Diablo III: Reaper of Souls [ Page 3 ]

Diablo III: Reaper of Souls Now Available

"I do hope you have been making the best of your time, nephalem, because the sands in your hourglass have run out. The time has come for my master to sweep clean the streets of Westmarch, and your feeble efforts will mean little against our inevitable tide."

After spending the last few hours playing Diablo III: Reaper of Souls I can say that it is a very worthy upgrade to Diablo III. I started the new Crusader class and so far am loving it.

What are your spoiler free thoughts of Reaper of Souls? How did you start and where did you end off after your first day playing?

http://us.battle.net//d3/en/blog/13370216

Reaper of Souls Drops Next Week. Death Gets Nervous.

Diablo III: Reaper of Souls drops next week adding a whole bunch of content to the game world of Sanctuary. In the new Act V Diablo III story, Malthael the Angel of Death steals the soulstone and as such you must put a stop to it. It's fun seeing what maguffins the Diablo III writers come up with after the destruction of Diablo at the end of the game. On one hand, I love coming back to Diablo and having fun but on the other hand, haven't we killed ultimate evil a few times before? Well, apparently not because we need to take a swing at the Angel of Death. Still, the game looks great and I can't wait to play as the Crusader.

nod to the happenings of act V

The video... Read All Diablo III: Reaper of Souls drops next week adding a whole bunch of content to the game world of Sanctuary. In the new Act V Diablo III story, Malthael the Angel of Death steals the soulstone and as such you must put a stop to it. It's fun seeing what maguffins the Diablo III writers come up with after the destruction of Diablo at the end of the game. On one hand, I love coming back to Diablo and having fun but on the other hand, haven't we killed ultimate evil a few times before? Well, apparently not because we need to take a swing at the Angel of Death. Still, the game looks great and I can't wait to play as the Crusader.

nod to the happenings of act V

The video linked above is a recent interview with some people involved with the voice acting at Blizzard including the voice actors of the new Crusader class. It's a really great roundtable style interview but I found one point interesting as it may shed some light to the particulars of Act V. In the interview, Gideon Emery lets slip that as he was reading lines for Reaper of Souls that you are "Visited by another character and had to reign in the emotion…." Whereas this could mean many things I am wondering if this is a possible hint at the return of some main characters we lost in Diablo III(to avoid spoilers I am being a bit hazy here).

more reaper newsy bits

If you are wondering how you might allocate skills to the new Crusader class, you should check out the new skill calculator. It allows you to read all the new skills and runes you can use to make your perfect build.

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/crusader

If you want to know more about the design process for the Crusader, Blizzard has a nice post about it with some design sketches and videos.

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/blog/13299171

In other Diablo III news, the auction house is now closed bringing it's reign of terror to an end.

Diablo III drops March 25th on Mac and Windows. Also, if we kill death in Act V does that mean people stop dying in Sanctuary? I guess we'll know on March 25th.

Blizzard Drops A New Video Showing the Crusaders Abilities

Not gonna lie, I am excited about Reaper of Souls launching in two weeks. That said, when I see something new drop about the expansion, I want to share it and this latest video showcasing more about the Crusader is pretty awesome

It seems the Crusader is very similar to the Diablo II Paladin except he seems to bring a few Barbarian like things to the table. It seems the Crusader has "auras" but also seems to have an ability that makes him almost giantlike.

Are you getting Reaper of Souls when it launches and if so will you play the new class? I know I will be.

The Crusader Is Very Pious As He Smashes Demons In The Face

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As the days to the release of Diablo III: Reaper of Souls count down, Blizzard is letting out more information about the expansion. In this latest update they kicked out some really interesting bits of lore about the Crusader. I'll clip out a few things I found interesting:

"While there is some debate among scholars as to the true nature of Akarat’s prophecy—specifically, whether the "being" Akarat saw was the archangel Yaerius or simply an echo of Uldyssian’s sacrifice at the end of the Sin War—its significance is undeniable. It is said that the vision, manifesting as a magnificent flash of light and energy across the sky, ignited the fundamental belief within Akarat... Read All

Reaper of Souls Music Preview

"To whet your auditory appetite, we've put together an exclusive preview track featuring just a small sample of new melodies you'll hear as you adventure through this haunting environment."

