Blizzard Quote [source]
You've fought bravely against the forces of the Burning Hells, banishing the Prime Evil and restoring Hope to the High Heavens. However, a new terror awaits. Soon, the sickening forces of Death will advance on the mortal realm of Sanctuary, ushering in a new age as Diablo® III: Reaper of Souls™ is unleashed upon the world.
The time has come for heroes to rise to a new challenge and prove their mastery of both the sword and the pen. So, crack open your stash of art supplies, nephalem, and get ready to get crafty!
To celebrate the upcoming launch of Reaper of Souls, Blizzard Entertainment and deviantART have joined forces to bring you a truly Legendary fan art contest. With over $11,000 worth of prizes and a two-night trip to Blizzard HQ in Irvine, CA up for grabs, we're calling all talented artisans from Caldeum to Kehjistan to take up their styluses in defense of the realm.
Your challenge, brave heroes, is to channel your arcane power and create an illustration depicting one or more central figures of the expansion getting ready for the coming conflict against the Angel of Death. These figures may include the six heroes of Sanctuary or even Malthael himself.
Your entries will have a chance to be seen not only by the millions of passionate Diablo players from around the globe, but also by the teams at both Blizzard and deviantART. In addition to scoring some truly epic prize packages that even the pickiest treasure goblin would be jealous of, the top 25 winners will also have their art displayed at Blizzard's headquarters in Irvine, California, with the top three winners hand-selected by Christian Lichtner— art director of Diablo III.
We've shared some of the tantalizing contest details below, but make sure to head on over to deviantART’s contest page for further information as well as the official rules and submission guidelines.
Best of luck to all artisans, and may the most devious designs win!
Contest Prizes:
1st Place
- A two night trip to Blizzard HQ in Irvine, CA to meet the artists and developers of Diablo III
- A framed print of the winning work 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
2nd Place
- A framed print of the winning work signed to the artist by the Diablo III Creative Team
- $3,000 USD
- Signed boxed copy of Diablo III: Reaper of Souls Collector's Edition
- 4,000 deviantART Points
- 6-month Premium Membership to DeviantART.com
3rd Place
- A framed print of the winning work signed to the artist by the Diablo III Creative Team
- $1,000 USD
- Signed boxed copy of Diablo III: Reaper of Souls Collector’s Edition
- 4,000 deviantART Points
- 6-month Premium Membership to DeviantART.com
22 Semi-Finalists
- Signed boxed copy of Diablo III: Reaper of Souls Collector's Edition
- 1,000 deviantART Points
Contest Rules:
- Show one or more central figures of Diablo III getting ready for the coming conflict against Malthael. You may choose figures from the six heroes of Sanctuary or even Malthael himself!
- Entrant must be at least 17 years old as of February 13, 2014;
- Entrant may reside anywhere in the world;
- Entries must be received by 11:59:59 p.m. PT (Los Angeles Time) on March 13, 2014 and be submitted through the contest gallery on deviantART;
- Membership to www.deviantart.com is required to enter the Contest. Membership to www.deviantart.com is free. NO PURCHASE NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN THE CONTEST;
- Your submitted entry is to be an original artwork inspired by Diablo III in the form of a portrait or an illustration showing a central figure from one of the six classes of Heroes of Sanctuary or of Malthael preparing for the coming conflict;
- You may use any visual medium excluding cosplay, photographs, or moving images. Photographs of an entry made in another medium are acceptable. Licensed brushes and textures are permitted. Read the official rules for more details;
- You may reference but not actually duplicate visual materials provided or referenced in the Asset Page;
- Your entry must be in the form of a single JPG or PNG file at least 2000 pixels and at a minimum of 72 dpi;
- Other requirements and restrictions apply, please read the official rules carefully.
Contest Deadlines:
- February 13, 2014 - Diablo III Fan Art Contest on deviantART Launches
- March 13, 2014 - Art Submissions Close at 11:59:59 p.m. PT on March 13, 2014
- March 18, 2014 - 25 Contest Semi-Finalists Announced
- April 2, 2014 - Top 3 Contest Winners Announced
Are you planning to enter this epic fan art contest? Let us know below, and be sure to share your works in progress and final creations with us on Twitter using the hashtag #D3DA!
