December 19 Hotfixes, Blue Posts, D3 RoS Release: March 25, 2014, HS Open Beta Update

Reaper of Souls™ Unleashed on March 25, 2014 – Prepurchase Now

Open Beta Next Year, Common Situations with the Three Resources, Weekend Tournaments

Patch 5.4.2 Hotfixes: December 19
One hotfix that didn't make the list today is an increased droprate on Rotten Helper Box.
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
Raids, Dungeons, and Scenarios
  • Siege of Orgrimmar
    • Paragons of the Klaxxi
      • Ka'roz the Locust's Hurl Amber ability will now form a pool of Caustic Amber at the target's feet 3 seconds after targeting them. The timing was less predictable previously and varied based on the targeted player's distance from Ka'roz.
      • [Requires a realm restart.] Effects transforming a player's appearance should no longer prevent them from being able to interact with a defeated Paragon.

Blue Posts
Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment
Warlords of Draenor Story
We are invested (emotionally and otherwise) in all of the above. It's about the various stories that we want to tell (and make the most sense) and the gameplay that goes with it. One thing I've come to know over the years is that no matter which side you're on, if you disagree with the story or don't connect with it, there's a strange assertion that the developers just didn't care enough (or as inferred in the original post care too much). This assertion is not true. It's all perspective and personal opinion.

That said, we do pay attention to the concerns people have and do try to be sensitive to those concerns and address them when we can.

Then why yet another major Orc story arc? There are other races in this game.
You're assuming a lot and understandably so. I mean, if you look at the image, it's a bunch of orcs, right? But the story has never been just about the orcs and Warlords also will be highlighting a bit more about the draenei and even shedding a bit more light on blood elf paladins. The thing is, as always, it's a story about Azeroth and the heroes and villains that live (and die even) as a part of its ongoing history.

For the question about the Alliance and "Captain America", keep in mind, the Alliance are going THROUGH the portal to take it to the Iron Horde directly. They're not planning to sit it out and wait until things get too bad first. Since I don't write or develop the story, I can't comment on the difficulty of developing the Alliance story directly. As a writer myself though, I think that writing any story is about really feeling connected to it and taking it where you want it to go. So, good or evil doesn't affect the difficulty in writing it necessarily. It's about making it work in the right context that is consistent to the personalities of those characters. It's putting yourself in the "What would Jaina do if?" etc. mindset.

And why just Blood Elf paladins? Humans are the original Paladins and how much attention do Alliance Paladins get? Argents have got more Paladin attention than the Alliance ones. What happened to the Alliance Silver Hand? Why do we not have Paladin military leaders like we used to such as Uther, Tirion, and Turalyon?
Because there is a lot of information out there already about how the Light works for other paladins. Blood Elf paladins have a different relationship (if you will) that still needs to be explored.

I'm still seeing a lot of supposition about what the developers do and don't do. I'm not going to be able to convince you otherwise, but I can assure you, they aren't developing in a myopic story bubble. Again though, I understand that the opinions people have are subjective and respect where those suppositions and opinions are coming from.

Everyone has a favorite story they want told. We can't do them all at once, but we'll get to as many as we can and have no plans to slow down. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Reaper of Souls™ Unleashed on March 25, 2014
It looks like the Digital Deluxe edition of Reaper of Souls will also include 3 Hearthstone booster packs, but this isn't mentioned in the blog post.
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker)
On March 25, the crusade against death itself charges forth with the launch of Diablo III: Reaper of Souls for Windows and Mac. Prepare for the onslaught today by prepurchasing the expansion digitally on Battle.net.


Whether you plan to immediately don the armor of the new Crusader character or take your current hero directly into Act V, Reaper of Souls will bring you updated loot rewards, all-new class skills and abilities, game-changing features like the Mystic and Adventure Mode, and highly replayable content in the form of Bounties and Nephalem Rifts.

You also have the option to prepurchase the Digital Deluxe Edition, which contains a wealth of in-game goodies: a collection of exclusive helm- and weapon-transmogrification recipes to distinguish your hero among the champions of Sanctuary; a loyal Spectral Hound minion to keep your adventurers company on their epic journeys; three additional character slots to accommodate new heroes; an in-game Treasure Goblin companion pet for World of Warcraft; and an assortment of Crusader-themed Battle.net portraits and Malthael-themed decals for StarCraft II.

