Blizzard Quote [source]

Over the last two months, artists from around the globe have put pen to parchment to create over 300 t-shirt designs worthy of the heroes of Sanctuary.

Today, the winners of Blizzard Entertainment and Design By Humans' Diablo III t-shirt contest have been announced! And best yet? You can get in on the action by purchasing a t-shirt or phone case emblazoned with art from one of the top 26 winning entries as well!

Check out the five Grand Prize winners below.

5th Place - "Lord of Hatred" by Dr.Spazmo - Full Image Here

4th Place - "Majestic Spell" by Studio8Worx - Full Image Here

3rd Place - "The Great Conflict" by Gloopz - Full Image Here

2nd Place - "Ruthless" by silentOp - Full Image Here

1st Place - "Mephisto - Lord of Hatred" by TamplierPainter - Full Image Here

Blizzard Quote [source]

Thanks to you, hero, the Prime Evil has been vanquished and the Lords of Hell locked away within the Black Soulstone. You've saved countless lives on your adventures through the High Heavens and back, but your journey isn’t over. A terrible evil rises to threaten Sanctuary again—thankfully, another skilled Artisan has emerged to aid you.

(Re)Introducing, The Mystic:

In Reaper of Souls, you'll have the opportunity to join forces with a new and powerful ally: Myriam Jahzia, the Mystic. 

Myriam Jahzia is a wise woman who will offer you sage advice during the turbulent times ahead. She and her clan are nomads known as the Vecin—a spiritual people, blessed with magical visions. They hail from a matrilineal society who worship a powerful deity known as the Allmother. The Vecin believe that the Allmother is the source of their visions, and that it is because of her that all Vecin possess a sixth sense they call the Sight. While the Sight always manifests more strongly in Vecin women, it's especially strong in Myriam.

Although she is quite a resourceful individual, Myriam proves no match for Malthael's forces and is trapped by their relentless advance. You will have the chance to save Myriam while adventuring in the city of Westmarch, and shortly after encountering her, she will offer her Artisan services to you, regardless of your level. 

These early concepts showcase the progression of the Mystic's Cart.

Like your companions Haedrig Eamon the Blacksmith and Covetous Shen the Jeweler, Myriam the Mystic is a skilled Artisan, capable of altering the very nature of even the most elaborate armor and weapons. Over the years, Myriam has learned to harness her craft, and as thanks for rescuing her from Malthael’s vicious constructs, she offers two unique services to aid you on your mission: one that strengthens and enhances your items (Enchanting), and one that allows you to further customize your appearance (Transmogrification).

Enchanting:

Have you ever looted an item whose stats were almost perfect, but one property just wasn't quite what you had hoped for? Or perhaps you found an item you love, but are starting to outgrow its power? With Enchanting, you will be able to reroll one property on a Rare or Legendary item simply by speaking to Myriam, opening up her Enchant menu, and then paying a material cost. It's that easy!

While not all properties can be rerolled, most can, and you'll be able to reroll a single property over and over again, as many times as you like. This allows Enchanting to feel meaningful, while still allowing lots of room for you to hunt for even better base items (which, of course, you can then Enchant into even more powerful items, and so on).

How Enchanting Works:

Enchanting an item is simple:

1.) Talk to Myriam and select her "Enchant" Menu.

2.) From there, place an item onto the Enchanting window. A list of properties will appear under your item. You can choose to reroll any one of these properties, and you can find out what resulting properties you have the possibility to obtain by clicking on the question mark to the right of each property.

3.) Once you've decided what property you want to reroll, simply gather the required crafting materials and the necessary gold, select the property you wish to reroll, and then hit "Replace Property" to lock in your choice.

4.) Select your replacement property from the list of available choices. You can view the possible replacement properties to the right on the advanced Enchanting window.

5.) After you've Enchanted an item, you will have the option of replacing its previously Enchanted property with a new property for an additional gold and crafting material cost.

Further Enchanting Details:

Since the resulting property you receive during Enchanting will be random, it's possible that the new properties you're provided may end up being less desirable to you than the one you are replacing. But fear not! In order to mitigate this type of buyer's remorse, Myriam will also offer the previous property in the list of options when using Enchanting. So if you don't like the new property that Enchanting offered you, you can always choose to keep the old one.