Blizzard Quote [source]
Patch notes are listed below for the next phase of our PTR and Closed Beta for Diablo III: Reaper of Souls. Please note that changes that apply to the PTR environment also apply to the Closed Beta.
Diablo III PTR Patch 2.0.1 - v.2.0.0.21962
Below you will find the most current PTR patch notes for 2.0.1. Please note that this is not the final version of the 2.0.1 patch notes and that many changes may not have been documented or described in full detail.
To provide feedback on these changes or report new bugs, please visit the appropriate PTR forum:
To report any issues you may experience while playing, please visit the PTR Bug Report forum.
Table of Contents
GENERAL
- Damage from monsters has been increased slightly per Difficulty level increase
- Bug Fix: Resolved several issues that caused the client to crash when viewing the tooltips for items with certain Legacy affixes
- Bug Fix: Resolved an issue where many Rare items would not properly display their name
CLASSES
- Barbarian
- Active Skills
- Bash
- Increased base skill damage from 165% to 170% weapon damage
- Skill Rune - Instigation
- Reduced bonus Fury generation from 3 to 2
- Cleave
- Reduced base skill damage from 160% to 150% weapon damage
- Skill Rune - Reaping Swing
- Reduced bonus Fury per enemy hit from 2 to 1
- Skill Rune - Broad Sweep
- Reduced damage from 230% to 210% weapon damage
- Weapon Throw
- Increased base skill damage from 135% to 150% weapon damage
- Skill Rune - Mighty Throw
- Increased damage from 200% to 210% weapon damage
- Skill Rune - Balanced Weapon
- Reduced bonus Fury generation from 3 to 2
- Hammer of the Ancients
- Skill Rune - Smash
- Reduced damage from 680% to 640% weapon damage
- Skill Rune - Smash
- Earthquake
- Skill Rune - Mountain's Call
- Increased the cooldown from 45 to 50 seconds
- Skill Rune - Mountain's Call
- Bash
- Passive Skills
- Animosity
- Reduced increased Fury generation from 20% to 15%
- Superstition
- Reduced Fury granted on taking damage from 3 to 2
- No Escape
- Increased damage bonus from 20% to 25%
- Reduced range required from 25 to 20 yards
- Relentless
- Increased health threshold from 30% to 35%
- Juggernaut
- Increased healing received when Stunned, Feared, Immobilized, or Charmed from 15% to 20% of maximum Life
- Animosity
- Active Skills
- Demon Hunter
- Active Skills
- Preparation
- Skill Rune - Invigoration
- Increased max Discipline increase from 10 to 15.
- Skill Rune - Punishment
- Reduced Hatred gain from 100 to 75.
- Skill Rune - Battle Scars
- Increased Life gain from 35% to 40%.
- Skill Rune - Invigoration
- Preparation
- Active Skills
- Monk
- Active Skills
- Deadly Reach
- Increased base skill damage to 109%
- Increased third hit knock up chance to 50%
- Skill Rune - Scattered Blows
- Increased damage to 156%
- Sweeping Wind
- Increased base skill damage to 30%
- Skill Rune - Cyclone
- Reduced Cyclone damage to 23%
- Inner Sanctuary
- Increased base skill duration to 6 seconds
- Skill Rune - Sanctified Ground
- Increased duration to 8 seconds
- Deadly Reach
- Active Skills
- Witch Doctor
- Active Skills
- Spirit Walk
- Skill Rune - Honored Guest
- Reduced amount of Maximum Mana gained from 30% to 20%
- Skill Rune - Honored Guest
- Zombie Charger
- Skill Rune - Lumbering Cold
- Damage reduced to 196% per bear
- Zombie Bears now spawn 4 yards away from the player
- Skill Rune - Lumbering Cold
- Firebats
- Skill Rune - Cloud of Bats
- Damage reduced to 425%
- Skill Rune - Cloud of Bats
- Poison Dart
- Base skill damage increased from 140% to 155%
- Skill Rune - Splinters
- Damage increased from 60% to 65%
- Skill Rune - Flaming Dart
- Damage increased from 240% to 275%
- Corpse Spiders
- Base damage increased to 216% weapon damage
- Skill Rune - Blazing Spiders
- Damage increased from 230% to 259% weapon damage
- Skill Rune - Leaping Spiders
- Damage increased from 210% to 238% weapon damage
- Plague of Toads
- Base damage increased from 175% to 190% weapon damage
- Firebomb
- Damage increased from 140% to 155%
- Skill Rune - Pyrogeist
