BORED

Come ON, Blizzard, come up with Season 2 already because I'm so stone cold BORED. I mean, Season 1 has gone on long ENOUGH. I was playing the other day and my eyes suddenly glazed over and my character died. I didn't care. I just exited the game. Could it be I'm finally, completely bored with the game? I did try the new 2.1.2 patch on the PTR, but it's just more of the same. I easily got bored with that as soon as the community buff wore off. As in I stopped cold when that buff went off line. I wasn't having fun anymore.

Right now I'm playing something else. Hey, I'm actually playing DRAKENSANG again!

Playing Patch 2.12 on the PTR

I couldn't wait for the patch to go live so I tried it on Blizzard's Public Beta Testing System, PTR. I've had to redownload the game, but it was worth it! To fully test the system, they allowed ridiculous boosts to the bonus features:

And because of this, look at this! The inventory below is the result of just ONE Nephalem Rift on Torment 3:

Holy crap, right? I mean, sure...my character and all these items will be deleted when the patch goes live but, in the meantime, I'm having LOTS of fun!

My Level 70 Crusader

I've been playing Diablo 3 almost exclusively with a Crusader ever since I got Reaper of Souls. I like it a lot. It is without a doubt the most powerful character in the game. I think Blizzard pretty much admitted it as such. I like feeling powerful in a game so I'm really enjoying this a lot.

Fellow player Jonas Diego did mention that this character has a weird dissonance in that his fearsome posture and demeanor seem at odds with an almost swashbuckling dialogue. I tend to agree. But I think that's apparent mostly in Campaign mode, but not at all noticeable in Adventure Mode. I've never played Campaign ever since I beat Act V. I've been playing exclusively on Adventure Mode since then. I've never really looked back.

I like playing in Adventure mode because it allows me a complete gaming experience in a relatively short amount of time. For instance. If I only have time to play for like 15 minutes I can do so in Adventure mode and within that time I would have completed tasks that's both satisfying and rewarding.

I'm currently Level 70, Paragon Level 116. My gear:

Win Diablo III: Reaper of Souls shirts!!

Are you one of those gamers who bought Diablo III's amazing expansion pack; Reaper of Souls? Want to win some limited edition shirts? Do you live in the Philippines? Then simply answer the survey below to win!!

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1FLR7D4enSKikgXPSIP9oq1tRdr20_uD-ETE73a5vpHg/viewform

The said survey was done by Asiasoft Online (the Philippine distributor of Blizzard games), and they want to know what gamers think of the latest expansion pack. Here's the details from the survey:

"Get a chance to win a limited edition Diablo III: Reaper of Souls T-shirt! All you have to do is participate in this survey and you may be proud new owner of an exclusive D3 shirt. The quiz will be from May 19 to June 1 2014 and we will announce the 3 winners on June 2, 2014."

So what are you waiting for? Join now! :D

Diablo III: Reaper of Souls is COMING TO CONSOLES!

YESSS!! After much speculation (and worrying on my part), Blizzard has finally unveiled that the much awaited expansion pack to Diablo III is coming to the consoles on August 19th 2014!! :D You can read about it more via this link: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/blog/14096399/reaper-of-souls%E2%84%A2-coming-to-console-august-19-5-12-2014

Back then, I've only heard of rumors that the expansion pack will be launching on next-gen consoles (PS4 and Xbox one respectively), but there was no news about the PS3 or Xbox 360 versions. I was worried that Blizzard might skip the previous console gen in favor of the next-gen consoles, which would leave me stuck on the base Diablo III game, with no way for me to experience the expansion pack because:

• I don't plan on buying a PS4 anytime soon, due in part to its high price tag and a very small library of games to get me interested.
• I don't plan on buying the PC version anytime soon, as I've already invested alot of time on the console version, and I don't think I can start a new character again.
• Add the fact that the PC version requires internet to play is another turn off for me.

All is good, however there is a catch to this. Labeled as "Diablo III: Ultimate Evil Edition", the game will feature both the original Diablo III + Reaper of Souls expansion set, as one game. The caveat to that is those who bought the original Diablo III game, will need to buy the new game to play, thus rendering their old copies of Diablo III virtually useless. Expect tons of for sale threads for Diablo III copies coming as soon as the game is available in the Philippines.

To help sweeten the deal (and lessen the hurt of those who bought the original Diablo III game), those who preorder the game, will receive a bonus item; the Infernal Pauldrons!!

These shoulder plates are wearable at level 1 for all classes, and is primed and ready for transmogrification.

