really cool question about how we're going to get you fighting each other."

AusGamers has a new video interview for Diablo III: Reaper of Souls with Jesse McCree, and Leonard Boyarski. 

AusGamers: I’ve been asked by some of my colleagues to ask this question, and don’t know if you guys can answer it: It is a transition phase at the moment, obviously [Reaper of Souls] is heading to console which is something that you guys had been working on and teasing for quite a while, but it was a no brainer, it fits on consoles so well -- my wife and I play all the time at home; it’s fantastic.

Has it changed the development of Reaper of Souls much, that it’s also coming out on console? Are you guys talking to the teams and sharing stuff, learning something from the console guys at all?

Jesse: Yeah, well we’re not actually separate teams. So the console developers and the PC developers… we’re the Diablo developers. So we’re hand-in-hand and we’re always talking, and we think of the game more -- now that we’ve shipped on console -- as the game. And when we look at the PS4 version, and the new Xbox, and how it works with the PC, we try and make things… I wouldn’t say identical, because the console has some interesting UI challenges, but as far as gameplay goes, and what we want out of the player experience, they’re very tight-knit.

AusGamers: I did actually have one last question: The Auction House is gone obviously, and you’ve got the game out on console, which is offline. The bigger question then is, are we going to see the game playable offline on PC.

Jesse: Offline for PC... the way we feel about the PC version of the game is it’s most fun to play with your friends. So we want to make sure we have systems in place where you can find your friends to play with. They’re constantly available, the tie-in with Battle.net is huge. Being able to see across games, like “Hey, my buddy’s playing Warcraft or StarCraft”, and being able to coordinate with them, is a big deal for us, so we definitely want to keep that available.

Gamerhub.tv has a new two part video interview with Developer Brian Kindregan. Both videos can be viewed below are by clicking the links.

Diablo 3 Reaper Of Souls Interview Part 1

Diablo 3 Reaper Of Souls Interview Part 2

Bizzard has a new article talking about the new adventure mode that you can choose to play in Diablo III: Reaper of Souls.

Introducing: Adventure Mode

In Diablo® III's upcoming expansion, Reaper of Souls™, players will have the opportunity to choose between two different modes whenever creating a new game: Campaign Mode and Adventure Mode.

Campaign Mode

In Campaign Mode, players reprise their pivotal roles as the heroes of Sanctuary. With a greater focus on story, all of the quests, cut-scenes, and in-game movies will remain available to you in this mode. Progression through the game's five thrilling Acts is intentionally linear. Campaign Mode is very similar to the current Diablo III experience.

Adventure Mode

In Adventure Mode, the majority of these story-driven elements have been removed and all waypoints have been unlocked, allowing players the freedom to explore and play the game however they like—even across all Acts. The world itself is your battlefield. Go anywhere, slay anything!

These modes can be accessed at any time, and you're welcome to switch between them whenever you please. In addition, we've unlocked all difficulty levels, giving you even more control over your in-game experience. Don't want to play through the story four times on each of your characters? Done. Looking to farm in Adventure Mode at one difficulty, then switch over to Campaign Mode at a different difficulty? You've got it.

Incgamers has a new Q&A with Blizzzard from this years BlizzCon 2013 with more information about Diablo III: Reaper of Souls.

I really enjoy the game but I have one issue, no offline mode. When are we going to get it?

When we decided to designed Diablo 3, we feel, and seeing all you out here, Diablo plays best when you;re playing with your friends. When you have access to this aesome community that is Blizzard. This is why we have BlizzCon. We felt is was really important we have that social connection. for you to be able to have access to your friends list. It also alloed us to make sure you characters were stored. It was important for us to satisfy that social aspect of the game.

In fact we’re adding more multiplayer features, groups and clans were teased in the trailer there so those are coming as well. That’s a feature that being online makes it even better. Even more so than the rich join and drop co-op that’s already out there.

With the closure of the auction house and everybody buying and selling gold, what are you plan on doing to effect the flood of gold that’s going to come onto the market just before the auction house closes?