Keep in mind that when choosing which property you wish to reroll, you will only be able to reroll that one property from then on out. After a single property has been changed via Enchanting, all other properties will become "locked in" and cannot be rerolled. Also, once you Enchant an item, it will become bound to your account and can no longer be traded to other players.

Transmogrification:

As you travel through Sanctuary on your quest to vanquish Malthael and his minions, you're sure to encounter a wide array of new and familiar armor and fearsome weapons. While you will still want to carefully check and compare stats on these items to make sure your hero is as powerful as can be, thanks to Myriam, you will also be able to access a new feature in Reaper of Souls called Transmogrification, which will allow you to change and customize the appearance of your hero’s items without having to sacrifice any of their power!

How Transmogrification Works:

All items with a visual appearance are currently planned to be eligible for Transmogrification, including Legendary and Set items. In order to use a specific visual appearance, you’ll first need to unlock it; once unlocked, however, that appearance will be available to all heroes on your account. Common, Magic, and Rare item appearances will unlock as you level up the Mystic, while Legendary and Set item appearances will unlock only after you’ve identified them. 

Transmogrifying an item is easy:

1.) Talk to Myriam and select her "Transmogrify" Menu.

2.) From there, place an item onto the Transmogrification window.

3.) A list of new visual options will appear under your item. You can select any of these appearance options and check out their look on your character in the Preview panel on the right.

4.) Once you've decided what item look you like, simply gather the necessary gold, select the new item look you crave, and then hit "Transmogrify" to lock in your choice.

5.) Adventure on, in style!

Additional Details:

There are a few restrictions to keep in mind whenever Transmogrifying an item:

• Item appearances you collect in Normal mode will be separate from the unique item appearances you collect in Hardcore mode.
• While all items with a visual appearance are eligible for Transmogrification, the item appearance you want to use has to have the same underlying animation set as the item you want to Transmogrify. (For example: You could replace the appearance of one two-handed sword with another two-handed sword, or a one-handed sword with a one-handed axe or one-handed mace.)
• As you acquire new items you're eager to Transmogrify, you'll need to return to the Mystic again in order to have her work her magic on your armor and weapons. This is because Transmogrification affects an individual item, not the item slot.
• You can dye Transmogrified items; however, if you Transmogrify an equipped item that’s dyed, that dye will be overridden with the current color of the item appearance you’ve selected.
• Legacy items (items that drop before [the expansion/pre-expansion patch] goes live) will not unlock unique item appearance, but they can be Transmogrified.
• As with Enchanting, Transmogrifying an item will also bind it to your account, so it pays to plan ahead.

Rolling the Cart Forward:

Myriam the Mystic will be a powerful ally on your journey through Westmarch and beyond. Whether you’re looking to improve a property on an existing item or eager to show off a unique outfit you’ve created, her Artisan services will help you get some extra mileage out of your arsenal and exotic wardrobe.

These images showcase the progression of the Mystic's Cart in-game,
from Artisan level 1 all the way through the esteemed Artisan level 10!

While there is sure to be a plethora of new weapons, exquisite armor, and other trinkets to discover in Reaper of Souls, what item looks are you eager to collect for Transmogrification purposes after Reaper of Souls launches? Do you have any current items you're looking forward to Enchanting? Let us know in the comments below!

Blizzard Quote [source]

The first step in designing any Legendary is to figure out what kind of item you want to create. Do you want a weapon? An off-hand? A ring or amulet? A piece of armor?

For this particular project, we'd like to focus on a Legendary weapon, more specifically a melee weapon. We decided to do this for a few reasons.

The first reason is that Legendary weapons typically have a very strong visual identity. Unlike other item types—like a ring or a belt, for example—you can see the weapon you're wielding, often very prominently. This is important because, in addition to discussing the mechanical design of Legendary items (its stats and powers), we also want to talk about their visual design, and that's much easier to do when you've got something that's bigger and has a lot of visible components.

The second reason is that Legendary weapons are iconic, and there's a much stronger fantasy behind them than, let's say, a helm or pair of pants. As a result, players tend to identify with weapons more than any other item type. That doesn't mean the other types are any less important, but Legendary weapons are certainly more recognizable and carry more street cred (so to speak).