Overall, I'm pretty much happy and excited with the announcement and I can't wait to jump back in with my Barbarian beauty. :D

50% OFF on Diablo III

To celebrate the upcoming launch of the Reaper of Souls expansion set, Blizzard is currently offering the original Diablo III on Windows and Mac for just US$ 20.00. That's 50% OFF!

Click here!

Offer ends at 11:59 PM PT on March 23, 2014 Sunday.

Diablo: Reaper of Souls Fan Art Contest

DeviantART and Blizzard have teamed up to give you the Diablo: Reaper of Souls Fan Art Contest!

First prize winner gets the following:

• A 2 night trip to Blizzard HQ in Irvine, CA to meet the artists and developers of Diablo III!*
• A framed print of the 1st place entry signed to the artist by the Diablo III Creative Team
• $5,000 USD
• Signed boxed copy of Diablo III: Reaper of Souls Collector's Edition
• 8,000 deviantART Points
• 1-year Premium Membership to deviantART.com

Check out the details here.

Diablo: Storm of Light

Blizzard has just released an excerpt from it's upcoming novel, Diablo: Storm of Light.

Written by Nate Kenyon, author of The Order, Storm of Light is a bridge between the events of Diablo III and the story that is to come in its first expansion, Reaper of Souls. In Storm of Light, the Angiris Council has recovered Diablo's Black Soulstone and they now stand vigil over the cursed artifact deep within the glimmering Silver City, unwittingly condemning the High Heavens to its dark corruption.

Check out the cover after the jump!

Diablo III: Reaper of Souls now ready for pre-order!! (UPDATED!)

Happy New Year everyone!! And to start off 2014 right, our good friends at Asiasoft Philippines (Blizzard's exclusive distribution partner for Diablo III in the Philippines) just shared with us the awesome news that starting today, you can now start pre-ordering digitally the much awaited expansion for the PC and Mac version of Diablo III in the Philippines!! :D

Official boxart for the Standard Edition of
Diablo III: Reaper of Souls expansion

For those who isn't aware of Diablo III: Reaper of Souls expansion, here's a quick teaser trailer:


As shown in the teaser trailer, the upcoming expansion pack will feature:

• Act V: A dark and terrifying chapter sending players on a final confrontation with the Angel of Death; Malthael, itself!!
• The Crusader: A brand new class, that is highly reminiscent of the holy Paladin from Diablo II, that brings the might of the heavens upon those who seek its destruction.
• Increased Level cap from 60 to 70!! Also there will be new spells and abilities for all classes to unlock giving returning players more options in dealing punishment towards the denizens of hell.
• Adventure Mode: A new game mode that give players the freedom to go anywhere and slay anything. Perfect for leveling up or grinding in a particular quest/spot. :D
• Bounties: Randomized objectives that reward players in new ways for exploring the world of Sanctuary. Think sidequests... Diablo-style. :D
• Nephalem Rifts: Fully randomized dungeons offering endless replayability and heaps of amazing loot. Perfect for loot-runs and finding that ever so elusive legendary items you're looking for. :D
• The Mystic: A powerful new NPC that appears who will provide heroes with the ability to customize the look of their loot among others. Best suited for those fashion-savvy adventurers of Santuary. :D
• Loot 2.0: Yes its finally coming folks!! The much talked-about Loot 2.0 arrives with the expansion pack and with it the removal of the Real Money Auction Houses (RMAH) for much satisfying loot-runs in Sanctuary!!

And all of this amazing content comes with the Diablo III: Reaper of Souls Standard Edition, which players can pre-order at a SRP of Php1,800!! Not too bad if I may say so, and its quite close to our estimates (we predicted it to be roughly around Php1,400) on our post regarding the price of the expansion pack once it hits our shores locally!! I'm pleasantly surprised with this news and good job to our local distributor Asiasoft Philippines in keeping the price relatively affordable. :D

And to make the announcement even more awesome, we also have confirmation that Diablo III: Reaper of Souls Collector's Edition will also be arriving here in the Philippines!! 

Official boxart for the Collector's Edition of
Diablo III: Reaper of Souls expansion

The Diablo III: Reaper of Souls Collector's Edition comes with the following bonuses for the hardcore Diablo III player:

• A full complement Diablo III helms, and weapons that are primed for transmogrification.
• A Ghost Wolf minion players can summon to keep them company on their 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.
• A full-color hardcover artbook.
• A behind-the-scenes Blu-ray/DVD two-disc set.
• A limited edition Diablo III: Reaper of Souls mouse pad.

UPDATE: It was previously announced that the Collector's Edition will be available for Php3,500 locally. However according to the official distributor of Diablo III here in the Philippines; tax, freight charges and other unforeseen expenses caused the price to bump up significantly, and the revised Philippine SRP will now be Php4,500.