We have a number of new gold sinks coming and the gameplay panel tomorrow is going to go into them very specifically. One of the big ones is enchanting , Transmogrify is not a major gold sink, but enchanting is the system that allows you to re-roll the stat on your item to make it better for yourself. That’s a  smart drop goal as well so it’s very likely to be good for your character and you can see all the potential things you can roll. So that’s a major thing. We’ve got new and better blacksmith recipes coming, also smart drops so when they do roll they’re much more likely to be better.

Those are just a couple of the features for gold sink so we do intend find ways to get some gold out of the economy. We don’t want to have to make it so that if you’re not one of the people with 40 billion gold you can’t participate it that. People with 40 billion will pull the slot machine a little more often. Ultimately gold is not going to be as big of a delta factor for character power as it has been for when the auction house was live.

Blizzard released a new trailer for Diablo III Reaper of Souls showing off the new features, and changes in the expansion.

Blizzard has posted a new article with a first look at Westmarch the next act that you play in the expansion Reaper of Souls.

There was a time when Westmarch was a lively, vibrant city. Now, an unnatural chill hangs over the sprawling mass of Gothic architecture, and the unmistakable stench of decay chokes its few remaining survivors.

Take a trip with us through Reaper of Souls's first zone and peer behind the scenes at our design team's process in putting together the gloom and eeriness of a city under Death's siege.

AusGamers interviews Lead Designer Kevin Martens, and Lead Writer Brian Kindregan to talk about Diablo III: Reaper of Souls.

AusGamers: Can we broach how you’ve approached a lot of the negative feedback that stemmed from Diablo III, in terms of what has been implemented. With vocal fans that essentially wanted Diablo two-point-five as opposed to three, can you talk about how you might have sated some of those guys at all?

Kevin: Sure. I think there’s lots of valid criticisms of Diablo, and there’s criticisms that didn’t come out until a lot of people have played for a lot of time in many cases. Early on, we just had errors in the difficulty, it was just wrong. At a certain point in Hell difficulty, it did get too hard, and the gear didn’t keep up, and we did patch that pretty rapidly. We do believe that we did make Legendaries wrong, and we do keep making them better and better and other build-changing as well. So I think we’re finally nailing what the fantasy of the Legendary items is, and it’s still a little different than Diablo II, but is much more in that direction than it used to be.

So not all of the changes that we made in Diablo III are better than Diablo II, and a good example of that, that people complained about, would be the ability for people to customise their stats, to spend in different ways. We wanted to solve a problem that we think was endemic throughout Diablo II, and that was that people would get locked into a built that wasn’t quite what they thought it was going to be; they had to spend a point before they knew what that meant, and then they couldn’t re-spec it -- for a long time, there was no re-speccing available, and eventually they solved that problem.

Often, people would learn -- usually at the end of Act II, where they tried to kill Durial -- they’d learn that they had made a huge mistake, and this build was not going to work out, and they’d have to start over. Some people love that actually, and I have to say that we’re not supporting that, and we’re not going to in the future

Blizzard has a new blog post with more details about the new companion introduced in the expansion called the Mystic.

In Reaper of Souls, you'll have the opportunity to join forces with a new and powerful ally: Myriam Jahzia, the Mystic.

                         

Myriam Jahzia is a wise woman who will offer you sage advice during the turbulent times ahead. She and her clan are nomads known as the Vecin—a spiritual people, blessed with magical visions. They hail from a matrilineal society who worship a powerful deity known as the Allmother. The Vecin believe that the Allmother is the source of their visions, and that it is because of her that all Vecin possess a sixth sense they call the Sight. While the Sight always manifests more strongly in Vecin women, it's especially strong in Myriam.

Although she is quite a resourceful individual, Myriam proves no match for Malthael's forces and is trapped by their relentless advance. You will have the chance to save Myriam while adventuring in the city of Westmarch, and shortly after encountering her, she will offer her Artisan services to you, regardless of your level.