- Damage increased from 26% to 28% (560% over 6 seconds)
- Spirit Walk
- Passive Skills
- Blood Ritual
- Mana costs reduction reduced from 15% to 10%
- Spiritual Attunement
- Mana maximum reduced from 20% to 10%
- Blood Ritual
- Active Skills
- Wizard
- Active Skills
- Energy Twister
- Increased base skill damage to 1000%
- Skill Rune - Raging Storm
- Increased combined twister damage to 1935%
- Skill Rune - Wicked Wind
- Increased damage to 743%
- Skill Rune - Storm Chaser
- Increased damage per stack to 196%
- Ray of Frost
- Increased base skill damage to 510%
- Skill Rune - Black Ice
- Increased damage to 1204%
- Disintegrate
- Increased base skill damage to 511%
- Skill Rune - Volatility
- Increased damage to 750%
- Skill Rune - Entropy
- Increased damage to 649%
- Skill Rune - Chaos Nexus
- Increased damage to 115%
- Arcane Torrent
- Increased base skill damage to 573%
- Skill Rune - Death Blossom
- Increased damage to 1452%
- Skill Rune - Arcane Mines
- Increased damage to 688%
- Skill Rune - Cascade
- Increased damage to 582%
- Energy Twister
- Active Skills
Back to Top of PTR Patch Notes
Reaper of Souls Closed Beta - v.2.0.0.21962
Below you will find the most current Closed Beta patch notes for Reaper of Souls.
To provide feedback on these changes or report new bugs, please visit the appropriate Closed Beta forum:
To report any issues you experience while playing, please visit the Reaper of Souls Bug Report forum.
Table of Contents
ATTENTION: Please note that the Closed Beta also includes all changes from the PTR.
GENERAL
- Bug Fix: Quest rewards are now properly provided when completing key quests in Act V
ADVENTURE MODE
- Bug Fix: Resolved an issue where accepting a placeholder message that popped up when interacting with Asheara in Act II would cause the client to disconnect
CLASSES
- Barbarian
- Passive Skills
- Earthen Might
- Reduced Fury generation from 40 to 35
- Earthen Might
- Passive Skills
- Crusader
- Active Skills
- Steed Charge
- Base ability cooldown increased from 20 to 25 seconds
- Skill Rune - Ramming Speed
- Damage increased from 350% to 475% weapon damage per second
- Skill Rune - Nightmare
- Damage increased from 150% to 550% weapon damage per second
- Skill Rune - Draw and Quarter
- Damage increased from 20% to 125% weapon damage per second
- Shield Glare
- Skill Rune - Zealous Glare
- Wrath per target reduced from 12 to 9
- Skill Rune - Zealous Glare
- Fist of the Heavens
- Skill Rune - Divine Well
- Damage for subsidiary bolts reduced from 32% to 20%
- Damage ticks more consistently with less random variance
- Skill Rune - Heaven's Tempest
- Damage increased from 65% to 150% damage per second in the pool area
- Skill Rune - Divine Well
- Blessed Hammer
- Skill Rune - Thunderstruck
- Damage reduced from 50% to 40%
- Skill Rune - Burning Wrath
- Damage increased from 85% to 95%
- Skill Rune - Thunderstruck
- Akarat's Champion
- Base ability cooldown reduced from 120 seconds to 90 seconds
- Steed Charge
- Passive Skills
- Heavenly Strength
- Movement speed penalty increased from 10% to 15%
- Heavenly Strength
- Active Skills
- Demon Hunter
- Active Skills
- Vengeance
- Increased base skill damage of the rockets from 30% to 40% weapon damage
- Skill Rune - Personal Mortar
- Increased damage of mortars from 135% to 150% weapon damage
- Skill Rune - Seethe
- Reduced Hatred gain per second from 15 to 10
- Skill Rune - From the Shadows
- Increased the damage of the shadows from 80% to 120% weapon damage
- Vengeance
- Active Skills
- Monk
- Active Skills
- Epiphany
- All Runes
- Reduced cooldown to 60 seconds
- Reduced Spirit Regeneration per Second to 20
- All Runes
- Epiphany
- Active Skills
Blizzard Quote [source]
The Design a Legendary project is well underway. So far, we've selected the weapon type, weapon theme, and the vote for the item's Legendary power is nearly complete. The concepting phase has also concluded for the item's visual appearance, and we'll be able to share with you 3D models and low-rez screenshots of item in-game early next week!