We also now have the Philippine launch date. Diablo III: Reaper of Souls will be available nationwide on March 25th, 2014.

As for the console versions of the expansion pack, as well as what game stores will the expansion pack be available, kindly keep posted on our blog for more updates in the future!! :)

So what are you waiting for? Pre-order the expansion pack today!! :D

Diablo III: Book of Cain hands-on!!

Just recently, I got fortunate enough to secure a copy of this wonderful book:

It's the Blizzard-licensed book, Diablo III: Book of Cain!! :D

This wonderfully made book is a must-have for Diablo fans, as this tries to emulate/recapture the look and feel of that tome Deckard Cain carries in-game. Complete with rich lore and history of the entire Diablo trilogy, it gives players an inside look of the world of Sanctuary.

Here's some shots of the book itself:

Front w/ cover label

Back w/ cover label

Front w/o cover label

Back w/o cover label

The book cover itself looks and feels great. It's got a nice matte finish with a slight embossment on the details of the book which feels great. The book itself sports amazing artwork (as expected of Blizzard) to accompany the book's rich lore of the world of Sanctuary. It even has scribbles and notes from Deckard Cain, putting down important notes about certain events, people, places. It tries its best to closely resemble that of the tome that Decark Cain was carrying, as presented in the game. Even the page edges are small "tears" to make it look like an "ancient" book. It's those little attention to detail that makes this book more amazing to behold in person. :D

Just looking at the book coverpage, it reminds me of
those old manuscripts in museums.

It even contains a letter addressed to Deckard Cain's nephew; Leah.
The letter is abit bittersweet and made me a little teary-eyed.
(if you know what will happen to Cain in Diablo III)

The book also details how the world of Sanctuary
was created, with accompanying artwork.

The Archangel of Justice; Tyrael, looking majestic, as his illustration
accompanies his description in this page.

The book also includes description of the many
places in Sanctuary where our heroes hail from;
just like this entry about Ensteig... home to the Demon Hunters.

Aside from the said lore and illustrations, the book also has a special surprise at the back:

It's the map of Sanctuary itself!! To be honest, as a fan of the series, this is the first time I've ever seen the world of Sanctuary detailed as a map, and its simply glorious to behold. Seeing where Lut Gholein is located, or even Tristram is just amazing for a Diablo-fan like myself!! :D

The book is priced locally at Php 1,395 (roughly $31) and is available in Fully Booked. So if you're a fan of the series, this book is definitely an excellent addition to your book collection, as it fully compliments the game and gives fans additional information and lore that fully fleshes out the world of Sanctuary. :) Hopefully I get my hands on it's supplemental book as well; The Book of Tyrael. :D

Diablo III: Reaper of Souls Preview at Blizzcon 2013

Diablo III - Reaper of Souls BlizzCon Trailer...Leaked!

Just this morning, a new trailer for the upcoming expansion for Diablo III was leaked via YouTube! The supposed trailer was to be released for BlizzCon, found its way online. The said trailer shows tons of amazing new features you can expect from the expansion pack and more!! Just when I thought I saw everything the expansion has to offer, this trailer showed me a whole lot of content and features for the upcoming expansion.

Here's the video:



What new feature of the expansion pack are you most excited about? Tell us what you think! Write on the comments below!

Transmogrification in Diablo III: Reaper of Souls

Popular World of Warcraft feature, Transmogrifcation, comes into the world of Diablo III: Reaper of Souls through a new ally, Mystic Myriam Jahzia. She'll not only offer advice throughout your hellish adventuring but will also offer Enchanting and Transmogrification.

Transmogrification will allow you to change and customize the appearance of your gear to look like other items that you've found. According to Blizzard, all items with a visual appearance are planned to be available for Transmogrification, including Legendary and Set items.

More details here.

The "Design a Legendary" Project

Tired of the endless quest for the perfect Legendary Item? Why not make your own?

Over the next few months, the folks behind Diablo III 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. The team will 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 fit within the larger network of hero skills, monster tuning, and overall game balance.

They'll be involving the Diablo III community in various parts of the design process.

People will have the opportunity to not only weigh in, but actually help guide development on a Legendary item that will be implemented and playable through global community votes, hosting podcasts, soliciting ideas, and even running a contest or two to ensure that this is truly a worldwide, player-driven initiative.

Read the entire new story over at the official Diablo III blog here.

Diablo III: Reaper of Souls for the PS4

Blizzard Entertainment recently announced that Diablo III: Reaper of Souls is in development for the PlayStation 4.