As for why a melee weapon instead of a ranged weapon (or both)? Pretty simple. Of the weapon types available to all classes, melee weapons are used more often.

Okay, so we're designing a Legendary melee weapon. Done. But what class of weapon should we create? Well that's up to you! We've selected 10 different classes of melee weapons for you to choose from and have set up a poll to help collect your feedback. Pick your favorite by using the voting options below, and be sure to spread the word. Whichever weapon class 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, October 30.

Blizzard Quote [source]

Have you ever wondered what kind of sweat, tears, and ritual sacrifice goes into designing a Legendary item in Diablo III? Or perhaps even entertained the idea of creating a Legendary of your own?

Well, hang on to your hauberks, Sanctuary, and ready your anvils. It’s time to get crafty.

The "Design a Legendary" Project

Inspired by the many passionate discussions we've seen about itemization (particularly Legendary itemization) in Diablo III, we wanted to take some time to expand on our evolving design philosophies and practices, as well as reiterate our goals for Legendaries in Reaper of Souls.

As we started to put our pens to the proverbial paper, though, we had an epiphany: "Hey, instead of just telling players about item design, why not actually show them?"

And so the Design a Legendary project was born.   

So, How's it Work?

Over the next few months, we'll 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. We'll 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 fits within the larger network of hero skills, monster tuning, and overall game balance.

Pretty sweet, huh?

But wait -- that’s only one part of this project! (Oh snap.)

Tell us more, Lylirra!

We'll also be involving you, our awesome community, in various parts of the design process. Leading up to release of Reaper of Souls, you'll have the opportunity to not only weigh in, but actually help guide development on a Legendary item that will be implemented and playable. We'll be holding 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.

The result? We hope this activity will help give players a better understanding of everything that goes into item design, as well as wind up being something that's both fun and uniquely interactive. Also, once everything is said and done, there will be a Legendary item in the game that you had a hand in making. How cool is that?!

We'll be kicking off the first stage of this project next week, so stay tuned to diablo3.com and get ready to Design a Legendary!

Blizzard Quote [source]

Malthael, the Angel of Death, grows restless. Having sieged the historic city of Westmarch, he now sets his sights on a new metropolis: Anaheim, California—the great gamer haven of the West. Soon, his forces will begin their march on the hallowed halls of BlizzCon and only you, mighty Nephalem, can defend its denizens and help put a stop to the coming apocalypse.

Are you ready?

Join the Crusade, November 8-9

Summon your allies, ready your best weapon, and prepare to make a stand against Malthael in Hall A of the Anaheim Convention Center.

With 300 demo stations at their command, attendees will have the opportunity to join the fight for Westmarch, seek fame and treasure in all-new Nephalem Rifts (previously called Loot Runs), and journey through Adventure Mode, where the world itself is your battlefield. All five of the original Diablo III classes will be playable, as well as the recently-unveiled Crusader, a fierce mid-range melee warrior who wields punishing weapons (and an even more punishing arsenal of spells and abilities).

Looking for more Reaper of Souls screenshots? Click here!

Reaper of Souls Invades PlayStation® 4

We're also excited to announce that Diablo III: Reaper of Souls will be making its public debut on the PlayStation® 4 at BlizzCon 2013!

In our action-packed single-player and same-screen co-op demos, players will get to explore the haunted streets of Westmarch as one of our five original classes or test their mettle as the unyielding Crusader. Attendees will also be some of the first in the world to take on Death itself using a DUALSHOCK®4 controller, featuring touch pad technology designed to help keep heroes out game menus and focused on what they do best: killing monsters.

Click here to view the full BlizzCon 2013 floor map.

For those of you who are BlizzCon-bound, we salute you! If you can't make the show in person, be sure to check out the Virtual Ticket, which includes over 60 hours of high-definition footage so you can catch all the action from the comfort of your home.

Head on over to BlizzCon.com for panel schedules, event maps, hotel and travel information, forums, and more, and be sure to stay tuned to diablo3.com for all the latest news for Reaper of Souls on PC and PS4!