Here, have a look for yourself:


Players who prepurchase the Digital Deluxe Edition will receive their in-game items with the launch of the expansion on March 25, though some items may arrive beforehand, so keep an eye out for early deliveries.

If you're looking for even more loot, the Reaper of Souls retail-exclusive Collector's Edition comes fully equipped with all the in-game goodies from the Digital Deluxe, plus a range of premium collectible items:

  • Malthael mouse pad, bearing the impenetrable visage of the Angel of Death
  • Hardback Collector's Edition art book, chronicling the game's artistic development
  • Behind-the-scenes Blu-Ray/DVD two-disc set, featuring in-depth interviews with the development team and members of the Diablo III community

The Standard Edition is available for $39.99 USD and the Digital Deluxe Edition is available for $59.99 USD. If you choose to preorder the Standard Edition and later want to upgrade to the Digital Deluxe Edition, you'll be able to do so for $20. The Collector’s Edition is available only at select retail locations for a suggested retail price of $79.99. A limited number of Collector's Editions will be available and they're expected to sell out quickly, so be sure to lock in your preorder with your local retailer as soon as possible.

For more information on the March 25 release of Reaper of Souls for Windows and Mac, check out the official press release, or visit the Reaper of Souls game page to learn more about the expansion and secure your digital copy. Also, be sure to keep an eye on www.diablo3.com for updates on the launch of Diablo III: Ultimate Evil Edition on the PS4.

Until then, we'll see you in Sanctuary!

*When you prepurchase Diablo III: Reaper of Souls digitally via Battle.net, you will be able to download an encrypted version of the game client prior to the launch date. The expansion content will be unlocked and available for play on March 25, 2014.

Hearthstone Open Beta Update
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
We hope you’ve been having fun testing out the latest beta patch for Hearthstone—this update brought with it a bunch of bug fixes, some card changes, and the new Ranked Play system. Some of these updates were significant code changes, so we expect that some things will break, and we will also need your help to identify what’s still in need of fine-tuning. One other thing to mention is that we’ve been making great progress on improving server stability, but there are still a few things that have come up that we want to fix before we leave the closed beta phase.

With all of that said, we believe the right thing to do for the game is to not rush it out into open beta, but to instead hold onto it a little longer to make sure it’s ready for wider testing. At BlizzCon, we mentioned that we hoped to get the game into a state where it’s ready for open beta this month, but we’re just not quite there yet. The development team has been working hard to get this out before the end of the year, but our highest priority is that Hearthstone has an awesome launch when all gates are lifted and everyone can download it and play at the same time.

We’re close to the open beta—very close. And to enter this final part of our beta phase, we need your help. Keep trying out new decks, reporting bugs, and giving your feedback on our forums. That’s the best way you can help the team get Hearthstone into everyone’s hands as soon as possible.

We have some other news to share too. As of today, we have sent beta invites to everyone who opted in to the Hearthstone closed beta test prior to Monday, December 16. If you opted in before that date and have not yet received an invite email, check your spam folders or different email tabs to see if you invite may have ended up in an unexpected location. If you still can’t find your Hearthstone beta invite, don’t worry! We’re putting together a list of all Battle.net accounts that opted in to the Hearthstone beta test and did not claim their beta key. These accounts will be flagged for beta access within the first few weeks of January.

Opt-ins for the closed beta test will end on January 7; we plan to invite everyone who opts in by that date to the closed beta test at some point before the open beta begins. So keep playing, testing, and amassing your Hearthstone collection, as we do not plan on performing another card data wipe.

Thanks for your patience and enthusiasm. Hearthstone would not be as far along as it is without your helpful feedback. Please continue to let us know what you like and what you think needs a little more work.

And if you haven’t opted in to the Hearthstone closed beta test, you can do so here.
This article was originally published in forum thread: December 19 Hotfixes, Blue Posts, D3 RoS Release: March 25, 2014, HS Open Beta Update started by chaud View original post
Published on 2013-12-20 11:51 AM
80 Comments
Comments 80 Comments
  1. mykro9's Avatar
    Am I the only one who wished the WoW pet from the DD/CE was the skeleton dog model , and not the treasure goblin?

    I don't get the complaining about the expansion price... It's 2013, not 2001. I mean WTF are we complaining about? I know for a fact that back then NO new game cost $60, they were all $50. Expansions are their own thing, and vary by company. Hell, as far as I care, all the FPS sequels that come out each year are really just an expansion, yet they happily charge $60 each year for those. Also, some of those games barely have 40 hours of game play, and little replay at all, even if D3 is just a grind for replay.