I really enjoyed the Diablo III score and appreciate the direction they took with this music for Reaper of Souls. The music shown in the clip above seems to have an airy choral quality to it. The songs are also layered such that the individual instruments really stand out in a way I didn't hear in the Diablo III score.

Blizzard also did a Q&A with the Diablo III music director Derek Duke. I cut a snippet from the interview for your viewing pleasure.

""Q. The world of Sanctuary is... Read All

New Blizzard Video Shows Off The Huge Diablo 2.0.2 Update

If you are still a bit hazy as to what the new Diablo III 2.0.2 patch contains, Blizzard made a pretty cool video explaining the big points. Diablo III 2.0.2 is pretty much a new game and if you have Diablo III and haven't checked it out, I seriously recommend you do.

You can read about the entire set of Diablo III 2.0.2 changes here:

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/blog/12671560/

Entire Reaper of Souls Collectors Edition Revealed

Blizzard revealed the details of the Diablo III: Reaper of Souls Collectors Edition in its entirety. This is the first Blizzard release where they advertised and took pre-orders for the base game and Digital Deluxe before the Collectors Edition was available. I hope this isn't a signal that Blizzard is backing off making Collectors Editions available because I haven't regretted any of the ones I've got.

The Diablo III: Reaper of Souls Collectors Edition comes with Malthael Mouse Pad, Art Book, Soundtrack, Making of Bluray+DVD, Base Game and all the digital specialness of the Digital Deluxe version and will ship on Mac and Windows.

Are you interested in getting Diablo... Read All

A Fun Papercraft Goblin for the Holidays

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"To help celebrate the holidays and ring in the new year, we've put together a fun little papercraft project for our creative community. In true Diablo fashion, this particular papercraft is of a Treasure Goblin, complete with his very own papercraft Treasure Bag.

We call him Lewt."

If you dig papercraft, Blizzard has posted a fun crafty creation you can make for holidays. I am going to print this out and make it so check back for a picture of how it turned out.

If you want to make a Lewt of your own, head to the Diablo III blog:

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/blog/12099016

Reaper of Souls New Loot Systems & Auction House

In a new interview with PC Gamer, Diablo 3 Lead Content Designer Kevin Martens spoke about some reaper of souls game changes for loot drops and the auction house. When asked about loot drops and the auction house, he said that much of Diablo 3 fun revolved around the auction house...

"That’s not what we intend, and we do want to address that, so the loot system and the enchanting and crafting systems are both intended to cut the legs out from the auction house; to make it unnecessary to go on it to some degree, where the most fun way to play the game becomes the best way to play the game.”

‘Loot 2.0′ will add “smart drop” items, which are tuned to your character. More... Read All In a new interview with PC Gamer, Diablo 3 Lead Content Designer Kevin Martens spoke about some reaper of souls game changes for loot drops and the auction house. When asked about loot drops and the auction house, he said that much of Diablo 3 fun revolved around the auction house...

"That’s not what we intend, and we do want to address that, so the loot system and the enchanting and crafting systems are both intended to cut the legs out from the auction house; to make it unnecessary to go on it to some degree, where the most fun way to play the game becomes the best way to play the game.”

‘Loot 2.0′ will add “smart drop” items, which are tuned to your character. More legendaries are also planned, with extra effects, such as a staff that can spawn hydras from dead bodies. A new artisan, the Mystic, will be introduced, letting players transmute items – transferring the stats of one over to another. In addition, the new Loot Run mode will randomly generate a new 15-20 minute dungeon, letting you go treasure hunting without repeating the same locations."

If Blizzard is able to pull this off, this is a welcomed change. Diablo 3 is loads of fun, but it has always been easiest to grind for gold and head to the auction house for gear. Beyond a certain level the majority of loot drops are nearly worthless, yellows and browns included. Kind of sad to get a legendary item and think "oh well it prob sucks more than a blue I have." I hope Blizzard can change things so the dropped gear is awesome and I am really looking forward to the new "loot run" mode.

What do you think, are these changes to the auction house and loot drops something you are excited about?

http://www.pcgamer.com/2013/08/29/diablo-3-reaper-of-souls-loot-system-designed-to-cut-the-legs-out-from-the-auction-house/

**UPDATE**

It also seems that Diablo 3 will be seeing a huge 2.0 update getting much of the content around Reaper of Souls release.

"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."

http://www.pcgamer.com/2013/08/29/diablo-3-to-get-free-update-alongside-reaper-of-souls-expansion/