Blizzard Quote [source]

Last week, we hosted our inaugural Theorycraft Thursday livestream. Missed the broadcast? Don't despair! The VOD of our play session is now available on Twitch.tv/Diablo.

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For our Round 1 livestream, I was joined by Game Designer Travis Day, Community MVP Nolan "Monstrous" Mitchell, and Theorycraft Thursday runner-up Stephen "Leviathan" Stewart. We rumbled through a number of Nephalem Rifts and had a wonderful conversation spanning a variety of topics, including Leviathan's "Zoosader" Crusader, our own Crusader builds, and upcoming itemization changes you can expect in our first major content patch. 

Be sure to check out the VOD embedded below for all the gory details, or click here to view the livestream directly on Twitch.

By popular demand, here are the builds we were each running on our Crusaders:

• Brandy "Nevalistis" Camel
  • Zoosader Variation
• Travis "Da Man" Day
  • LazyBord Build
• Nolan "Monstrous" Mitchell
  • Holy Shotgun Build
• Stephen "Leviathan" Stewart
  • Zoosader 2.0

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Thanks to everyone who joined us in chat and heckled my noob-tacular death (Death Maidens OP). Until next time, nephalem—play your way, and don't forget to send your builds to TheorycraftThursday@Blizzard.com!

Blizzard Quote [source]

Prepare your couch and gather your closest friends, because on August 19, Diablo® III: Reaper of Souls™ - Ultimate Evil Edition™ will unleash Death itself on console systems around the world.

Today, we're also excited to announce that players who take the fight for Sanctuary to their big screen TV on the PS3™ or PS4™ will enjoy exclusive content based on two popular PlayStation® games!*

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The Last of Us™ Nephalem Rift:

Get ready to endure and survive! We've teamed up with Naughty Dog to create a unique Nephalem Rift for the Ultimate Evil Edition inspired by the award-winning PlayStation® 3 title, The Last of Us™. Featuring hand-picked environments from the Diablo III universe and an ominous yellow spore effect, this randomized dungeon level (available only on PS3™ or PS4™) is sure to awaken the survivor in us all.

Oh! And did we mention the monsters? The Last of Us™ Nephalem Rift is teeming with a series of ravenous creatures modeled after the infamous Stalker, Clicker, and Bloater infected. 

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Shadow of the Colossus™ Transmog Set:

Raise thy sword by the Light! In addition to The Last of Us™ Nephalem Rift, the Ultimate Evil Edition will also include a PlayStation® exclusive that pays homage to a gaming classic.

Players who choose to join the crusade against death on the PS3™ or PS4™ will be rewarded with the "Guise of the Colossi," a unique set of transmogrification plans that unlocks six armor appearances inspired by the influential PlayStation®2 title, Shadow of the Colossus™. These striking appearances will be available to each of Sanctuary's larger-than-life classes.

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The fate of humanity rests in your hands, heroes. Diablo® III: Reaper of Souls™ - Ultimate Evil Edition™ will be out before summer's end, so make sure to place your preorders with your local retailer today!

*Please note that this exclusive content cannot be transferred to other platforms and will require you to connect to the PlayStation® Network to redeem.

Blizzard Quote [source]

Below you will find the patch notes for the most recent update for Diablo III, patch 2.0.6.

CLASSES

• Monk
  • Philosophy
    • We felt that Momentum was not as strong as some other Monk passives. The buffs to Momentum should help bring it more in line with its peers.
    • While there are no additional changes at this time, we intend to buff other abilities in a future patch to open up more build diversity.
  • Active Skills
    • Wave of Light
      • Skill Rune - Pillar of the Ancients
        • Bug Fix: Fixed an issue causing the pillar created by this rune to have collision
  • Passive Skills
    • Momentum
      • Reduced the distance required from 30 to 25 yards
      • Damage bonus increased from 15% to 20%
      • Duration increased from 4 to 6 seconds