    As for beta keys, I received some notification beforehand, like something when I logged on battle.net or somewhere else that clued me in to the fact I had a beta key waiting, but I forget what.

    IF you got a beta key that went to a spam or junk folder, some email services delete such emails after a certain time, like 90 days.

    Just my two copper.
  1. volescue's Avatar
    Pissed off because I signed up months ago for hearthstone beta, search for invite that was sent today, find key was sent to me October 25. -_-
  1. Tybudd33's Avatar
    I don't think it smart to allow an Encrypted Version of the game to be downloaded, thats giving hackers too much time to be able to break the encryption code.
  1. Laylriana's Avatar
    "For the question about the Alliance and "Captain America", keep in mind, the Alliance are going THROUGH the portal to take it to the Iron Horde directly. They're not planning to sit it out and wait until things get too bad first. Since I don't write or develop the story, I can't comment on the difficulty of developing the Alliance story directly. As a writer myself though, I think that writing any story is about really feeling connected to it and taking it where you want it to go. So, good or evil doesn't affect the difficulty in writing it necessarily. It's about making it work in the right context that is consistent to the personalities of those characters. It's putting yourself in the "What would Jaina do if?" etc. mindset."

    This is rather insulting. The Alliance gets to go through the portal to fight the Iron Horde. I suppose the Azeroth Horde is going to sit on its hands and NOT go through the portal? It's the same mindset of telling us we get to go to Orgrimmar and get Garrosh in the Siege of Orgrimmar Raid as if the Horde doesn't do the same thing. They are stuck on Orc stories and the Alliance gets to "join in."

    I think he touched on the truth when he talks about difficulty to write an Alliance story. It is my belief that the writers for Blizzard simply do not know how to write for the Alliance.
  1. mmoc744df996ee's Avatar
    yet another of blizzard's 'expansion priced' things being the same price as any other full game on the market, sad really
  1. Frozenbeef's Avatar
    Signed in for hearthstone since the day it became available...no beta key QQ Haven't been in any warcraft, starcraft ,diablo or other beta ever despite opting in, doing competitions etc
  1. mmoc5cadb97f96's Avatar
    interesting.... 39.99 or 59.99 dollars...didnt know that dollar and euro are 1:1.....39.99 or 59.99 euros.... afaik it should be 29.30 or 43.90 in europe but ok
  1. Salech's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by LordKain View Post
    Well, I just preordered the CE for 79.99. Feels good to have a job and make my own money.

    I finished D2 +exp once.....then never played it again. I put in hundreds of hours in D3. Well worth the money.
    Congratulations on having a job i guess?, was it some "smart" innuende to the young people that do not have jobs/have parents paying?, either way it does come of extremely arrogant.

    I could pay for D3 expansion if i wanted to but paying rent and having fun with proper games is actually more satisfying to me than a patch i could buy.
  1. JoeShmo's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by propaine View Post
    yet another of blizzard's 'expansion priced' things being the same price as any other full game on the market, sad really
    You make it sound surprising.

    This whole holiday season, while WoW and Starcraft 2 get deep discounts, Diablo 3 is still full price. You would think that Blizzard would try and squeeze out as much nicotine flavor induced marketing / sales for their RoS release; by making the outdated Diablo 3 Vanilla editions cheap for that last cash grab and ensuring that more people buy the expansion.

    Nope, gotta keep pushing that full price, even though the game has long since passed its original release date.

    One would think that considering how much "backpeddling" blizzard has been trying to make us believe with their changes to Diablo 3 for RoS , that a price change would be inevitable; but then, we've seen just how they treated this "brave new world" that they instill in Diablo 3, by making all of the Vanilla changes that should have come out earlier this year and/or were in Vanilla Beta.... RoS exclusives.

    They know people will bite, and fork over the cash, even in the face of just how much the community showed disdain for how Diablo 3 was treated. They dont fear their customers, they know exactly how to manipulate them.
  1. Kon's Avatar
    For such a "successful" game according to some people is interesting that they release an "expansion" in such a short time.
  1. Baronthefirst's Avatar
    I just don't quite understand where Blizzard gets off charging $39.99 for a Diablo 3 expansion. This isn't a WoW expansion and it isn't a full game. It is another Act for a game that isn't all that great this time around. I only have Diablo 3 because of the annual pass and I next to never play it. Maybe I will find it for $14.99 next black Friday. That is about all I am willing to shell out and I hope many many people agree with me.