Like your companions Haedrig Eamon the Blacksmith and Covetous Shen the Jeweler, Myriam the Mystic is a skilled Artisan, capable of altering the very nature of even the most elaborate armor and weapons. Over the years, Myriam has learned to harness her craft, and as thanks for rescuing her from Malthael’s vicious constructs, she offers two unique services to aid you on your mission: one that strengthens and enhances your items (Enchanting), and one that allows you to further customize your appearance (Transmogrification).

PC Gamer has a new hands-on preview of Diablo III: Reaper of Souls.

The add-on isn’t just about new stuff, it’s a significant rebalance of Diablo III’s core systems. In its aesthetic return to the gothic roots of the series, the revamped itemisation and the sidelining of the auction house, Reaper of Souls feels as much like a retrofit as an expansion. That’s just what Diablo needs. Though it will still be always-online, and there will still be an item store, Blizzard want to move back to core principles to keep the 12 million who bought Diablo III playing. The complications of a player-run economy are just a distraction, after all. The reason people play is simple: “You should be killing monsters,” says Martens. “That’s the best thing.”

Blizzard wants your help in designing legendary items for Diablo III: Reaper of Souls.

Have you ever wondered what kind of sweat, tears, and ritual sacrifice goes into designing a Legendary item in Diablo III? Or perhaps even entertained the idea of creating a Legendary of your own?

Well, hang on to your hauberks, Sanctuary, and ready your anvils. It’s time to get crafty.

The "Design a Legendary" Project

Inspired by the many passionate discussions we've seen about itemization (particularly Legendary itemization) in Diablo III, we wanted to take some time to expand on our evolving design philosophies and practices, as well as reiterate our goals for Legendaries in Reaper of Souls.

As we started to put our pens to the proverbial paper, though, we had an epiphany: "Hey, instead of just telling players about item design, why not actually show them?"

And so the Design a Legendary project was born.  

So, How's It Work?

Over the next few months, we'll take you through the all the different design stages behind bringing a single Legendary item to life, from concept to creation to iteration, all the way through animation and implementation. We'll chat with each developer involved and share progress updates along the way, giving you a unique behind-the-scenes look at what goes into making a Legendary item that looks epic, feels epic, and fits within the larger network of hero skills, monster tuning, and overall game balance.

Pretty sweet, huh?

According to Polygon it seems Blizzard is hosting a survey about Diablo III: Reaper of Souls about expansion price, and collector's edition.

Blizzard Entertainment is surveying registered users of Diablo 3 about the pricing of their upcoming expansion Reaper of Souls and interest in an special edition version of the pack.

"Consider two versions of the expansion: a Standard Edition for $29.99 and a Collector’s Edition for $49.99. The Standard Edition includes the Reaper of Souls expansion; the Collector’s Edition includes the expansion, exclusive in-game content, and other bonus items."

The survey also asked what games and on which systems participants are gaming and quizzed people taking the survey about their knowledge of the upcoming expansion pack and asked them to put the features of the pack in order of importance.

"Our goal at Blizzard Entertainment is to make the most epic gaming experiences possible, so we want to get your feedback as a registered user of Diablo III," according to the email sent out to gamers. "We invite you to participate in an online survey where your responses will help us determine which areas to focus our attention in the coming months."

MMOCast has new details and a video full of monster spoilers for Diablo III: Reaper of Souls.

A lot of things are going to change in Diablo 3: Reaper of Souls and one of these will be the new Paragon 2.0 system. The system was implemented to provide players with some form of tangible benefit for killing lots of monsters even if they were unlucky with items loot.

The first thing that is going to change in Paragon 2.0 is the current cap, which will be completely removed.  The next thing worth mentioning is the account-wide Paragon level change. In order to help players experience all in-game classes, without worrying about the experience waste, Blizzard will make paragon levels account wide, especially since one of the most expected feature from Reaper of Souls will be the new Crusader class and a lot of re-rolls are expected.

GameReactor has a new interview with Blizzard's Josh Mosqueira, and Christian Lichtner.