No release date has been announced.The guys from Blizzard has not yet given word if  Diablo III: Reaper of Souls is also in development for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions of the game.

Diablo III: Reaper of Souls will be playable to the public on the PS4 at BlizzCon 2013, which kicks off next month in Anaheim, California. Those in attendance at the event will get a chance to try out single-player and same-screen co-op demos, set on the streets of Westmarch as one of the game's original five classes.

Click here for the entire article over at Game Spot!

Diablo III: Reaper of Souls to cost Php 1,400?

Blizzard just recently released a survey to owners of Diablo III, which revealed some interesting information about the upcoming expansion pack.

According to this news article, the upcoming expansion pack of Diablo III will be coming in 2 flavors, just like the original version:

• Standard Edition - includes the Reaper of Souls expansion only. To be priced at $29.99 (around Php1,400) 
• Collector's Edition - includes the Reaper of Souls expansion, exclusive in-game content and other bonus items. To be priced at $49.99 (around Php2,200)

Interestingly the survey also asked participants of the survey to rate the features of the expansion pack in order of importance, as shown in the following screenshot:

Since most of us can't participate in the said survey I've made a little poll of my own, and ask everyone what you think is the most important feature of the upcoming expansion pack.

What is the most important feature of Diablo III: Reaper of Souls are you most interested in?
	Raise maximum character level cap to 70
	Loot Runs
	New Crusader playable character class
	Gear transmogrification
	New Act V
	New Paragon level and point system
	Nephalem Trials
	New Loot 2.0 system
pollcode.com free polls

What do you guys think? Sound off your comments below! :)

Diablo III: Reaper of Souls coming to Consoles!

Console gamers rejoice!! In an interview with console senior level designer Matthew Berger, Blizzard confirmed that they are indeed planning on porting the anticipated Diablo III expansion pack: Reaper of Souls, to the home consoles. Click this link to the said news report.

Here's an excerpt of the interview:

"So, is it going to come to console? Yes. Obviously we wanna bring this expansion to console, we don't exactly know how we're going to do it yet (we haven't announced that), and we're going to treat the expansion in the same way we treated Diablo III when we moved it onto console, which means that we have to make sure that it is adapted to the console eco system in a way that is going to play the best way possible." 

I'm definitely relieved to hear this news, as I was worried they would skip out porting Diablo III onto the home consoles, considering I already invested alot of time playing the game. Speaking of which, Blizzard also confirmed that people will be able to carry their characters over if they plan on upgrading their home console (PS3 to PS4 / Xbox 360 to Xbox One) which is a neat feature.

So to those of you worried if you'll be left out of the expansion if you play on the console, fret not as Blizzard has got you covered. :D

Patch 1.0.2 for Console Version of Diablo III...NOW OUT!!

Just this morning, I'm greeted with the usual update message on my PS3 that tells me that Diablo III has a new update available for download. I readily downloaded the said update and curious as to what it does I headed to the usual forums. Apparently, the latest update addresses some bugs on the console version of Diablo III, where some users apparently lose some of their items in-game, among others.

For a complete list of changes, please refer below:

Diablo III Console Patch 1.0.2

Crash Fixes

• Fixed a crash that could occur when quitting the game during a cutscene.
• Fixed a crash that could occur when interacting with the stash while another player attempts to join your game.
• Fixed a crash that could occur after connection failures caused by NAT/Firewall settings.
• Fixed multiple crashes that could occur as a result of memory corruption.
• Fixed crash when casting Hex with the Painful Transformation rune on a Fetish Shaman in Acts III and IV.
• Removed unnecessary "Clear Skill" option that could appear on the Passive Skill screen and would crash the game when selected.

Gameplay Fixes

• Enabling Elective Mode no longer causes "New Slot" notification stars to appear for the original slot as opposed to the slot the skill is assigned to.
• Hardcore characters in the process of taking fatal damage while exiting the Scorched Chapel will no longer be permanently killed.
• Followers can no longer permanently lose all items after migrating from one game host to another. The following four item sets will no longer repeatedly and permanently add core stat bonuses each time the player logs out of the game: Blackthorne's Armor, Endless Path, Zunimassa's Whispers, and Guardian's Contingency. (This fix will also retroactively correct inflated core stat bonuses on heroes affected by this bug prior to our hotfix going live.)
• Equipping a quiver with a two-handed bow will no longer cause Quick Compare to incorrectly reflect a loss in damage.
• Square gems should now only drop in Hell difficulty, which is also where the required items to combine them drop.
• The Paragon experience bar for Player 2 and Player 4 now displays correctly instead of being visually clipped at the ends.
• Fixed a bug that caused a player's experience bar to not display in multiplayer games if a another character with a Paragon levels had entered the game first.
  Fixed a bug that caused the inventory to not display unidentified Legendary items.
• Fixed a bug that caused the inventory to display equipped items twice if you exited the gem socketing sub-screen with the Select/Back button.
• Fixed a bug that caused the controller to become stuck vibrating indefinitely.
• Made changes to address corruptions of saved game data.