But there's still one big thing left to decide: the item's name.When we originally started the Design a Legendary project, our goal was to host an official naming contest near the end of the design process. We even had super fancy legal Terms of Use all drawn up and ready for digital print.
Unfortunately, even the best laid plans of mice and CMs can go awry and, due to development deadlines, a full contest isn't in the cards at this point -- especially since we want to make sure that this Legendary is available with the release of Reaper of Souls (rather than needing to be patched in later). But have no fear! It's still very important to us that the name of this Mephisto-themed, one-handed sword to be chosen by you, our players, so we've come up with *cue trumpet flare* other plans.
Over the past week, we've scoured forum posts, blog comments, tweets, and more wherein players have suggested some amazing names for this particular Legendary. Of those names, our designers have chosen five which fit the tone and theme of the weapon. Those five player-submitted names are:
- Spine of the Father
- Rancor
- Shard of Hate
- Malevolence
- Sankekur's Sorrow
So, pick your favorite by using the voting options below, and be sure to spread the word. As with previous votes, whichever name gets the most votes globally wins!
After the poll has closed, we'll tabulate player votes from all our different Diablo III communities around the world to determine the winner and share the results next week. Don't delay, though—this poll will close Wednesday, January 29.
Blizzard Quote [source]
In preparation for death's imminent descent, your Diablo III game launcher will soon be upgraded to our new desktop app for Battle.net. You'll receive the update automatically with Patch 2.0.1, arriving in the weeks leading up to the March 25 release of Reaper of Souls. If you want to upgrade your launcher in advance and save yourself a little time on patch day, just download Battle.net now!
Battle.net features single sign-on functionality that allows players to log in once to access Diablo III, World of Warcraft, StarCraft II, Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft, and the upcoming Heroes of the Storm, and lets you stay logged in for up to 30 days. Players can also install games directly through the app and keep them up-to-date automatically, as well as stay on top of the latest Blizzard news. For more information, check out the Battle.net web page.
Once Patch 2.0.1 goes live, the upgrade process will begin automatically the next time you start up the current launcher for Diablo III—or click here to download the app now and get ahead of the game.
Blizzard Quote [source]
As of this week, you may notice that the Diablo III game launcher and Battle.net desktop app will begin downloading data for a "future patch." This download is in preparation for the March 25 launch of Reaper of Souls, as well as a pre-expansion patch that will be released in the coming months.
How it Works:
The download will be around 6GB in size and include things like models, textures, art files, and other upcoming content in patch 2.0.1 and Reaper of Souls that is already complete. By making this data available early, you'll have leass to download once the pre-expansion patch and expansion are released.
The background download data is encrypted and won't make any changes to the live game or Battle.net service until patch 2.0.1 and Reaper of Souls launch. In the meantime, you will be able play Diablo III as normal, and your in-game experience should remain unaffected by the download itself.
In order for the background download to begin, Diablo III must be installed on your computer and patched up to the latest build. Please note that you will be eligible for the background download even if you have not prepurchased Reaper of Souls.
If you're using the Battle.net desktop app:
If you're using the Battle.net desktop app, the background download will continue as long as the application is running. The download can be paused at any time by clicking the Pause button located to the right of the circular background download icon. To resume the download, click the Resume button (which will appear in the same location as the Pause button) or click the Installation & Updates Options button and select Resume Updates.
The Battle.net desktop app also let's you customize your background download settings, so you can pause updates whenever a game is launched as well as set your preferred download speeds. To adjust your preferences, click the Installation & Updates Options button located to the left of the background download icon and select Settings.
If you're using the standard Diablo III launcher:
If you're using the standard Diablo III game launcher, the background download will continue to pick up data so long as the game launcher is running. You can always check the progress of your download by clicking the Info button at the top of the launcher, then selecting Connection Information from the drop-down menu. If you wish to complete the update at a later time, simply click the Play button at any point to pause the background download and run Diablo III, or simply close the launcher.
That’s all there is to it. Stay tuned to diablo3.com for all the latest Reaper of Souls news, and be sure to follow us on Facebook and Twitter. We'll see you in Sanctuary!