Blizzard's Josh Mosqueira and Christian Lichtner talk us through the new loot system, the gothic setting, a sixth character class and more.

Fresh from announcing the expansion to Diablo III at Gamescom, game director Josh Mosqueira and art director Christian Lichtner talk to Bengt Lemne about what's new in Reaper of Souls.

Mosqueira, who recently took over as Diablo III's game director after Jay Wilson stepped away from the role, started the ball rolling. "Goal number one was to really capture and deliver on the promise that is Diablo, and that really starts with epic heroes," he explained.

"Whether you're the Crusader or the Barbarian, you're playing a bigger-than-life hero and you're fighting against the forces of darkness. For this expansion we're introducing a brand new villain - Malthael, the fallen angel of wisdom - and his legion of death angels. But at the end of the day what we thought was super important for us to get right with Reaper of Souls, was loot. We've done big changes to the loot system. We're essentially going to drop less, better and more epic loot."

Lichtner, the game's art director, then explained the other major addition coming in the expansion: a sixth character class to appear alongside the Barbarian, Demon Hunter, Wizard, Witch Doctor and Monk. "We also have a new class, which is the Crusader. So that was really exciting for us, because we love our five classes that we have right now, but we really were missing this tanky, big, armoured version of a character, and the Crusader is really the answer for us on that."

EuroGamer has a new article about Blizzzard and their road to redemption.

"The Auction House is a very complicated conversation..."

Josh Mosqueira, like Blizzard teammate Kevin Martens, is holding a bottle of beer, occasionally tapping it on the table at which we're chatting about Reaper of Souls, the upcoming Diablo 3 expansion. It is the end of the day, Gamescom 2013 will soon be over, and there's a spark of excitement in the room. Josh (game director) and Kevin (lead content designer) crave fresh air, sunshine and escape from the bowels of Blizzard's Koelnmesse business center booth, but, to their credit, they never let it show. They're here for the long haul. New character class The Crusader, almost motionless save for his expanding and collapsing chest, watches over us from within a giant TV like some virtual dungeon keeper.

Complicated indeed.

The Diablo 3 Auction House. Once the drama over Diablo 3's catastrophic May 2012 launch calmed and the servers powering the long-awaited always-online action role-playing game whirred at top speed, the shocking reality of the Auction House hammered home. Scores of hours in, on harder difficulties and after yet another act four run later, players realised Diablo 3's itemisation was broken, and the Auction House was the only answer.

In basic terms, in Diablo 3 the items you really want very rarely drop, so off to the Auction House everybody goes to bid virtual, and sometimes real, money. Players who need more powerful equipment to combat Diablo 3's harder challenges feel forced to use it - and that's the problem. The fact the console version doesn't have the Auction House suggests Blizzard agrees. And yet, here we are, chatting about the upcoming expansion, and it's clear the Auction House is here to stay.

I have managed to roundup a few previews for Diablo III: Reaper of Souls. So lets start round one with many more to come.

Gamefront

Diablo 3 wasn’t the success Blizzard — or its fans — hoped for. But Diablo 2 didn’t hit its stride until its expansion, Lord of Destruction. Could the same be true for Diablo 3? The first of two planned expansions, Reaper of Souls, was revealed at Gamescom last week. While many former fans of the series have written the third installment off long ago, those who stuck with it over the past year know that Blizzard has been actively working to improve the game. The Diablo 3 of today is a better game than on release day, but if it is to have the longevity of Diablo 2, a lot more work needs to be done.

New Game Director Josh Mosqueira, taking over the role from Jay Wilson, seems to have a keen eye for what’s wrong with Diablo 3. The game has a few critical issues that still plague it; here’s how Reaper of Souls may resolve them.

GamingUnion

Regardless of how you look at the paragon system, the multiple classes, the questing or item leveling or what your personal feelings are on the quality of Blizzards content we can at least all sit down and agree that Diablo III was a short game. It certainly had a lot of great points that shouldn’t be dismissed; visually the game was a treat and the gameplay was smooth as anyone could ask for. No one had a problem with the taste Diablo III had to offer, there just wasn’t a quite enough of it on the plate.