For more info, you can visit this link that will lead you to the official Blizzard forums for the game. Please note guys, that this patch is only for the PS3. Blizzard says that an update for the Xbox 360 should be coming soon.

Offline Alternatives to Diablo III

After reading up this post, I was pretty much bummed out. Because after hearing the news that Blizzard will finally be removing the Real Money Auction House from Diablo III on PC, I was hoping that they would finally include an offline version of the game like in the console version. But alas, it wasn't meant to be. That being said, I scouted online to find suitable offline alternatives to Diablo III for PC (as well as consoles and handhelds), and here's what I got:

PC:

Titan Quest (Windows)
Think Diablo, but using greek mythology as a backdrop, you get Titan Quest. With its dark atmosphere that brings me back to my Diablo II days. :D

Torchlight II (Windows)
From the same team who made Diablo I & II, it plays just like Diablo of old, and works wonderfully. If you are gonna play the game using Steam, may I suggest you get the "Torchlight II Essentials" mod, as it basically adds a new class, and tons of improvement from the vanilla game (respec, tons of new pets, items, etc)

Consoles:

Dungeon Siege III (PS3/Xbox 360)
Developed by the same team who made the PC version of Neverwinter Nights 2, its a decent enough hack-and-slash game for the console space. The fact that finding a brand new copy of this game nowadays is relatively cheap, I'd say why not?

Dungeon Hunter: Alliance (PS3/Xbox 360)
Do you like to play hack-and-slash games but you don't want to spend too much? You okay with digital downloads? Does $12.99 (roughly Php 600.00) sound good to you? Then get this hack-and-slash gem from Gameloft. It's a pretty barebones hack-and-slash game, but hey at least you got it cheap.

Diablo III (PS3/Xbox 360)
Do I really need to say any further? Critics have been calling it the best version of Diablo III, and rightfully so. Offline play, amazing loot, local co-op, and so much more, its definitely THE version of Diablo III to pick up. If you want to find out why the console version is considered by many to be the better version against the PC version, you might want to read this post I made comparing the 2 versions.

Handhelds:

Heroes of Ruin (Nintendo 3DS)
If you own a Nintendo 3DS, and you are craving for some on-the-go Diablo-style gameplay, then look no further and take Heroes of Ruin for a spin. It's basically a stripped down version of Diablo, but it still nails the simple and addicting hack-and-slash gameplay of Diablo perfectly, which is what's important. It's got local co-op as well as online co-op, with daily quests and other features that makes it a decent enough game for those looking for hack-and-slash gaming on their portable. Now that it just recently got a price drop, its definitely something to consider picking up.

Dungeon Hunter: Alliance (Playstation Vita)
Yes, its the same game for the PS3, but unlike its cheaper console counterpart, this one charges a full price for the experience. As much as I don't like recommending this game really for PS Vita owners (coz the price is just extortion), there's little hack-and-slash games out there that I can recommend (considering the once promising Ruin was cancelled) as of this writing so yeah...

So what do you guys think? Do you have any other suggested offline Diablo-like games to share? Sound off on the comments below! :)

There will NOT be an OFFLINE Mode for the PC

Based on this news report, it seems Blizzard will not be implementing an offline mode for Diablo 3, even after they take down the Auction House.

Why? According to the news report:

“The game was built from the ground up to take full advantage of Battle.net, which provides a number of important benefits, including persistent server-side character saves, a seamless PC multiplayer experience, cheat prevention, and Real ID and BattleTag social features.”

Well, there you go.

Personally, I can live without an offline version. There is some kind of wisdom in being able to store my characters in Blizzard's servers, specially when I change computers every few years. There's security in the thought that my computer can get completely screwed up and years later I can go back to playing my D3 characters where I have left off.  One of my favorite RPG games ever, Path of Exile is completely reliant on an Internet connection, so I'm kind of used to it.

In some ways I can't blame Blizzard because making the game reliant on an Internet connection would prevent some parties from using pirated copies of the game, at least in theory.

It's never been a problem for me because I've always bought my Diablo games legally.

I will still purchase the expansion when it comes out. I'm very interested in starting from scratch with a completely new character to take full benefit of all the changes and additions.