    I remember them saying at Blizzcon that they wouldn't do a annual pass for the Diablo 3 expansion because they didn't think it was right to do it for an expansion. They sure don't mind charging us as though it is a full new game though.
  1. mmocda5509483c's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by BobdeBre View Post
    interesting.... 39.99 or 59.99 dollars...didnt know that dollar and euro are 1:1.....39.99 or 59.99 euros.... afaik it should be 29.30 or 43.90 in europe but ok
    Yeah! Why the fuck EU have to pay more once again? I'm gonna pay them 39.99 indonesian rupees for it.
  1. Lylandra's Avatar
    I'm also *very* pissed about the 1:1 conversion from $ to €. The dollar is pretty weak atm and I don't really get why I should pay 10-20€ more for the same good (game). It is not that we're somehow miraculously richer...
  1. Ektoplasme's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Fauier View Post
    Yeah! Why the fuck EU have to pay more once again? I'm gonna pay them 39.99 indonesian rupees for it.
    The answer is Value Added Tax my friend. In America the price is always quoted without the tax (one reason being that it depends on the state you live in) whereas in Europe sellers are required to display the full price, including VAT.

    So for example, in Sweden where the VAT is 25% and the expansion is priced 39,99 euros, the price is really :

    EU : 31,99 euros + 8 euros VAT.
    US : 39,99 dollars + ?? dollars VAT
  1. KvanCetre's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Baronthefirst View Post
    I just don't quite understand where Blizzard gets off charging $39.99 for a Diablo 3 expansion. This isn't a WoW expansion and it isn't a full game. It is another Act for a game that isn't all that great this time around. I only have Diablo 3 because of the annual pass and I next to never play it. Maybe I will find it for $14.99 next black Friday. That is about all I am willing to shell out and I hope many many people agree with me.

    I remember them saying at Blizzcon that they wouldn't do a annual pass for the Diablo 3 expansion because they didn't think it was right to do it for an expansion. They sure don't mind charging us as though it is a full new game though.
    All recent Blizzard expansions have cost $40. There was a time when they cost $30 - back when games cost $50, as opposed to $60. Times change, inflation has changed pricing.
  1. Cronnix's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Thecitadel View Post
    No one ever said you had to buy it, so don't qq and let other people enjoy the read. If you don't want it... Fine don't get it. Don't complain it's not your problem if you think about it truly now is it? Let it go man, First World Problems.... Americans/Canandians need to learn from my generations pot heads and hacky-sackers. Just chill out.
    The "don't like it - don't buy it" is a ridiculous attitude. Companies making games stupidly overpriced IS my problem, and won't change unless people speak out against such bullshit.
  1. Whister's Avatar
    when is the ps4 release for Diablo 3 RoS??
  1. Duster505's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by KvanCetre View Post
    All recent Blizzard expansions have cost $40. There was a time when they cost $30 - back when games cost $50, as opposed to $60. Times change, inflation has changed pricing.
    Guess that's why I'm buying games for $10-20 now for digital downloads.... Cause some companies are NOT living back in 2000 and are not acting like its more expensive to make a game now than it was at the time. There is inflation ye... but tech to make these games has changed as well making it more efficient.

    The main reason why many of the big names like EA/BLizzard and Activision are charging these ridiculous prices... is to pay for things that have absolutely nothing to do with gaming. Example... look at all the old WOW devs that show up every BLizzcon... Half of them are on ridiculous wages while the real workers are on pocket change to compare.
  1. Achaman's Avatar
    heres a tip wait a year then buy the damn game/x-pack
  1. imabanana's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Saluna View Post
    Diablo 2 LoD costed about 40$ (if you calculate the inflation cost since it went out). They had the same number of content..
    It was just under $30, and that was for a physical edition. I remember this quite clearly, since I was really happy to get it from free by publisher and that I wouldn't have bought it otherwise. Got it for free cause I had to write a test for a website I was kind of working on at this time, publishers were very friendly with reviewing website in these days and sent out tons of free games even to sites not having a really high traffic (and this even if you said their games were terrible).

    I already found it to be a bit too much for an expansion at this time, so $40 for a digital version ? I'm 100% sure I won't get it (oh, well, there's also the slight detail that I won't have a real computer, or maybe no computer at all, for the year to come and maybe more that makes this sure).
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