Diablo 3 and Updates Including Reaper of Souls (And the shutdown of the Auction House)

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**Asherian Command**

So here is to update those who haven't seen it....
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/blog/10648023/diablo%C2%AE-iii-reaper-of-souls%E2%84%A2-revealed-8-21-2013

"Death, at last, shall spread its wings over all…"
A presence more sinister than any demon hangs over Sanctuary….
It watched from the shadows as a hero of nephalem lineage struck down Diablo, the Prime Evil, and trapped the demon lord within the Black Soulstone.
It waited in silence as the mortal armies of Sanctuary crushed the leaderless remnants of the Burning Hells and scattered them into the stinging winds of Kehjistan.
Now, as hope springs anew, its long vigil has ended.
Shrouded in mystery and imbued with a power as ancient as the universe itself, it comes to the war-torn world of Sanctuary. It cannot be stopped. There is no escape.
In its wake, only death will remain.

The next chapter in Sanctuary's epic saga has been unveiled. Prepare to take on Death itself in Diablo III's upcoming expansion set: Reaper of Souls.
In Reaper of Souls, players will explore haunting new environments and face down fearsome new enemies within and beyond the world of Sanctuary as they seek to unlock the mysteries of Malthael, the Angel of Death.
Stalwart adventurers can choose to continue their journey as one of five existing heroes—the Barbarian, Demon Hunter, Monk, Witch Doctor, or Wizard—or adopt the mantle of a new class: the Crusader, a fierce melee warrior whose command of the battlefield is matched only by his unwavering conviction.
=
Advance through additional levels of supremacy, mastering bold new powers of raw, demon-slaying potential along the way. Customize your strengths with an improved Paragon system. Battle your way through newly randomized 3D maps and epic new quests in Act V. And test your mettle in all-new game modes—including Loot Runs and Nephalem Trials—designed to provide players with a highly replayable (and highly rewarding) end-game experience.
crusader5_thumb.jpg

For more information, check out the official press release and be sure to visit the new Diablo III: Reaper of Souls web page for feature details, screenshots, concept art, gameplay teaser trailer, and more.

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/blog/10647175/diablo-iii-reaper-of-souls-gameplay-teaser-8-21-2013

"Armored by faith, driven by duty, bound to kill the enemies of Zakarum."
Dark forces are at work in the world of Sanctuary, and the End of Days may yet come to pass.
Malthael, the fallen Archangel of Wisdom, returns as the Angel of Death in Diablo III's first expansion set: Reaper of Souls. Having seized the powerful Black Soulstone for his own nefarious purposes, it now falls to 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.
Check out the official Reaper of Souls gameplay teaser from gamescom 2013 for a first look at the expansion’s sinister new environments, fierce new monsters, and exciting new class—the Crusader.

Get ready to join the crusade against death! Visit diablo3.com/ReaperOfSouls for more information about this stirring new chapter in Sanctuary's history including official artwork, screenshots, opening cinematic, and upcoming features.
Stay tuned to diablo3.com for future updates regarding Reaper of Souls, and be sure to follow us on Facebook and Twitter!

And for the biggest highlight.
The Auction House Update
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/blog/10974978/

When we initially designed and implemented the auction houses, the driving goal was to provide a convenient and secure system for trades. But as we've mentioned on different occasions, it became increasingly clear that despite the benefits of the AH system and the fact that many players around the world use it, it ultimately undermines Diablo's core game play: kill monsters to get cool loot. With that in mind, we want to let everyone know that we've decided to remove the gold and real-money auction house system from Diablo III.
We feel that this move along with the Loot 2.0 system being developed concurrently with Reaper of Souls™ will result in a much more rewarding game experience for our players.
We're working out the details of how the auction house system will be shut down, but we wanted to share the news as soon as we made the decision in order to give everyone as much advance notice as possible. Please note that the shutdown will occur on March 18, 2014. We will keep everyone informed as we work through this process.
Josh Mosqueira and I wanted to provide everyone with a little more information behind this decision, so please have a look at the video, and stay tuned to this site for further updates in the months ahead.