ITEMS

• General
  • Increased the drop rate of all class-specific Set items
• Class-Specific Items
  • Monk
    • Philosophy
      • Legendary items are just as important to class power as class skills. We recognize that the Monk class sets went out underpowered, and are substantially increasing their damage to be closer in comparison with the sets of other classes. Additionally, the Raiment of a Thousand Storms 6- piece bonus has been redesigned slightly to allow the damage to be higher, more controlled, and more deliberate.
    • Monkey King's Garb
      • (4) Set Bonus
        • Explosion weapon damage increased from 100% to 1600%
        • Lowered explosion delay from 1 to 0.5 seconds
        • Bug Fix: Fixed an issue that cause the Spirit spent counter to reset when an item was picked up
    • Raiment of a Thousand Storms
      • (6) Set Bonus
        • Will now be triggered only by Dashing Strike
        • Weapon damage increased from 100% to 3000%
        • Damage dealt can now be a Critical Hit
        • Removed the target cap
          • The visual effect will still be capped at six targets
• Bug Fixes:
  • Fixed an issue introduced in Patch 2.0.5 that prevented the +% Haunt Damage, +% Locust Swarm Damage, and +% Rend Damage item affixes from being applied

CRAFTING

• Legendary crafting recipes have received several changes:
  • Philosophy
    • Legendary crafted items are meant to be both a stepping stone into end game items and a good place to spend crafting materials at the end game. While we like the fantasy of having the unique crafting materials, obtaining them was either keeping too many people from being able to complete the recipes in a timely manner or encouraging game flipping and similar less than ideal patterns of play in order to acquire them. As such, we are removing the requirement for unique items when crafting Legendaries.
  • Unique crafting materials are no longer required
    • Legendary crafting materials will no longer drop
    • Existing Legendary crafting materials will now be grey and have had their sell prices increased
  • Level 70 crafted sets and Legendary items with unique properties now require additional Death's Breath
  • Level 70 crafted Legendary items without unique properties have had their Death's Breath costs removed
• Death's Breath is no longer required for most Artisan training costs
  • The Mystic no longer requires any Death's Breath to train
  • The Blacksmith and the Jeweler now only require 1 each to learn the first rank of level 11

USER INTERFACE

• +% Skills damage bonuses will now display on the details page
• +% Elemental damage bonuses will now display on the details page
• Paragon bonuses will now be reflected in Character Profile Damage, Toughness, and Healing values
• Community chat will now be joined by default and the settings for which channels you have joined or left will be saved

Blizzard Quote [source]

"Nerissa finished the cup of wine and fumbled it back to the table. She picked up the velvet box, displaying it proudly, and opened the top. The contents glittered.  'I have my jewelry,' she replied with as much dignity as she could muster, 'and some of these pieces have been in my family for generations. This one, for example'—and she lifted out a filigree comb of spun gold with a single large sapphire—'was given to my grandmother on her wedding day. Or this,' she said as she carefully withdrew a stiletto, the sheath dotted with three rubies, 'was kept by my great-uncle when he was at court. It's really just a showpiece, but he fancied himself quite the soldier.' She laughed self-deprecatingly but found herself in an unsettlingly steely gaze from Carlotta. She returned the knife to the box and waited for the old woman to speak."

"'No,' the crone breathed, her eyes never leaving Nerissa's. 'No, I think we should play for more… significant stakes.' She waved away Nerissa's stammering objection with a tiny movement of one hand. 'I think we should play for the most significant stakes of all. What, my dear, would you want more than anything else in this world?'"

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The newest addition to the Diablo lore archives, "Turn of a Card," is now available in the Game Guide! Written by Robert Arjet, this unsettling tale centers on Nerissa, a destitute member of Westmarch's high society who will do anything to reclaim her family's riches… even wager all that she holds dear.

For more heroic tales, be sure to explore the short stories for our iconic classes and characters, available here:

• Wayfarer
• Hatred and Discipline
• Unyielding
• Doubtwalker
• Firefly
• The End of her Journey
• The Orphan and the Jeweler
• Brothers in Arms
• Middlewick