So now we’ve got a new expansion around the corner, filled with all kinds of new goodies for us to look forward to. As of now we know the expansion, Reaper of Souls, adds a few new things to the game: A new melee class based loosely on Diablo II’s Paladin called The Crusader, an increased level cap to 70, new monsters, item transmog, and new randomized dungeons have all been announced so far.

Spawnfirst

One thing is for sure, Blizzard knows how to rock an opening cinematic.  Blizzard’s new Diablo III expansion “Reaper of Souls” offers enhanced gameplay, better loot, a new class, and updates that will please Diablo fans.  As Alex Maberry, the senior producer on Diablo III, says, Diablo is about heroes that are larger than life, starts from meager beginnings, and characters who achieve godlike status.  RoS offers a new villain: Malthael, death himself, a fallen angel of wisdom whose goal is to end eternal conflict by wiping out the blight that is humanity.  He intends to wipe out the city of West March and then Sanctuary.  Your mission?  Stop his plans.

PC Gamer has two short previews for Diablo III: Reaper of Souls. The first preview talks about a free major update with the expansion.

Lead content designer Kevin Martens ran us through the free features of patch 2.0. “You’re going to get all the loot, you’re going to get all the new item types, you’re going to get all the new legendary affixes, you’re going to get our new gem type – which is the diamond – and you’re going to get all the changes to the rules, the smart drop system, the targeted drop system, probably you’ll get loot runs – we haven’t figured that one out yet – probably you’ll get paragon, etc, etc.”

The second preview talks about the new loot system, and how it's meant to counter the auction house.

When asked about the loot system changes, lead content designer Kevin Martens told us that, while trading is a perfectly legitimate way to get an item, playing the game should always be the most effective. “It is fun to go buy something instantly, the instant gratification feel, that sugar high,” he said, “however it’s not the core fantasy, it’s not the most fun and by the endgame, for a variety of reasons, they tend to check the auction house first and play the game second.”

 CheatCC has a new preview for Diablo III: Reaper of Souls.

Last week at Gamescom, Blizzard announced Diablo III’s first expansion pack, Reaper of Souls, and ever since, details have been trickling in about the expansion’s content. We can expect it to include new missions, loot, a brand-new loot and paragon system, and even a new class. However, the question still remains, will Reaper of Souls be enough to elevate Diablo III to Diablo 2’s level of success? Let’s take a deeper look at the expansion’s features to find out.

Blizzplanet has a new video with Josh Mosqueira and Kevin Martens.

Josh Mosqueira and Kevin Martens discuss Diablo III: Reaper of Souls with Blizzplanet, GamersOrigin, InDiablo.de and Millenium.org at GamesCom.

Next Polygon has a new video interview with Josh Mosqueira.

Emily Gera talks with Josh Mosqueira, the game director on the Diablo III Expansion: Reaper of Souls.

Razer has a new video interview with Joshua Mosqueira and Christian Lichtner.

Joshua Mosqueira and Christian Lichtner of Blizzard give Athene the inside scoop on the new revelations of Diablo III Reaper of Souls.

IGN interviews the Designer and Developer Of Diablo 3's expansion pack in a new video.

The Designer and Developer Of Diablo 3's expansion pack, Reaper Of Souls explains how they've updated the level and enviroment design.

And Game Informer has another video interview with the games Director and Lead Artist.

The director and lead artist for Diablo III and the new expansion talk about the changes they are making and the upcoming console versions of the original game.

Crave Online writer Jonathan Leack has a new article were he writes Diablo 3 Reaper of Souls isn’t enough to bring him back.

After over a year of patches, Diablo 3 still feels like an anti-social experience. The chat rooms are full of spam and don't feel functional in the way that Diablo 2's did. The Auction House jeopardizes the thrill of finding loot, the very thing that the genre is based around. Every item is viewed for its value on the AH, and in most cases it's more important to find a rare item than it is to find one that's an upgrade for your character. Made even worse, if you want to progress you need to spend an inordinate amount of time staring at the AH menu sorting through hundreds of thousands of items. It's time consuming and feels like a job rather than a game.