**Ahtman**

I was going to say that it took long enough, but then I also noticed that it doesn't happen until March of next year! That is crazy.

"We are going to fix a problem that negatively effected gameplay for some time, but not for quite some time. Have fun!"

Diablo III on the consoles so far seems to be what it should have been from the start.

**Asherian Command**

Ahtman wrote:
I was going to say that it took long enough, but then I also noticed that it doesn't happen until March of next year! That is crazy.

"We are going to fix a problem that negatively effected gameplay for some time, but not for quite some time. Have fun!"

Diablo III on the consoles so far seems to be what it should have been from the start.

Completely Agreed. But patches here and there have fixed it. Seemed more of a beta of the actual game. Than a full-game.

**Grundz**

Ahtman wrote:
I was going to say that it took long enough, but then I also noticed that it doesn't happen until March of next year! That is crazy.

"We are going to fix a problem that negatively effected gameplay for some time, but not for quite some time. Have fun!"

There's still money to be made

**LordofHats**

Logically, if we took Blizzard at their word there's no more need to force always online on PC players, but then we never took Blizzard at their word did we

**Palindrome**

There is still an always online requirement, apparently becuase "its a better experience when played with other people".

Still not buying it.

Blizzard has really lost my respect over the last couple of years. I used to buy everything that they made, I have spent literally hundreds of hours playing Starcraft and D2. Now their games are becoming bland and Blizzard itself seems much more interested in money than making good games.

**Savij**

Palindrome wrote:
There is still an always online requirement, apparently becuase "its a better experience when played with other people".

Still not buying it.

Blizzard has really lost my respect over the last couple of years. I used to buy everything that they made, I have spent literally hundreds of hours playing Starcraft and D2. Now their games are becoming bland and Blizzard itself seems much more interested in money than making good games.

well i think thats normal if a company gets good at something and gets more popular they see how easy it is to pull money out of everyone and everything they do

they should just have made warcraft 4 in the good old times :(

**ZebioLizard2**

Savij wrote:
Palindrome wrote:
There is still an always online requirement, apparently becuase "its a better experience when played with other people".

Still not buying it.

Blizzard has really lost my respect over the last couple of years. I used to buy everything that they made, I have spent literally hundreds of hours playing Starcraft and D2. Now their games are becoming bland and Blizzard itself seems much more interested in money than making good games.

well i think thats normal if a company gets good at something and gets more popular they see how easy it is to pull money out of everyone and everything they do

they should just have made warcraft 4 in the good old times :(

The sad thing is if they make a new (World of) Warcraft 4, it'll be stuck with all the

plot changes and the horrible retcons and the bad characterization (Burning crusade didn't happen!

)

**Savij**

ah well could be kinde interessting if wc4 and a wow expansion would run parallel to eachother

new wow patch = new wc4 patch, with new campaign content

or wow skips an expansion to let wc4 tell the story of the next part

sry for offtopic!!

**wowsmash**

Well, now were getting somewhere. Good thing I'm not an I told you so kind of person but then again I did mention it on their website before launch. Apparently I didn't know what I was talking about. *shrugs*

I might give D3 another shot after March then. I'll erase everything off my account and start from scratch. Pretending the last year or so never happened. Yey D3 launch for pc on march 2014 >. <

Not sure if ill buy the expansion though. Still feels like a waste. Maybe they'll change my mind after march, we'll see.

**Ahtman**

Palindrome wrote:
There is still an always online requirement, apparently becuase "its a better experience when played with other people".

Still not buying it.

Barring that it is more fun to play with others, the always online is more of a DRM mechanic and not an attempt to make people play multiplayer.

**SneakyMek**

While it's nice to see that D3 is going some what in the right direction now, there is still no way that i'm buying it anytime soon as long as the always online DRM remains.

D2 didnt need always online DRM to make you enjoy playing with others, so in a sense i think that Blizzard had good intentions with D3 but it back fired, having always online DRM in not only D3 but also in SC2 is only frustrating and really dosen't serve any bigger purpose than letting Blizzard keep an eye on your gaming and control it.