The only thing I'm really excited about is the improvement of loot. Diablo 3's loot has been a huge disappointment since release. I've found three legendary items, all equally awful. I ended up selling them to a trash can vendor.

As someone who loves PC gaming, it pains me to say I'm more excited for Diablo 3 to release on consoles than the game's first expansion. It won't require an internet connection, encourages us to play with friends and socialize, and makes loot farming meaningful. I was hoping I wouldn't be able to say that once an expansion was coming around, but it looks like my worst fear has come true.

I have a few interviews for Diablo III: Reaper of Souls to start off the newsbit.

PCGamesN

We caught up with new Diablo game director Josh Mosqueira at Gamescom today to find out what the ongoing challenges were in developing PvP.

Mosqueira cited three key issues in working out how Diablo 3 PvP might work. 

The first was simply the “bandwidth of the team”. Only a small portion of Blizzard’s Diablo dev squad are dedicated to exploring the possibilities of PvP, and that’s not likely to change as development heats up on first expansion Reaper of Souls.

The second issue is trickier: finding a point where the second-to-second experience of playing Diablo can intersect with 1v1 or 2v2 standoffs.

Said Mosqueira: “In Diablo, the core mechanics are really built around one character fighting scores of monsters, right? 

“There’s a lot of control, a lot of AOE, and some of that stuff starts to not necessarily break down, but it starts to fray at the edges when you’re actually now focused on two people, or four people.”

The third issue has seen Blizzard trying to prevent PvP from being the preserve of endgame characters. Instead, they’ve tried to look at PvP from a “low level standpoint”.

“So one of the questions that we really want to start really thinking about in PvP is how can we get that Diablo experience: not just from a high level but especially from a low level,” said Mosqueira.

Gamespot

In an interview during Gamescom 2013, game director Josh Mosqueira said that the auction house would still feature in Reaper of Souls but that the game was being designed so that players will be tempted away from it.

"Trading items is one of the things you do in a game like Diablo," Mosqueira said, "and because of that we still feel that the original intent of the auction house--providing a safe and secure means of players to trade items--is still working really well. In fact, in the territories that don't have an auction house the number of account compromises is totally out of whack with the rest of the world."

Next we have a video interview from Game Star.

And lastly I have a video of the presentation at GamesCom. 

Blizzard officially announces the first expansion for Diablo III called Diablo III: Reaper of Souls. I also have a new cinematic trailer, and a new gameplay video.

COLOGNE, Germany--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The defeat of Diablo, Lord of Terror, should have given rise to an age of hope. Instead, it has drawn out a shadowy being of immense power, whose malevolent purpose is yet to be revealed. Announced today at gamescom, Diablo^® III: Reaper of Souls^™, the upcoming expansion to Diablo III, opens a dark and terrifying new chapter in the ongoing conflict over the mortal realm of Sanctuary.

Malthael, the fallen Archangel of Wisdom, vanished after the events depicted at the end of Diablo II: Lord of Destruction^®. In Reaper of Souls, he returns as the Angel of Death and seizes the Black Soulstone, which contains the essence of the Prime Evil. It now falls to the players to track down Malthael and stop him before he unleashes irreversible havoc on the world.

Fortunately, a new hero is ready to join the cause and bring Malthael to justice—the Crusader. Driven by a centuries-long quest to cleanse the corruption blighting their beloved Zakarum faith, Crusaders are warriors of righteousness who have been hardened through relentless, brutal combat with the foul evils plaguing eastern Sanctuary. In addition to wearing immensely heavy armor and wielding a wide range of cruel and punishing weapons, this new playable class in Reaper of Souls uses battle magic to strengthen allies and weaken foes. A natural walking tank, the Crusader adds power and versatility to any party of adventurers.